Calder Foundation

Untitled

Date 1933
Media
Wire, iron, rod, wood, and paint
Dimensions
31 1⁄2" × 39 3⁄8" × 39 3⁄8"
Collection
Private Collection
Related exhibitions  1
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel (2016)

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

Group Exhibition
Works / Wall Sculpture 40
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.”