Alexander Calder

Perls Galleries, New York
Private Collection, New York
Christie's, New York, February 22, 1996, lot 14
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

Roslyn Harbor, Nassau County Museum of Art, Calder and Miró, June - September 1998, p. 52, illustrated in color
New York, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Alexander Calder: The Painter, November 2011 - January 2012, p. 55, illustrated in color

This work is in good condition overall. There is evidence of wear and handling along the edges, including very faint hairline craquelure at the pull margins along the right and top edges. There is scattered craquelure in the white and beige painted areas in the upper register. There is a light surface soiling. There is a drip accretion to the right of the red figure's knee. There are scattered pinpoint media and spot accretions throughout, visible upon close inspection. There is a minor area of loss to the right of the yellow figure's calf. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there are a few small areas in the lower left quadrant and just below the red figure's left hand that fluoresce darkly and appear to have benefitted from restoration. Framed.
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.

Alexander Calder, the celebrated artist known for his sculptural mobiles and monumental stabiles, produced gouache and ink works over the course of nearly five decades; however, the selection of oils on canvas with such a painterly quality prove to be scarce. One such example is the 1956 piece, Two Men, Two Pyramids, a unique and powerful example of Calder’s range. This work in particular stands as a remarkable example due to its vertical orientation, definitive landscape, horizon, and figural forms that dominate the canvas.

Abandoning a career as a mechanical engineer, Calder studied under George Luks and Jean Sloan from 1923 to 1926 at the Students League, where his formative art education was rooted in painting and figurative abstraction. Although his artistic legacy is best understood through kinetic sculpture in space, oils on canvas serve as an anchor throughout his career; working in tandem to augment his core principals of line in space. In 1931, Calder joined the Abstract Creation Group, which would influence his oil and gouaches indefinitely. A shift towards the abstract, use of geometric forms and ubiquitous presence of primary colors would become fundamental to his canvases, gouaches, and sculpture for the duration of his career. These primary elements can be seen in the present work as well as in paintings such as Spotted Orb and Pyramid (1956) and Personnage (1946) with their lithe forms and geometric shapes which are unequivocally sculptural in form.

The composition seen in Two Men, Two Pyramids can be attributed to a series of events leading up to its creation. Calder arrived in Aix en-Provence in 1953 (he would come to split his time between Aix, New York City, and Roxbury, Connecticut). The time spent in France yielded countless gouaches as they became a focal point in the latter half of 1953. In November, Calder bartered three of his mobiles for a dilapidated 17^th Century farmhouse in Saché that would house his ‘gouacherie’ painting studio. In 1954 Calder traveled to visit a dear friend, Henri Seyrig. During this trip Calder visited Egypt, Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the first time; a year later Calder met Gira Sarabhais, a textile magnet, who would escort Calder through India and the Middle East in exchange for some of the artist’s pieces. The culmination of his travels shaped Calder’s perception of monumental structure. 

This period marks a transitional phase towards commissioned sculptures while simultaneously composing gouaches and oils. A reflection of his interest in monumental form is illustrated in his oils, through depictions of the pyramid–a monolithic and mythical structure. The anthropomorphic figures, evocative of primitive creatures, at the front of the canvas with their unyielding linear form draws your eyes to the horizon, clouded sky and pyramids in the distance. It is through Calder’s expressive, yet fundamental geometric forms that we see throughout his oeuvre that allows for a composition lacking in symmetry to deliver a harmonious landscape and unified vision.

At the time Two Men, Two Pyramids came to fruition we also see the start of a life-long relationship with Calder and Klaus and Dolly Perls. In February of 1956 Calder had his first show Calder with Perls Galleries in New York. Perls Galleries would go on to host both solo and group exhibitions for the remainder of Calder’s life spanning a multitude of mediums, themes, and periods in Calder’s career. Throughout Calder’s prodigious oeuvre, we witness a master of many mediums each as gracefully executed as the last. The influence of his contemporaries and an artist with an innovative vision is present in this truly unique painting capturing the essence of Calder as both a sculptor and masterful painter.