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Lot Essay
Alexander Calder’s two standing mobiles, Red and Yellow Antlers, 1960, and Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red, 1964, are exquisite examples of compact contemplations on form and gesture from later in the artist’s career. They at once look back to the origins of his creative practice and experimentation with the dynamics of form but with the mature sensibilities of an artist who is at ease with the language of his work and able to express it on any scale. These two echo the gestural elegance of his larger-scale works on a more intimate scale, where the hand of the artist and his direct manipulation of the materials can be felt. Created at a time when Calder was widely recognized and acclaimed for major installations in public spaces, these smaller works indicate a return to the origin of his creative style and careful appreciation for his medium and its potential. Assembled with painted sheet metal, brass, and wire, one can easily picture Calder in his studio, carefully adjusting and manipulating these materials to achieve the calm but gestural balance these objects possess. Like so much of what he is known for, these standing mobiles show careful arrangement of form, colors, and the material elements of the metals he used, all united into an intriguing and delicate form.
Red and Yellow Antlers, the earlier of the two works, consists of a pointed red metal base, and signed with the artist’s monogram ‘AC’ on the base is simple and gestural in its composition, with a lower curved tendril-like form on one side counterbalanced with two elevated wire elements, ending in a red and yellow circle respectively, representing the antlers in the design.
Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red, takes a similar starting point with its calmly contorted base, but then accentuates the balance between elements by anchoring the more delicate circular branches of the work with a heavier twisted length of thicker brass segment with a curled end.
In both cases, the magic of these compositions rests not only in the delicate balance of their component parts, but the implied sense of movement accentuated in looking at them from different angles. Like Calder’s other standing mobiles, these works carry with them the sense of movement, balance, and fragility, while remaining anchored by gravity, and fixed in their positioning. Unlike the mobiles, where forms and elements are subject to their environment, here it is the viewer who is compelled to move around them, and consider the graceful lines and shapes from different angles. With each vantage point, the three-dimensional drawings Calder has created become a changing set of shapes, angles, and negative space. The smaller scale of these works mean that the viewer is able to navigate the viewing experience with ease, looking around, up, or down into the design, examining every detail, from smooth surfaces and lines to a closer inspection of the act of making that is apparent in the finer details, with twists to the metal or puncture holes and wire joints.
There is both dynamism and delicacy in these works, where the sense of grand design is apparent and tied to Calder’s oeuvre, but with a true sense of the hand of the artist being visible too. The playfulness in their appearance recalls not only child-like amazement for the power of the metals and composition in their design, but also the purest forms of direct creation calling to mind the universe and its planets. Calder, now the successful, celebrated and established artist known for his grand creative vision, is returning to his origins in making works that he could directly manipulate and put his mark on and play with where they were positioned and how they were presented.
In addition to expert handling of the metals in these objects, there is a painterly approach to their composition, with the bold splash of color in the red base as well as their simple but striking balance of contrasting colors and lines. Calder once said in an interview “I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red. I often wish that I’d been a fauve in 1905” (A. Calder, quoted by K. Kuh, “Alexander Calder,” in The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artist, New York and Evanston, 1962). That sentiment is apparent here in the way that the bases are so bold and dominant in contrast to their more delicate extensions. There is also a pure painterly sensibility to the surface and finish of the red base, where its attributes are in its pure use of color and respect for the surface qualities and details of the metal they cover. In Red and Yellow Antlers, the red of the base is echoed in the red disk of one of the two antlers, extending the colorful expression out into the space it occupies, and contrasted with the second antler with its yellow disc, both of which also bring out the warmth in the brass and wire. For Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red, the more complex design allows it to be juxtaposed with a more minimal color mix, where the branches of the sculpture and their details give way to more natural metallic hues in dark, light and medium tones of grey or beige.
Both Red and Yellow Antlers and Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red are stunning examples of Calder’s celebrated ability to convey movement, grace, and balance in all his works throughout his long career creating a broad range of works, from mobiles, to standing mobiles, circus design, paintings, and jewelry. What makes these two works exceptional is how they recall the range of output Calder created in so many different forms while somehow also referring to the essence of his artistic practice in an immediate and direct way. They are at once solid and light, still and filled with motion, and carry in their every detail and clear articulation of Calder’s hand and style.
Red and Yellow Antlers, the earlier of the two works, consists of a pointed red metal base, and signed with the artist’s monogram ‘AC’ on the base is simple and gestural in its composition, with a lower curved tendril-like form on one side counterbalanced with two elevated wire elements, ending in a red and yellow circle respectively, representing the antlers in the design.
Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red, takes a similar starting point with its calmly contorted base, but then accentuates the balance between elements by anchoring the more delicate circular branches of the work with a heavier twisted length of thicker brass segment with a curled end.
In both cases, the magic of these compositions rests not only in the delicate balance of their component parts, but the implied sense of movement accentuated in looking at them from different angles. Like Calder’s other standing mobiles, these works carry with them the sense of movement, balance, and fragility, while remaining anchored by gravity, and fixed in their positioning. Unlike the mobiles, where forms and elements are subject to their environment, here it is the viewer who is compelled to move around them, and consider the graceful lines and shapes from different angles. With each vantage point, the three-dimensional drawings Calder has created become a changing set of shapes, angles, and negative space. The smaller scale of these works mean that the viewer is able to navigate the viewing experience with ease, looking around, up, or down into the design, examining every detail, from smooth surfaces and lines to a closer inspection of the act of making that is apparent in the finer details, with twists to the metal or puncture holes and wire joints.
There is both dynamism and delicacy in these works, where the sense of grand design is apparent and tied to Calder’s oeuvre, but with a true sense of the hand of the artist being visible too. The playfulness in their appearance recalls not only child-like amazement for the power of the metals and composition in their design, but also the purest forms of direct creation calling to mind the universe and its planets. Calder, now the successful, celebrated and established artist known for his grand creative vision, is returning to his origins in making works that he could directly manipulate and put his mark on and play with where they were positioned and how they were presented.
In addition to expert handling of the metals in these objects, there is a painterly approach to their composition, with the bold splash of color in the red base as well as their simple but striking balance of contrasting colors and lines. Calder once said in an interview “I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red. I often wish that I’d been a fauve in 1905” (A. Calder, quoted by K. Kuh, “Alexander Calder,” in The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artist, New York and Evanston, 1962). That sentiment is apparent here in the way that the bases are so bold and dominant in contrast to their more delicate extensions. There is also a pure painterly sensibility to the surface and finish of the red base, where its attributes are in its pure use of color and respect for the surface qualities and details of the metal they cover. In Red and Yellow Antlers, the red of the base is echoed in the red disk of one of the two antlers, extending the colorful expression out into the space it occupies, and contrasted with the second antler with its yellow disc, both of which also bring out the warmth in the brass and wire. For Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red, the more complex design allows it to be juxtaposed with a more minimal color mix, where the branches of the sculpture and their details give way to more natural metallic hues in dark, light and medium tones of grey or beige.
Both Red and Yellow Antlers and Curly Brass, Black and White Dots on Red are stunning examples of Calder’s celebrated ability to convey movement, grace, and balance in all his works throughout his long career creating a broad range of works, from mobiles, to standing mobiles, circus design, paintings, and jewelry. What makes these two works exceptional is how they recall the range of output Calder created in so many different forms while somehow also referring to the essence of his artistic practice in an immediate and direct way. They are at once solid and light, still and filled with motion, and carry in their every detail and clear articulation of Calder’s hand and style.