Alexander CalderLes Vagues - The Waves. 1970.

Original lithograph in colours. 1970. Signed in pencil. Numbered from the edition of 99. (There were also 50 impressions with roman numerals). Drawn and printed at the studio of Editions de la Difference, Paris 1970. Edition sold through Galerie Maeght, Paris.

Excellent impression with very strong fresh colours. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Generally excellent condition and tenant_id=1868; the image side of the sheet excellent, the reverse with very slight traces of time discolouration. Image drawn to the full sheet size, as issued.

Sheet: 500 x 325mm.

'Les Vagues' - 'The Waves' epitomizes the way that Calder used form and contrasted primary colour to create a sense both of visual movement and spatial depth, linking his work in two dimensions to his three-dimensional mobiles.

During the period that he spent in Paris before World War II Calder was greatly influenced in his approach to the use of colour to create visual space by his contact with Mondrian and the

'De Stijl' movement. They both used the same primary colour range. At the same time in his career he also built close friendships and artistic links with the artists of Surrealism, especially through the use of non-descriptive form.

When Calder returned to France in 1949 he continued to develop these ideas from the pre-war era. He had a major retrospective in Paris that year. In the introduction to the catalogue for that exhibition Jean-Paul Sartre, the great philosopher, writer and art critic wrote how Calder's imagery 'undulates, hesitates and then takes up the thread again...'. This combination of the static and the moving is very strongly expressed in 'Les Vagues' here.