Calder Foundation
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Octopus, 1944

Work

Octopus

Date 1944
Media
Bronze (in five sections)
Dimensions
25" × 35 3⁄4" × 23 1⁄2"
Collection
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum; Gift of Lois Orswell
Bronze
Historical Photos  1
Illustrations for Buchholz Gallery/Curt Valentin (1945)
Illustrations of Prelude to the Man-Eater (1945), Starfish (1944), and Octopus (1944), Alexander Calder, Buchholz Gallery/Curt Valentin, New York, 1945Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum; Gift of Lois Orswell (no. 1996.18)
Illustrations of Prelude to the Man-Eater (1945), Starfish (1944), and Octopus (1944), Alexander Calder, Buchholz Gallery/Curt Valentin, New York, 1945
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum
Archive
Works / Bronze 37
The Helices (1944)
The Helices, 1944
The Vine (1944)
The Vine, 1944
Snake on Arch (1944)
Snake on Arch, 1944
Starfish (1944)
Starfish, 1944
Related Timeline
1937–1945
1937–1945 Public Commissions and the War

In 1937, Calder completed Devil Fish, his first stabile enlarged from a model. He received two important commissions: Mercury Fountain (1937) and Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (1939). His first retrospective was held in 1938 at the George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery in Springfield, Massachusetts, followed by another in 1943 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.