Collection Mobile

Mobile

Alexander Calder American, 1898-1976
Not On View

No Available Image

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata
  • About the Artwork

    Please note: This section is empty

  • Markings

    Please note: This section is empty

    This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.

  • Provenance

    Please note: This section is empty

    Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

    For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

    Provenance page
  • Exhibition History

    Please note: This section is empty

    The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

    We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

    Suggest Feedback
  • Published References

    Please note: This section is empty

    We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

    Suggest Feedback
  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Please note: This section is empty

    A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.

  • Credit Line for Reproduction

    Please note: This section is empty

    The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

  • Audio Transcript

    Please note: This section is empty

About the Artwork

Born in Philadelphia in 1898, Calder has utilized a training as a mechanical engineer in the field of sculpture. In his constructions of metal, wire and wood, he concerns himself with the esthetic value of abstract and geometrical forms, as they move through space in varying orbits and shifting interrelationships. Calder sometimes employs motors to keep the parts in motion. More frequently, as in our Mobile, objects are suspended in space from a series of booms. A large, central form resting on three steel rods supports a wire boom, which in turn supports smaller ones. The suspended forms, of red, yellow, blue and orange, are balanced so delicately that the slightest interference with the equilibrium of the system -- a light touch, a breath of air -- causes these forms to alter their relative positions in space.
-Adapted from the Bulletin of the DIA, vol. 26, no. 1 (1947)

Mobile

ca. 1946

Alexander Calder

1898-1976

American

----------

Metal, wire, and wood

Overall: 22 1/2 × 18 1/2 inches (57.2 × 47 cm)

Sculpture

Contemporary Art after 1950

Gift of Mrs. Arthur U. Hooper

46.9

Restricted

Markings

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance

1946-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 26 (1947): 7, 8 (ill.).

Page, A. Franklin. Modern Sculpture: A Picture Book of Modern Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1950, pp. 40-41 (ill.).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

© 2005 Estate of Alexander Calder / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Alexander Calder, Mobile, ca. 1946, metal, wire, and wood. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Arthur U. Hooper, 46.9.

No Available Image

More by Artist

Quilt

Quilt

Alexander Calder

Quilt

Quilt

Multiple makers

Quilt

Quilt

Multiple makers

The X and Its Tails

The X and Its Tails

Alexander Calder

The X and Its Tails

The X and Its Tails

Alexander Calder

Blue Sun

Blue Sun

Alexander Calder

No Available Image

Calder's Circus, Whitney Museum of American Art

Alexander Calder

Related Works

Insertion Band

Insertion Band

American

No Available Image

Pattern and Sample Book for Girl's Clothing

Mary Cummings

No Available Image

Scarf

American

No Available Image

Pink Bouquet

Anonymous

No Available Image

Coat

Elizabeth Hawes

No Available Image

Dress

Elizabeth Hawes

No Available Image

Dress

American

Mobile
Mobile
Mobile

1 / 1

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata
Close