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Five Rods and Nine Discs, 1936

Work

Five Rods and Nine Discs

Date 1936
Media
Sheet metal, rod, and paint
Dimensions
15' high
Collection
Calder Foundation, New York
Monumental Sculpture, Standing Mobile
Historical Photos  6
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1938)
Calder with the base of Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, 1938Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York
Calder with the base of Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, 1938
Photograph by Herbert Matter
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1938)
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, 1938Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, 1938
Photograph by Herbert Matter
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1938)
Calder assembling Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, summer 1938Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York
Calder assembling Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, summer 1938
Photograph by Herbert Matter
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1938)
Calder assembling Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, summer 1938. Steel Fish (1934) is pictured in the distance.Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York
Calder assembling Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, summer 1938. Steel Fish (1934) is pictured in the distance.
Photograph by Herbert Matter
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1938)
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, summer 1938Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York
Five Rods and Nine Discs (1936), Roxbury, summer 1938
Photograph by Herbert Matter
Untitled (double-sided drawing) [verso] (1943)
Untitled (double-sided drawing) [verso], 1943Calder Foundation, New York; Anonymous Gift, 2004
Untitled (double-sided drawing) [verso], 1943
Calder Foundation, New York
Related exhibitions  1
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
Archive
Works / Monumental Sculpture 217
Well Sweep (1936)
Well Sweep, 1936
Devil Fish (1937)
Devil Fish, 1937
Big Bird (1937)
Big Bird, 1937
Spherical Triangle (1938)
Spherical Triangle, 1938
Works / Standing Mobile 269
Petit Panneau Bleu (c. 1936)
Petit Panneau Bleu, c. 1936
Apple Monster (1938)
Apple Monster, 1938
The Spider and the Fly (c. 1938)
The Spider and the Fly, c. 1938
Untitled (maquette for 1939 New York World’s Fair) (1938)
Untitled (maquette for 1939 New York World's Fair), 1938
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.”