| Mountain in a Molehill
By Andrew Curry
Washington Post Sunday Style
Section
August 15, 1999
One of the most
monumental pieces of modern sculpture in the District isn't anywhere near
an art museum--it's on Capitol Hill in the middle of a Senate office building.
It's almost an office building in itself, an eight-story-high piece of
modern art by the sculptor and mobilist Alexander Calder (1898-1976). Calder
drew inspiration from the bright, spacious atrium of the Hart Building
(Second and C streets NE, just a few blocks from Union Station). In the
year before his death, the master designed a maquette for "Mountains and
Clouds," the only one of his works to combine a hanging mobile and a grounded
stabile.
His model, which
can be seen in a corner of the atrium, was used after his death to create
the massive metal sculpture in the Hart Building today. Curved black crags
rise under brooding clouds, all dwarfing the potted trees that decorate
the atrium's marble floor and the tour groups who file by.
Set in the middle
of the Capitol's most coveted office space, the sculpture and the atrium
provide a welcome respite from the rush of the Hill.
Tired tourists
looking for something a little offbeat can also spend a few minutes in
air-conditioned contemplation before setting out to conquer the rest of
the Capitol complex.
--Andrew Curry, San Jose,
Calif. |
