Calder Tower

Alexander S. C. Rower, Calder’s grandson and president of the Calder Foundation, in conversation with Harry Cooper, curator of modern art, National Gallery of Art. Perhaps no artist has a larger presence at the National Gallery of Art than Alexander Calder. His monumental mobile, commissioned for the opening of the East Building, has become nearly as iconic as the building itself. A part of the East Building renovation and expansion, Tower 2 now boasts the world’s largest display of works by Alexander Calder: more than 40 sculptures and paintings, spanning the period from the late 1920s through 1976 and including 19 long-term loans from the Calder Foundation. In addition to the works in the Tower 2 gallery and the atrium mobile, three Calder sculptures can be found around the Gallery’s campus: Obus (1972) was recently installed in the West Concourse Gallery; Tom’s (1974), on loan from the Calder Foundation, is on view outside the Seventh Street entrance; and another loan from the foundation, Cheval Rouge (1974), is installed in the Sculpture Garden. In this conversation recorded on February 26, 2017, Alexander S. C. Rower discusses the role of his grandfather’s art at the Gallery with Harry Cooper. This program is coordinated with the Calder Foundation.