Puppet Man 1960

Alexander Calder created 'Puppet Man' with lithograph. Those spiral eyes, that simple smile; Calder's got a knack for boiling down a face to its most playful essence. I can almost feel him, you know, right there with his inks, carefully layering those bold, primary colors. It’s funny how he’s used flatness to such great effect. The stripy shirt and two-tone legs feel like they're just about to jump off the page, like a little dance. Did he start with the head, I wonder? Or was it the body, that hourglass shape, that came first? Calder’s like a ringmaster of shapes, always pulling off these unexpected combinations. And that’s the thing about art, right? It's about seeing what happens when you put things together that maybe don't quite belong. It reminds me to stay loose, stay playful. That’s where the good stuff happens.