Untitled
Alexander Calder
American, 1898–1976

Details
Title
Untitled
Artist/Maker
Alexander Calder (American, 1898–1976)
Date
1947
Medium
Sheet metal, wire and paint
Dimensions
96 x 144 inches
Credit
Gift of Carroll Thompson Sanders in memory of her husband, Professor Walter Benjamin Sanders
Accession #
1978.136
On View
Currently not on view
Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote that a Calder mobile is a “piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life.” In the early twentieth century Calder’s mobiles provided a dynamic, new experience of sculpture that incorporated movement, activating their architectural settings and inviting viewers’ engagement. Freed from the traditional pedestal, the mobile—a type of kinetic sculpture innovated by Calder and named by the artist Marcel Duchamp—reflects Calder’s training as an engineer and his interest in astronomy. Viewers may find themselves comparing the elegantly suspended circulating spheres to the planets or stars.
Image Copyright
© Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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