Calder Foundation

Horse

Date 1928
Media
Wood
Dimensions
15 1⁄2" × 34 3⁄4" × 8 1⁄8"
Collection
The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange)
Historical Photos  1
Related exhibitions  8
George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts (1938)

George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts. Calder Mobiles. 8–27 November 1938.

Solo Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1943)

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Alexander Calder: Sculptures and Constructions. 29 September 1943–16 January 1944.

Solo Exhibition
Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil (1953)

Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil. II Bienal do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. 15 December 1953–28 February 1954.

Group Exhibition
Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Gallery, London (1962)

Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Gallery, London. Alexander Calder: Sculpture–Mobiles. 4 July–12 August 1962.

Solo Exhibition
Palazzo a Vela, Turin, Italy (1983)

Palazzo a Vela, Turin, Italy. Calder: Mostra retrospettiva. 2 July–25 September 1983.

Solo Exhibition
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Alexander Calder: 1898–1976. 29 March–12 July 1998.

Solo Exhibition
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2013)

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul. Calder. 18 July–20 October 2013.

Solo Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2021)

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Alexander Calder: Modern from the Start. 14 March 2021–15 January 2022.

Solo Exhibition
Selected films  1
Alexander Calder: Sculpture and Constructions
Alexander Calder: Sculpture and Constructions 1944Cinematography by Herbert Matter
Chronology  2
Summer 1928

Calder spends the summer working on wood and wire sculptures at the Peekskill, New York, farm of J. L. Murphy, the uncle of fraternity brother Bill Drew. I worked outside on an upturned water trough and carved the wooden horse bought later by the Museum of

Modern Art, a cow, a giraffe, a camel, two elephants, another cat, several circus figures, a man with a hollow chest, and an ebony lady bending over dangerously, whom I daringly called Liquorice.

19 June 1945

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, presents the First Exhibition of the Museum Collection of Painting and Sculpture. Calder is represented by five sculptures.

Works / Carved Figure 26
Related Timeline
1926–1930 Wire Sculpture and the Circus

Soon after moving to Paris in 1926, Calder created his Cirque Calder. Made of wire and a spectrum of found materials, the Cirque was a work of performance art that gained Calder an introduction to the Parisian avant-garde. He continued to explore his invention of wire sculpture, whereby he “drew” with wire in three dimensions the portraits of friends, animals, circus themes, and personalities of the day.