{"data":{"id":"2679","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":2679,"topgoose_id":15187,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":2679,"title":"Tumbler on Swing","display_artist_text":"Alexander Calder","display_date":"1931","accession_number":"81.23.4","dimensions":"Sheet (Irregular): 30 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (77.5 × 57.2 cm)","medium":"Pen and ink on paper","department":"collection","classification":"Drawings","credit_line":"Gift of Howard and Jean Lipman","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlexander Calder, \u003cem\u003eTumbler on Swing\u003c/em\u003e, 1931. Pen and ink on paper, sheet (Irregular): 30 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (77.5 × 57.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Howard and Jean Lipman 81.23.4. © Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1920s, Alexander Calder produced drawings based on the Ringling Brothers and Barnum \u0026amp; Bailey Circus and started work on his renowned \u003ci\u003eCalder’s\u003c/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eCircus\u003c/i\u003e, performing it extensively in Paris in 1927. In 1931 and 1932, he made a series of sketches, including \u003ci\u003eThe Wild Beast Cage\u003c/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eJuggler with Dog\u003c/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e On the High Wire\u003c/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTumbler on Swing\u003c/i\u003e, which revisited the circus themes to which he had already devoted so much attention. Unlike his earlier studies, however, these drawings\u003ci\u003e \u003c/i\u003ewere not based upon observation and transcription of reality, but were derived from his own wire sculptures. In these works, Calder’s revolutionary notion of “drawing in space” by using wire to create shapes, forms, and even volumes is returned to the two-dimensional surface of the paper.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"An acrobat balances on a ball suspended by ropes above a circus ring.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":true,"created_at":"2017-08-30T17:24:57.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T12:01:06.201-05:00","images":[{"id":94536,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/2679/81_23_4_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"215","type":"artist"}]}}}}