This commanding red stabile is a 1:5 intermediate maquette for Alexander Calder's monumental La Grande vitesse, commissioned by the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1967 and completed two years later. One of three maquettes produced during the design process, it demonstrates how Calder employed structural rib elements to refine the sculpture's sweeping sinuous form and volume. La Grande vitesse was the first sculpture in the United States to receive funding through the National Endowment for the Arts Art in Public Places program, making this maquette a historically significant artifact of American public art. Held in the collection of the Calder Foundation, New York, this piece offers a rare close encounter with the design genesis of one of Calder's most celebrated public works.