From its invention in 1932, the American artist Alexander Calder became associated with what Marcel Duchamp dubbed ‘the mobile’. Calder’s suspended sculptures seemed to refer to the mysterious harmony of nature. He often exhibited them in Paris, where he lived, and London during the1930s.

Calder’s British friends included the artist John Piper and Myfanwy Evans, the editor and publisher of the avant-garde magazine Axis in which Calder’s work was frequently reproduced. This work was assembled and painted in Piper’s garden; it was first exhibited in 1937 at the Mayor Gallery.