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La Grande vitesse, 1969

Work

La Grande vitesse

Date 1969
Media
Sheet metal, bolts, and paint
Dimensions
516" × 660" × 300"
Collection
The City of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Monumental Sculpture, Stabile
Map of installed works
View our map of installed works, Calder Around the World
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Historical Photos  2
Dedication of La Grande vitesse (1969)
Dedication of La Grande vitesse, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1969
Dedication of La Grande vitesse, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1969
La Grande vitesse (1969)
Postcard of La Grande vitesse, Grand Rapids, c. 1969Photograph by John Penrod
Postcard of La Grande vitesse, Grand Rapids, c. 1969Photograph by John Penrod
Related works  3
La Grande vitesse (1:5 intermediate maquette) (1969)
La Grande vitesse (1:5 intermediate maquette), 1969
La Grande vitesse (I) (1969)
La Grande vitesse (I), 1969
La Grande vitesse (II) (1969)
La Grande vitesse (II), 1969
Chronology  1
14 June 1969

Calder attends the dedication ceremony for La Grande vitesse, a monumental stabile commissioned by the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August 1967. This is the first sculpture to be funded by the public art program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Archive
Works / Monumental Sculpture 216
Hats Off (1969)
Hats Off, 1969
Morning Cobweb (1969)
Morning Cobweb, 1969
The 100 Yard Dash (1969)
The 100 Yard Dash, 1969
A Two-Faced Guy (1969)
A Two-Faced Guy, 1969
Works / Stabile 251
Hats Off (maquette) (c. 1969)
Hats Off (maquette), c. 1969
Untitled (maquette) (c. 1970)
Untitled (maquette), c. 1970
Trois bollards (1970)
Trois bollards, 1970
Brontosaurus (1970)
Brontosaurus, 1970
Related Timeline
1963–1976
1963–1976 Monumental Works

In 1963, Calder completed construction of a large studio overlooking the Indre Valley. With the assistance of a full-scale, industrial ironworks, he began to fabricate his monumental works in France and devoted much of his later working years to public commissions. Calder died in New York in 1976 at the age of seventy-eight.