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Lot Essay
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A22402.
"Why must sculpture be static? You look at abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect but it is always still. The next step is sculpture in motion" (A. Calder, quoted in M. Prather, Alexander Calder 1898-1976, Washington, 1998, p.57).
Alexander Calder's majestic and graceful Untitled encapsulates his most important ideas about color, movement and abstraction. Its cascade of colorful, biomorphic forms stems from Calder's determination to redefine the nature of sculpture and introduce radical new ideas that would come to dominate the medium for the rest of the century.
Calder first exhibited Untitled, executed circa 1949, at his major exhibition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the winter of 1950-51. Suspended from the ceiling and bathed in natural light (see photograph), the work's refined movement as it catches the wind makes it stand out as one of Calder's most graceful pieces. Untitled fuses rich and vibrant elements, both vertical and horizontal, which Calder skillfully weaved together so that each element retains its individuality while also joining to form a cohesive body with its own unique identity.
After its debut at M.I.T., Mr. & Mrs. Robert P. Brown acquired Untitled to be the centerpiece of a new house they designed and built in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Robert P. Brown had trained as an architect at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and became influenced by European Modernism, especially the Bauhaus movement. He came from a long tradition of distinguished connoisseurs of art and architecture. His mother was Helen Parrish, a member of the family that founded the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York. Robert and Polly Brown developed a strong interest in modern art and began filling their new home with objects that reflected this. After her divorce, Polly Brown (who later became Polly F. Jackson when she remarried) kept the sculpture in the same Lincoln home where it has remained for over fifty years, admired by generations of family and distinguished visitors.
Untitled demonstrates the all-encompassing universality of Calder's art. He produced works of exquisitely balanced composition, which retain their harmony when moved by the merest breath of wind. The striking red, yellow, black and blue elements are all brought together using a series of exceptional mechanisms that allow them to move independently of each other, while retaining a unity that ensures that none of the elements dominate or touch each other. We can trace this interest in movement back to Calder's fascination with orreries, the mechanical models of the planetary solar system that had mesmerized him during his childhood.
Untitled also illustrates the delightfully restrained aesthetic of Calder's palette. The black, red, yellow and blue evokes Mondrian's influence and demonstrates both artists' love of color. Calder used color, not based on ideas of representation or decoration, but as an intrinsic part of the composition, using each color to help distinguish the different elements from each other, "I want things to be differentiated. Black and white first - then red is next. I often wish that I had been a fauve in 1905." (A. Calder, Calder, London, 2004, p.89). Untitled is a particularly fine example of this use of color, as his effortless grouping of colored elements adds simplicity and elegance to the piece's graceful movement.
While it conjures up many associations, Untitled is not fettered by any direct notion of representation. Instead, it interacts with its environment and its viewer, participating actively in the universe in its own right. A push or a gust of wind will set its carefully balanced elements in motion, introducing the magical element of chance and movement that makes Calder's sculptures so fascinating. As he himself said, "When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises" (A. Calder, Calder, London, 2004, p. 261).
"Why must sculpture be static? You look at abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect but it is always still. The next step is sculpture in motion" (A. Calder, quoted in M. Prather, Alexander Calder 1898-1976, Washington, 1998, p.57).
Alexander Calder's majestic and graceful Untitled encapsulates his most important ideas about color, movement and abstraction. Its cascade of colorful, biomorphic forms stems from Calder's determination to redefine the nature of sculpture and introduce radical new ideas that would come to dominate the medium for the rest of the century.
Calder first exhibited Untitled, executed circa 1949, at his major exhibition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the winter of 1950-51. Suspended from the ceiling and bathed in natural light (see photograph), the work's refined movement as it catches the wind makes it stand out as one of Calder's most graceful pieces. Untitled fuses rich and vibrant elements, both vertical and horizontal, which Calder skillfully weaved together so that each element retains its individuality while also joining to form a cohesive body with its own unique identity.
After its debut at M.I.T., Mr. & Mrs. Robert P. Brown acquired Untitled to be the centerpiece of a new house they designed and built in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Robert P. Brown had trained as an architect at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and became influenced by European Modernism, especially the Bauhaus movement. He came from a long tradition of distinguished connoisseurs of art and architecture. His mother was Helen Parrish, a member of the family that founded the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York. Robert and Polly Brown developed a strong interest in modern art and began filling their new home with objects that reflected this. After her divorce, Polly Brown (who later became Polly F. Jackson when she remarried) kept the sculpture in the same Lincoln home where it has remained for over fifty years, admired by generations of family and distinguished visitors.
Untitled demonstrates the all-encompassing universality of Calder's art. He produced works of exquisitely balanced composition, which retain their harmony when moved by the merest breath of wind. The striking red, yellow, black and blue elements are all brought together using a series of exceptional mechanisms that allow them to move independently of each other, while retaining a unity that ensures that none of the elements dominate or touch each other. We can trace this interest in movement back to Calder's fascination with orreries, the mechanical models of the planetary solar system that had mesmerized him during his childhood.
Untitled also illustrates the delightfully restrained aesthetic of Calder's palette. The black, red, yellow and blue evokes Mondrian's influence and demonstrates both artists' love of color. Calder used color, not based on ideas of representation or decoration, but as an intrinsic part of the composition, using each color to help distinguish the different elements from each other, "I want things to be differentiated. Black and white first - then red is next. I often wish that I had been a fauve in 1905." (A. Calder, Calder, London, 2004, p.89). Untitled is a particularly fine example of this use of color, as his effortless grouping of colored elements adds simplicity and elegance to the piece's graceful movement.
While it conjures up many associations, Untitled is not fettered by any direct notion of representation. Instead, it interacts with its environment and its viewer, participating actively in the universe in its own right. A push or a gust of wind will set its carefully balanced elements in motion, introducing the magical element of chance and movement that makes Calder's sculptures so fascinating. As he himself said, "When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises" (A. Calder, Calder, London, 2004, p. 261).