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"How can art be realized?...Out of volumes, motion, spaces bounded by the great space, the universe."
—Alexander Calder
Alexander and Louisa Calder in India, 1955. Image: Photo courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York, Artwork: © 2021 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkEncapsulating an extraordinary story of Alexander Calder’s global travels, White Moon is a striking example of the artist’s lifelong endeavors in kinetic abstractions and captivation with nature. Conceived during a pivotal moment in Calder’s career, the present work belongs to a rare body of nine sculptures the artist created during his trip to India between January and February 1955. Upon an invitation from the renowned architect and designer Gira Sarabhai, Calder sojourned for three weeks at her family’s estate in Ahmedabad, where he produced one of the most fascinating bodies of work of his oeuvre that remained in the Sarabhai family’s private collection for nearly half a century. In this dynamic composition, a white crescent flutters amidst a constellation of blue, black and red elements as the mobile dances in infinite combinations before the viewer’s eyes.
"In 1954, I received a letter from a young Indian woman who wrote me mentioning Jean Hélion, my good friend. She was Gira Sarabhai, youngest of eight children of a large wealthy family in Ahmedabad, which is somewhere halfway between Bombay and Delhi. She offered Louisa and me a trip to India, if I’d consent to make some objects for her when there. I immediately replied yes."
—Alexander CalderComing from a family of important Jain industrialists and steadfast patrons of the arts, Gira and her brother Gautam had frequently welcomed leaders of the European and American avant-garde to their home, including Isamu Noguchi, John Cage, Le Corbusier, and later Robert Rauschenberg, Charles and Ray Eames, and Richard Neutra—among others. Soon after purchasing her first Calder mobile at the Maeght Gallery in Paris, Gira extended an invitation to Calder, which would commence their lifelong friendship. For Calder, the inspiration of the new environment of Ahmbedabad, as well as the economic means of materials and time, reinvigorated him with a fresh burst of artistic imagination channeled through spontaneous creativity. This impulse was reflected in his rare instance of titling of the sculptures including the present work just before they were unveiled at a private exhibition at the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute, Mumbai in March 1955, alongside the screening of Herbert Matter’s 1950 film, Works of Calder.
A Mobile Artist
"In one hand a pair of pliers…toujours en vedette.
His tools are always by his side, ready like a mechanic poised to begin work. And his workplace represents the whole world…"
—Paul WestheimIn his response to Gira’s request, Calder noted “I will bring my pliers—but no other tool.”i This statement encapsulates the artist’s habit of distilling his practice down to the wire, so to speak, through his habit of working in makeshift studios. Combining work and travel, Calder’s nomadic approach is seen as early as 1920s during his time in Paris, namely his improvised performances of Cirque Calder and his spontaneous wire portraits. By the 1950s, Calder applied this sensibility to his brief residencies abroad—from Beirut in 1954 and Ahmedabad in 1955, to Caracas shortly after—becoming ever more in tune with his art. In the words of Oliver Wick, “Ingenious flexibility with improvised working situations and adaptive artistic methods made Calder become ‘mobile’ himself.”ii
Calder’s Universe
"[Calder’s] mobiles are at once lyrical inventions, technical, almost mathematical combinations and the tangible symbol of Nature."
—Jean-Paul Sartre
Joan Miró, Personnages dans la nuit guidés par les traces phosphorescentes des escargots from the series Constellations, 1941-1959. Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Image: © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2021 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisIn the early 1930s, Marcel Duchamp iconically coined the term 'mobile' when he saw Calder’s first motorized sculptures at the artist’s studio in Paris. At the time, Calder was closely affiliated with the Parisian avant-garde milieu, bearing witness to some of the most radical creative developments in European Modernism, and invented his singular artistic language that revolutionized three-dimensional art in the 20th century. Drawing from his intuitive understanding of mathematics and the laws of physics, Calder refined his process by discarding mechanization and allowing nature to be the source of motion, resulting in the poetic simplicity of Calder’s kinetic abstractions that belie the complexity of their conception. In India, Calder created his sculptures with a lighter type of metal, which allowed the sculptures to move all the more lyrically as manifested in White Moon.
“To me,” Calder wrote, “whatever sphere, or other form, I use in these constructions does not necessarily mean a body of that size, shape or color, but may mean a more minute system of bodies, an atmospheric condition, or even a void. I.E. the idea that one can compose any things of which he can conceive.”v In subject, form, and movement, White Moon perfectly captures the heart of Calder’s visionary practice.
The present work installed at the Villa Sarabhai in Ahmedabad, 1955. Artwork: © 2021 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkCollector’s Digest
Concurrent & Upcoming Institutional Shows:
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Alexander Calder: Modern from the Start, March 14 – January 15, 2022
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Calder-Picasso, October 31, 2021 – January 30, 2022
Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Calder Now, November 21, 2021 – May 29, 2022
i Alexander Calder to Gira Sarabhai, letter dated September 9, 195, repr. in Calder in India, exh. cat., London, 2012, p. 100.
ii Oliver Wick, “Alexander Calder: A Passage to India,” in Calder in India, London, 2012, p. 27.
iii Alexander Calder, quoted in Jean Lipman, Calder’s Universe, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1977, p. 17.
iv Alexander Calder in conversation with Jean Davidson, in Alexander Calder, Calder: An Autobiography with Pictures, New York, 1966, pp. 54-55.v Alexander Calder, "À Propos of Measuring a Mobile," manuscript, October 7, 1943, online.
Provenance
Gira Sarabhai, Ahmedabad (gifted by the artist in 1955)
Private Collection (acquired from the above)
Christie’s, New York, May 10, 2016, lot 14B
Acquired at the above sale by the present ownerExhibited
London, Ordovas Gallery, Calder in India, May 31 - August 3, 2012, p. 80 (illustrated, pp. 81, 93; installation view illustrated, p. 87)
Literature
Shanay Jhaveri, ed., Western Artists and India: Creative Inspirations in Art and Design, London, 2013, no. 1, p. 42 (illustrated)
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.
Property of a Distinguished American Collector
10
White Moon
sheet metal, wire, and paint
24 1/2 x 112 x 19 1/2 in. (62.2 x 284.5 x 49.5 cm)
Executed in India in 1955.
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A10124.
Estimate
$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,628,000
Amanda Lo Iacono
New York Head of Department & Head of Auctions
+1 212 940 1278
aloiacono@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 17 November 2021
1
Shara Hughes
Inside Outside
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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2
Jadé Fadojutimi
My Umbrella Has A Nourishing Disguise
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $877,000
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3
Ewa Juszkiewicz
Girl in Blue
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $730,800
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4
Kwesi Botchway
Green Sofa
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $214,200
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5
Titus Kaphar
Fade With Time
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $816,500
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6
David Hammons
Puzzling Times
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $877,000
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7
Raymond Pettibon
No Title (Let him come...)
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $3,418,000
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8
Joan Mitchell
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $11,870,000
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9
Georgia O'Keeffe
Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $7,748,000
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10
Alexander Calder
White Moon
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,628,000
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11
Cecily Brown
Untitled
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $6,140,500
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12
Willem de Kooning
Composition
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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13
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,692,000
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14
This lot is no longer available.
15
Amy Sherald
Welfare Queen
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $3,902,000
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16
Francis Bacon
'Pope with Owls'
Estimate $35,000,000 - 45,000,000
Sold for $33,000,000
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17
Luc Tuymans
Wallpaper
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,250,000
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18
Pierre Bonnard
Panier de fruit
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $4,991,000
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19
Honor Titus
Linden Blvd Jazz Radio
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $163,800
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20
Matthew Wong
Time After Time
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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21
Avery Singer
European Ego Ideal
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $4,023,000
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22
Mark Tansey
Garden
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $2,934,000
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23
KAWS
THE WAY HE KNOWS
Estimate $850,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $1,542,500
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24
Wassily Kandinsky
Fliessend
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
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25
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (from Famous Negro Athlete Series)
Estimate $750,000 - 1,100,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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26
Peter Saul
Ice Box #3
Estimate $350,000 - 450,000
Sold for $441,000
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27
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (The Door)
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $8,549,500
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28
Emily Mae Smith
Feast and Famine
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $1,361,000
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29
Gerhard Richter
Weiß (White)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $5,717,000
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30
Robert Ryman
Series #25 (White)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,421,500
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31
Frank Stella
Double Concentric Square
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $1,845,000
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32
Carmen Herrera
Amarillo y Negro
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $630,000
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33
Andy Warhol
The Last Supper/Be a Somebody with a Body
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $6,806,000
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34
Christopher Wool
Blue Fool
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,179,500
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35
This lot is no longer available.
36
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Six PM, Malaga
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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37
Mickalene Thomas
Portrait of Qusuquzah #5
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $504,000
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38
Mike Kelley
Memory Ware Flat #3
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,179,500
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39
George Condo
Collision Course
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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40
Bruce Nauman
Untitled (from Fifteen Pairs of Hands)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $983,000
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41
David Hammons
Untitled
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $3,660,000
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42
Nicolas Party
Houses
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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43
Hurvin Anderson
Country Club—Mixed Doubles
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $604,800
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44
Max Ernst
Ohne Titel (les hommes ne le sauront jamais)
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $504,000
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45
Max Ernst
Kachina, le chien de Peggy Guggenheim
Estimate $280,000 - 350,000
Sold for $277,200
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46
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $786,250
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47
Reggie Burrows Hodges
On the Verge: Green
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $567,000
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48
Max Ernst
Portrait de Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $176,400
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