A black metal sculpture of a stylized octopus.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The black metal sculpture shows a stylized octopus constructed of several interlocking pieces. The base is shaped like the letter w with a long vertical center piece that ends in a sharp point. Balanced on the point is a downward hanging paddle with a curved pointed tail. Balanced on the tail point is a long, round, s-shape with pointed ends. A flattened, rectangle with rounded corners and two perpendicular holes and which ends in a curved point is balanced horizontally at the top. An inverted u-shape with broad flat ends is balanced from the curved point.

Gallery Text

Octopus is a rare example of Calder’s bronze work, created when the artist was experimenting with new materials. The work’s interlocking forms reveal Calder’s interest in subtle movement, as the attenuated tentacles balance precisely atop one another. Though Calder frequently exhibited with surrealists, his work is rarely considered in that context. Octopus, however, shows a clear affinity with the enthusiasms of surrealist artists, who were captivated by machinery, childhood toys, and the fantastic. At once organic and mechanical, comic and unsettling, Octopus conveys a state of uncertainty. Calder was ultimately unhappy with the casting process, believing bronze failed to capture the handmade quality he desired, and he soon returned to the sheet metal works for which he is more widely known.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1996.32.A-E
People
Alexander Calder, American (Philadelphia, PA 1898 - 1976 New York, NY)
Title
Octopus
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1944
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/198160

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
sight: 63.5 x 90.8 x 59.7 cm (25 x 35 3/4 x 23 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: on piece A along edge

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1996.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell
Copyright
© Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1996
Object Number
1996.32.A-E
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • James Cuno, ed., A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass., Spring 2000), pp. 76-77, ill. (color)
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 18, fig. 111, p. 306, 311, 374
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Friends: Works from the Lois Orswell Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., Knoedler & Co. Inc. (New York, 2003), p37

Exhibition History

  • 20th Century Abstract Painting and Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 04/16/1947 - 05/18/1947
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Friends: Works from the Lois Orswell Collection, Harvard University, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 11/14/2003 - 01/24/2004
  • Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance and Joy, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Chicago, 06/26/2010 - 10/10/2010
  • 32Q: 1310 Surrealism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 03/30/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/15/2018 - 08/30/2023
  • Calder: Hypermobility, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 06/07/2017 - 10/23/2017

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Verification Level

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