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Lot Essay
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A03774.
Black Pyramid and Seven is a unique and extraordinary example of Alexander Calder’s Standing Mobiles, an evocative form of sculpture that the artist developed in the 1940s, and it stands as a beautiful example of his artistry. Modernist and abstract, yet universal in its appeal, its forms merging straight-edged geometry with flowing, streamlined curves evocative of organic shapes.
Seven three-cornered triangular-biomorphic elements float above a powerful base, which echoes in its pyramidal shape the floating forms hovering above it. A single, larger shape counterbalances six smaller floating elements, the entire composition cantilevered above the sculpture’s foundational base. Reminiscent of a balance-beam scale, the floating elements when at rest find their mass and achieve repose—they then waft and dance when moved by touch or currents of air.
Rendered in black monochrome, the work is a bold statement, contrasting powerfully with many of Calder’s other works, which tended toward the brightly colored and many hued. With Black Pyramid and Seven, Calder chose to depart from polychromism and here he presents a deliberately minimal palette, coaxing the viewer to focus on the shapes and lines of the forms themselves, and emphasizing motion and silhouette over color. The intentionally pared-down color scheme never overwhelms the sculpture’s essential contours, and allows the viewer to savor the work’s silhouette and enjoy the ebb and flow of the mobile’s spontaneous motion.
This work’s pyramid motif is a theme seen in other works by Calder that make reference to this forceful geometric shape, which resonates with history, energy and spiritual power. The artist referenced the unique geometry of the pyramid in numerous art pieces, both sculptures and works-on-paper, and clearly it was of enduring interest to him. The three-cornered base of the present work, with its tri-footed stability, embodies the solidity, strength and groundedness of traditional sculpture while its aerial facets, suspended from slender wire armatures in lively equilibrium, drift in the air. The sheet metal that Calder built his sculptures out of is a forthright aspect of this artwork’s total identity, the artist crafting much of his work from industrial metals.
The base of Black Pyramid and Seven is integrated into the total composition, an ingenious break from traditional sculpture, where the base typically does not aspire to be more than merely a supporting foundation, not otherwise contributing to the overall work. The large size of this sculpture—measuring six feet in length—further enhances its dramatic statement. The six biomorphic forms that constitute the upper, floating elements of the sculpture express a kinetic dynamism and embody the element of chance in their concept. A gentle breeze or subtle movement sets the elements of the mobile in motion. Black Pyramid and Seven balances ethereal and light-as-air facets against its solid base, achieving a wonderful equilibrium of opposites. Calder’s artistry in accomplishing that balance of opposites is one of the qualities that makes Black Pyramid and Seven extraordinary: biomorphic elements drawn from nature, fashioned from industrial materials, designed and worked by hand.
Calder created standing mobiles in many different sizes, from as small as a few inches wide, to monumental examples designed to be displayed out-of-doors in public parks or urban areas. By combining the two sculptural forms, sculptural base and airborne mobile, he expanded his creative potential.
Calder was first and foremost a sculptor, but a sculptor who made a unique contribution, inventing an entirely new form whose overriding statement was that of motion. He invented new possibilities for the medium of sculpture—from an emphasis on works characterized by a heavy central mass, rooted to the earth, into new sculptural concepts that float, take flight, and move through space. He paved the way for a succeeding generation of mid-20th century artists (John Chamberlain, Jean Tinguely, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Di Suvero, Claes Oldenburg, and Jasper Johns, to name just a few) to pursue new methods and materials far beyond traditional boundaries. He synthesized ideas originating with Cubists, Constructivists, Surrealists, and other revolutionary movements but without choosing sides among the various avant-garde strains, instead translating the many experimental and innovative approaches into his own personal idiom. That his work developed out of those radical times may help to explain why it still seems so fresh and vital up to the present day, decades after it was created. His works expressed concepts found in the major revolutionary art movements of his time, yet at the same time translated these experimental and innovative approaches into his own uniquely personal, light and playful idiom.
Black Pyramid and Seven is a unique and extraordinary example of Alexander Calder’s Standing Mobiles, an evocative form of sculpture that the artist developed in the 1940s, and it stands as a beautiful example of his artistry. Modernist and abstract, yet universal in its appeal, its forms merging straight-edged geometry with flowing, streamlined curves evocative of organic shapes.
Seven three-cornered triangular-biomorphic elements float above a powerful base, which echoes in its pyramidal shape the floating forms hovering above it. A single, larger shape counterbalances six smaller floating elements, the entire composition cantilevered above the sculpture’s foundational base. Reminiscent of a balance-beam scale, the floating elements when at rest find their mass and achieve repose—they then waft and dance when moved by touch or currents of air.
Rendered in black monochrome, the work is a bold statement, contrasting powerfully with many of Calder’s other works, which tended toward the brightly colored and many hued. With Black Pyramid and Seven, Calder chose to depart from polychromism and here he presents a deliberately minimal palette, coaxing the viewer to focus on the shapes and lines of the forms themselves, and emphasizing motion and silhouette over color. The intentionally pared-down color scheme never overwhelms the sculpture’s essential contours, and allows the viewer to savor the work’s silhouette and enjoy the ebb and flow of the mobile’s spontaneous motion.
This work’s pyramid motif is a theme seen in other works by Calder that make reference to this forceful geometric shape, which resonates with history, energy and spiritual power. The artist referenced the unique geometry of the pyramid in numerous art pieces, both sculptures and works-on-paper, and clearly it was of enduring interest to him. The three-cornered base of the present work, with its tri-footed stability, embodies the solidity, strength and groundedness of traditional sculpture while its aerial facets, suspended from slender wire armatures in lively equilibrium, drift in the air. The sheet metal that Calder built his sculptures out of is a forthright aspect of this artwork’s total identity, the artist crafting much of his work from industrial metals.
The base of Black Pyramid and Seven is integrated into the total composition, an ingenious break from traditional sculpture, where the base typically does not aspire to be more than merely a supporting foundation, not otherwise contributing to the overall work. The large size of this sculpture—measuring six feet in length—further enhances its dramatic statement. The six biomorphic forms that constitute the upper, floating elements of the sculpture express a kinetic dynamism and embody the element of chance in their concept. A gentle breeze or subtle movement sets the elements of the mobile in motion. Black Pyramid and Seven balances ethereal and light-as-air facets against its solid base, achieving a wonderful equilibrium of opposites. Calder’s artistry in accomplishing that balance of opposites is one of the qualities that makes Black Pyramid and Seven extraordinary: biomorphic elements drawn from nature, fashioned from industrial materials, designed and worked by hand.
Calder created standing mobiles in many different sizes, from as small as a few inches wide, to monumental examples designed to be displayed out-of-doors in public parks or urban areas. By combining the two sculptural forms, sculptural base and airborne mobile, he expanded his creative potential.
Calder was first and foremost a sculptor, but a sculptor who made a unique contribution, inventing an entirely new form whose overriding statement was that of motion. He invented new possibilities for the medium of sculpture—from an emphasis on works characterized by a heavy central mass, rooted to the earth, into new sculptural concepts that float, take flight, and move through space. He paved the way for a succeeding generation of mid-20th century artists (John Chamberlain, Jean Tinguely, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Di Suvero, Claes Oldenburg, and Jasper Johns, to name just a few) to pursue new methods and materials far beyond traditional boundaries. He synthesized ideas originating with Cubists, Constructivists, Surrealists, and other revolutionary movements but without choosing sides among the various avant-garde strains, instead translating the many experimental and innovative approaches into his own personal idiom. That his work developed out of those radical times may help to explain why it still seems so fresh and vital up to the present day, decades after it was created. His works expressed concepts found in the major revolutionary art movements of his time, yet at the same time translated these experimental and innovative approaches into his own uniquely personal, light and playful idiom.