The Antlers

Copied 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
Date
1944
Location
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
Mediums Description
plaster
Classifications
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.