Lithograph
in colours, 1969, on BFK Rives paper, signed in pencil, a proof aside from the
edition of 75, published by Maeght, Paris, 74.9 x 54.6 cm. (29½ x 21½ in.)

Although widely known as a sculptor, the American artist Alexander
Calder was also a prolific printmaker. This lithograph, spotlights Calder’s
Futurist style, a style that is more closely associated with his sculpture and
highlights his talent across mediums. Like the earlier print ‘L’Acier du
Constructeur’ (c. 1965), it accurately captures Calder’s precision, but also
his freedom in terms of composition. Heavy black lines, like inter-locking industrial
beams, draw the eye into the centre of the work along with a burst of red and fragmented
areas of black and white. These Futurist iterations are so often found in Calder’s
sculptures too making the present lithograph a work which truly encapsulates the
artist’s spirit.