Santa Claus
Rare portfolio with 9 original etchings by Calder, text by e. e. cummings
- 9 full-page original etchings by Alexander Calder
- Very large folio, loose sheets, wrappers, in illustrated cloth portfolio case.
- Pencil signed and numbered
- edition of 175
- Text by e e cummings, his most popular play, written for the stage in 1946
- Etchings by Calder were done in 1974
- Text in French and English
- Editions de L'Herne, Paris
- Paper size: 26 3/4 x 20 1/2 in.
inches
- Excellent Condition, beautifully preserved in the original slip cover and case
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In 1946 Cummings was able to bring about a reunion with his daughter, Nancy, who was now living in the United States and married to Willard Roosevelt, a grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919). While painting her portrait, he revealed to her astonishment that he was her father, and as a consequence a fresh relationship between father, daughter, and grandchildren emerged. The mere reentry of Nancy into Cummings's world gave rise to his most successful play, Santa Claus (1946), a Christmas fantasy that represents his belief in the joys of love and giving and his rejection of the materialism and false expectation that he associated with "Science." In the end, Santa Claus without his mask is revealed to be a young man, who is then reunited with an adoring woman and a child whom he had lost.
Alexander Calder (American, 1898-1976) first gained international recognition for the Constructivist sculpture he produced during the 1950s and 1960s. Calder and other Constructivists sought to glorify pure machine-like form in large-scale works made of industrial materials. Calder's work is unique in that he was first to explore temporal properties in his work. His later print works recall some of the dynamism of his famed sculpture.
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