Calder and Zika Ascher most likely met through mutual acquaintances while Calder was living and working in Saché, France. A friendship developed between Calder and his wife, Louisa, and Zika and Lida. Zika and Lida visited Calder at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut and in Saché, on their holidays after the hectic Paris couture shows. Calder was the only American artist to participate in the Ascher Squares project.
1947
90cm x 90cm
Silk Twill
La Mer is a whimsical abstract oceanic scene. The octopus in the composition is very similar in form to many of the large scale "stabiles", that Calder would create throughout the rest of his artistic career.