Calder Foundation

Small Feathers

Date 1931
Media
Wire, wood, lead, and paint
Dimensions
38 1⁄2" × 32" × 16"
Collection
Calder Foundation, New York
Historical Photos  2
Related exhibitions  11
Galerie Vignon, Paris (1932)

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

Solo Exhibition
George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts (1938)

George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts. Calder Mobiles. 8–27 November 1938.

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
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
Fundación del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (2003)

Fundación del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. Calder: Gravedad y la Gracia. 18 March–12 October 2003.

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
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2009)

Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome. Calder: Sculptor of Air. 23 October 2009–14 February 2010.

Solo Exhibition
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2013)

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul. Calder. 18 July–20 October 2013.

Solo Exhibition
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2013)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic. 24 November 2013–27 July 2014.

Solo Exhibition
Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2015)

Museo Jumex, Mexico City. Calder: Discipline of the Dance. 21 March–28 June 2015.

Solo Exhibition
Tate Modern, London (2015)

Tate Modern, London. Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture. 11 November 2015–3 April 2016.

Solo Exhibition
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.”