Untitled c. 1940s

Here we have an untitled gouache on paper by Alexander Calder. The colour palette is sunny, with a yellow wash punctuated by strong reds, blues and blacks. Look closely at the spiral in the upper part of the image, drawn with a crayon or pastel. It seems like a simple gesture but the line varies, from thick and dark to fading almost to nothing. It reminds me that the making of any artwork is a dance, a balance between intention and accident. There is a real material presence to this image, from the slight buckling of the paper to the smudges and unevenness in the layers of paint. The texture is rough, immediate and intimate. See how the shapes are built up from layers of colour, and how Calder allows previous marks to remain visible, creating a sense of depth. This piece echoes the playfulness of Calder’s wire sculptures, the way a simple line in space can suggest an entire world. His work reminds me of Joan Miró, with its shared language of signs and symbols, like a kind of visual poetry.