Angulaire

1975

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

141 x 117 x 67 inches

Angulaire is a large black stabile that stands at almost twelve feet tall.  The sculpture's title (which means "angular" in French) reflects the sharp angles and irregular shapes created by jagged pieces of sheet metal bolted and welded together.  The composition is abstract, made up of five interlocking vertical planes crossed perpendicularly by one horizontal piece.

Dent de sagesse (Wisdom Tooth)

1964

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

99 x 189 x 99 inches

Dent de sagesse is a black stabile consisting of triangular pieces of sheet metal bolted and welded together to form a three-dimensional wedge-shape, help upright by a fourth bracket piece.  Each large triangle has several small windows punched out of the sheet metal, providing framed views to the landscape beyond.  The rounded triangular shapes of these openings are comparable to the forms of the colored floating petals of the larger stabile, Ordinary, visible nearby

Discontinuous

1962

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

115 1/8 x 156 3/4 x 153 1/2 inches

80 1/2 x 62 x 132 inches

Discontinuous is a pair of two separate sculptures that, when viewed from certain angles, combine to form a single long, unbroken composition.  Together, the entire sculpture spans over twenty-four feet.  The larger of the two sculptures consists of three triangular forms, bent slightly, and with curved sides that meet at sharp peaks.  These three forms are connected with two sweeping buttresses.  The smaller sculpture mimics the shape of the larger one with a single peak.

Funghi Neri (Black Mushrooms)

1957

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

112 x 91 x 72 inches

Calder first exhibited Funghi Neri (which means "black mushrooms") at the Uffici Palazzo dell'arte al Parco in Milan, Italy during the summer of 1957.  The sculpture is an enlargement of a maquette that Calder created fifteen years earlier in 1942.  As such, it recalls an earlier period in the artist's  career, when he was strongly influenced by the ideas and forms of Surrealism.  The industrial materials of sheet metal and bolts nonetheless results in graceful, organic forms.

Ordinary

1969

Sheet metal, rod, bolts and paint

228 x 236 x 228 inches

Ordinary is a standing mobile whose dimensions are nineteen-and-a half feet tall, and both nineteen feet wide and deep.  The sculpture's height is primarily made up of its lower portion, a stabile of black sheet metal, whose buttressed sides culminate at a point a the top.  The stabile supports a long, slightly sloping metal crossbar, from which two smaller bars are suspended from each end.  From these dangle thirteen petal-shaped elements in red, yellow, and blue - six on one side, seven on the other.  In contrast to the symmetrical and weighty black lower stabile, these meticulously balanced, bright forms circulate at the whim of the passing breezes.

The Pagoda

1963

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

123 x 79 x 62 1/4 inches

The Pagoda is a stabile constructed of seven black sheet metal triangles stacked vertically and welded together base-to-tip to form a ten-foot tower.  The triangles increase in size from bottom to top so that, from the front, the sculpture may suggest the form of a soaring Chinese pagoda.  At first glance, the sculpture appears symmetrical but, in fact, the uppermost piece, truncated at the tip, leans slightly to the right.  Upon closer inspection, the triangle pieces, each with a different angle and orientation, are attached slightly off-center from the axis, so that the tower seems to teeter precariously.   Although the title and the sculpture's form indicate an association with Asian architecture, the artist himself once described this work as a "primitive totem."

Polygons on Triangles

1963

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

114 x 73 1/2 x 96 inches

Polygons on Triangles is a nine-and-a-half foot tall black stabile that combines several pieces of sheet metal cut into irregular geometric shapes.  A star-shaped polygon occupies the center of this abstract composition and balances precariously on three upright triangles placed directly on the ground.  The sculpture is topped by a second polygon, attached perpendicularly to the center piece.

The Rocket

1964

Sheet metal, holts, and paint

82 x 62 x 76 inches

Standing at over six feet tall, this black stabile consists of four interlocking pieces of sheet metal welded and bolted together.  These angular forms combine to suggest the dynamic upward motion of a rocket launching into space.

The Tall One

1968

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

144 x 94 x 94 inches

As the title suggests, The Tall One is a sculpture with impressive height, standing at over twelve feet tall.  A slender central piece consisting of two identical perpendicular interlocking shapes emerges from a flat base, culminating in a sphere.  This core piece is surrounded by five irregular triangles and polygons opening gently outwards.

Three Discs, One Lacking

1968

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

91 1/2 x 83 x 108 inches

Three Discs, One Lacking is a seven foot tall black stabile constructed of several interlocking pieces of cut sheet metal bolted and welded together.  The extended "arms" of the sculpture are asymmetrical and curve gracefully away from the center, giving the impression of rapid outward movement in three dimensions or the shock of an explosion.  As the title suggests, the piece includes three equally sized discs.  The first disc tops the upward moving arm forming the highest point of the sculpture, while the second projects off of the lower arm.  The third "lacking disc" appears as a cut-out circle, providing an interesting visual contrast between a circle that exists in space and one seen as a void.

Untitled

1972

Sheet metal, bolts, and paint

112 x 93 x 48 inches

This black stabile, made primarily of a large vertical piece of sheet metal, sits precariously on two perpendicular supports.  Standing at over ten feet tall, the sculpture has the overall shape of an asymmetrical polygon, sloped outward at the bottom.  Irregularity transforms the stark geometry into an organic form.  Calder pierced the main upright piece with several triangular windows and bent the resulting metal shape away from the vertical plane.  Two smaller triangular pieces are bolted to both the front and the back, giving the sculpture a jagged profile when viewed from the side.