Calder Foundation

Calder Cirque Invitation (14 rue de la Colonie)

Date 1932
Media
Cardboard relief with ink on paper
Dimensions
9 7⁄8” × 13”
Collection
Calder Foundation, New York
Related exhibitions  2
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel (2016)

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel. Alexander Calder & Fischli/Weiss. 29 May–4 September 2016.

Group Exhibition
High Wire: Calder’s Circus at 100

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. High Wire: Calder’s Circus at 100. 18 October 2025–9 March 2026.

Solo Exhibition
Works / Print 74
Related Timeline
1930–1936 Shift to Abstraction

Following a visit in October of 1930 to Mondrian’s studio, where he was impressed by the environment and actuation of space, Calder made his first wholly abstract compositions and developed 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.”