Major gift of works by Calder to Chicago’s contemporary museum

The Museum of Contemporary Art has been promised fifteen works by Alexander Calder, donated by the Ruth and Leonard J. Horwich family. The gift from Mrs Horwich, an MCA trustee, includes four hanging mobiles, a balancing mobile, four stabiles, three sculptures and three works on paper. During the 1960s and 1970s, she and her late husband collected mainly Surrealism and Chicago Imagism, and knew a number of artists whose chosen works were in the collection, including Calder. The fifteen Calders join seven in the museum’s permanent collection, including three mobiles previously given by the Horwiches. Chicago has a special liking for the artist. His “Flamingo” (1973) rises in Federal Plaza and “Universe” (1974), a huge motor-driven “moving mural”, is in the Sears Tower. In 1974, former Mayor Daley declared 16 October “Calder Day”. The Horwich donation is the first major gift following the unveiling of the MCA’s new building plan, designed by Josef Paul Kleihues.