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Alexander CALDER

La Fontaine de Mercure : Croquis originaux

1975, 21x29,7cm, 2 feuilles.

CALDER Alexander. Two original sketches: la Fontaine de Mercure [Mercury fountain]
1975, 21 x 29,7 cm, 2 loose leaves
Two original pencil sketches by Alexander Calder. Two handwritten mentions at the head of each leaflet, one in the ballpoint pen of an unidentified editor (“Mercury fountain by Calder Saché 1975 may”) and the other in pencil in the hand of Calder: “Therese Herdek Switzerland”.
In 1937, Calder was commissioned by the Spanish government, in struggle against the Francoist insurrection, to make a modern sculpture to present at the Paris World Fair. He is thus the only non-Hispanic artist to exhibit in the Pavilion of Spain. He then imagines his Fountain of Mercury, a tribute to the miners of Almadén who resist the siege held by Franco's troops. The mines then supplied 60 of the global mercury and this sculpture is a strong political act of opposition to fascism.
The construction of this monumental sculpture required 5,000 kilos of liquid mercury, which were transported from the mines to Paris. The work consists of a perpetual fountain of mercury surmounted by a mobile with two pendants: one is a red circle and the other is made of the name of “Almadén”; at the foot of the basin is inscribed “Spanish Mercury Almadén”.
During the exhibition, the fountain was exhibited alongside Picasso's Guernica and Miró's Reaper.
Calder offered the sculpture to the Joan Miró Foundation in 1975, moved by the close friendship that united him to the painter. These two precious sketches were made during the movement of the work and its installation to the foundation.
 
 
 
 
 

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