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Alexander CalderBowling, 19741974
1974
About the Item
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.
LITERATURE
“The 25 Most Intriguing People of 1974: Alexander Calder”, People, vol. 2, no. 27, December 30, 1974 – January 6, 1975, pp. 42-43 (illustrated in progress).
Renowned for his kinetic sculptures that were deemed “mobiles” by his contemporary, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder also excelled in the creation of prints and watercolor paintings. His interest in these media began in his twenties when he worked as an illustrator for the National Police Gazette. During two weeks in 1925, Calder was assigned to sketch imagery for the New York tour of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Likewise, he produced a series of prints in Paris during 1931 for the publication of Aesops Fables, which encompasses whimsically drawn outlines of animals with a focus on line above all.
What began as commissioned work relating to the iconography of animals, soon shifted to abstraction along with the rest of Calder’s artistic oeuvre. In an article for The New York Times, Benjamin Gennochio wrote, “As Calder’s sculpture moved into the realm of pure abstraction in the mid-1930s, so did his prints. The thin lines used to define figures in the earlier prints and drawings began delineating groups of geometric shapes, often in motion.” (Benjamin Gennochio, “Beyond the Mobiles,” The New York Times, 18 December 2009.)
Such is the case in Calder’s gouache painting entitled Bowling from 1974. The focus of the composition radiates around the pure form and color of various spheres. Solid black lines, varying in width, fan around the center focal point as if they are rays of the sun. While some of Calder’s paintings are studies for larger sculptures, many are stand alone works of art that exude the artist’s distinct style. Gennochio goes on to write that, “There is no denying that a certain stylistic and iconographic continuity exists between Calder’s sculptures and his prints.” (Gennochio, “Beyond the Mobiles,” The New York Times, 18 December 2009.)
- Creator:Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976, American)
- Creation Year:1974
- Dimensions:Height: 38.5 in (97.79 cm)Width: 52.25 in (132.72 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Generally very good condition - the corners of the sheet are soft; there are soft creases in the lower and upper left corners; faint time-staining consistent with age and some scattered spots of medium and accretions (inherent to the artist's working.
- Gallery Location:Greenwich, CT
- Reference Number:
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.
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