Q2802

Alexander Calder Sculptor

Rearing Stallion, Portrait of a Young Man & Un Effet du Japonais

Collins Cover Announcement 

ALEXANDER CALDER

Sculptures and wire mobiles were this artist's specialty. A set of five stamps was issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. I didn't feel that the issue warranted five separate cachets and decided to produce two. Starting the project, I was not overly enthusiastic, but as has happened in the past, the resulting hand-painted cachets turned out excellent. Now, I think the two cachets are so distinctive and different, it would not surprise me to see them do very well on the open market once I'm sold out.

In 1925, Calder was working as a free-lance artist in New York City. For a two-week period, he attended Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus almost every day and night. He made sure to view all of the acts from various positions. At the end of two weeks, he drew a one-half page spread for a magazine and was paid twenty dollars.

He moved to Paris and began to build a miniature circus with just a few figures. "I always loved the circus, so I decided to make a circus just for the fun of it." He enlarged it over six years into a full performance with a troupe of dozens of people and animals. During the next 30 years, he gave shows for his friends and also conducted performances for special audiences throughout the United States and Europe.

The Alexander Calder circus in action is a delightful event. It is now on extended loan to the Whitney Museum.

You will not want to miss these two hand-painted cachets. One is of "The Lion Cage" with ornately carved mermaids at the top. The other combines two of Calder's favorite figures - "The Clown" and "The Dog." Collins numbers assigned to these covers are Q2801 for "The Lion Cage" (two stamps) at $12.75 and Q2802 for "The Clown with Dog" (three stamps) at $13.00.