Alexander Calder
Balloons, 1968
- Medium
- Lithograph, signed in the plate
- Dimensions
- 76.2 x 55.9 cm
Joseph Clark Collection · JCC-0002
About the work
Balloons brings Calder’s interest in balance and movement to the printed page. Across his sculpture and graphic work, separate forms gain their energy from the spaces between them. Here, the stillness of a lithograph offers a different kind of movement, carried by the eye as it follows the composition. Made in 1968, the print forms part of a graphic practice that developed alongside his mobiles and standing sculptures.
About the artist
Alexander Calder (1898–1976) was an American artist whose work transformed sculpture through movement, balance and an inventive use of everyday materials. Born into an artistic family, he trained as an engineer before studying at the Art Students League in New York from 1923.
After moving to Paris in 1926, Calder developed Cirque Calder, a miniature circus of figures, animals and props that he animated in performances. His wire portraits similarly turned drawing into a three-dimensional practice. A visit to Piet Mondrian’s studio in 1930 encouraged a decisive move towards abstraction.
In 1931 he began making kinetic sculptures, termed mobiles by Marcel Duchamp. Early examples used motors; later works responded to air currents, allowing their relationships to change continually. Alongside these moving structures he made stationary sculptures, works on paper, jewellery and monumental commissions. Across different scales, colour and line remain closely connected to questions of weight and equilibrium. His graphic work belongs to this wider practice, translating an interest in relationships between forms into the space of the page.