Map Ref. 15. A man made, grassy hillock in the Spring Garden. (However, during 1996, as part of the re design of the grounds between the National Gallery and the High Court of Australia, this work may be permanently re sited in Parkes Place, on the concrete, between sites 3 and 4.)
, translates to mean a bobbin or a spool which suggests that the work has an association with the craft of weaving. The bobbin lies on its side, like a bridge with 3 pylons. (The work seems to invite children to run and hide or weave around these pylons.) Yet the thrusting, upward movement of this awkward shape is clearly not a toy but a sculpture which looks even more monumental by being sited on top of a grassy hillock.
are known as 'stables', in order to distinguish them from Calder's other sculptures which are known as 'mobiles'. (Calder's friend and mentor, Jean Arp (1887-1966), is credited with being the first to use this descriptive term.) Unlike the stables, the mobiles are suspended shapes which move and rotate, in any passing breeze. An example of a mobile, "Night and day" 1964, is usually on permanent dispay within the Gallery. (For an example of a mobile in the outdoor sculpture garden at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, see Hello girls 1964.)
During an interview in 1971, recorded by his biographer, James Johnson Sweeney, Calder said that in his view,
"Disparity in form, colour, size, weight, motion, is what makes a composition. And, if this exists very few elements are necessary."
© 1995 Jane M Hyden