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La Grande Vitesse, a public sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder, is located on the large concrete plaza surrounding City Hall and the Kent County Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States.
Calder’s playfully titled piece ( La grande vitesse is a rough French translation of “grand rapids”) is what the artist referred to as a stabile, or non-moving sculpture, as opposed to a mobile, or moving sculpture, the form for which he is perhaps best known.
Calder attends the dedication ceremony for La Grande vitesse, a monumental stabile commissioned by the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August 1967. This is the first sculpture to be funded by the public art program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Oct 6, 2013 · Guess which of the following quotes about Alexander Calder’s iconic “La Grande Vitesse” stabile sculpture in Grand Rapids comes from 1969, and which from 2013.
Jun 16, 2019 · GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Since its arrival 50 years ago, “La Grande Vitesse,” known in Grand Rapids simply as the Calder, has become part of the city’s identity, serving as the backdrop for many ...
La Grande Vitesse means the great swiftness, or the grand rapids. This sculpture was designed specifically for this site. While initially controversial, it's now a source of local pride, standing 43' high x 54' long x 30' wide in Calder Plaza.
Feb 20, 2024 · "La Grande Vitesse," the bright red stabile created for Grand Rapids by renowned artist and sculptor Alexander Calder, is a distinctive downtown landmark. Weighing 42 tons and standing four stories high, the steel abstraction was named "La Grande Vitesse" by the artist himself.
Literally translated, La Grande Vitesse means "the great swiftness." The work—standing 54 feet long, 43 feet high, and 30 feet wide—was designed to provide dramatically different views from each corner of the square. Although the sculpture is stationary, it gives the appearance of movement.
The efforts of Mulnix resulted in the creation of La Grande Vitesse, fondly referred to as the Calder, which became the first sculpture in the United States to be supported with public funds for the arts.
La Grande Vitesse has become a symbol of Grand Rapids, from the Calder City cab to the city flag. It was the first piece of public art work funded by the Art in Public Places program of the National Endowment of the Arts.
