Alexander Calder - Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session New York Wednesday, May 15, 2024 | Phillips

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  • “My work is an expression of the joy and excitement I find in the world.”
    —Alexander Calder

    While Alexander Calder is most well-known for his kinetic sculptures and vibrant gouaches, his paintings on canvas hold a unique place in the artist’s prolific oeuvre. Two Men, Two Pyramids, 1956 was painted at a pivotal moment in the artist’s career. Three years earlier, in November 1953, right after he moved to Aix-en-Provence, Calder traded three of his mobiles for François Premier, a dilapidated seventeenth-century farmhouse in Saché. Across the street, there was a smaller building which he turned into his “gouacherie,” or painting studio.

     

    The following years would be transformative as Calder began to embark upon commissioned projects around the world. Through his travels, Calder developed an affinity for historic monuments, visiting places like Egypt, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and India. 1956 was also the year that Calder had his first solo exhibition with Perls Galleries in New York, mounted by his new dealers Klaus and Dolly Perls, who would continue to represent the artist for the rest of his life and career. 

     

    In the present work, two caricatured men in red and yellow stare off into the distance where there are two pyramid structures receding into the background. Both the figures and the pyramids are rendered with simple contour lines, recalling a primitive style of ancient art-making forms like cave painting and stone carving. The pyramids themselves more overtly reference what he would have encountered in places like Egypt. While static, Calder’s energetic brushwork suggests movement. Quick, white strokes in the sky resemble clouds moving from left to right, while thinner, brushier outlines around the figures’ limbs highlight their musculature. Together, these elements combine to create a picture which highlights humans’ awe of the expansive world around them, undoubtedly inspired by Calder’s joie-de-vivre.

    • Condition Report

    • Description

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    • Provenance

      Perls Galleries, New York
      Private Collection, New York
      Christie's, New York, February 22, 1996, lot 14
      Helly Nahman, Geneva (acquired from the above sale)
      Sotheby's, New York, May 13, 2015, lot 151
      Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Roslyn Harbor, Nassau County Museum of Art, Calder and Miró, June 7–September 13, 1998, pp. 52, 77 (illustrated, p. 52)
      New York, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Alexander Calder: The Painter, November 7–December 23, 2011, pp. 54–55 (illustrated, p. 55; titled Untitled)

    • Artist Biography

      Alexander Calder

      American • 1898 - 1976

      Alexander Calder worked as an abstract sculptor and has been commonly referred to as the creator of the mobile. He employed industrious materials of wire and metal and transformed them into delicate geometric shapes that respond to the wind or float in air. Born into a family of sculptors, Calder created art from childhood and moved to Paris in 1926, where he became a pioneer of the international avant-garde. In addition to his mobiles, Calder produced an array of public constructions worldwide as well as drawings and paintings that feature the same brand of abstraction. Calder was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania.

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175

Untitled

signed and dated "Calder 56" lower right
oil on canvas
42 x 24 in. (106.7 x 61 cm)
Painted in 1956, this work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application no. A10313.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$300,000 - 500,000 

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Contact Specialist

Annie Dolan
NY Head of Auctions and Specialist, Head of Sale, Morning Session
212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com

Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

New York Auction 15 May 2024