Alexander Calder

Perls Galleries, New York
Makler Gallery, Philadelphia
Private Collection, Potstown
Christie's, New York, May 7, 1990, lot 28
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above sale)
Christie's, New York, May 12, 2004, lot 178
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2004

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. The elements move smoothly and freely. There are scattered abrasions and minor losses to the paint, particularly along the red wires, the back black side of the base and a few spots on the red base. There is a drip media accretion on the second white element from the right.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Yellow Counterweight symbolizes the marriage of Calder’s two most characteristic sculptural forms: the mobile and the stabile. The hybrid construction offers a static, stabile base which supports an attachment of moving elements. These standing mobiles allowed Calder to develop new and various combinations of rising and falling forms, which often reminded him of natural elements such as flowers, fruit or animals.

Movement and color, and indeed color and motion, lie at the heart of Yellow Counterweight. This sculpture comprises a red stabile-like base upon which a rotating mobile is delicately balanced. Calder created a new visual language with spraying discs of industrial material. The individual painted metal sheets render the composite elements as discrete volumes of color in space. Originating from a single, delicate loop of wire, the mobile structure cascades outward in constellations of white discs to one side, and an actual “yellow counterweight” on the other. Though most of the wire-suspended discs hang downward, Calder creates an appearance of weightlessness by arranging his painted forms along a horizontal spread. Precisely engineered and colored for graphic impact, the mobile retains the artist's ability to create harmony within the limitations of an asymmetrical structure, through visual echoes of shapes, angles and colors, while at the same time exploring his growing interest in monumentally scaled works.

The cascading and varying white shapes contrasted by the yellow counterpart in an almost teardrop-like shape intensify the impact of this delicately constructed work. Calder intentionally reduced his palette, following the lead of Mondrian, primarily to black and white and strong primaries; calculating counterpoints in red, yellow, and blue, remaining conscious that color relationships have a kinetic quality that adds a sense of weight and movement to individual pieces. Calder’s visit to Mondrian’s Parisian studio in 1930 grounded his commitment to abstraction in three dimensional space, as well as his defining use of color.

Calder’s unique ability was to create works of exquisitely balanced composition which retain their playful humor, formalist elements, and harmony when moved by the merest breath of wind. The striking colored elements are anchored together using a series of exceptional mechanisms that allow them to move independently of each other yet retaining a formal unity that ensures that none of the elements dominate or touch each other. While the mobile's shapes recall planetary, natural and biomorphic forms, the work is unfettered by any direct notion of representation. Instead, it interacts with its environment, participating actively in the universe.