Receding Blocks (1944) is an intriguing and quite rare to find Calder’s paper composition. It shows the influence of Suprematism, especially in the use of abstract geometric shapes, like the squares in this piece. The simple colors, such as blue, red, yellow and black, are typical of both this movement and Calder’s style. By 1944, Calder was already internationally recognized and considered a very important artist.

Calder’s drawings debuted in the National Police Gazette a few years after he studied engineering,

where he went on to devote completely to art. An assignment to sketch the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus produced a lifelong interest in the circus, resulting in “Cirque Calder”, one of the first examples of Alexander Calder’s abstract art. Calder is well known for inventing the mobile (hanging kinetic sculptures) and as a precursor to kinetic sculpture.

His drawings were often abstract, and many resemble his three-dimensional mobiles crafted with wires and brightly colored shapes.