© Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
On view
Modern Art
Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Gallery
Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Gallery
Untitled (mobile),
ca. 1935
Alexander Calder, 1898–1976; born Lawnton, PA; died New York, NY; active Paris, France, and Roxbury, CT
y1979-4
While living in Paris from 1926 to 1933, Calder found inspiration in the practices of the avant-garde artists he met in the city, specifically the Surrealists, who incorporated chance and environmental events into their art. Calder’s mobiles, the first of which he exhibited in Paris in 1932, harness movement and the passage of time as integral features. He built this mobile from two intersecting forms cut from sheet metal; the work reveals shifting compositions of colored planes as it turns in response to air currents in the gallery. It was a gift from the artist to Alfred H. Barr, a Princeton alumnus (Class of 1922) and founding director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Information
Title
Untitled (mobile)
Dates
ca. 1935
Maker
Medium
Painted sheet metal
Dimensions
38.5 × 30.4 × 20 cm (15 3/16 × 11 15/16 × 7 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Class of 1922, and Mrs. Barr
Object Number
y1979-4
Marks/Labels/Seals
Monogram AC stamped onto lower right of red surface (leaving a trace of negative impression on lower left of blue surface)
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Donated to Alfred H. Barr (1902-1981) and Margaret Scolari Barr (1901-1987) by the artist, ca. 1935; donated to the Princeton University Art Museum, 1979.
