The present lot is a portrait of Walton B. McDaniel drawn on a paper bag in the late 1920s. Alexander Calder and McDaniel were friends, and Dr. McDaniel detailed the story of acquiring the work in the paper, published on October 8th, 1976.
Alexander Calder 1898–1976
Born in 1898 to Nanette Lederer Calder and Alexander Stirling Calder, a painter and a sculptor respectively, Alexander Calder was encouraged to be creative and make things by hand. As a child he made gifts for his family and jewelry for his sister’s dolls. In 1915, Calder attended Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey graduating in 1919 with a degree in mechanical engineering because his parents didn’t want him to struggle as an artist. After completing school, Calder work a myriad of jobs including draftsman for Edison Company, a staff member at Lumber magazine, coloring maps for a hydraulics engineer and timekeeper for a logging camp.
In the spring of 1922 Calder attended night classes in drawing and the following year he decides to pursue a career as a painter. By 1925 Calder had his first art exhibition and in 1926 he made his first sculptures out of wood and wire. Calder relocated to Paris, socializing with the Parisian avant-garde, and started making mechanical toys and abstract sculptures. His kinetic works, a departure from traditional sculpture, became known as ‘mobiles’, a term coined by Marcel Duchamp.
Calder’s artistic endeavors ranged from mobiles to stabiles (static sculptures) both small and large, to jewelry and paintings. Today his works can be found in numerous museum collections around the world including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Auction Results Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Untitled (Demi-cône)
result: $805,000
Alexander Calder
Earrings
result: $125,000
Alexander Calder
Zoo
result: $56,250
Alexander Calder
Waterface
result: $52,500
Alexander Calder
Cheval II
result: $27,500
Alexander Calder
Belt buckle
result: $16,900
Alexander Calder
Target and Sign
result: $11,250
Alexander Calder
Deux Spirales
result: $10,625
Alexander Calder
Composition
result: $7,500
Alexander Calder
Balloons
result: $6,875
Alexander Calder
Untitled (Swirls)
result: $6,250
Alexander Calder
Untitled (Pinwheels and Pyramids)
result: $5,313
Alexander Calder
Circus portfolio
result: $5,313
Alexander Calder
Deux Spirales
result: $5,313
Alexander Calder
Untitled from the Flight portfolio
result: $5,000
Alexander Calder
Mountain and Sun
result: $4,688
Alexander Calder
Grey Ellipse from the Our Unfinished Revolution portfolio
result: $4,688
Alexander Calder
Sea Creatures
result: $4,375
Alexander Calder
White Circles and Ellipses from the Our Unfinished Revolution portfolio
result: $4,063
Alexander Calder
Matraque Rouge
result: $3,750
Alexander Calder
Ballons et cerf-volants
result: $3,250
Alexander Calder
Trois Oignons
result: $2,750
Alexander Calder
Portrait of James Jones
result: $2,500
Alexander Calder
Hommage à Man Ray
result: $2,340