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Katharine Cornell, 1931

Work

Katharine Cornell

Date 1931
Media
Wood
Dimensions
22 1⁄2" × 9 1⁄2" × 9"
Collection
Calder Foundation, New York; Mary Calder Rower Bequest, 2011
Carved Figure
Related exhibitions  1
George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts (1938)

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

Solo Exhibition
Archive
Works / Carved Figure 26
Very Flat Cat (1926)
Very Flat Cat, 1926
Untitled (c. 1927)
Untitled, c. 1927
Untitled (c. 1927)
Untitled, c. 1927
Fertility Goddess (c. 1927)
Fertility Goddess, c. 1927
Related Timeline
1930–1936
1930–1936 Shift to Abstraction

Following a visit in October of 1930 to Piet Mondrian’s studio, where he was impressed by the environmental installation, Calder made his first wholly abstract compositions and invented the kinetic sculpture now known as the mobile. Coined for these works by Marcel Duchamp in 1931, the word “mobile” refers to both “motion” and “motive” in French. He also created stationary abstract works that Jean Arp dubbed “stabiles.”