While Black Crescent shares the same compositional qualities as Alexander Calder’s mobiles, its components do not move. The sculpture's crescent and two spheres joined by a wire are simple and clean, and reminiscent of some of the artist’s earliest work. In his artistic practice, Calder often took inspiration from the sky to create compositions, and both the current and previous titles of this work, which is also known as Standing Constellation, suggest a celestial intervention. Calder once stated, “from the beginning of my abstract work, even when it might not have seemed so, I felt there was no better model for me to choose than the Universe.”

Label from Artists in Depth: Arp, Miró, Calder, March 25, 2011–April 15, 2012