Eagle, Aluminum sculpture in Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, US.
Eagle is a 12-metre-tall abstract sculpture by Alexander Calder, made in 1971 of painted sheet steel. Its angular red forms rise in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, where it was moved in 2004 after standing outside the Seattle Asian Art Museum.
The work was created in 1971 by Alexander Calder and demonstrates his approach to merging engineering with artistic form. Its creation reflects the development of large-scale abstract sculpture in post-war American art.
Calder made Eagle in 1971 for the Fort Worth National Bank, and it stood at 500 Throckmorton Street until 2000, when Jon and Mary Shirley bought it for nearly 10 million dollars and gave it to the Seattle Art Museum. It was first placed outside the Seattle Asian Art Museum before moving to the Olympic Sculpture Park in 2004.
The sculpture sits in the Olympic Sculpture Park along the water and can be visited free of charge year-round. The location is walkable from downtown and features pathways that pass by other artworks.
Despite its enormous weight, the structure achieves perfect balance through Calder's mathematical precision in calculating load distributions. This engineering achievement remains unobvious to viewers at first glance.
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