1972
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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Abstract with Squares by Frank Sinatra
By Frank Sinatra
Located in New Orleans, LA
Frank Sinatra 1915-1998 American Abstract with Squares Signed "Sinatra 86" (lower right) Acrylic on canvas Famed as one of the greatest American pop singers of the 20th century, ...
Canvas, Acrylic
Blue Abstract by Frank Sinatra
By Frank Sinatra
Located in New Orleans, LA
Frank Sinatra 1915-1998 American Blue Abstract Signed "Sinatra 90" (lower right) Acrylic on canvas Widely considered the greatest American pop singer of the 20th century, Frank S...
Canvas, Acrylic
Untitled by Sam Francis
By Sam Francis
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sam Francis 1923-1994 American Untitled Signed and dated "Sam Francis 1965" (en verso) Oil on canvas This striking painting hails from the renowned Edge Paintings series by impor...
Oil
Aoum II by Auguste Herbin
By Auguste Herbin
Located in New Orleans, LA
Auguste Herbin 1882-1960 French Aoum II Signed and dated 'herbin 1944' (lower right); titled "aoum" 2 (lower left) Oil on canvas This bold and vivid abstract oil on canvas was painted by French painter Auguste Herbin, a pioneer in popularizing Modernist abstraction. Over his expansive nearly 60-year career, Herbin rubbed shoulders with art history greats from Pablo Picasso to Georges Braque before honing his personal and innovative style. Entitled Aoum II, the painting stands apart for its daring color palette and crisp composition. Painted in 1944, Aoum II embodies Herbin’s fully-formed artistic aesthetic and stylistic tenets. Only two years prior to its creation, Herbin developed his “alphabet plastique,” a synergistic visual language of color and form that he described in detail in his published book L’art non-figuratif non-objectif. Though the artist was highly cerebral in his process of creating art, one does not need to perfectly understand his principles to feel Aoum II's magnetism. The geometric shapes visible in the composition — primarily fragmented triangles and circles — are rendered in bold pinks, blues and yellows on a deep black background. His tiered application of color creates a natural three-register visual effect as if to tell a story from the apex of the form to its denouement. Auguste Herbin began his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts de Lille before moving to Paris in 1901. In the early years of his career, he experimented with a variety of styles, exhibiting Post-Impressionistic works at the Salon des Indépendants in 1906 and Fauvist paintings at the Salon d'Automne in 1907. After a brief Cubist period following his introduction to Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Otto...
Canvas, Oil
Abstract with Blue on Red by Frank Sinatra
By Frank Sinatra
Located in New Orleans, LA
Frank Sinatra 1915-1998 American Abstract with Blue on Red Signed and dated "Sinatra '89"(lower right) Oil on canvas Easily one of the greatest American pop musicians of the 20th...
Oil
Kronen-Narr by Paul Klee
By Paul Klee
Located in New Orleans, LA
Paul Klee 1879-1940 Swiss-German Kronen-Narr (Crown Fool) Signed "Klee" (lower right) Gouache and ink on newsprint on cardboard One of the most important artists of the 20th cent...
Ink, Gouache, Cardboard, Newsprint
Untitled
By Alexander Calder
Located in New York, NY
Published to aid the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, Untitled, 1976 is the frontispiece from the artist’s, Our Unfinished Revolution portfolio, created by Alexander Ca...
Lithograph
Untitled, 1965
By Alexander Calder
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1965, is Color Lithograph on BFK Rives. Hand signed by Alexander Calder (Pennsylvania, 1898 - New York, 1976) in pencil in the lower right and is numbered...
Lithograph
Galactic Systems
By Alexander Calder
Located in Miami, FL
Lithograph in colors on Arches paper, full sheet Published by Éditions de la Différence, Paris 20.4 x 28.3 inches Signed and numbered in pencil, from an edition of 100 copies Conditi...
Lithograph
Spirals
By Alexander Calder
Located in London, GB
Alexander Calder Spirals, 1969 signed bottom right Color lithograph on Rives BFK, 89 x 60 cm 35 x 23.6 inches Alexander Calder was an American sculptor known both for his innovative...
Handmade Paper, Lithograph
Tempete
By Alexander Calder
Located in New York, NY
Signed and dated
Lithograph
Untitled
By Alexander Calder
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled Color lithograph, 1959 Unsigned (as issued) From: Derriere Le Miroir, No. 113, 1959 Publisher: Editions Pierre a Feu Editor: A. Maeght Small edition as it appeared in the ma...
Lithograph
There are no sparkling gemstones on this necklace, but its value far exceeds the cost of its materials.
Get your dose of Vitamin D while surveying works by the likes of Alexander Calder, Keith Haring and Pablo Picasso.
