Calder Foundation

Object with Red Discs

Date 1931
Media
Sheet metal, wood, wire, rod, and paint
Dimensions
87 1⁄2" × 52 1⁄4" × 24 1⁄2"
Collection
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Mrs. Percy Uris Purchase Fund (no. 86.49a-c)
Historical Photos  3
Related exhibitions  9
Galerie Vignon, Paris (1932)

Galerie Vignon, Paris. Calder: ses mobiles. 12–29 February 1932.

Solo Exhibition
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
New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (1950)

New Gallery, Charles Hayden Memorial Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Calder. 5 December 1950–14 January 1951.

Solo Exhibition
Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil (1953)

Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil. II Bienal do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. 15 December 1953–28 February 1954.

Group Exhibition
Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Gallery, London (1962)

Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Gallery, London. Alexander Calder: Sculpture–Mobiles. 4 July–12 August 1962.

Solo Exhibition
Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France (1969)

Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. Calder. 2 April–31 May 1969.

Solo Exhibition
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1976)

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Calder’s Universe. 14 October 1976–6 February 1977.

Solo Exhibition
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2009)

Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Alexander Calder: les années parisiennes 1926–1933. 18 March–20 July 2009. Originated from the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Solo Exhibition
Musée Picasso, Paris (2019)

Musée Picasso, Paris. Calder-Picasso. 19 February–25 August 2019.

Group Exhibition
Chronology  1
After February 1935

Calder offers Sweeney a sculpture from his first show at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, for which Sweeney had written an introduction to the catalogue. Sweeney chooses Object with Red Discs; on principle, he insists that Calder accept a small sum in return for the sculpture. The

Sweeney family enjoys the object immensely and Sweeney’s brother, John, dubs it “Calderberry-bush.”

Works / Standing Mobile 266
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.”