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Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, 1939

Work

Lobster Trap and Fish Tail

Date 1939
Media
Sheet metal, wire, and paint
Dimensions
102" × 114"
Collection
The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Commissioned by the Advisory Committee for the stairwell of the Museum
Hanging Mobile
Historical Photos  1
Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (1949)
Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (1939), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1949Photograph by Soichi Sunami © Museum of Modern Art, Soichi Sunami
Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (1939), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1949
Photograph by Soichi Sunami
Related exhibitions  2
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
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
Chronology  1
1939

Calder is commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, to make Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, a mobile he installs in the principal stairwell of the museum’s new building on West Fifty-third Street.

Archive
Works / Hanging Mobile 167
Untitled (c. 1939)
Untitled, c. 1939
Black Disc with Flags (c. 1939)
Black Disc with Flags, c. 1939
Untitled (c. 1939)
Untitled, c. 1939
13 Spines (1940)
13 Spines, 1940
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.