- 21
ALEXANDER CALDER | Knitting
Estimate
550,000 - 650,000 GBP
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Description
- Alexander Calder
- Knitting
- signed and dated ‘49
- oil on canvas
- 71.8 by 61.6 cm. 28 1/4 by 24 1/4 in.
Provenance
Estate of Alexander Calder
Helly Nahmad Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2011
Helly Nahmad Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2011
Exhibited
Turin, Palazzo a Vela, Calder, July - September 1983, p. 180, no. 327, illustrated New York, Vintage20/Tina Kim Gallery, Calder - Nakashima, May - June 2008
New York, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Alexander Calder: The Painter, November - December 2011, p. 29, illustrated in colour
New York, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Alexander Calder: The Painter, November - December 2011, p. 29, illustrated in colour
Literature
Exh. Cat., Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic, November 2013 - July 2014, p. 187, illustrated in colour (in installation at Alexander Calder, Palazzo a Vela, Turin, 1983)
Condition
Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: Please refer to the department for a professional condition report.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
"I met Miró in Dec. ’29 when I called on him in his tin-arched studio in Montmartre… We became very good friends and attended many things together… I came to love his painting, his color, his personages, and we exchanged works.” Alexander Calder cited in: Exh. Cat., New York, Perls Galleries, Calder-Miró, 1961, n.p.
Executed in 1949, this medley of vibrant circular shapes on a muted grey background is a rare gem within Alexander Calder’s acclaimed oeuvre. Despite being best known for his revolutionary mobiles and monumental stabiles, Calder was hugely prolific across a number of mediums. While he continuously produced gouache paintings on paper throughout his long career, oils on canvas of this quality are undeniably scarce.
Abandoning a career as a mechanical engineer, Calder studied under George Luks and John Sloan from 1923 to 1925 at the Art Students League, where his formative art education was rooted in painting and figurative abstraction. Although his artistic legacy is best understood through kinetic sculpture, painting served as an anchor that operated in parallel to the sculptural works in establishing Calder’s core principles of line in space. In 1931, Calder joined the Abstract Creation Group and participated in group exhibitions. A shift towards the abstract, the use of geometric forms and ubiquitous presence of bold colours would become fundamental to his canvases, gouaches, and sculpture for the duration of his career.
These primary elements are perfectly articulated in the present work. Reduced to a handful of thin black lines, a ball of wool and two knitting needles (as alluded to in the work’s title, given after the fact of creation) are discernible in the centre of the composition and are surrounded by an array of abstract forms in Calder’s preferred palette of bold primary colours. The flat circular shapes in the lower half of the composition draw distinct parallels to the metal discs of the artist’s mobiles. These suspended geometric elements float across the picture plane with the same gliding grace as Calder’s three dimensional sculptures.
Not only does Knitting reflect Calder’s aesthetic development, it also points to his close relationship and affinity with Spanish Surrealist artist Joan Miró, who he had befriended during his time in Paris during the late 1920s. The two became life long friends and their works developed along parallel, yet resonant trajectories. Speaking of his friend, Calder recalled: “I met Miró in Dec. ’29 when I called on him in his tin-arched studio in Montmartre… We became very good friends and attended many things together, including a gymnasium… I came to love his painting, his color, his personages, and we exchanged works… Gymnasium is a thing of the past, but Miró + I go on”(Alexander Calder cited in: Exh. Cat., New York, Perls Galleries, Calder-Miró, 1961, n.p.). Ultimately, Miró helped steer Calder away from traditional modes of representation and towards a language of surrealist abstraction.
Knitting stands as a rare and idiosyncratic paradigm of Calder’s work in oil on canvas. Illuminating his artistic transition and continuous oscillation between figuration and abstraction, the present work represents a remarkable pendent to the simultaneous development of his iconic mobiles.
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A01247.
Executed in 1949, this medley of vibrant circular shapes on a muted grey background is a rare gem within Alexander Calder’s acclaimed oeuvre. Despite being best known for his revolutionary mobiles and monumental stabiles, Calder was hugely prolific across a number of mediums. While he continuously produced gouache paintings on paper throughout his long career, oils on canvas of this quality are undeniably scarce.
Abandoning a career as a mechanical engineer, Calder studied under George Luks and John Sloan from 1923 to 1925 at the Art Students League, where his formative art education was rooted in painting and figurative abstraction. Although his artistic legacy is best understood through kinetic sculpture, painting served as an anchor that operated in parallel to the sculptural works in establishing Calder’s core principles of line in space. In 1931, Calder joined the Abstract Creation Group and participated in group exhibitions. A shift towards the abstract, the use of geometric forms and ubiquitous presence of bold colours would become fundamental to his canvases, gouaches, and sculpture for the duration of his career.
These primary elements are perfectly articulated in the present work. Reduced to a handful of thin black lines, a ball of wool and two knitting needles (as alluded to in the work’s title, given after the fact of creation) are discernible in the centre of the composition and are surrounded by an array of abstract forms in Calder’s preferred palette of bold primary colours. The flat circular shapes in the lower half of the composition draw distinct parallels to the metal discs of the artist’s mobiles. These suspended geometric elements float across the picture plane with the same gliding grace as Calder’s three dimensional sculptures.
Not only does Knitting reflect Calder’s aesthetic development, it also points to his close relationship and affinity with Spanish Surrealist artist Joan Miró, who he had befriended during his time in Paris during the late 1920s. The two became life long friends and their works developed along parallel, yet resonant trajectories. Speaking of his friend, Calder recalled: “I met Miró in Dec. ’29 when I called on him in his tin-arched studio in Montmartre… We became very good friends and attended many things together, including a gymnasium… I came to love his painting, his color, his personages, and we exchanged works… Gymnasium is a thing of the past, but Miró + I go on”(Alexander Calder cited in: Exh. Cat., New York, Perls Galleries, Calder-Miró, 1961, n.p.). Ultimately, Miró helped steer Calder away from traditional modes of representation and towards a language of surrealist abstraction.
Knitting stands as a rare and idiosyncratic paradigm of Calder’s work in oil on canvas. Illuminating his artistic transition and continuous oscillation between figuration and abstraction, the present work represents a remarkable pendent to the simultaneous development of his iconic mobiles.
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A01247.