Animated Coat Hanger

1927
Alexander Calder, 1898-1976

Wire and wood, 19 3/4 × 4 1/2 × 2 1/2 in., Promised gift of Jon and Mary Shirley, photo: Nicholas Shirley, Brightwood Photos.

A material as humble and mundane as wire was inspiring for Calder, who used it to sculpt three-dimensional line drawings. In 1926, he used wire to make a functional sundial shaped like a rooster. He eventually developed a range of figurative sculptures and portraits of iconic personalities of the time, including Josephine Baker. Many of these massless objects—which astounded the international avant-garde—were viewable from all sides or would vibrate from movement. Some had actual moving parts. In 1927, he exhibited his wire sculptures at a New York gallery, and they became established examples of Calder’s brilliant production, including this work from the same year.

The work’s title implies that a coat hanger was used to sculpt the profiled subject, but that is not the case. Perhaps the title is a nod to the artists from the Dada movement, who used the choice of selection to create readymades from preexisting common objects, such as hangers.