Calder Playing Cards

A charming deck of playing cards based on a set of vivid gouache paintings by Alexander Calder from the 1970s known as the Card Player series. Many of the cards are direct reproductions from those paintings, with the striped back also pulled from them. All letters and numbers are in Calder’s own handwriting.

Since court cards were not included in the original images, the faces for the Jack, King, and Queen were extracted from another series of gouaches that Calder painted around the same period.

Every detail of this deck was faithfully reproduced to celebrate the enduring legacy of Calder, the iconic master of innovation in art.