The Antlers

Alexander Calder, The Antlers, 1944, plaster, 17 ³⁄₈ x 32 x 16 ¹⁄₄ in. (44.1 x 81.3 x 41.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alexander Calder, 1971.359

Artwork Details

Title: The Antlers
Artist: Alexander Calder
Date: 1944
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
Luce Foundation Center
/
4th Floor
/
49B
Dimensions: 17 ³⁄₈ x 32 x 16 ¹⁄₄ in. (44.1 x 81.3 x 41.2 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Alexander Calder
Mediums: plaster
Mediums Description: plaster
Classifications: Sculpture
Subjects: Abstract
Object Number: 1971.359
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1971.359

Artwork Description

Alexander Calder found inspiration in the natural world to create the abstracted forms he used in his famous mobiles and sculptures. He frequently sketched animals at the Bronx and Central Park zoos while studying art in New York City, then made a living in Paris selling movable wooden and wire toy animals. In 1944, Calder fabricated a group of small, plaster sculptures based on animals and plants and kept them in his personal collection. He later gifted some of these sculptures, including The Fawn and The Flower, to the Smithsonian American Art Museum a few years before he died in 1976. In The Antlers, Calder explored the whimsical curves of an animal’s antlers in isolation, apart from a body. Calder’s playful sense of structural equilibrium is showcased in this piece, as the antlers balance on the tip of the tripod base.