Sword Swallower

Alexander Calder, Sword Swallower, 1926–1931. Galvanized steel wire, steel wire, aluminum wire, cloth, and thread, overall: 11 1/4 × 6 7/8 × 5 in. (28.6 × 17.5 × 12.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from a public fundraising campaign in May 1982. One half of the funds were contributed by the Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Charitable Trust. Additional major donations were given by The Lauder Foundation; the Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc.; the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation, Inc.; an anonymous donor; The T.M. Evans Foundation, Inc.; MacAndrews & Forbes Group, Incorporated; the De Witt Wallace Fund, Incorporated; Martin and Agneta Gruss; Anne Phillips; Mr. and Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller; the Simon Foundation, Inc.; Marylou Whitney; Bankers Trust Company; Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth N. Dayton; Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz; Irvin and Kenneth Feld; Flora Whitney Miller. More than 500 individuals from 26 states and abroad also contributed to the campaign. 83.36.12.1a-c. © Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York