Alexander CalderHandwritten, signed letter1956
1956
About the Item
- Creator:Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976, American)
- Creation Year:1956
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good vintage condition.
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1745214303162
Alexander Calder
The American sculptor Alexander Calder is known as the father of the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling.
Because Calder's parents, both artists themselves, did not want him to suffer the hardships of trying to make a living in art, they encouraged the young Calder to study mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He worked a number of jobs, including as a hydraulic engineer and draftsman for the New York Edison Company, before deciding to pursue an artistic career. He never abandoned his engineering background, however, applying his understanding of gears and moving parts in all his artworks, from mechanical toys like the Cirque Calder (1931) and his revered prints to his free-standing abstract sculptures, called stabiles.
In 1926, Calder moved to Paris and established a studio in the Montparnasse quarter. He began creating the many parts of his famous miniature circus from found materials, such as wire, string, cloth, rubber and cork. Designed to be transportable, Cirque grew to fill five suitcases over the years. Always interested in putting forms in motion, Calder also pioneered a new art form called wire sculptures, which he described as “drawings in space.” Like his famous mobiles, the wire sculptures were suspended so that they turned with any movement of the air, presenting different forms when viewed from different angles.
In the 1950s, Calder returned to his roots in mechanical engineering, creating monumental abstract sculptures that verged on the architectural. He worked from loose gestural drawings like this preparatory sketch for his Man Stabile, from 1966. Throughout his career, he also worked as a set designer for the theater, as well as an illustrator and printmaker, producing vibrant, whimsical drawings for books and journals.
Find original Alexander Calder art today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- Quem paga o arrego, spray! (Who pays the bill, spray!), by top Brazilian artistLocated in New York, NYErnesto Neto Quem paga o arrego, spray! (Who pays the bill, spray!), 2012 Ink on Cotton Rag Paper, signed & numbered. Signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 45 on the front (...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Rag Paper
- Original handwritten Letter of thanks, hand signed by Keith Haring on letterheadBy Keith HaringLocated in New York, NYKeith Haring Original Handwritten, hand signed Letter, ca. 1987 Ink on Haring's Private letterhead Stationery, Hand written and hand signed by Keith...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Permanent Marker
- Where the End Starts (original hand signed drawing created for museum employee)By KAWSLocated in New York, NYKAWS Where the End Starts, 2016 Original Ink on paper drawing on offset lithograph Hand signed and dated by KAWS lower front Accompanied by hand signed letter of provenance from the Modern Art Museum, Ft. Worth staffer who received this work as a gift from KAWS Unique work Frame included: matted with gold matting and a white frame with UV plexiglass This is a very special work with superb provenance: A unique, signed drawing done by KAWS, which he created exclusively for a staff member at the Modern Art Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas. on the occasion of KAWS monumental exhibition. The drawing was done on the museum's publication for KAWS 2016...Category
2010s Street Art Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Offset, Lithograph, Mixed Media, Permanent Marker
- We Love You, drawing on mixed media engraving signed & inscribed unique multipleBy Louise BourgeoisLocated in New York, NYLouise Bourgeois We Love You, 2000 Mixed Media Engraving and watercolor with unique Ink drawing on Fabriano Paper 7 × 11 1/10 inches Unique Variant with origi...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Watercolor, Engraving, Mixed Media
- Study 8 Russian protest Unique signed gouache Marlborough Gallery w/label FramedBy Grisha BruskinLocated in New York, NYGrisha Bruskin Study 8, 1990 Ink and Gouache on paper Hand signed and inscribed by the artist on the front Original vintage frame with Marlborough Gallery label included This work is...Category
1990s Contemporary Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Gouache
- Untitled (Artist's Hand), unique signed drawing by celebrated British artistBy Richard LongLocated in New York, NYRICHARD LONG Untitled (Artist's Hand), 2015 Graphite pencil on paper with red ink and monogram Hand signed in red ink, dated in pencil, stamped with the artist's monogram Unique Orig...Category
2010s Young British Artists (YBA) Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Pencil, Graphite, Mixed Media
- Figurative, Ink on Paper by Modern Indian Artist Sunil Das "In Stock"By Sunil DasLocated in Kolkata, West BengalSunil Das - Untitled - 13.5 x 9 inches (unframed size) Ink on paper It will be delivered without Frame Sunil Das (1939-2015) was a Master Modern Indian Artist from Bengal. Extreme...Category
1960s Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Paper
- 'Abstracted Figure', Sydney, Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, BrazilLocated in Santa Cruz, CASigned lower right, 'Bonorat' and painted circa 1980 An elegant, modernist figural painting and early work by this Sydney-based Mexican artist who studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Mexico City (1982-84) and, subsequently, at the Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, Brazil (1986). STUDIES 1982-1984 Painting and Drawing Ateliers – National School of Fine Arts, Mexico City 1985-1986 Artistic Experimentation – Carrillo Hill Museum, Mexico City 1986 Metal Engraving – Museum of Modern Art Sao Paulo Brazil SOLO EXHIBITIONS 1986 Art Gallery of Santos Municipal Cultural Centre, Sao Paulo, Brazil 1988 Art Gallery of Porto Alegre Municipal centre, R.S. Brazil 1991 Gallery Casa de la Cultura, Morelia Mexico 1994 The Beatty Gallery, Sydney 1996 The Beatty Gallery, Sydney 1996 Michael Burke Gallery, Brisbane 1997 The Beatty Gallery, Sydney 2019 ‘Golden Trinity’, Thienny Lee Gallery, Sydney 2019 ‘Continuous Thread, GAFFA Gallery, Sydney GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1985 Mail Art Network Kyoto City Museum, Kyoto Japan 1987 Banespa Cultural Centre, Sao Paulo Brazil 1988 IV National Contest of Fine Arts, Cubatao Brazil 1992 NCA Gallery, Sydney 1994 The Beatty Gallery, Sydney 1994/5/6 Selected for the “Fisher’s Ghost” Art...Category
1980s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache
- Golf Bags, Caddy with Golf Bag on His BackBy Frederick ConwayLocated in Missouri, MOFramed Size: approx 17 3/4 x 20 3/4 inches Fred Conway (1900-1973) "Golf Bags, Caddy with Golf Bag on His Back" Pen/Ink/Watercolor on Paper Site Size: approx. 10 x 13 inches Framed Size: approx. 17 3/4 x 20 3/4 inches A member of the faculty of the Washington University Art School from 1929 to 1970, Frederick Conway...Category
1960s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink, Watercolor, Pen
- Leonard Baskin Watercolor Ink Illustration Painting Darkened Man, Nude with BirdBy Leonard BaskinLocated in Surfside, FLLeonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000) ink and gouache drawing on paper titled "Darkened Man", signed lower right, circa 1957. Provenance: Grace Borgenicht gallery, Jeffrey M. Kaplan collection. bears label verso Art: 31" H x 22" W; Frame: 36" H x 27" W. Leonard Baskin was an American sculptor, illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, writer and teacher. Baskin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While he was a student at Yale University, he founded Gehenna Press, a small private press specializing in fine book production. From 1953 until 1974, he taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Subsequently Baskin also taught at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He lived most of his life in the U.S., but spent nine years in Devon at Lurley Manor, Lurley, near Tiverton, close to his friend Ted Hughes, for whom he illustrated Crow. Sylvia Plath dedicated Sculpto to Leonard Baskin in her famous work, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960). The Funeral Contege (1997) bronze, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. His public commissions include a bas relief for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and a bronze statue of a seated figure, erected in 1994 for the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His works are owned by many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art and the Vatican Museums. The archive of his work at the Gehenna Press was acquired by the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England, in 2009. The McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario owns over 200 of his works (some religious and biblical), most of which were donated by his brother Rabbi Bernard Baskin. He was included in the MoMA show, Summer Exhibition: New Acquisitions; Recent American Prints, 1947–1953; Katherine S. Dreier Bequest; Kuniyoshi and Spencer; Expressionism in Germany; Varieties of Realism along with Alexander Archipenko, Francis Bacon, Balthus, Will Barnet, Leonard Baskin, Eugene Berman, Reg Butler, Lovis Corinth, Andre Derain, Otto Dix, Raoul Dufy, Max Ernst, Lucian Freud, George Grosz, Alexei Jawlensky, Oskar Kokoschka, Roberto Matta, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and more. In 1955, he was one of eleven New York artists featured in the opening exhibition at the Terrain Gallery, they showed many great artists, Chaim Koppelman, for many years, headed the gallery's Print Division; printmakers such as Will Barnet, Leonard Baskin, Robert Conover, Edmond Casarella, Vincent Longo, and Nicholas Krushenick were frequent exhibitors. the gallery has represented many well-known artists, including Richard Anuszkiewicz, Robert Blackburn, Lois Dodd, William King, Chaim and Dorothy Koppelman, Roy Lichtenstein, Harold Krisel...Category
1950s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsIndia Ink, Watercolor
- Polish French Judaica Watercolor Gouache Painting Original Bauhaus Yiddish ArtBy Moses Bagel BahelferLocated in Surfside, FLMoses Bahelfer BAGEL (1908-1995) Moses Bagel (born Moshe Bahelfer) was a Polish-born Jewish artist and graphic designer associated with the original Bauhaus and then the School of Paris (Ecole de Paris) Moshe Bagelferyches was born on June 29 , 1908 in Vilnius, (Vilna, Poland) then part of the Russian Empire. He took up painting from at an early age, later going on to work as an apprentice at a local vocational school in Vilno while taking classes at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Bagelferyches also joined Yungvilno, a group formed by young Jewish artists, poets and writers in the city, who hosted exhibitions. In 1927, he left for Germany where he joined the Bauhaus arts and architecture school in Dessau. From 1928 to 1932, he studied under Joost Schmidt, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, and Wassily Kandinsky. His painting was close to pure abstract art. He maintained close bonds with former students of the Bauhaus school who lived in Paris, Joseph Weinfeld, Jean Leppien...Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Watercolor, ABS
- Polish French Judaica Watercolor Gouache Painting Original Bauhaus Yiddish ArtBy Moses Bagel BahelferLocated in Surfside, FLMoses Bahelfer BAGEL (1908-1995) Moses Bagel (born Moshe Bahelfer) was a Polish-born Jewish artist and graphic designer associated with the original Bauhaus and then the School of Paris (Ecole de Paris) Moshe Bagelferyches was born on June 29 , 1908 in Vilnius, (Vilna, Poland) then part of the Russian Empire. He took up painting from at an early age, later going on to work as an apprentice at a local vocational school in Vilno while taking classes at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Bagelferyches also joined Yungvilno, a group formed by young Jewish artists, poets and writers in the city, who hosted exhibitions. In 1927, he left for Germany where he joined the Bauhaus arts and architecture school in Dessau. From 1928 to 1932, he studied under Joost Schmidt, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, and Wassily Kandinsky. His painting was close to pure abstract art. He maintained close bonds with former students of the Bauhaus school who lived in Paris, Joseph Weinfeld, Jean Leppien...Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Watercolor, ABS
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Renowned for His Mobiles, Alexander Calder Was Also Adept at Crafting Modernist Jewelry
There are no sparkling gemstones on this necklace, but its value far exceeds the cost of its materials.
10 Must-Visit American Public Sculptures
Get your dose of Vitamin D while surveying works by the likes of Alexander Calder, Keith Haring and Pablo Picasso.