null
lock plus

An Educated Collector is Our Best Client

In business for nearly two decades, we are a well established, popular contemporary art boutique specializing in expertly chosen, blue chip prints, multiples, uniques, books, ephemera and merchandise at different price points, with a focus on the secondary market. Please click on the "Contact Us" button at the bottom of this page for questions about any work, pricing and/or to arrange to visit our showroom/gallery - located in between Manhattan's Flatiron and Chelsea Flower Districts.  


Alexander Calder, 2-Page handwritten, signed letter

Alexander Calder

CONTACT GALLERY FOR PRICE

Current Stock: 1

Description

Alexander Calder

2-Page handwritten, signed letter to Chantal: "Nous arrivons a Paris...nous irons presque aussitot en Italie..." , 1956

Ink on paper: 2 page handwritten and hand signed letter

11 × 8 1/2 inches

This is the original, handwritten and hand signed two page letter dated February 12, 1956 from Alexander Calder to Chantal (more on her in a bit) and signed "Affectueusement, Sandy". (Affectionately, Sandy). The entire letter is in French, Calder's second language and is full of important references from Calder's life and career. For example, Calder mentions his daughter Sandra and good friend Jean Davidson, who would soon become his son-in-law, and their new home in Sache, France. ("Nous avons une maison..en face moulin..habite par Sandra et Jean Davidson.")   This letter was written only three years after the Calders bought the Sache house.  The 1976 New York Times Obituary on Calder writes about this era in his life,  "...There seemed to be no country, no function, and no public for which Calder was not in demand. In 1953, the Calders went for the first time to Saché, near Tours, in France, where their friend Jean Davidson, soon to become their son‐in‐law, urged them to buy an ancient house by the river Indre. It was barely more than an immensely evocative hole in the wall. They bought it, and thereafter Saché was, with Roxbury, their home...."(John Russell, New York Times).   In this letter, Calder also mentions a forthcoming exhibition of his works at La Galleria Dell'Obelisco in Rome. (According to Calder's official biography, the exhibition at Galleria dell'Obelisco Rome, was held March 14–31, 1956.) See link below:

https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/66/alexander-calder/documents Calder also tells Chantal that his family has a home in Sache, France and mentions that he looks forward to seeing her in  Montbard. [in the Bourgogne region of eastern France.] Although there is no accompanying envelope, Chantal is Chantal Quenneville 1897 - 1969, the French born painter who lived with her family in Montbard. She first met Calder in 1929 in Berlin, Germany. (Chantal was also best friends with Nina Stein, the second wife of art critic and collector Leo D. Stein, Gertrude Stein's older brother. In 1965 Quenneville donated a significant collection of Stein paintings, drawings, documents and correspondence to Yale University Library which Nina had given to her.).  

Letter is two pages in excellent vintage condition.

SIGNATURE

Hand signed by Calder at the end of the letter on the second page. 

 

Measurements

Height:   11.00
Width:   8.50