An early example of Calder’s free-hanging abstract sculptures, which Dada artist Marcel Duchamp christened “mobiles,” Black Clouds consists of two large sheets of metal painted black and suspended on string from a metal rod. These irregularly curved shapes derived from the sculptor’s interest in biomorphic forms, inspired by his encounters with European Surrealists, in particular Jean Arp and Joan Miró. The metal cutouts are balanced against four wood balls attached to one another by wire and string in a perfectly calibrated balancing act. The sculpture’s evocative title portends difficulty and fear, possibly in response to military conflict spreading across Europe in the lead-up to World War II.
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the artist, New York (sold to Piening); M. Peter Piening, New York (until ca. 1960; sold ca. 1960 through Walter Randel Gallery, New York, to Bollt); Robert and Andrea Bollt, New York (ca. 1960–his d. 1984 ); Andrea Bollt, New York (1984–d. 2010; her bequest to MMA)
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Alexander Calder: A Retrospective Exhibition," November 6, 1964–January 31, 1965, no. 145 (as "The Black Clouds," 1936, lent by Robert Bollt, New York).
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Mobiles and Stabiles by Calder: The Man Who Made Sculpture Move," May 1–30, 1965, no. 145 (as "The Black Clouds," 1936, lent by Robert Bollt, New York).
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne. "Calder," July 8–October 15, 1965, no. 96 (as "Les Nuages noirs," 1936, lent by M. Robert Bolt [sic], New York].
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Alexander Calder: 1898–1976," March 29–July 12, 1998, no. 113 (lent by a private collection, New York).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Alexander Calder: 1898–1976," September 4–December 1, 1998, no. 113.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawing without Paper: Selections from The Met Collection," March 12–September 18, 2022, no catalogue.
H. H. Arnason. Calder. Princeton, 1966, pp. 53, 186, ill. p. 51, dates it 1936; locates it in the collection of Robert Bollt, New York.
Arnauld Pierre inAlexander Calder: 1898–1976. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 1998, p. 332, no. 113, ill. p. 163 (color).
Alexander Calder (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1898–1976 New York)
1957
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