Le Guichet (The Ticket Window)

Artist: Calder, Alexander

Status: In Situ

Title: Le Guichet (The Ticket Window)  (sculpture)

Dates: 1963. Dedicated November 15, 1965.

Medium: Steel painted black

Dimensions: 14 x 24 x 24 ft. 14 x 22 ft.

Inscription: (Proper right side of sculpture:) (artist’s monogram)/1963 signed

Description: The construction balances on four arched elements and a folded, triangular plate. The piece rises to a point, the tentacle-like projections branch out in several directions, creating a series of archways through which the viewer can pass.

Owner: On loan to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, General Services and Operations, New York, New York

Lent by City of New York, New York, New York

Located Lincoln Center, New York Library for the Performing Arts, entrance, New York, New York

Remarks: The piece was a gift of Howard and Jean Lipman. Calder did not design the sculpture for the Lincoln Center site and consequently was unable to scale it to the surrounding architecture and plaza.

References: Glueck, Grace, “Ticket Window (Nonfunctional) Is Installed at Lincoln Center,” New York Times, November 12, 1965, p. 49.

Osborn, Robert, “Calder’s International Monuments,” Art in America, vol. 57, no. 2 (March-April 1969).

Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, “Guide to Manhattan’s Outdoor Sculpture,” New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, pg. 271.

Lederer, Joseph, “All Around the Town: A Walking Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in New York City,” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey, 1993.