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Lot Essay
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A07950.
'When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises' (A. Calder, quoted in Calder's Universe, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976, 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, D.C. 1998, p. 57).
With its graceful cascade of perfectly proportioned white disks carefully balanced on top of a boldly coloured triangular base, Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red encapsulates the qualities that exemplify the best examples of Alexander Calder's work. Executed in 1960 when Calder's monumental works were much in demand around the world, this intimately scaled standing mobile displays his interest in form, movement and colour and their relationship to each other. Here, the solid forms of the base are offset by the series of delicate white disks that sweep around in a graceful arrangement of forms, all offset by a brass spiral that acts as a counterbalance for the whole composition. Calder was fascinated with breaking down the traditional boundaries associated with sculpture. 'Why must sculpture be static?' he once exclaimed, '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, D.C. 1998, p. 57). Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red embodies Calder's desire to push the limits of his chosen medium - its graceful and playful form showing him at the height of his aesthetic and creative powers.
Poised elegantly on a three-pointed trivet, Calder produces a symphony of colour, movement and form. Using his considerable engineering abilities (he studied for a degree in mechanical engineering during his youth), the artist has arranged a series of white discs, tumbling through space gradually decreasing in size from large to small. These discs serve not just an aesthetic function - they are also designed to have a dynamic function too, as when touched by the slightest breath of wind they allow the sculpture to spring into life as the delicate arms begin to sweep around the central axis imbuing the sculpture with a dynamic quality that is rare in the sculptural form. Calder's revolutionary ideas about sculpture were born out of a visit he paid to the studio of the Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian in 1930. Having experienced at first hand Mondrian's approach to abstraction, Calder was determined to try and introduce similar ideas to his chosen medium. He later recalled how influential this visit had been to his career, 'This one visit gave me a shock that started things. Though I had often heard the word 'modern' before, I did not consciously know or feel the term 'abstract'. So now at thirty-two, I wanted to paint and work in the abstract' (A. Calder, An Autobiography in Pictures, New York 1966, p. 113).
In addition to movement, Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red exemplifies Calder's use of colour and the importance he placed on its use. For him, colour was not a representational device, rather was used to enhance the clarity of the forms he created. 'I have chiefly limited myself to the use of black and white as being the most disparate colors,' Calder once remarked, 'Red is the color most opposed to both of these - and then finally, the other primaries...Secondary colors and intermediate shades serve only to confuse and muddle the distinctness and clarity' (A. Calder, quoted in M. Prather, Alexander Calder 1898- 1976, Washington, D.C. 1998, p. 230). In the present work, the use of black and red is complemented by the purity of the white disks, and together these three colours augment each other in a remarkable way - each acting independently, yet complimenting each other in the process. In addition, in the case of the present work, Calder adds a third dimension in the form of the dazzling brass spiral that acts as the counterbalance.
Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red is a stunning example of Alexander Calder's unique brand of artistic expression that possess a clarity of form and execution. In terms of both its composition and execution, its graceful forms and movement demonstrate Calder's art at its best. Its intoxicating mix of form, colour and movement that celebrates the joy that the artist himself sought in his creations, as the artist himself once commented, 'When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises' (A. Calder, quoted in Calder's Universe, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976, p. 261).
'When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises' (A. Calder, quoted in Calder's Universe, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976, 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, D.C. 1998, p. 57).
With its graceful cascade of perfectly proportioned white disks carefully balanced on top of a boldly coloured triangular base, Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red encapsulates the qualities that exemplify the best examples of Alexander Calder's work. Executed in 1960 when Calder's monumental works were much in demand around the world, this intimately scaled standing mobile displays his interest in form, movement and colour and their relationship to each other. Here, the solid forms of the base are offset by the series of delicate white disks that sweep around in a graceful arrangement of forms, all offset by a brass spiral that acts as a counterbalance for the whole composition. Calder was fascinated with breaking down the traditional boundaries associated with sculpture. 'Why must sculpture be static?' he once exclaimed, '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, D.C. 1998, p. 57). Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red embodies Calder's desire to push the limits of his chosen medium - its graceful and playful form showing him at the height of his aesthetic and creative powers.
Poised elegantly on a three-pointed trivet, Calder produces a symphony of colour, movement and form. Using his considerable engineering abilities (he studied for a degree in mechanical engineering during his youth), the artist has arranged a series of white discs, tumbling through space gradually decreasing in size from large to small. These discs serve not just an aesthetic function - they are also designed to have a dynamic function too, as when touched by the slightest breath of wind they allow the sculpture to spring into life as the delicate arms begin to sweep around the central axis imbuing the sculpture with a dynamic quality that is rare in the sculptural form. Calder's revolutionary ideas about sculpture were born out of a visit he paid to the studio of the Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian in 1930. Having experienced at first hand Mondrian's approach to abstraction, Calder was determined to try and introduce similar ideas to his chosen medium. He later recalled how influential this visit had been to his career, 'This one visit gave me a shock that started things. Though I had often heard the word 'modern' before, I did not consciously know or feel the term 'abstract'. So now at thirty-two, I wanted to paint and work in the abstract' (A. Calder, An Autobiography in Pictures, New York 1966, p. 113).
In addition to movement, Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red exemplifies Calder's use of colour and the importance he placed on its use. For him, colour was not a representational device, rather was used to enhance the clarity of the forms he created. 'I have chiefly limited myself to the use of black and white as being the most disparate colors,' Calder once remarked, 'Red is the color most opposed to both of these - and then finally, the other primaries...Secondary colors and intermediate shades serve only to confuse and muddle the distinctness and clarity' (A. Calder, quoted in M. Prather, Alexander Calder 1898- 1976, Washington, D.C. 1998, p. 230). In the present work, the use of black and red is complemented by the purity of the white disks, and together these three colours augment each other in a remarkable way - each acting independently, yet complimenting each other in the process. In addition, in the case of the present work, Calder adds a third dimension in the form of the dazzling brass spiral that acts as the counterbalance.
Seven White Dots, Brass Spiral, on Black and Red is a stunning example of Alexander Calder's unique brand of artistic expression that possess a clarity of form and execution. In terms of both its composition and execution, its graceful forms and movement demonstrate Calder's art at its best. Its intoxicating mix of form, colour and movement that celebrates the joy that the artist himself sought in his creations, as the artist himself once commented, 'When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises' (A. Calder, quoted in Calder's Universe, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976, p. 261).