Alexander Calder, Composition, Derrière Le Miroir, 1966

Description

Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From Derrière le miroir, N° 156, published … more Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From Derrière le miroir, N° 156, published by Aimé Maeght, Éditeur, Paris; printed by Éditions Pierre à Feu, Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1966. Excerpted from the volume (translated from French), "Oiseleur du fer" by Jacques Prévert is taken from a book on Calder to be published by Editions Silvana. Professor Meyer Schapiro's text is the text of a speech given on the occasion of the award to Alexander Calder of the Médaille Edward Mc. Dowell, August 24, 1963. The texts of Meyer Schapiro and Nicholas Guppy were translated into French by Michel Robic. This issue of "Behind the Mirror" has a luxury edition printed on vélin de Rives, and limited to 150 examples numbered and signed by the artist on the colophon. Excerpted from a Christie’s, New York lot essay, The life span of Derrière le Miroir was thirty-five years. Publication began in 1946. Aimé Maeght, initiator of Derrière le Miroir, had already made few attempts to start publications illustrated with fine printed lithographs in colours in the years prior to the launch of Derrière le Miroir. The name, Derrière le Miroir was suggested by Jacques Kober, manager of Galerie Maeght. The gallery had opened in 1945; the first number of Derrière le Miroir was released a year later. For this first issue Geer van Velde was invited to create lithographs to illustrate the publication. The lithographs in the first issue was printed by Mourlot, Paris. The first three issues of Derrière le Miroir were unsuccessful for Maeght as far as the edition size—the initial print-runs were far too large. From 30,000 for the first issue, the number was taken down to 10,000 for numbers two and three, until Derrière le Miroir number four was published in an edition of 1500. Maeght instituted a policy whereby unsold issues were recycled and used for the fabrication of new paper for the coming editions—this served to both conserve resources and also usually result in ultimate edition sizes far less than 1,500. With number four, the permanent format for Derrière le Miroir was established. Lithographs in colours were key; text was limited to comments on the featuring artist's exhibition taking place in the Galerie Maeght, and this catalogue format was defining to Derrière le Miroir. Galerie Maeght took on the leading role in Paris and presented all main artists including Braque, Matisse, Chagall, Léger, Bonnard, Chillida and many more. So too did Derrière le Miroir. The idea of a magazine was meanwhile still on the mind of Aimé Maeght. He found an insert as a solution. Two, and later four, pages of art review were inserted from 1952 onwards. In 1968 this find had ripened to independency and the dream of Aimé Maeght was now a tangible fact named l'Art vivant. Derrière le Miroir was on it's own again. Over 250 issues in a row. At that point publisher Aimé Maeght wished to make a mark with the publication of an hommage to all who once contributed to the magazine which came in the form of issue number 250, but was delayed by the death of Aimé Maeght. It was published after number 253 in 1982 and became a tribute to Aimé and Marguérite Maeght and 35 years of friendship with artists and poets. The era of Derrière le Miroir was closed with that final publication.

ALEXANDER CALDER (1898-1976) Credited with the invention of the mobile, Alexander Calder revolutionized twentieth-century art with his innovative use of subtle air currents to animate sculpture. Calder was prolific and worked throughout his career in many art forms. An accomplished painter of gouaches and sculptor in a variety of media, Calder is best known for poetic arrangements of boldly colored, irregularly shaped geometric forms that convey a sense of harmony and balance. He also designed jewelry, tapestry, theater settings and architectural interiors. From the 1940s on, Calder's works, many of them large-scale outdoor sculptures, have been placed in virtually every major city of the Western world. less