Calder Foundation

Arc of Petals

Date 1941
Media
Sheet metal, wire, rivets, and paint
Dimensions
94 1⁄2" × 86 5⁄8" × 35 7⁄16"
Collection
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 1976 (no. 76.2553.137)
Related exhibitions  3
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
Fundación del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (2003)

Fundación del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. Calder: Gravedad y la Gracia. 18 March–12 October 2003.

Solo Exhibition
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2009)

Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome. Calder: Sculptor of Air. 23 October 2009–14 February 2010.

Solo Exhibition
Chronology  2
20 October 1942

The inaugural exhibition of Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century, New York, opens with an installation designed by Frederick Kiesler. Guggenheim wears one earring by Tanguy and one earring by Calder, who is represented in the exhibition by Arc of Petals.

6 June–30 September 1948

For the XXIV Biennale di Venezia—the first Biennale of the postwar period—Calder’s Arc of Petals is included in a presentation of Peggy Guggenheim’s collection curated by art historian Giulio Carlo Argan.

Works / Hanging Mobile 167
Related Timeline
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.