Calder Foundation

Steel Fish

Date 1934
Media
Sheet metal, rod, wire, and paint
Dimensions
115" × 137" × 120"
Collection
Calder Foundation, New York
Historical Photos  9
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
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Alexander Calder: 1898–1976. 29 March–12 July 1998.

Solo Exhibition
Storm King Art Center, Mountainville (2001)

Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York. Grand Intuitions: Calder’s Monumental Sculpture. 21 May 2001–15 November 2003.

Solo Exhibition
Works / Monumental Sculpture 217
Works / Standing Mobile 269
Related Timeline
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.”