Lot Essay
One of the largest of the standing mobiles created up to 1947, Laöcoon is a sculpture of major importance in the unique body of work created by Alexander Calder. It comes at the pinnacle of his achievement in indoor sculpture, and its large scale reflects the optimism and euphoria felt by the artist after the end of the Second World War.
Calder began making mobiles in the 1930s in Paris. His father and grandfather were well-known sculptors, and he himself had studied mechanical engineering. Feeling a need to develop his artistic yearnings, he attended the Art Student's League in New York and eventually moved to Paris, where he was taken up with the Abstraction-Creation group, which included Arp and Mondrian, and where he befriended Duchamp, Leger and Miro. His mobiles, with their incorporation of movement, were considered revolutionary, and his engineering background helped him to design their delicate and evocative structure. However, the designs were arrived at intuitively: as Jean-Paul Sartre wrote of them, "There is more of the unpredictable about them than in any other human creation. No human brain, not even their creator's, could possibly foresee all of the complex combinations of which they are capable. A general destiny of movement is sketched for them, and then they are left to work it out for themselves" (as quoted in J. Lipman, Calder's Universe, New York 1976, p. 261).
Laöcoon's title is derived from the ancient Greek myth, the battle of Troy. Laöcoon and his two sons were drowned by serpents under the direction of Athena, who feared they would warn the Trojans of Laöcoon's suspicion of the peril within the Trojan horse. The most famous manifestation of the story is a magnificent antiquity in marble which was found in Rome by workers excavating caves for Michelangelo's patron, Pope Julius II. Laöcoon is depicted with his sons at his sides, entwined with serpents as they are dragged into the sea. The writhing forms of the figures greatly impressed Michelangelo, who used them as models for his sculptures in the Medici tomb. Calder's sculpture is composed along the lines of the antiquity, while incorporating his characteristic wit and charm. The base of Laöcoon acts as a similarly strong central figure, with the arching bar and counterweight representing the serpent. The serpent entwines the main figure and reaches out to eternally hold the two mobile elements of white suns, a representation of the sons of Laöcoon, while they hover at the side of the main form.
Calder began making mobiles in the 1930s in Paris. His father and grandfather were well-known sculptors, and he himself had studied mechanical engineering. Feeling a need to develop his artistic yearnings, he attended the Art Student's League in New York and eventually moved to Paris, where he was taken up with the Abstraction-Creation group, which included Arp and Mondrian, and where he befriended Duchamp, Leger and Miro. His mobiles, with their incorporation of movement, were considered revolutionary, and his engineering background helped him to design their delicate and evocative structure. However, the designs were arrived at intuitively: as Jean-Paul Sartre wrote of them, "There is more of the unpredictable about them than in any other human creation. No human brain, not even their creator's, could possibly foresee all of the complex combinations of which they are capable. A general destiny of movement is sketched for them, and then they are left to work it out for themselves" (as quoted in J. Lipman, Calder's Universe, New York 1976, p. 261).
Laöcoon's title is derived from the ancient Greek myth, the battle of Troy. Laöcoon and his two sons were drowned by serpents under the direction of Athena, who feared they would warn the Trojans of Laöcoon's suspicion of the peril within the Trojan horse. The most famous manifestation of the story is a magnificent antiquity in marble which was found in Rome by workers excavating caves for Michelangelo's patron, Pope Julius II. Laöcoon is depicted with his sons at his sides, entwined with serpents as they are dragged into the sea. The writhing forms of the figures greatly impressed Michelangelo, who used them as models for his sculptures in the Medici tomb. Calder's sculpture is composed along the lines of the antiquity, while incorporating his characteristic wit and charm. The base of Laöcoon acts as a similarly strong central figure, with the arching bar and counterweight representing the serpent. The serpent entwines the main figure and reaches out to eternally hold the two mobile elements of white suns, a representation of the sons of Laöcoon, while they hover at the side of the main form.