Alexander Calder

SNAKES PUZZLES, 1970

• Alexander Calder (°1898, USA)
• gouache and ink on paper
• 74.3 x 109.2cm

‘What I produce is not precisely what I have in mind—but a sort of sketch, a man-made approximation. That others grasp what I have in mind seems unessential...as long as they have something else in theirs.’ – Alexander Calder

In addition to his renowned work as a sculptor, Alexander Calder also worked extensively in the medium of gouache on paper. Drawing upon his earlier explorations into illustration and drawing, Calder created his first series of gouache paintings during his yearlong stay in Aix-en-Provence in 1953, and they would continue to form a significant contribution to his prolific practice for the duration of his career. Appropriating and incorporating many of the familiar motifs developed in his sculptures, and executed in his signature, striking palette of black, white and primary colours – vermillion red and amber yellow - these playful, enigmatic works embody the essence of Calder’s practice in two-dimensional form.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1898, Calder originally trained as an engineer, before fully committing to his artistic practice in 1923. Hailed as the creator of the ‘mobile’, he was informed by his expertise in kinetics, mechanics, and other technical disciplines and his familiarity with industrious materials, and inspired by the pioneering Surrealist aesthetics of Paris in the 1930s, attaining one of the most prolific and successful artistic careers of the 20th Century. Today, his works are held many of the world’s most prestigious collections, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Tate Gallery in London.