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From the invention of the mobile to the creation of outdoor sculpture on a grand scale
in bolted steel plate, the American artist Alexander Calder (1898–1976) profoundly
transformed the histor y of modern art.
Writing in 1933, Calder asked: “Why not plastic forms in motion? Not a simple
translator y or rotar y motion but several motions of different types, speeds and
amplitudes composing to make a resultant whole. Just as one can compose colors or
forms, so one can compose motions.”
Over the course of seven decades, Calder made some 22,000 works that range from
wire sculptures, mobiles, stabiles, monumental sculptures, paintings and drawings to
lesser-known works such as jewelr y, bronzes and domestic objects
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