Mobile

Mobile, city, United States

Mobile (mōbēl`, mō`bēl'), city (1990 pop. 196,278), seat of Mobile co., SW Ala., at the head of Mobile Bay and at the mouth of the Mobile River; inc. 1814. Mobile is one of the country's major ports, the only seaport in Alabama, and the second largest city in the state. It has an important history as a shipping and shipbuilding center. The city's economy is primarily based on its oil refineries and industries that produce paper, textiles, aluminum, and chemicals. There is also iron smelting. Commerce through the port of Mobile increased greatly following the completion of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in 1984.

A settlement was founded on the site of Mobile in 1710 by the sieur de Bienville, and it was the capital of French Louisiana from 1710 to 1719. The British held it from 1763 to 1780, when Bernardo de Gálvez took it for Spain. Mobile was seized for the Americans by Gen. James Wilkinson in 1813. During the Civil War, ships from Mobile evaded the Union blockade until Admiral Farragut's victory at Mobile Bay (1864); Gen. E. R. S. Canby captured the city in Apr., 1865.

Mobile has many beautiful antebellum homes and magnificent gardens. Also noteworthy are a Roman Catholic cathedral, the city hall (1858), and Marine Hospital (1842). Of historical interest are the homes of Admiral Raphael Semmes and Gen. Braxton Bragg, the headquarters of Gen. Canby, and forts Morgan and Gaines at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Mobile is the seat of Spring Hill College (the oldest in the state), the Univ. of Mobile, and the Univ. of South Alabama. A Coast Guard aviation training center and Battleship Memorial Park, with the USS Alabama and the USS Drum submarine, are there. The colorful annual Mardi Gras was begun in the early 1700s; the Azalea Trail Festival dates from 1929. The Bankhead Tunnel lies under the Mobile River.

Bibliography

See C. Donelson, Mobile: Sunbelt Center of Opportunity (1986).

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mobile, in art

mobile (mō`bēl), a type of moving sculptural artwork developed by Alexander Calder in 1932 and named by Marcel Duchamp. Often constructed of colored metal pieces connected by wires or rods, the mobile has moving parts that are sensitive to a breeze or light touch; it can be designed to hang from the ceiling or stand free on the floor. Mobiles became popular in the 1950s for interior decoration.

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mobile

Abstract sculpture that has moving parts, driven either by motors or by the natural force of air currents. Its revolving parts create a new visual experience of constantly changing volumes and forms. The term was initially suggested by Marcel Duchamp for a 1932 Paris exhibition of such works by Alexander Calder, who became the mobile's greatest exponent.

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Mobile

City (pop., 2000: 198,915), southwestern Alabama, U.S. Situated on Mobile Bay at the mouth of the Mobile River, the site was explored by Spaniards in 1519. French colonists built a fort near the river's mouth in 1702. It served as the capital of French Louisiana until about 1719. It was ceded to the British in 1763 and captured by the Spanish during the American Revolution. It was seized by the U.S. during the War of 1812 and incorporated as a town in 1819. During the American Civil War it was an important Confederate port, but Federal forces won the Battle of Mobile Bay and captured the city. The state's only seaport, it is a major industrial and manufacturing centre and the site of several institutions of higher education.

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mobile

Remote, portable, on-the-go. A "mobile" is a cellphone; however, a "mobile device" can refer to any portable device including a phone, PDA, digital music player, tablet computer, netbook or laptop. See mobile computing, mobile platform, online app store and mobile Web site.

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mobile

Art

a. a sculpture suspended in midair with delicately balanced parts that are set in motion by air currents

b. (as modifier): mobile sculpture

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Mobile

a port in SW Alabama, on Mobile Bay (an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico): the state's only port and its first permanent settlement, made by French colonists in 1711. Pop.: 193 464 (2003 est.)

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mobile [′mō‚bēl]

(graphic arts)

A decorative three-dimensional art object constructed of metal, glass, wood, plastic, or other materials; it is mounted in a hanging position and is free to move in any of its planes.

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Mobile 

a city and port in the southern USA, in the state of Alabama. Located on Mobile Bay at the mouth of the Mobile River, on the Gulf of Mexico. Population, 190,000 (377,000 including suburbs, 1970), over a third of whom are Negroes. Mobile is the starting point of an inland waterway to the city of Birmingham. Volume of freight handling in the port was 23.7 million tons in 1972, and included major bauxite imports. Mobile’s industries include woodworking, cellulose and paper, chemicals, alumina and cement production, and shipbuilding. The city was founded in 1711.

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Mobile 

the western, that is, main arm of the river formed by the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers in the state of Alabama in the southern USA. The eastern arm of the river is known as the Tensaw. The Mobile River falls into Mobile Bay in the Gulf of Mexico, forming a marshy delta. Length, approximately 80 km; basin area, 109,000 sq km. The Mobile is fed by rain; high water occurs in the spring and low water in the autumn. The river is navigable for its entire length. The seaport of Mobile is located at its mouth.

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Mobile 

a work of art consisting of a movable structure, usually made of light metal and plastics, that changes its form because of air currents or a mechanical apparatus, creating various color, light, and sound effects. The term “mobile” was first used in 1932 in reference to abstract works by the American sculptor A. Calder. The term is broadly applied to works of kinetic art, a school that developed in the 1960’s and aims at activating the viewer’s perception. The principles of kinetic art, including multiform variations of structure permitted by engineering techniques and electronics and the creation of optical and acoustical effects through photographic, cinematic, and stereophonic techniques, are sometimes applied in the designs of decorations for festivals and for exhibition interiors. However, as a work of studio art, the mobile has not yet transcended the stage of abstract formal experimentation.

REFERENCES

Stoikov, A. “O kineticheskom iskusstve.” Ikusstvo, 1969, no. 3.
Popper, F. Naissance de l’an cinétique. [Paris, 1967.]