Alexander Calder

Mer De Sable By Alexander Calder

1975

Pablo Picasso 1881-1973 Spanish Guitare sur un guéridon (Guitar on a pedestal) Gouache on Western wove paper laid on board Signed “Picasso” (upper left) Picasso’s prolific career has been marked by many grand love affairs, both romantic, intellectual and creative. Beyond his lovers like Olga Khoklova and Dora Maar and his intellectual muses like Georges Braques and Gertrude Stein, Picasso’s greatest love and inspiration was perhaps a humble instrument: the guitar. Whether it be the Old Guitarist from his early blue period, his groundbreaking series of three-dimensional guitar sculptures from his nascent explorations in Cubism, or his Mandolin and Guitar composition’s grander explorations with color and biomorphic shapes, the guitar is an elusive calling card for modern art’s greatest genius. In Guitare sur un guéridon, Picasso intertwines his signature guitar and a bowl of fruit. These two elements are playfully brought together and skillfully anchored on the tabletop by a square positioned at the center of the composition. The result is a captivating and harmonious arrangement that showcases Picasso's artistic ingenuity in blending these everyday objects into a visually striking and cohesive composition. This rare gouache was created during the pivotal summer of 1920. During this time, Picasso lived in Juan-les-Pins, a small coastal resort town in the South of France away from the confines of the city and the fallout of World War I. With this newfound freedom, Picasso entered an exciting and innovative creative period and began to interrogate the connections between Neoclassicism and Cubism. Picasso created a series of gouache paintings characterized by their flat, geometric nature, sinuous contours and strikingly vivid colors. Though not a complete departure from his previous Cubist works, this series showcased the influence of the Surrealists, especially the biomorphic subconscious explorations of Joan Miró, upon Picasso’s oeuvre. While the breadth of his creativity grew, he returned back to a familiar motif — the guitar — with a renewed sense of vigor and excitement. Guitare sur un guéridon’s undulating lines and biomorphic appeal bring Picasso's preoccupation with the guitar into deeper focus. The sinuous lines of guitar mirror...

Paul Delvaux 1897-1994 Belgian Study for “L’Acropole” Signed and dated "P.Delvaux 1965" (lower right) Watercolor, pen and ink on paper This preliminary drawing for Paul Delvaux’s greatest masterpiece L’Acropole, which resides today in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, features the artist’s most beloved subject — mystical scenes of nude women. A centrally-placed, stoic woman draped in a long green gown stands with her arms outstretched by her sides. She gazes at another idealized woman in the foreground, lying nude on a chaise lounge, while behind her, multitudes of other women in white dresses undertake a long procession towards a distant door. The captivating scene exudes the unique Surrealist style for which the artist has become known. With this skillful rendering of the surreal setting, Delvaux has mastered depicting nude women in a sensual yet non-erotic manner. The artist drew inspiration from a variety of sources, including the futuristic writings of Jules Verne and the mythos of Homer, and blended them with his subconscious themes, which frequently included the nude female form. In combination with the loose concepts of form and perspective found in the 16th-century Mannerist paintings that Delvaux studied in Italy before World War II, his distinctive style served to create memorable dreamscapes without veering into lewdness. Like the very best Surrealist images, the work is both innovative and engaging. Paul Delvaux's earliest and most lasting influences in his art were the futuristic writings of Jules Verne and the mythos of Homer. After completing his initial artistic training at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Delvaux exhibited with Surrealists Dalí...

Highly detailed india ink abstract pointillist drawing of figures and roses with watercolor and gouache by Ben Black (American, 1922-2003), c.1990's. Signed "Ben Black" lower right. ...

Pointillist Abstract Design by Louis Bellon (French 1908-1998) initialled lower right in the image and again in the margin gouache painting on paper, unframed unfinished sketch on th...