Gift of the Artist to Mrs. William B. F. Drew in celebration of the birth of Rosario Drew
Doyle New York, November 12, 2008, Lot 1103
PaceWildenstein, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2010

This work is in excellent condition. The catalogue illustration fails to demonstrate the fully three-dimensional nature of the sculpture. Very close inspection reveals a very small number of specs of discoloration consistent with the nature of the brass medium, and a number of extremely faint indentations to the lead fish inherent to the artist's process.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

It was with incredible finesse and an unparalleled worship for meticulous detail that Alexander Calder created Untitled (Fish and Flowers) in 1941. Jewel-like in its extreme beauty, delicacy, and precious quality, the present work is a masterful instance of Calder’s incessant sculptural innovation. Existing at the crossroads between his distinctive sculptural work and his extensive jewelry-making practice, Untitled (Fish and Flowers) moves with the natural grace of the best examples of Calder’s hanging and standing mobiles while it gleams with the brilliance of his most spectacular metal constructions. Throughout a career defined by an astounding level of truly groundbreaking innovation, Calder created a body of work that hovers playfully between pure abstraction and organic forms such as plants, celestial bodies and animals. In the present example, two intricately delineated brass flowers float in opposition to the anchoring force of a small carved lead fish. Though clearly meant to allude to biological forms, the two flowers and carved fish are definitively freed from the laws of nature and brought into a novel ecosystem of Calder’s own making. In this way, Untitled (Fish and Flowers) is exemplary of the strong Surrealist impulse that coursed its way through Calder’s oeuvre. The artist’s personal friendships and artistic exchanges with his Parisian contemporaries André Breton and Yves Tanguy informed his aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities at this time, and the unexpected juxtaposition of the suspended brass floral elements with the weighty fish is indicative of the influence of Surrealism.

Untitled (Fish and Flowers) demonstrates Calder’s capacity to orientate the movement of his sculptures according to both horizontal and vertical axes thereby heightening the sense of surface animation in an arresting blend of visual poetry.  Perched perfectly atop the strong vertical axis provided by its base, the elaborately constructed and painstakingly counterbalanced network of impossibly thin wires and luminous brass shapes extends out from the center of the present work with a spectacular sense of weightlessness. Among the most prodigious artists of the Twentieth Century as the architect of an entirely original sculptural aesthetic, Alexander Calder created works that continue to inspire and astound. As entrancing in the form of monumental public commissions as they are in intimately scaled works such as Untitled (Fish and Flowers), his art is an everlasting monument to unwavering passion. Calder’s compulsion to bend and obdurate rules and static conventions꧅ governing sculpture liberated his chosen medium from a hitherto fixed and lifeless format, and infused his inimitable constructions with an unparalleled and endlessly mesmerizing dynamism and vivacity as archetypally demonstrated by the present work.