Lot 3432* - A211 PostWar & Contemporary - jeudi, 28. novembre 2024, 16h00
ALEXANDER CALDER
(Lawnton 1898–1976 New York)
Hommage à Mondrian. 1965.
Gouache and ink on paper.
Signed and dated lower right: Calder 65, as well as titled on the reverse: Hommage à Mondrian.
107.5 × 75 cm.
Provenance:
- Françoise Mayer, Bruxelles, acquired in the above gallery in 1966.
- Private collection.
- Private collection, Monaco, acquired ca. 1990.
- Private collection, Monaco, received from the previous owner in 2016.
Exhibited:
- Geneva 1966, Alexander Calder, Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie, 9.6.–30.7.1966.
Literature:
- Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie (ed.): Alexander Calder, exhibition catalogue, Geneva 1966, p. 27, no. 25.
Our thanks to the Calder Foundation for their kind support.
Alexander Calder, renowned for his kinetic sculptures and mobiles, devoted himself instead to gouache painting in his final years. This more intimate and less physically demanding painting technique was the ideal means for him to explore color and line.
The present work demonstrates this master sculptor’s ability to translate perfectly his three-dimensional vocabulary to a two-dimensional surface. As the title “Hommage à Mondrian” already suggests, this work manifests Calder’s lifelong admiration for Piet Mondrian, whom he met in Paris in the 1930s. In the abstract composition of grids, simple shapes and bright reds, yellows and blues, the influence of Mondrian’s geometric compositions and his color theory are clearly recognizable.
Early in his career, Calder was inspired by the rigor and abstraction of the De Stijl movement and by Mondrian’s use of geometric shapes and primary colors. The clarity and simplicity of form in Mondrian’s art is reflected in Calder’s work, although Calder ultimately developed his own unique style, which emphasized movement and dynamism. Calder’s approach is manifested in the present work through the use of curved lines, circles and the color orange, none of which are considered typical of Mondrian’s oeuvre.
The present work demonstrates this master sculptor’s ability to translate perfectly his three-dimensional vocabulary to a two-dimensional surface. As the title “Hommage à Mondrian” already suggests, this work manifests Calder’s lifelong admiration for Piet Mondrian, whom he met in Paris in the 1930s. In the abstract composition of grids, simple shapes and bright reds, yellows and blues, the influence of Mondrian’s geometric compositions and his color theory are clearly recognizable.
Early in his career, Calder was inspired by the rigor and abstraction of the De Stijl movement and by Mondrian’s use of geometric shapes and primary colors. The clarity and simplicity of form in Mondrian’s art is reflected in Calder’s work, although Calder ultimately developed his own unique style, which emphasized movement and dynamism. Calder’s approach is manifested in the present work through the use of curved lines, circles and the color orange, none of which are considered typical of Mondrian’s oeuvre.
CHF 40 000 / 60 000 | (€ 41 240 / 61 860)