Alexander Calder
American, 1898 - 1976Red Fish Tail, 1965
On view
Painted sheet metal and wire
Dimensions60 × 120 in.
Gift of Mrs. Aimee Mott Butler in memory of her mother, Ethel Harding Mott, 1967.1
Alexander Calder created abstract works, whether large or small, fixed or mobile, that possess a gentle grace and timeless quality. His sculptures reveal a love for modern materials but also embody contemporary ideas of motion, chance, and balance. Using a relatively limited visual vocabulary and a palette of primary colors, Calder achieved an enormous variety in his work, ranging from tiny tabletop pieces to large outdoor works. By the mid-1940s, he had advanced the concept by suspending mobiles from the ceiling. Red Fish Tail exemplifies his mature work, revealing how Calder's engineering mastery and sense of balance transforms what could be a two-dimensional work to a three-dimensional drawing in the air.
