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What experience did Alexander Calder have while working aboard a ship near Central America in 1922?
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Alexander Calder
American artist Alexander Calder with one of his mobiles in his Roxbury, Connecticut, studio.
In 1922, while working aboard a ship off the coast of Central America, Alexander Calder experienced a formative moment that influenced his future artistic career. He observed the rising sun and the setting moon simultaneously on opposite horizons. This event provided him with a profound perspective on the vast yet precise mechanics of the universe, which later shaped his formal focus on balance and movement in his sculptures.1