1972 Alexander Calder McGovern for Government
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GUEST:
I served on Senator McGovern's staff for several years. One day, he opened up his vault and invited the staff to come in to choose various things if they were so interested in them. And I found this. And I said, "Senator McGovern, may I have this Calder poster?" And he said, "Well, sure." For many years, it remained in the closet because my late wife didn't like it. Even though she also worked for McGovern...
APPRAISER:
(chuckles) Oh, right?
GUEST:
(laughs) ...she did not like it. And then unfortunately, she passed in 2014. But a year later, I said, "Honey, it's going on the wall." I'm very proud of it, uh, 'cause it reminds me of my affiliation with, with, uh, the late senator, and, uh, which was a grand experience. But I've never known anything else about it other than Alexander Calder did it.
APPRAISER:
McGovern, of course, was the senator from South Dakota who ran against Richard Nixon in 1972.
GUEST:
Correct.
APPRAISER:
Doomed, doomed race.
GUEST:
Doomed race, doomed race.
APPRAISER:
Nixon won by a landslide, two-third majority...
GUEST:
You've...
APPRAISER:
McGovern...
GUEST:
We carried Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
APPRAISER:
I feel like I'm, I'm, I'm teaching my professor here. (both laugh) McGovern, of course, ran on a anti-Vietnam War ticket. Nixon, not so. Calder, we know, was also vehemently against the Vietnam War, and worked on this as a contribution to the campaign. And these lithographs, which were done in a limited edition, were sold to raise funds for the McGovern campaign. Calder would make watercolor gouaches of these designs, which were then printed as lithographs. I actually know who did the printmaking...
GUEST:
Hm.
APPRAISER:
...and the work with Calder, 'cause it was my father-in-law.
GUEST:
You're kidding.
APPRAISER:
His name was George Goodstadt. He's no longer with us today.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
But I have a close connection to these, too, just as you do with McGovern. My, my father-in-law was, was the printmaker working with Calder on these.
GUEST:
That's unbelievable.
APPRAISER:
And then they were published by an outfit in New York called Styria Studios, and you can see the blind stamp...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...for Styria down there, and signed by the artist. All of them were made in an edition of 200. This one says "McGovern for Government." There are other versions in color, also black and white, that say "McGovern for McGovernment."
GUEST:
Had no idea.
APPRAISER:
And Calder's telltale, very characteristic geometric designs around them.
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
So it does scream out at you as a Calder. They're popular on, on different levels, because of the historical nature of them, which you don't get with a lot of Calder's art, and what that campaign stood for.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And also for just the artistry of what Calder did for a promotional poster, if you will. A lithograph poster.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Yours looks like it's in great shape. Overall, it looks very much like it probably did when you got it out of the, the closet...
GUEST:
Sure does.
APPRAISER:
...in, in McGovern's office in... (chuckles) So have you ever had it valued?
GUEST:
Never.
APPRAISER:
I would put a replacement value on this at around $5,000.
GUEST:
Well, I'm, I, I do cherish it, and will continue to do so.
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