In 1935, Alexander Calder was collaborating on avant-garde dance and art projects with his close friend, Martha Graham, considered to be the foremost creator of Modern Dance. Calder had held a lifelong passion for dance, creating ideas for sets and even trying his hand at choreography. He had been living and working in Paris, where his Surrealist friends like Miro had influenced his modernists concepts. The present piece is a maquette for a ballet that was to be created by Martha Graham. Graham and Calder intended for dancers to perform along the steps of the pyramidal ziggurat, eventually reaching for a giant spiral with which they could dance. Like most of their concepts, the final large work was never realised. It was always Calder’s intention that each maquette should be a valid work of art in its own right.
