Alexander Calder - Editions Southampton New York Saturday, June 25, 2022 | Phillips
  • "Santa Claus, measuring twenty-eight by twenty-two inches, is a volume in keeping with Calder’s current interest in monumental works. Increased scale does not mean increased labor on his graphics any more than on his sculpture. The publisher prepared huge waxed plates, and Calder incised them with a rough tool, he says, in a few hours. The nine etchings, with their shaggy outlines, are related in style to the illustrations in his earliest books, but the former are far more original."
    —Jean Lipman, Calder’s Universe, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1977, p. 134

    • 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.

      View More Works

96

Untitled (Santa Claus I - IX)

1974
The complete set of nine etchings on Richard de Bas paper, with full margins, with title page, justification and text by E. E. Cummings on Arches paper, the sheets loose (as issued), all contained in the original brown paper folder and beige linen-covered portfolio with stamped signature, title and image.
all I. 18 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (47.3 x 34.9 cm)
all S. 26 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (66.7 x 51.4 cm)
portfolio 27 3/4 x 21 2/3 x 1 1/2 in. (70.5 x 55 x 3.8 cm)

All the prints signed in pencil, annotated 'H.C.' (printed) on the justification, also annotated '225 exemplaires BON A TIRER' by an unidentified hand an in pencil on the first page of the accompanying text (aside from the edition of 175 and 50 artist's proofs), published by Editions de L'Herne, Paris.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$3,500 - 4,500 

Sold for $4,410

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Editions Southampton

New York Auction 25 June 2022