ALEXANDER CALDER ENVIRONMENT AND EVOLUTION

In the last few decades, ALEXANDER CALDER has quietly risen to almost mythical status in the pantheon of mid-20th-century American abstract artists. 

The lithograph, ENVIRONMENT AND EVOLUTION appears to combine many different conversations converging in the 20th century. The Environmental movement started in the 1960s, and started to gain mainstream traction in the early 1970s. Darwin’s theory of evolution was published in 1889, but wasn’t accepted until 1950. 

But at the same time, the prominent red sun and bold colors of Alexander Calder’s print feel very mythic and primal. Snakes were a common feature of many creation myths, for example many indigenous people in California and Australia had myths about the Rainbow Snake, which was either Mother Earth herself giving birth to all animals or a water-god whose writings created rivers, creeks and oceans. And of course, there is an important snake in the biblical creation story. 

Fish were also present in many culture’s creation myths, but for a modern viewer, they also evoke the image of our ancient fish ancestors. More discoveries are made every year that connect us to the primordial fish that eventually became humans. Environment and Evolution is an amalgamation of the collective consciousness during this time. The convergence of the past and present of art, science, and human history.

ENVIRONMENT AND EVOLUTION (1973) by Alexander Calder is an original color lithograph. Environment and Evolution is an edition of 106 out of 125 and is hand-signed in pencil. For more information about Alexander Calder or if you are interested in purchasing Environment and Evolution, please contact the gallery. SOLD