Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Alexander Calder
Large Black Face With Sun, 1968

1968

About the Item

Large Black Face with Sun, 1968 gouache and ink on paper 29.25 x 43" signed and dated "Calder 68" lower right This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York. EXHIBITED Calder, Grand Valley State College, Manitou Gallery, Allendale, Michigan, May 4-June 15, 1969 Alexander Calder: Mobiles, Stabiles Gouaches, Drawings from the Michigan Collections, Flint Institute of Arts, February 20- March 27, 1983, no. 47, pp. 30 and 32, illustrated Alexander Calder: Sculpture and Works on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, April 4-26, 2006 “At the time and practically ever since, the underlying form in my work has been the system of the universe, for that is a rather larger model to work from.” – Alexander Calder, 1951 (‘What Abstract Art Means to Me’, The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art, Vol. 18, No. 3, Spring, 1951) Alexander Calder’s interest in cosmology, the philosophical and astronomical systems of the universe, is at the heart of his creative output. The discovery of Pluto in the 1930s was a defining moment that instigated his fascination with the solar system and astronomy. Over the ensuing years he focused on creating entire worlds like ‘Calder’s Circus’ and his ‘Constellations’ sculptures. Universal laws of mass, direction and space informed not only his sculptural work but the dynamic line visible in all of his two-dimensional work like the gouache here, Large Black Face with Sun. The work was created in the year after he had completed El Sol Rojo for the Olympics Pavilion in Mexico. The waving black rays of the anthropomorphized sun face echo the curved black legs of El Sol Rojo while the solid red abstracted sun in the form of a circle directly references the red sun of El Sol Rojo. Calder began to spend time in Mexico in 1967 in preparation for the installation of El Sol Rojo and immersed himself in local Mexican and Yucatan culture and history. In Large Black Face With Sun, the black face appears as a direct reference to the central face on the famed Aztec Calendar Stone installed in 1964 in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology and History. With his typical whimsy, simple silhouettes, primary color and lively painting, Calder here creates a lovely homage to Mexico and its ancient Aztecs, specifically their cosmogony, in his essential ‘Calderian’ way.
  • Creator:
    Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1968
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 39.38 in (100.03 cm)Width: 53.38 in (135.59 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Generally very good condition - 2 small spots of inpainting in the white areas, invisible to the eye, only visible under UV.
  • Gallery Location:
    Greenwich, CT
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 0091stDibs: LU2664213306272
More From This SellerView All
  • Bowling, 1974
    By Alexander Calder
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    Bowling gouache and ink on paper 29.5 x 43.25" signed and dated "Calder 74" on recto, lower right This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York. LITERA...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

  • Untitled, 1963 (SF63-039)
    By Sam Francis
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    Untitled (SF63-039) is an acrylic painting on paper, with an image size of 41 x 27.5 inches, signed 'Sam Francis' verso, and framed in a contemporary light wood frame. Untitled, 196...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Acrylic

  • Gel Monochrome #6
    By Ben Weiner
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    Gel Monochrome #6 is an oil painting on prepared paper, sheet size 22 x 14.75 inches, signed, titled and dated verso, 'Ben Weiner Gel Monochrome #6 2019' and framed in a contemporary white frame. Connecting two opposing styles—abstraction and photorealism—Ben Weiner creates hyper-detailed, lush paintings and videos of extremely magnified consumer products, including hair gel, chemical food additives, and deodorant. In his work, he presents such meticulously rendered, close-up views of his subjects that they read as pure abstractions. A through-line in Weiner’s various bodies of work is contemporary culture’s obsession with bodily enhancement through chemical products—whether by using hair products or taking illegal drugs. "The Gel Series presents a virtual environment that is in flux. Based on hair gel, a material that is physically malleable and visually enticing, it has the ability to change one’s physical appearance. In an abstract manner, the painting reflects our current global environment, subject to constant, dramatic change and rapid development- on the one hand through humanity’s ability to alter the face of the earth according to its ideas; on the other through changing environmental conditions and natural disasters". - Ben Weiner Ben Charles Weiner (b. 1980) is a New York based contemporary artist. His work bridges the seemingly opposite styles of hyperrealism, and process-based abstraction. Mr. Weiner has exhibited his work widely in the US and internationally, at institutions including The Carnegie Art Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, and The Tarble Art Center. His work is in public collections including Microsoft, Sammlung/Collection, Progressive Insurance, and The Frederick R. Weisman Collection...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil

  • Mirror Pearls
    By Ben Weiner
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    Mirror Pearls is an oil painting on prepared paper, sheet size 12.25 x 16.25 inches, signed, titled and dated verso, 'Ben Weiner Mirror Pearls 2019' and framed in a contemporary white frame. Connecting two opposing styles—abstraction and photorealism—Ben Weiner creates hyper-detailed, lush paintings and videos of extremely magnified consumer products, including hair gel, chemical food additives, and deodorant. In his work, he presents such meticulously rendered, close-up views of his subjects that they read as pure abstractions. A through-line in Weiner’s various bodies of work is contemporary culture’s obsession with bodily enhancement through chemical products—whether by using hair products or taking illegal drugs. "My paintings of pearls and hair gel merge varied notions of art as creation with biological and mythological concepts of creation. Visually, the pearls seem to emerge from the hair gel, suggesting biological processes such as cellular division, or the primordial soup that preceded life on earth. The all-over, abstract qualities of the hair gel recall the abstract expressionists’ concepts of the sublime art object and art as a transcendent act of creation. Additionally, the pearl itself is a naturally produced object of profound beauty. I use it to symbolize my understanding of creation as a feminine power, intrinsically linked to beauty (as in Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus). Finally, the pearls are an ode to Audrey Flack, one of my early artistic influences." - Ben Weiner Ben Charles Weiner (b. 1980) is a New York based contemporary artist. His work bridges the seemingly opposite styles of hyperrealism, and process-based abstraction. Mr. Weiner has exhibited his work widely in the US and internationally, at institutions including The Carnegie Art Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, and The Tarble Art Center. His work is in public collections including Microsoft, Sammlung/Collection, Progressive Insurance, and The Frederick R. Weisman Collection...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil

  • Reflection Pearls II
    By Ben Weiner
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    Reflection Pearls II is an oil painting on prepared paper, sheet size 29.75 x 41.25 inches, signed, titled and dated verso, 'Ben Weiner Reflection Pearls II 2019' and framed in a contemporary white frame. Connecting two opposing styles—abstraction and photorealism—Ben Weiner creates hyper-detailed, lush paintings and videos of extremely magnified consumer products, including hair gel, chemical food additives, and deodorant. In his work, he presents such meticulously rendered, close-up views of his subjects that they read as pure abstractions. A through-line in Weiner’s various bodies of work is contemporary culture’s obsession with bodily enhancement through chemical products—whether by using hair products or taking illegal drugs. "My paintings of pearls and hair gel merge varied notions of art as creation with biological and mythological concepts of creation. Visually, the pearls seem to emerge from the hair gel, suggesting biological processes such as cellular division, or the primordial soup that preceded life on earth. The all-over, abstract qualities of the hair gel recall the abstract expressionists’ concepts of the sublime art object and art as a transcendent act of creation. Additionally, the pearl itself is a naturally produced object of profound beauty. I use it to symbolize my understanding of creation as a feminine power, intrinsically linked to beauty (as in Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus). Finally, the pearls are an ode to Audrey Flack, one of my early artistic influences." - Ben Weiner Ben Charles Weiner (b. 1980) is a New York based contemporary artist. His work bridges the seemingly opposite styles of hyperrealism, and process-based abstraction. Mr. Weiner has exhibited his work widely in the US and internationally, at institutions including The Carnegie Art Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, and The Tarble Art Center. His work is in public collections including Microsoft, Sammlung/Collection, Progressive Insurance, and The Frederick R. Weisman Collection...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil

  • Untitled, 1970 (SF68-44)
    By Sam Francis
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    Untitled (SF68-44) from 1970 is an acrylic painting on paper with an image size of 41 x 27.5 inches, signed and dated 'Sam Francis 1970' verso, and framed in a custom, closed-corner,...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Acrylic

You May Also Like
  • Composition - Painting By Reynold Arnould - 1970
    Located in Roma, IT
    Composition is a Gouache realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Parigi 1980). Good condition. No signature. Reynold Arnould was born in Le Havre, France in 1919. He studied...
    Category

    1970s Modern Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

  • Large Hudson River Figurative Modernist Landscape Oil Painting Edward Avedisian
    By Edward Avedisian
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Edward Avedisian ( 1936-2007 ) Gouache or oil on paper, 3 guys around a car, hand signed in paint lower left, Measures 30"x 22.5" Edward Avedisian (June 15, 1936, Lowell, Massachusetts – August 17, 2007, Philmont, New York) was an American abstract painter who came into prominence during the 1960s. His work was initially associated with Color field painting and in the late 1960s with Lyrical Abstraction and Abstract Expressionism. He studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. By the late 1950s he moved to New York City. Between 1958 and 1963 Avedisian had six solo shows in New York. In 1958 he initially showed at the Hansa Gallery, then he had three shows at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery and in 1962 and 1963 at the Robert Elkon Gallery. He continued to show at the Robert Elkon Gallery almost every year until 1975. During the 1960s his work was broadly visible in the contemporary art world. He joined the dynamic art scene in Greenwich Village, frequenting the Cedar Tavern on Tenth Street, associating with the critic Clement Greenberg, and joining a new generation of abstract artists, such as Darby Bannard, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Larry Poons. Avedisian was among the leading figures to emerge in the New York art world during the 1960s. An artist who mixed the hot colors of Pop Art with the cool, more analytical qualities of Color Field painting, he was instrumental in the exploration of new abstract methods to examine the primacy of optical experience. One of his paintings was appeared on the cover of Artforum, in 1969, his work was included in the 1965 Op Art The Responsive Eye exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and in four annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His paintings were widely sought after by collectors and acquired by major museums in New York and elsewhere. He has been exhibited in prominent galleries, such as the Anita Shapolsky Gallery and the Berry Campbell Gallery in New York City. Edward Avedisian was known for his brightly colored, boldly composed canvases that combined Minimalism's rigor, Pop art exuberance and the saturated tones of Color Field painting. Roberta Smith of the NYT writes of Avedesian: "Edward Avedisian helped establish the hotly colored, but emotionally cool, abstract painting that succeeded Abstract Expressionism in the early 1960s. This young luminary harnessed elements of minimalism, pop, and color field painting to create prominent works of epic proportions that energized the New York art scene of the time." In 1996 Avedisian showed his paintings from the 1960s at the Mitchell Algus Gallery, then in SoHo. His last show, dominated by recent landscapes, was in 2003 at the Algus gallery, now in Chelsea. Selected Exhibitions: Op Art: The Responsive Eye, at the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum’s Young America 1965 Expo 67, held in Montreal, Canada. Six Painters (along with Darby Bannard, Dan Christensen, Ron Davis...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Gouache, Archival Paper

  • Mid Century Fruit Still Life Gouache Painting Bay Area Artist
    Located in Arp, TX
    From the estate of Jerry Opper and Ruth Opper Fruit Still Life c. 1950's Gouache on Paper 12" x 18", tiger maple wood frame 18.5"x1"x22.25" unsigned Early ...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Modern Still-life Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

  • 1950s "Mound Street" Mid Century Figurative Painting American Modernist
    By Donald Stacy
    Located in Arp, TX
    Donald Stacy "Mound Street" c. 1950s Gouache paint on paper 24" x 18'" unframed Unsigned Came from artist's estate For sale is a striking black and white painting titled "Mound Stre...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

  • Central City, Colorado, 1950s Semi-Abstract Cityscape Gouache Painting, Red Blue
    Located in Denver, CO
    'Central City, Colorado' by Leonard Silverstein is an original gouache on paper from 1954. Hand signed, titled, and dated by the artist in the lower right...
    Category

    1950s American Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Gouache, Archival Paper

  • 1950s "Group Meeting" Mid Century Figurative Gouache University of Paris
    By Donald Stacy
    Located in Arp, TX
    Donald Stacy "Group Meeting" c.1950s Gouache paint on paper 24" x 18'" unframed Unsigned Came from artist's estate Donald Stacy (1925-2011) New Jersey Studied: Newark School of Fin...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

Recently Viewed

View All