Alexander Calder (Inscribed by Artist)

Monograph on American artist Alexander Calder, first edition thus, published in 1951 by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and distributed by Simon and Schuster. An expanded edition of the catalog that accompanied a 1943 Calder retrospective at MoMA. The original exhibition, along with the lead essay by art critic and MoMA curator James Johnson Sweeney, helped cement Calder’s status in the mid-century American art pantheon. 8vo (7.6” x 10.25”), hardcover with dust jacket, 80 pages with b/w plates from photographs of Calder sculptures, mobiles, jewelry, etc including installation shots and promotional materials. Biographical notes and bibliography at end. Warmly inscribed by Alexander "Sandy" Calder across the title page: "To Arthur Luce & Luce Arthur Klein in the hopes that we can throw a disk, together. Sandy Calder. 10 Jan 59." The inscription occupies nearly the entire title page, its bold, sweeping calligraphy echoing the typography of the printed design while balancing the facing illustration of one of Calder's mobiles. The resulting opening functions as a unified composition, the inscription assuming the visual presence of a Calder drawing rather than a conventional presentation inscription. A visually striking and highly personal association. Presented to Arthur Luce Klein and Luce Arthur Klein, husband-and-wife co-founders of Spoken Arts, the pioneering publisher devoted to recorded literature, poetry, drama, and author readings whose recordings anticipated the later development of the audiobook. Arthur Klein was a theater director, educator, and actor; Luce Arthur Klein, who earned her doctorate in French literature at Columbia University, was an active figure in New York's literary and cultural circles. Calder's playful hope that they might "throw a disk, together" suggests a genuine friendship extending beyond a formal acquaintance. Slight lean to spine. Light bumping and rubbing to extremities, with mild foxing toward the upper corner of the front board. Mild foxing to the first and last few leaves. Dust jacket lightly rubbed with moderate chipping at the spine ends and edges, but substantially complete and presenting very well. A superb Calder association copy, uniting one of the artist's defining Museum of Modern Art publications with an unusually expansive and visually compelling inscription to two innovators in American literary and recorded culture. Few Calder presentation copies display such a harmonious interplay between inscription, printed design, and image.…