Original 1971 lithograph "Balloons" by Alexander Calder.  Printed by Atelier Mourlot for XXe Siècle.  For over 150 years, Mourlot was almost synonymous with lithography, producing work of such excellent quality that it was clear they had attained the height of printing mastery.  Presented in a 1 1/8 inch wide handmade matte black wood frame, white conservation mat, and and protected by Tru Vue Optium Museum Acrylic® glazing.  Mat opening size: 12 x 9 1/4 inches; overall size with frame: 18 x 15 1/2 inches.   As with all of our framed art, the frame and framing materials are new.  The print is in mint condition, having never been displayed, and since framing is stored in a controlled environment away from light. 
 
Alexander Calder was a sculptor, renowned for his stabiles and mobiles he began creating in the 1930s. Calder’s vision was broad and groundbreaking, and his output was enormous, ranging from small figurines to large, architecturally related sculptures.  He was born in Philadelphia in 1898, the son of an academic sculptor.  Although trained as a mechanical engineer, he turned to art, and attended the Art Students League in New York City, where  he established himself as an illustrator and caricaturist.  While in Paris in 1926, he took up sculpture.  After working on wood pieces, he began to make circus figures composed of twisted wire, wheels, string, and cloth.  His miniature circus captured the attention of the avant-garde in Paris.  Inspited by the work of Joan Miró, Jean Arp, Fernand Léger, and Piet Mondrian, he created his first abstract stabiles in 1930.  From these early works and his interest in movement, Calder developed handcranked, motorized, and then wind-powered constructions that were dubbed ​“mobiles” by the French artist Marcel Duchamp.  These sculptures, usually painted in bold basic colors, turn, bob, and rotate, in a constantly changing relationship to the space around them.  Many of his sculptures were transformed into lithographs that remain quite popular.
 
XXe Siècle (Chroniques du Jour) was a deluxe art revue that published many outstanding prints. It was published by Gualtieri di San Lazzaro from 1938-1939, and again from 1951 until 1978. Many important artists contributed original prints, including Miro, Picasso, Chagall, Braque, Villon, Matta, Indiana, Rosenquist, Lam, Dali, Matisse, Delaunay, Ernst, Poliakoff, Soulages, Leger, Moore, Kandinsky, Agam, Arp, Magnelli, Baj, Marini, Vasarely, Zao Wou-ki and Calder.