Red Sumac
- Acrylic painted Aluminum
- 50 x 85 x 31 in
- Alexander Calder
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Gifted
The artwork, created in 1968, is made of painted sheet metal and wire, and measures 31 by 85 by 50 inches. Calder (1898-1976) was among the most celebrated American artists of the 20th century, best known as the inventor and master of the mobile, a form of sculpture that incorporates movement into art by slowly swaying, spinning or swinging with the currents of the air.
Edward H. Benenson, a 1934 graduate of Duke and longtime benefactor of the university and Duke University Hospital, bequeathed the mobile to the Robert and Nettie Benenson Foundation upon his death in 2005. The foundation wanted to display the piece for the benefit of the public and had been searching for the most suitable space when the foundation approached Duke University Hospital.
This mobile currently resides at the intersection of the Main Concourse of the hospital and the new Duke Central Bed Tower.
- Subject Matter: Kinetic
- Collections: Duke University Hospital Public Sculpture