Alexander Calder's Gong Mobiles and the Art of Performance | Expert Voices | Sotheby's

A harmony of sound, form, color and motion, Blue Moon is a virtuosic manifestation of the technical ingenuity and conceptual ambition which characterize Alexander Calder's revolutionary sculptural oeuvre. Executed in 1962 for the seminal retrospective Alexander Calder: Sculpture—Mobiles at the Tate Gallery, London, Blue Moon spans a breathtaking twenty-five feet. Suspended from two central axes of a red and black rod, its eleven elements, anchored by a central percussive gong, seamlessly pivot and oscillate in a mesmeric, nearly gravity-defying equilibrium between weight and counterweight.

At once invoking spontaneity and awesome grandeur, Blue Moon stands as a triumphant masterpiece within Calder’s singularly inventive body of work. The artist’s gong hanging mobiles are a rarity and highly significant within the artist’s sculptural oeuvre. One of very few examples remaining in private hands, the present work is also distinguished by its scale, as among the largest gong mobiles that Calder ever executed.

Presented in partnership with Celine, this breathtaking mobile features in the Modern Evening Auction taking place at Sotheby's New York on 15 May.

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