Executed circa 1970, 'Moon and Star' is a particularly evocative example of Alexander Calder’s graphic work, bringing together two of the celestial motifs that recur throughout his celebrated artistic vocabulary. Calder reduces the moon and star to bold, elemental forms, creating a composition that is at once playful and remarkably assured.

Celestial imagery occupied an important place in Calder’s work across media, appearing in his mobiles, sculptures, gouaches and works on paper. The moon, sun and stars offered the artist a natural vocabulary of suspended bodies, movement and balance, ideas fundamental to his revolutionary approach to sculpture. In 'Moon and Star', these familiar cosmic forms are transformed through Calder’s characteristic combination of strong colour, simplified geometry and a sense of spontaneous movement.