Mobile Masterpiece: Wichita’s Lollipop Sculpture

I’ve always admired the mobile hanging at the Ruffin Center. Initially, I thought it was a work by Miro, but it turns out it’s by one of his contemporaries, Alexander Calder. Interestingly, it goes by two names: “Elements demontables” on the artist’s website and “Collapsible Elements” in a book titled, “Beautifying Wichita Through Sculpture.” However, back when it debuted, locals fondly called it the “lollipop mobile.”

So, how did this monumental artwork find its way to Wichita? Let’s hop into our metaphorical time machine and journey back to the 1970s.

In 1972, the Fourth Financial Company unveiled plans for a 9-story office building in downtown Wichita. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the same firm behind Chicago’s Willis (Sears) Tower, the $20 million project promised floor-to-ceiling windows, a 160-foot square atrium soaring 130 feet high, and a 350-car parking garage on the site of the former Miller Theater.

Groundbreaking was held on May 5, 1972.  Governor Robert Docking attended the ceremony.

The building’s architects, along with Dr. Martin Bush from Wichita State, suggested Alexander Calder for the centerpiece. Bank president Dwight Button even journeyed to Sache, France, where he dined in Calder’s wine cellar.

Button recounted to the Wichita Beacon, “It was a dark cave, cut right into a mountain. He opened a bottle and poured us all a glass. He turned his up and finished and waited.”

Mrs. Calder interjected, “He’s waiting for you to finish. He thinks it isn’t polite to have a second glass before you’re ready.”

In November 1976, Button shared with the Eagle, “He was busy and not too interested at first. Then we sent him a model of the new building, and he was so thrilled with it that he immediately made six maquettes (models) and sent them to us to make a selection.”

Alexander Calder was born on July 22, 1898. His mother, Nanette, was of German descent, while his father, Alexander, was of Scottish descent. 

Calder’s artistic lineage runs deep. His grandfather, sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, is renowned for the giant statue of William Penn atop Philadelphia City Hall’s tower. Following in his family’s footsteps, Calder’s father was a sculptor, and his mother was a painter.

The bibliography on Calder on his website: calderfoundation.org talked about the wind mobiles.  For fun I ran it through ChatGPT to rewrite it as if a high school art teacher was talking about it.

This is what it said:

Alright, class, let’s dive into Alexander Calder’s fascinating mobile pieces! You see, Calder started off creating mobiles that were either motor-driven or hand-cranked. These had a cool advantage – they could be controlled to move in certain ways, almost like dancers in a ballet. But, there was a catch. They followed a set pattern, which Calder found kind of limiting. Without fancy mechanisms, these controlled patterns could get pretty boring with their repeated movements.

So, Calder had an idea. He thought, why not let the mobiles move more freely, like natural movements? Sure, it meant giving up those formal patterns, but it opened up a whole world of rhythmic variety. Imagine the wind chimes you hear on a breezy day – they’re not controlled, but they create this lovely rhythm with their swinging. Calder wanted his mobiles to do the same – to dance freely and entertain both the eyes and the ears.

And thus, Calder’s first wind mobile was born, shortly after one of his exhibitions. From then on, most of his future mobiles followed this principle. While he did make some ambitious motorized mobiles in the early 1930s, he mainly focused on creating colorful wall panels with shapes that moved rhythmically against them. But with his wind mobiles, things got more relaxed and spontaneous. Movement became more free-flowing, and even chance started to play a bigger role in how they moved and looked.

So, in Calder’s world, mobiles weren’t just sculptures – they were like living, breathing artworks, moving and swaying with a sense of rhythm and spontaneity. Cool, huh?

Button recounted to the Eagle, “We selected one with horizontal pieces, but he thought the world should have vertical lines to fit into the building. So, he went ahead and made the one he wanted… after some modifications Calder liked, he started casting this (piece) at his foundry in France.”

Installation started in March 1975. According to the Eagle, the piece was transported in a specially built 747 from France to New York, then brought to Wichita by a trucking company. Further adjustments were made at Boeing, one of the few places in Wichita large enough to store it without damage.

In a March 9, 1975, article, the final installation was detailed: “Slowly it rose from the floor of Fourth Financial Center Saturday morning, like a string of bright red and yellow lollipops.”

“It took time to get the aluminum disks unpacked from their trip from Calder’s studio in France.”

“Then shortly before noon, the shrill sound of the powerful winch began tugging away at the work of art, which weighs two tons and is 47 1/2 feet from the top of the highest disk to the bottom of the lowest. The low point is 25 feet from the floor below.”

“An intricately-engineered swivel connects the steel cable to the building, allowing full rotation of the mobile when motivated by air currents.”

“The hanging was scheduled for Saturday morning, just in case something happened. But nothing did, and the only noises, aside from the winch, was the oohs and ahs of the spectators as the string of lollipops began its endless journey round and round.”

Button liked the art so much, he purchased about 25 more of Calder’s pieces for the bank.

Calder also created a series of tapestries for America’s Bicentennial, which were displayed at the bank.  The six tapestries toured the country and eventually found a home in the Wichita Art Museum. Additionally, the Ulrich houses 28 pieces, primarily sketches from Calder’s Circus period.  Neither museum is currently displaying the art.

Unfortunately, Calder passed away on November 11, 1976, at the age of 78. The Wichita Beacon’s obituary highlighted his “Lollipop” sculpture. Dwight Button noted, “Calder never saw it, although he wanted to come here. We tried to plan for him to come to Wichita on this trip, but his time was just too taken up.”

Update on Monday, October 14, 2024, the mobile was removed. Sold to the Calder estate, where it will send in storage. In it’s spot in the now, Ruffin Building, hangs a Stearman Plane.

To learn more about many of Wichita’s other art pieces check out How Great Our Art.