Collections record Beta

Watercolor with Ink on Paper - "Ruff Stuff Stillman"

1973-19-2

Watercolor with ink on paper. Yellow elongated form. Lower right under a red star like form, yellow angular form left side under red, blue and black dots. Lower left corner has black on blue forms. Upper left has "S" shaped red swirl over yellow dot, black dot on lower curved of the "S". Black dot in upper right corner. Signed at bottom right "Ruff Stuff Stillman, A. Calder '64." Framed under glass, thin black wood frame.

Alexander Calder grew up in a family of artists. His mother studied as a painter in Paris and Philadelphia, where she met his father, a leading academic sculptor. Calder’s path to art was varied and colorful. He studied mechanical engineering, worked in a lumber camp, freelanced as an illustrator, trained as a boxer, and invented a line of children’s toys. In Paris, his work with small wire sculptures led to the creation of “Calder’s Circus,” a set of articulated animals, clowns, and acrobats that “performed” for international audiences. Calder is best known for his metal and wire mobiles and stabiles, some as large as 60 feet in height. In addition to a metal shop, Calder kept a one-room house called “La Gouacherie,” a studio where he produced gouache paintings in five colors. In 1951, the Rufus and Leslie Stillman of Litchfield commissioned Calder to complete an outside mural for their first Marcel Breuer home, known as Stillman I.

• Calder, Alexander, 1898-1976

1964

Frame 30" x 24" Unframed 25 1/2" x 19 1/2"

• paper
• watercolor
• ink