This Alexander Calder kinetic sculpture (a/k/a mobile) is in the open courtyard around the Seagram Building, directly across from the Lever House.

Contrary to the popular impression, Alexander Calder is not a European but an American artist, born at the end of the 19th century in Pennsylvania. His father Stirling was a sculptor and his mother Nanette Lederer was a painter.

The Seagram and the Lever were built prior to the 1961 NYC regulations directing that builders trade some open public space for the height and floor space they wanted. Eventually, the regulations expanded to include seating for the public. One of the reasons for including that amenity in the regulations was the construction of the Seagram Building.

"The plaza offers no seating and, in fact, Mies [the architect] wanted the pools to be filled to the brim to prevent people from even sitting on their edge. (Another feature of the building that Mies designed to prevent the inevitable "meddling" of human beings was the omission of window sills and supplying of similar curtains and venetian blinds -- moveable to only three positions -- to every window so that the harmony of curtain wall is retained as much as possible. )