Hanging Mobile (Primary Title)
Alexander Calder, American, 1898 - 1976 (Artist)
“Sandy” Calder was born into a Philadelphia family of eminent sculptors. Before departing for Paris in 1926, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and studied at New York’s Art Students League.
Inspired by his 1930 visit to the studio of Dutch modernist painter Piet Mondrian, whose abstractions represented both spiritual quests and machine-age optimism, Calder decided to put his engineering knowledge to inventive artistic use. The resulting sculptures – such as this work, which Calder made especially for VMFA – move in response to natural air currents. Calder described the mobile form as “a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprises.”
New Accessions USA, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado SPrings, CO, July 3 - September 2, 1952
[1] Accessioned September 28, 1951. See VMFA Curatorial file.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
