Calder Foundation

Very Flat Cat

Date 1926
Media
Wood
Dimensions
19" × 5 1⁄2" × 1 1⁄2"
Collection
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester; Gift of Charlotte Whitney Allen, 1964
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
Chronology  1
Spring 1926

At his friend Betty Salemme’s house on Candlewood Lake in Sherman, Connecticut, Calder carves his first wood sculpture, Very Flat Cat, from an oak fence post.

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.