Alexander Calder’s delightful Flying Dragon (1975)—an abstract sculpture of thin, rounded metal sheets—is over 11 feet tall. It is one in a long line of fantastical creatures created by Calder, works that date back to his Whale, made in 1937. The orange dragon is not a mobile structure, yet with its slender raised wings—so aerodynamic—it appears to be on the brink of motion, about to fly. The work was completed less than a year before Calder’s death in 1976, at age 78. As part of FIAC’s Hors les Murs, it’s been installed at the Place Vendôme. Meanwhile, a show at Gagosian’s newly minted location in the 1st arrondissement tells the story of the dragon’s construction. —E.C.

Calder: 1975 and “Flying Dragon”
Gagosian Castiglione
9 Rue de Castiglione, 75001 Paris, France
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