© 2013 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Interpretation
Calder designed this monumental sculpture especially for Princeton. For a short time the disks were painted orange to honor Princeton’s colors, but the artist gave instructions to have them blackened after his visit to campus in 1971. Most famous for his kinetic sculptures, or "mobiles," he also imbued his stationary "stabiles" (a term suggested by the artist Hans Arp) with a sense of movement and lightness.
Information
- Title
- Five Disks: One Empty
- Object Number
- y1969-126
- Maker
- Alexander Calder
- Medium
- Painted mild steel
- Dates
- 1969–70
- Dimensions
- ca. 800 x 480.1 x 428 cm. (314 15/16 x 189 x 168 1/2 in.)
- Credit Line
- The John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Collection, Princeton University
- Culture
- American
- Signatures
- Signed and dated on foot: AC 70
- Type
- Materials
- Patrick Joseph Kelleher, Living with Modern Sculpture: the John B. Putnam, Jr., Memorial Collection, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 1982)., 40–43
- Jane McCarthy and Laurily K. Epstein, A guide to the sculpture parks and gardens of America, (New York, NY: Michael Kesend Pub., 1996)., 47
- Karin Dienst, ed., Sculpture of Princeton University: including works from the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Collection, (Princeton, NJ: Published by the Office of Communications, in association with the Princeton University Art Museum, 2004)., 30–31, illus.
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