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Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
ALEXANDER CALDER At Last a Yellow Saucer.
Gouache on cream wove paper, 1971. 777x578 mm; 30 1/2x22 3/4 inches. Signed and dated in gouache, lower right recto. Ex-collection Perls Gallery, New York. This work has been authenticated by the Calder Foundation, New York, identification number A06474.
Most widely-known for his mobiles, Alexander Calder (1898-1976) sometimes took breaks from his sculptural endeavors to pursue the expression of ideas and forms in other mediums, such as gouache and watercolor. Later in his career, Calder began to explore the medium of lithography based on his gouaches. Despite how little experience he had with the medium, it is not surprising that he achieves the same playfulness and intelligence of his more well known sculptural works.
Marcel Duchamp, who was a friend and admirer of Calder's work and who even dubbed Calder's earlier works 'mobiles,' planned an exhibition for him at Galerie Louis Carré in Paris in the 1940s. It was met with such great success (the exhibition catalog was written by Jean-Paul Sartre) that another was planned for the Galerie Maeght in Paris in 1950. Subsequently, Aimé Maeght became Calder's exclusive Parisian dealer and would produce many of his prints (after the gouaches) over their 26-year partnership.
