ABOVE: Alexander Calder’s Untitled (1976), which has just been re-hung at the National Gallery in Washington after a refurbishing.

Alexander Calder’s last major work, a mobile for the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., was re-unveiled yesterday after getting a year’s worth of maintenance. The Calder-designed, Paul Matisse-built aluminum structure was removed last August for the Tremclad treatment—a new coat of Calder Foundation-approved paint, repair to some worn-down contact points, and a thorough scrubbing.

Untitled, the press release helpfully tells us, was commissioned in 1972 when the East Building was under construction. Calder had originally designed it in steel, but that would have been too heavy. Matisse rejigged it out of aluminum, and it was installed in 1977, a year after Calder’s death. The last time it was disassembled for cleaning was 1988; that’s one hell of a dust bunny.

LINK: National Gallery of Art’s Calder Mobile Back on View Following Conservation Treatment