Alexander Calder Lithograph c. 1973 from Derrière le miroir: Medium: Lithograph in colors Dimensions: 15 x 11 inches. Very good overall vintage condition; contains center fold-line as originally issued; very well preserved. About Derrière le miroir: In October 1945 the French art dealer Aimé Maeght opens his art gallery at 13 Rue de Téhéran in Paris. His beginning coincides with the end of Second World War and the return of a number of exiled artists back to France. Alexander Calder (American, born July 22, 1898–died November 11, 1976) is one of the most celebrated sculptors of the 20th century. Born in Pennsylvania, Calder was interested in creating movable objects from a young age, and graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, in 1919, with an engineering degree. He later decided to pursue a career as an artist, and moved to New York City to study painting at the Art Students League. While in New York City, he worked for the National Police Gazette, and was sent on assignment to sketch circuses, a festive motif that would become a famous and enduring subject in his work. Upon moving to Paris in 1926, Calder began creating large-scale mechanical installations of intricate circus scenes, featuring wire sculptures with moving parts that he would operate over a two-hour performance session. Building off of his Cirque Calder, he began sculpting portraits and figures out of wire, and received critical attention, exhibiting these works in subsequent gallery shows in New York, Paris, and Berlin. He befriended several important Abstract artists in Paris at this time, including Joan Miró and Piet Mondrian, and was invited to join the group Abstraction-Création in 1931. Inspired by the work of his fellow artists, he incorporated abstract, kinetic elements into his sculptures, creating the Mobiles he is best known for today, in addition to his static works, Stabiles. Calder constructed his unique sculptures out of wire, metal, and wood, combining abstract and surrealistic forms with biomorphic imagery in a distinctive style. Related: Joan Miró. Piet Mondrian. Surrealist. Sculpture