Untitled

1970
Alexander Calder, 1898-1976

Gouache and ink on paper, 29 1/2 × 42 1/2 in., Promised gift of Jon and Mary Shirley, photo: Nicholas Shirley, Brightwood Photos

Animals were a common subject in Calder’s works on paper. Studying at the Art Students League in New York, he often took trips to the city’s zoos, where he created hundreds of brush drawings. He also drew elephants while creating circus illustrations for the National Police Gazette in 1925. In his 1926 book Animal Sketching, Calder writes of the elephant: “[T]here is about the movements of this greatest of living mammals remarkable grace and rhythm. […] You will find it a fascinating subject and, perhaps, a far more beautiful one than you at first realized.”

These animals convey a sense of action even without kinetic elements. Small details reveal their movements: upturned tails and open mouths on the cat and dog, the snake’s body curling into spirals and curves. The color blocked center elephant—whose five legs suggest that Calder is representing it at different points in time—parades across the composition as the top-right elephant trumpets. Quick, uneven brushstrokes emphasize the scene’s lively chaos.