In 1931 Alexander Calder began to create a form of sculpture that is now synonymous with his art – mobiles. By suspending the sculpture in the air the artist was free to play with space, form, light, shadow and movement in a completely novel way. Calder’s kinetic sculptures were first displayed publicly at Galerie Percier in Paris, it was there that Marcel Duchamp coined the name ‘mobile’ for the sculptures. These sculptures were completely revolutionary with Albert Einstein even remarking “I wish I’d thought of that”.

Through his mobiles Calder was able to investigate his predominant concern of abstraction beyond the static form. Movement allowed his sculptures to exist in multiple forms rather than a fixed resolution. Calder’s artistic principals were deeply connected to the avant-garde painting of the period, particularly in relation to the development of abstraction. In 1930 Calder visited Piet Mondrian’s Parisian studio and was instantly struck by the artist’s work. Like Mondrian, Calder sought to further the application of abstraction through a simplified colour palette of often bold primary colours, black and white. In restricting his use of colour Calder sought to enhance the motion and structural balance of his mobiles.

‘Untitled’ was given to Nelly van Doesburg, widow of the artist and leader of the De Stijl movement, Theo van Doesburg. Nelly van Doesburg was deeply involved with De Stijl, participating as an artist in her own right under the pseudonym Pétro van Doesburg. Her activities spanned far beyond her own artistic practice by working as a curator and artist connector, most famously becoming Peggy Guggenheim’s advisor.

Van Doesburg’s house come studio in Meudon on the outskirts of Paris, where ‘Untitled’ was installed, became a central gathering place. It was here that she entertained critics, collectors and artists like Calder. The two became good friends, both looking to push the boundaries of abstraction within art. Calder gifted ‘Untitled’ to Van Doesburg in 1967, the year he created it. Affectionately it is Van Doesburg’s artistic pseudonym ‘Petro’ that Calder has inscribed on the mobile.

By 1967 Calder was arguably American’s most prominent sculptor and celebrated globally. In 1947 he was the youngest artist to have ever received a retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, had won the Grand Prize for Sculpture for his US Pavillion at the 1952 Venice Biennale and executed numerous public commissions.