ALEXANDER CALDER (1898-1976)

"Whereas the standing mobile's base mediates between the earth and the air, the stabiles remain rooted to the earth, as does man himself. Like the mobiles, they activate the surrounding space and share their quality of animation, which derives from the organic character of the shapes and the lively outlines of the forms (a quality hard to actually define but essential in all the work). But the stabiles are also the reverse of the mobiles—static, with the potential for movement but not moving. The sense of 'potential energy,' of energy barely contained, endows them with a powerful presence."
—M. Glimcher, "Alexander Calder: Toward Monumentalism," exh. cat., New York, PaceWildenstein, Alexander Calder: The 50s, 1995, pp. 16-17