DC -- Capitol Hill -- Hart Senate Office Building:
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- Description of Pictures: The "Mountains" part of the Calder sculpture is back.
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- HART_170828_17.JPG: Caring for Mountains and Clouds:
Unlike real mountains and clouds, Calder's sculptural abstractions need cleaning to remove accumulating dust and debris. However, their impressive size and height present a daunting challenge. Cleaning methods have been developed through a unique partnership between high rise building cleaners and a sculpture conservator. Much of the work is done at dizzying heights from an array of lift equipment.
To clean the clouds, one workers is hooked into a hang gliding harness suspended from the roof, while an assistant provides supplies from a nearby lift.
"By melding art with science, conservation professionals protect our heritage, preserve our legacy, and ultimately, save our treasures for generations to come."
-- American Institute for Conservation
Dust and marks can mar the sculpture. Cleaning requires a careful process to avoid damaging the paint or leaving streaks.
The lower surfaces of the mountains require the most frequent cleaning. Similar to a blackboard, the surface of the textured steel, coated with matte black paint, shows dust and marks from contact. The this silver strip you see on the floor has been placed as a reminder that this is a work of art to be appreciated visually.
- HART_170828_22.JPG: To clean the clouds, one workers is hooked into a hang gliding harness suspended from the roof, while an assistant provides supplies from a nearby lift.
- HART_170828_28.JPG: "By melding art with science, conservation professionals protect our heritage, preserve our legacy, and ultimately, save our treasures for generations to come."
-- American Institute for Conservation
Dust and marks can mar the sculpture. Cleaning requires a careful process to avoid damaging the paint or leaving streaks.
The lower surfaces of the mountains require the most frequent cleaning. Similar to a blackboard, the surface of the textured steel, coated with matte black paint, shows dust and marks from contact. The this silver strip you see on the floor has been placed as a reminder that this is a work of art to be appreciated visually.
- HART_170828_29.JPG: Maquette for Mountains and Clouds
(Sheet Metal and Wire, 1976)
This small scale model, or maquette, played a significant role in the building of Mountains and Clouds. After studying a model of the Hart atrium, Alexander Calder drew a simple sketch and created this maquette. The artist planned the sculpture specifically for placement in this space.
"The right work for the right place at the right time."
-- Senator Nicholas Brady
On November 10, 1976, Calder visited Washington DC to finalize the placement of Mountains and Clouds, using this maquette. After making minor adjustments to two of the clouds, he expressed satisfaction with the maquette as positioned in a model of the atrium. That evening, after returning to New York City, Calder died of a heart attack.
Foundry workers relied on the maquette to guide the building of Mountains and Clouds, since the artist did not make any scale drawings or blueprints. This maquette was reproduced full-size in as faithful a form as possible to two workshops that had fabricated some of Calder's monumental works during his lifetime.
- HART_170828_32.JPG: Maquette for Mountains and Clouds
(Sheet Metal and Wire, 1976)
This small scale model, or maquette, played a significant role in the building of Mountains and Clouds. After studying a model of the Hart atrium, Alexander Calder drew a simple sketch and created this maquette. The artist planned the sculpture specifically for placement in this space.
"The right work for the right place at the right time."
-- Senator Nicholas Brady
- HART_170828_35.JPG: On November 10, 1976, Calder visited Washington DC to finalize the placement of Mountains and Clouds, using this maquette. After making minor adjustments to two of the clouds, he expressed satisfaction with the maquette as positioned in a model of the atrium. That evening, after returning to New York City, Calder died of a heart attack.
Foundry workers relied on the maquette to guide the building of Mountains and Clouds, since the artist did not make any scale drawings or blueprints. This maquette was reproduced full-size in as faithful a form as possible to two workshops that had fabricated some of Calder's monumental works during his lifetime.
- HART_170828_37.JPG: Calder's Final Triumph:
Calder's skillful positioning of Mountains and Clouds in the Hart atrium contributes to the work's success. The placement cleverly integrates the sculpture into the towering asymmetrical interior of the building, both vertically and horizontally. Calder advocated simplicity in the design of this work, since the space presents a complex background of doors, windows, balconies, stairwells, and a coffered skylight. Similarly, by selecting a matte black surface for the entire composition, he created a bold contrast to the polished white marble of the surrounding interior walls.
The aluminum clouds were raised first, spanning 75 feet and weighing more than two tons. The installation of the steel mountains followed, reaching a height of 51 feet and weighing 36 tons.
Calder intended Mountains and Clouds to be considered from multiple vantage points. Viewers can climb the mountain, in a sense, by moving up the floors. Each stage of the ascent offers different views -- indeed, different understandings -- of the mountains and clouds. As in actual mountain climbing, the distant clouds gradually become looming clouds during the ascent, until eventually the climber stands above them.
Although the mobile no longer turns today, the clouds originally rotated slowly, driven by an electrical motor installed in the ceiling.
- HART_170828_41.JPG: Calder's Final Triumph:
Calder's skillful positioning of Mountains and Clouds in the Hart atrium contributes to the work's success. The placement cleverly integrates the sculpture into the towering asymmetrical interior of the building, both vertically and horizontally. Calder advocated simplicity in the design of this work, since the space presents a complex background of doors, windows, balconies, stairwells, and a coffered skylight. Similarly, by selecting a matte black surface for the entire composition, he created a bold contrast to the polished white marble of the surrounding interior walls.
The aluminum clouds were raised first, spanning 75 feet and weighing more than two tons. The installation of the steel mountains followed, reaching a height of 51 feet and weighing 36 tons.
- HART_170828_45.JPG: Alexander Calder:
Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was one of the most influential and beloved American sculptors of the 20th century. Born to a family of artists, he initially chose mechanical engineering as a career before realizing his artistic calling. Calder revolutionized the art of sculpture by developing two sculptural forms in the 1930s: the "mobile" and the "stabile."
The mobile -- abstract sculpture that created random designs and visual effects while in motion -- is recognized in art history as one of the most significant innovations of 20th-century sculpture. The stabile -- its fixed, freestanding counterpart -- evolved in Calder's later work into ever-larger, nearly architectural forms. The mobile and stabile eventually gave rise to new concepts in sculpture, and was a major contributor to the development of abstract art.
Mountains and Clouds was Calder's last project and his only creation that combined a separate mobile and stabile in a single sculptural work. Today, Calder's sculptures enrich many public landmarks worldwide.
Commissioning the Sculpture:
In 1975 when the Hart Senate Office Building was under construction, Alexander Calder and four other artists were invited to submit proposals to create a contemporary work for the central atrium. During the selection process, Calder submitted a sketch and maquette of the concept he called Mountains and Clouds. His innovative design was accepted.
After the artist's untimely death, budgetary considerations nearly eliminated the project. However, New Jersey Senator Nicholas Brady formed a foundation that raised the necessary funds. Mountains and Clouds was finally installed in 1986, ten years after Calder's death.
For more information, please visit www.senate.gov/art
"To most people who look at a mobile, it's more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry."
-- Alexander Calder
- HART_170828_50.JPG: Commissioning the Sculpture:
In 1975 when the Hart Senate Office Building was under construction, Alexander Calder and four other artists were invited to submit proposals to create a contemporary work for the central atrium. During the selection process, Calder submitted a sketch and maquette of the concept he called Mountains and Clouds. His innovative design was accepted.
After the artist's untimely death, budgetary considerations nearly eliminated the project. However, New Jersey Senator Nicholas Brady formed a foundation that raised the necessary funds. Mountains and Clouds was finally installed in 1986, ten years after Calder's death.
For more information, please visit www.senate.gov/art
"To most people who look at a mobile, it's more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry."
-- Alexander Calder
- HART_170828_53.JPG: Alexander Calder:
Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was one of the most influential and beloved American sculptors of the 20th century. Born to a family of artists, he initially chose mechanical engineering as a career before realizing his artistic calling. Calder revolutionized the art of sculpture by developing two sculptural forms in the 1930s: the "mobile" and the "stabile."
The mobile -- abstract sculpture that created random designs and visual effects while in motion -- is recognized in art history as one of the most significant innovations of 20th-century sculpture. The stabile -- its fixed, freestanding counterpart -- evolved in Calder's later work into ever-larger, nearly architectural forms. The mobile and stabile eventually gave rise to new concepts in sculpture, and was a major contributor to the development of abstract art.
Mountains and Clouds was Calder's last project and his only creation that combined a separate mobile and stabile in a single sculptural work. Today, Calder's sculptures enrich many public landmarks worldwide.
- HART_170828_62.JPG: Mountains and Clouds
by Alexander Calder (1898-1976)
Painted Aluminum and steel, designed 1976, completed 1986
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- Wikipedia Description: Hart Senate Office Building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hart Senate Office Building, the third U.S. Senate office building, was built in the 1970s in Washington, D.C. First occupied in November 1982, the Hart Building is the largest of the Senate office buildings. It is named for Philip A. Hart, who served 18 years as a senator from Michigan.
Design and construction
Following a recommendation from George M. White (then the serving Architect of the Capitol), the plan submitted by the architectural firm of John Carl Warnecke & Associates was approved by the Senate Committee on Public Works on August 8, 1974. Construction proceeded, and the building was first occupied in November 1982.
Rather than adopt the neo-classical style of the first two office buildings, the architect gave the Hart Building a more distinctly contemporary appearance, although with a marble façade in keeping with its surrounding. The architects sought to design a flexible, energy-efficient building that would accommodate both the expanded staff and the new technology of the modern Senate. The building's design also deliberately spared the adjacent Sewall-Belmont house, a historic structure that serves as headquarters for the National Woman’s Party and a museum for the woman suffrage movement. As construction proceeded, however, rapid inflation in the 1970s multiplied costs and caused several modifications of the original plan, most notably the elimination of a rooftop restaurant and a gymnasium.
Structure
The nine-story structure provides offices for forty nine senators, as well as for three committees and several subcommittees. Two-story duplex suites allow a senator’s entire office staff to work in connecting rooms. Where solid walls limited the arrangement of office space in the two older buildings, movable partitions permit reconfiguration of offices in the Hart Building to meet changing needs. Designed for modern telecommunications, removable floor panels permit the laying of telephone lines and computer cables, further aiding the rearrangement of offices as computers rapidly alter staff functions. On the building's roof, microwave satellite dishes expand senators' communication links with the news media in their home states.
The large Central Hearing Facility on the second floor of the Hart Building was designed for high-interest events attracting crowds that could not be accommodated in the regular hearing rooms. The facility offered more seating, better acoustics, and movable side panes where television cameras could operate without distracting the participants. Behind the dais where committee members sit, the Senate seal is affixed to a white and gray marble wall, which contrasts with the wood-paneled side walls. The room has become familiar to television viewers as the site of numerous Senate investigations and confirmation hearings.
Situated the farthest from the Capitol, the Hart Building was connected underground to an extension of the existing Capitol Subway to the Dirksen Senate Office Building. In 1994 a new train loop was installed that provided more cars and speedier service to handle the increased traffic between the buildings. With wider doors and trains at platform-level, the new system is also fully accessible to the handicapped. In addition, the Hart Building provides three floors of underground parking.
Atrium
Unlike other Senate office buildings arranged around courtyards, the Hart building has a 90-foot (27 m) high central atrium, which brings natural light into corridors and offices. Walkways bridge the atrium on each floor. Located on either end of the atrium are elevator banks and skylit semicircular staircases.
The centerpiece of the atrium is Alexander Calder's mobile-stabile Mountains and Clouds. The monumental piece combines black aluminum clouds suspended above black steel mountains, with the tallest peak being 51 feet (16 m) high. It was one of Calder's last works. The sculptor came to Washington on November 10, 1976 to make the final adjustments to his model, and died later that evening after returning to New York. Budget cuts delayed construction of the sculpture until 1986, when former New Jersey Senator Nicholas F. Brady raised private funds to underwrite the installation.
Anthrax attack
On October 15, 2001, several suites of this building became contaminated by the release of anthrax powder from an envelope mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in the 2001 anthrax attacks. The building was closed October 17, 2001, displacing hundreds of Senate staff. The building was decontaminated using chlorine gas in December 2001, and the building reopened January 23, 2002.
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