Eve, 1973
Gouache on paper
29.5 in. x 43.2 in / 75 cm. x 109.8 cm.
Signed and dated “calder / 73” on the lower right

Alexander Calder was born in 1898 in Philadelphia, the son of Alexander Stirling Calder and grandson of Alexander Milne Calder, both well-known sculptors. After obtaining his mechanical engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology, Calder worked at various jobs before enrolling at the Art Students League in New York City in 1923, where he finished his first miniature traveling circus and made a name for himself as an innovative abstract sculptor.

Calder is known as the originator of the suspended or standing moving sculpture made from delicately balanced shapes and set in motion by air currents; a device Marcel Duchamp named “mobiles.” He was awarded the main prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1952 and first prize for sculpture in the 1954 Pittsburgh International. His work is held in nearly every major institution in the world.

In 1953 Calder began a lifelong passion for the watercolor-like medium of gouache. This 1973 gouache of Eve with the serpent is notable for its figurative subject matter, while also featuring many signatures of Calder’s oeuvre including the use of bold, primary colors, and geometric motifs.

Courtesy of Opera Gallery (@operagallery)

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