Hood Museum of Art acquires Calder mobile

Posted 08/28/00

Visitors of all ages will be delighted to see the Hood Museum of Art's latest addition--a 1953 mobile by renowned American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976).

Its whimsical geometric shapes float freely from suspending wires, creating a bold display of primary colors in perpetual motion.

Born into a family of artists, Calder was encouraged to create even as a child. Soon after receiving an engineering degree in 1919, he began to pursue a career in art through studies at the Arts Students League in New York City. In 1926, he moved to Paris, where he created Cirque Calder, an impressive array of small-scale circus figures sculpted from wire and other materials. This work earned him the admiration and friendship of several avant-garde artists, including Picasso, Miró, and Léger.

Influenced by his colleagues, Calder began to make his own work more abstract. His desire to make paintings that moved resulted in what we know today as the mobile: working with wire and colorful metal and plastic shapes, Calder devised a fanciful kinetic sculpture with appendages that floated and turned in the air. Over the course of his lifetime, Calder created more than two thousand such mobiles ranging in scale from modest to massive. His work continues to be celebrated in exhibitions and installations around the world, including those at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Many of his large-scale sculptures and mobiles can be found in public sites throughout the world. The Hood Museum of Art's Mobile is now on view in the galleries as a tribute to this major figure of twentieth-century sculpture.

The story of this important gift is a personal one: the New York art dealer Curt Valentin, who represented Calder during the 1940s and early 1950s, was the uncle of Heinz Valtin, the Vail and Hampers Professor of Physiology Emeritus at Dartmouth Medical School. When Heinz Valtin married, Curt Valentin gave the mobile to the Valtins as a wedding present.

Gift of Nancy and Heinz Valtin, in memory of Curt Valentin; partial purchase through the Miriam and Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund.

The Hood Museum of Art is located on Wheelock Street opposite the green in Hanover, New Hampshire. Admission is free and open to the public. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Wednesday, 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM; and Sunday, 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The Hood Museum Shop is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM; Wednesday, 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM; and Saturday and Sunday, 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The museum and museum shop are wheelchair accessible. For additional information, please call (603) 646-2808.