What Do You See? The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Part I

This work has been registered in the Archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number #A20998.

Passions ran high heading into the 1972 Presidential election: the country was awash with strife and protest, and at center stage was the fierce opposition to the Vietnam War. The imagery in the present work is familiar, with the name of Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern, presented in a graphically distinctive: “Mc/Gov/ern” on three parallel lines, in blue, black, and “Calder red.”

This image also served as a color lithograph in 1970, though it was not Calder’s only printed contribution to the Democrat’s campaign. Calder was commissioned by the Democratic National Committee, and working with printer/publisher George Goodstadt, created five McGovern posters, including McGovern and McGovern for President. (It is noteworthy that Calder also created additional political posters for the political candidates Toby Moffett and Abe Ribicoff.)

Calder was not alone in his strong support of McGovern’s bid to become President that year. Other important artists, including Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, also joined the cause, contributing artwork in the hopes of defeating Nixon in what became known as the “Art for McGovern” campaign. Despite Calder’s good efforts to support the cause, including the donation and eventual sale of one of his mobiles, Nixon went on to defeat the idealistic South Dakota Democrat in a landslide victory.