Collections record Beta

Watercolor with Ink on Paper - "Poor Leslie"

1973-19-1

Watercolor with ink on paper. Abstraction in blue, yellow, orange and black done in geometric forms arranged on paper. Large angular blue form in lower right corner. Yellow circle coming out from its center, large black dot on its bottom left extension. On left side a series of black dots and one elongated black form next to a large black triangular form. From center extending to upper right a series of orange shapes varying from a large dot to a elongated form. Signed across bottom "Poor Leslie, her admirer, Sandy Calder." 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, 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"

• watercolor
• paper
• ink