Alexander Calder

ALEXANDER CALDER (United States, 1898–1976).
“Taches de Rousseur,” from “La Mémoire élémentaire,” 1976.
Lithograph, print no. 22/100.
Signed and numbered by hand.
Measurements: 51.5 x 71.5 cm.

Created in 1976, the year of Alexander Calder’s death, “Taches de Rousseur” is a striking example of the artist’s graphic work from his final period. The composition brings together many of the essential elements of his visual language: circular forms with black outlines, intense primary colors, and concentric structures, distributed across a neutral background in a seemingly spontaneous balance. The red, yellow, orange, and bluish discs seem to move across the surface, translating onto the graphic plane the concern for movement, rhythm, and balance that had made Calder a pivotal figure in 20th-century sculpture.

Calder trained at the Art Students League of New York, and in 1926 he held his first painting exhibition at The Artist’s Gallery in New York. Before the year ended, he embarked on a trip through Europe, which allowed him to meet the leading figures of the time, such as Miró, Duchamp, and Mondrian. Calder is one of the most renowned artists of the 20th century, with works in all the world’s major collections—from New York’s MoMA, where one of his sculptures adorns the main staircase, to UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Other institutions where his work is represented include the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Städel in Frankfurt, the Kunstmuseum in Basel, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, and the Tate Gallery in London.