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Lot Essay
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A08375.
Painted in 1945, Alexander Calder's Kites is an important abstract landscape created in the United States during World War II, a seminal moment in the artists career. Following a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, Calder entered a period of reassessment during which he suspended work on the mobiles and concentrated more on other materials. Sheet metal and aluminum were scarce because of the war movement, and this allowed the artist to expand his repertoire with carved wood and oil painting. He recalls, "There wasn't much metal around during the war years, so I tried my hand at wood carving in the so-called constellations. I have always liked wood carving, but these were now completely abstract shapes. The shapes, as well as the titles, came from Miró, who has been a friend of mine since 1929" (A. Calder, quoted on Moma Website).
In Kites, the brightly-colored abstract shapes that would become the hallmark of Calders Post-War mobiles are clearly discerned, along with Miró's obvious influence. The now-ubiquitous red circle, a recurring form in Calders oeuvre, is placed prominently against a soft, pink sky. Two geometric black shapes, attached to string-like elements, recall the magically poised elements of Calders mobiles; their kite strings might as well be wire. It is obvious that during this period, Calders break from sheet metal only furthered his experimentation with oscillating forms in space. Even the title, "Kites", refers to brightly-colored shapes suspended in mid-air. In fact, Calder has long been preoccupied with bodies in motion, as evidenced by his first Circus Acrobats from the late 1920s and early 1930s. The painting perfectly evokes Calder's description of his own work, which he described in his seminal text, "What Abstract Art Means to Me:"
"The idea of abstract bodies floating in space, of different sizes and densities, perhaps of different colors and temperatures, and surrounded and interlarded with wisps of gaseous condition, and some at rest, while others move in peculiar manners, seems to me the ideal source of form" (A. Calder, quoted in "What Abstract Art Means to Me," Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 3, Spring 1951, p. 9).
Painted in 1945, Alexander Calder's Kites is an important abstract landscape created in the United States during World War II, a seminal moment in the artists career. Following a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, Calder entered a period of reassessment during which he suspended work on the mobiles and concentrated more on other materials. Sheet metal and aluminum were scarce because of the war movement, and this allowed the artist to expand his repertoire with carved wood and oil painting. He recalls, "There wasn't much metal around during the war years, so I tried my hand at wood carving in the so-called constellations. I have always liked wood carving, but these were now completely abstract shapes. The shapes, as well as the titles, came from Miró, who has been a friend of mine since 1929" (A. Calder, quoted on Moma Website).
In Kites, the brightly-colored abstract shapes that would become the hallmark of Calders Post-War mobiles are clearly discerned, along with Miró's obvious influence. The now-ubiquitous red circle, a recurring form in Calders oeuvre, is placed prominently against a soft, pink sky. Two geometric black shapes, attached to string-like elements, recall the magically poised elements of Calders mobiles; their kite strings might as well be wire. It is obvious that during this period, Calders break from sheet metal only furthered his experimentation with oscillating forms in space. Even the title, "Kites", refers to brightly-colored shapes suspended in mid-air. In fact, Calder has long been preoccupied with bodies in motion, as evidenced by his first Circus Acrobats from the late 1920s and early 1930s. The painting perfectly evokes Calder's description of his own work, which he described in his seminal text, "What Abstract Art Means to Me:"
"The idea of abstract bodies floating in space, of different sizes and densities, perhaps of different colors and temperatures, and surrounded and interlarded with wisps of gaseous condition, and some at rest, while others move in peculiar manners, seems to me the ideal source of form" (A. Calder, quoted in "What Abstract Art Means to Me," Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 3, Spring 1951, p. 9).