Untitled 1970

This untitled piece was created by Alexander Calder using printmaking techniques. Calder, an American artist, is best known for his invention of the mobile, and his work in general exemplifies the kind of playfulness and lightheartedness that became newly acceptable in the art world after the Second World War. Consider the use of primary colors here: red, yellow, and blue, which evoke the geometric abstraction of the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, whose studio Calder visited in Paris in 1930. Mondrian was part of the De Stijl movement, whose utopian project was to transform society through art. Calder took these forms and colors, but emptied them of their weighty social purpose. The social function of Calder’s art is primarily to offer pleasure. We can explore the artist’s intentions and the reception of his art through gallery records, critical reviews, and collectors’ papers. Looking at these resources, we can interpret the meaning of art as it is created within a specific cultural and institutional context.