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Alexander Calder (July 22 1898 – November 11 1976), also known as Sandy Calder, was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing the mobile. In addition to mobile and stabile sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, and tapestry, and designed carpets.

Biography

Born in either Lawnton or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Calder came from a family of sculptors, with both his father Alexander Stirling Calder and grandfather, the Scottish-born sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, sharing the same name. His mother, Nanette Lederer Calder was a painter.

Although his parents encouraged his creativity as a child, they discouraged their children from becoming artists, knowing that it was an uncertain and financially difficult career. Calder initially trained as a mechanical engineer, receiving a degree from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1919. For the next several years he worked a variety of engineering jobs, such as assistant to a hydraulics engineer and engineer in a Canadian logging camp, but he wasn't content in any of the roles. In June 1922, Calder started work as a fireman in the boiler room of the passenger ship H. F. Alexander. While the ship sailed from San Francisco to New York, Calder woke early one morning and saw a sunrise with moon-set which deeply impressed him with the wonders of the universe, and set him on the path of becoming an artist. As he describes in his autobiography;

It was early one morning on a calm sea, off Guatemala, when over my couch — a coil of rope — I saw the beginning of a fiery red sunrise on one side and the moon looking like a silver coin on the other.

Having decided to become an artist, Calder moved to New York and enrolled at the Art Students' League. Whilst a student, Calder became fascinated with the circus, sketching a number of studies on circus themes and sculpting a number of wire frame circus animals and carnival performers. Upon graduating, Calder moved to Paris to continue his studies in art. He took his wire model circus with him, and gave elaborately improvised shows recreating the performance of a real circus. Soon, his Cirque Calder became popular with the Parisian avant-garde, and Calder was charging an entrance fee to see his two hour show of a circus that he could pack into a suitcase.

In 1928 Calder had his first solo show at the Weyhe Gallery in New York and he spent much of the next decade crossing the Atlantic to give shows in Europe and America.

On one transatlantic steamer, he met his wife Louisa James. They married in 1931.

Whilst in Paris, Calder met and became friends with a number of avant-garde artists including Joan Miró, Jean Arp and Marcel Duchamp. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio in 1930 "shocked" him into embracing abstract art.

The Cirque Calder can be seen as the start of Calder's interest in both wire modeling and kinetic art with an eye to the engineering balance of the sculptures. These were all the qualities required to develop mobiles, the name Duchamp gave to Calder's kinetic sculptures. He designed some of the characters in the circus to perform suspended from a thread. However, it was the mixture of his experiments to develop purely abstract sculpture following his visit with Mondrian that lead to his first truly kinetic sculptures which were manipulated by a means of cranks and pulleys.

By the end of 1931 he had quickly moved on to more delicate sculptures which derived their motion from the air currents in the room, and true mobiles were born. At much the same time, Calder was also experimenting with self supporting, static, abstract sculptures, dubbed "stabiles" by Arp to differentiate them from mobiles.

Calder and Louisa returned to America in 1933 to settle in a farmhouse they purchased in Roxbury, Connecticut, where they raised a family (first daughter, Sandra born 1935, second daughter, Mary, in 1939). Calder continued to give Cirque Calder performances, but also met Martha Graham and designed stage sets for her ballets with Erik Satie.

During the World War II, Calder attempted to join up as a marine, but was rejected. Instead, he continued to sculpt, but a scarcity of metal lead to him producing work in carved wood. After the war, Calder had several major retrospective exhibitions, including one in the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1943.

In the 1950s, Calder increasingly concentrated his efforts on producing monumental sculptures. Notable examples are .125 for JFK Airport in 1957, and La Spirale for UNESCO in Paris 1958. Calder's largest sculpture at 20.5 m high, was El Sol Rojo constructed for the Olympic games in Mexico City.

In 1966 Calder published his Autobiography with Pictures with the help of his son-in-law Jean Davidson.

In 1973 Calder was commissioned by Braniff International Airways to paint a full-size DC-8-62 as a "flying canvas." Calder completed a second plane, a Boeing 727-227, in 1975 as a tribute to the U.S. Bicentennial.

Calder died on November 11 1976, shortly following the opening of another major retrospective show at the Whitney Museum New York. Calder had been working on a third plane for Braniff, a "Tribute to Mexico," when he died.

Reporter: How do you know when its time to stop *?
Calder: When it's suppertime.
- From a television interview

Selected works

  • Dog (1909), folded brass sheet. Made as a present for Calder's parents.
  • The Flying Trapeze (1925), oil on canvas, 36 x 42 in.
  • Elephant (c. 1928), wire and wood, 11 1/2 x 5 3/4 x 29.2in. A figure in the Cirque Calder
  • Aztec Josephine Baker (c. 1929), wire, 53" x 10" x 9". A performing figure in the Cirque Calder, and a representation of Josephine Baker the exuberant lead dancer from La Révue Nègre at the Folies Bergère.
  • Untitled (1931), wire, wood, and motor. One of the first kinetic mobiles.
  • Feathers (1931), wire, wood, and paint. First true mobile, although designed to stand on a desktop.
  • Cone d'ebene (1933), ebony, metal bar and wire. First suspended mobile.
  • Form Against Yellow (1936), sheet metal, wire, plywood, string, and paint. Wall supported mobile.
  • Mercury Fountain (1937), mercury, resin.
  • Devil Fish (1937), sheet metal, bolts, and paint. First outdoor, garden stabile.
  • 1939 New York World's Fair (maquette) (1938), sheet metal, wire, wood, string, and paint.
  • Necklace (c. 1938), brass wire, glass, and mirror
  • Sphere Pierced by Cylinders (1939), wire and paint * the first of many floor standing, life size stabiles (predating Anthony Caro's plinthless sculptures by two decades.)
  • Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (1939), sheet metal, wire, and paint. Suspended mobile, design for the stairwell of the Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Black Beast (1940), sheet metal, bolts, and paint. Freestanding plinthless stabile.
  • S-Shaped Vine (1946), sheet metal, wire, and paint. Suspended mobile.
  • Sword Plant (1947) sheet metal, wire, and paint. Stabile.
  • Snow Flurry (1948), sheet metal, wire, and paint. Suspended mobile.
  • .125 (1957), steel plate, rods, and paint
  • La Spirale (1958), steel plate, rod, and paint, 360" high. Public monumental mobile for Maison de l'U.N.E.S.C.O., Paris.
  • Teodelapio (1962), steel plate and paint, monumental stabile, Spoleto Italy
  • Man (1967) stainless steel plate, bolts, and paint, 65' x 83' x 53', monumental stabile, Montreal Canada
  • La Grande Vitesse (1969), steel plate, bolts, and paint, 43' x 55' x 25', Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Cheval Rouge (Red Horse) (1974), red painted sheet metal, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
  • Flamingo (1974), red painted steel, at the Federal Plaza, Chicago, Illinois
  • The Red Feather (1975), black and red painted steel, 11' x 6'3" x 11'2", The Kentucky Center.
  • Untitled (1976), aluminum honeycomb, tubing, and paint, 358 1/2 x 912", National Gallery of Art Washington.
  • Mountains and Clouds (1976), painted aluminum and steel, 612 inches x 900 inches, Hart Senate Office Building

Monumental Sculptures and Public Works

UNITED STATES:

CALIFORNIA The Hawk for Peace, 1968, Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley Three Quintains, 1964, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Four Arches, 1974, Security Pacific National Bank, Los Angeles Spinal Column, 1968, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Le Faucon (The Falcon), 1963, Stanford University, Stanford Button Flower, 1959, UCLA, Los Angeles

CONNECTICUT Stegosaurus, 1973, Alfred E. Burr Mall, Hartford, Gallows and Lollipops, 1960, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

GEORGIA Three Up, Three Down, 1973, High Museum, Atlanta

ILLINOIS Flamingo, 1974, Federal Center Plaza, Chicago Universe, 1974, Sears Tower, Chicago Le Baron, 1965, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb

INDIANA Peau Rouge, 1970, Musical Arts Center, Indiana University, Bloomington

KANSAS Shiva, 1965, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Crown Center, Kansas City Eléments Démontables, 1975, Bank IV Kansas, Wichita

KENTUCKY The Red Feather, 1975, Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville

MARYLAND Four Dishes, 1967; The 100 Yard Dash, 1969, The Baltimore Museum of Art

MASSACHUSETTS La Grande Voile (The Big Sail), 1965 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

MICHIGAN La Grande Vitesse, 1969, Vandenberg Plaza, Grand Rapids Jeune fille et sa suite, 1970, Michigan Bell Telephone Building, Detroit

MINNESOTA The Spinner, 1966, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Octopus, 1964, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

MISSOURI Tom's Cubicle, 1967; Ordinary, 1969, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Five Rudders, 1965, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis Shiva, 1965, Crown Center, St. Louis

NEW JERSEY Hard to Swallow, 1966; The Stevens Mobile, 1970, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken Five Discs, One Empty, 1970, The Art Museum, Princeton University El Sol Rojo maquette, 1968, The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton

NEW YORK Triangles and Arches, 1965, Empire State Plaza, Albany The Arch, 1975, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville Object in Five Planes, 1965, Federal Plaza, New York City .125, 1957, John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City Le Guichet (The Ticket Window), 1963, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Saurien, 1975, IBM building, New York City Large Spiny, 1966, Pocantico Hills Estate, Tarrytown Hats Off, 1969, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden at PepsiCo, Purchase Three Arches, 1963, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Museum of Art, Utica

PENNSYLVANIA The Ghost, 1964, Philadelphia Museum of Art White Cascade, 1975, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Three Discs, One Lacking, 1968, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia Pittsburgh, 1958, Pittsburgh International Airport, Pittsburgh

TENNESSEE Nenuphar (Lily Pad), 1968, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

WASHINGTON The Eagle, 1971, Seattle Art Museum

WASHINGTON, D.C. Mountains and Clouds, 1976-87, Hart Senate Building 6 Dots Over a Mountain, 1956; Deux Discs (Two Discs), 1965; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution Untitled, 1976, National Gallery of Art Gwenfritz, 1968, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

WISCONSIN Red, Black, and Blue, 1968, Milwalkee County Airport

INTERNATIONAL:

AUSTRALIA Bobine, 1970, Australian National Gallery, Canberra Crossed Blades, 1967, Australia Square Tower, Sydney

CANADA Man, 1967, Montreal Man maquette, 1967, York University Art Gallery, Ontario

DENMARK Slender Ribs, 1963; Little Janey Waney, 1976; Almost Snow Plow, 1976, Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek

FRANCE Crinkly, 1969, Amboise Trois pics, 1967, Nouvelle Gare SNCF, Grenoble Théâtre de Nice, 1970, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice L'araignée rouge (The Red Spider), 1976, Etablissement Public pour L'Aménagement de la Région de la Défense, Paris Caliban, 1964, Maison de la Culture de Bourges, Paris Nageoire (Fin), 1964, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris La Spirale, 1958, UNESCO building, Paris Les ailes brisées (The Broken Wings), 1967, Conseils Général des Pyrénées Orientales, Perpignan Totem-Saché, 1974, Saché Les trois ailes (The Three Wings), 1963, Musée d'art Moderne, Saint-Etienne Les Renforts, 1963; Empennage (Airplane Tail), 1953, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence Guillotine pour huit (Guillotine for Eight), 1963; Reims croix du sud (Southern Cross of Reims), 1969, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Villeneuve d'Ascq

GERMANY Tétes et queue (Heads and Tail), 1965, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin Les Triangles, 1963, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund Hextopus, 1955, American Consulate General, Frankfurt Le Hallebardier, 1971, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover Cinq Pics, 1972, Insel Hombroich, Neuss Crinkly with a Red Disc, 1973, Stuttgarter Schlossplatz, Stuttgart

HOLLAND Tamanoir (Anteater), 1963, City of Amsterdam

ITALY Teodelapio, 1962, City of Spoleto

IRELAND Cactus provisoire, 1967, Trinity College, Dublin

ISRAEL Jerusalem Stabile, 1976, Jerusalem The Cow, 1977, Jersusalem Foundation Community Center The Sun at Croton, 1960; Untitled, 1967, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

JAPAN Les Arétes de poisson (The Fish Bones), 1966, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa Fafnir-Dragon II, 1969, Nagoya City Art Museum Flamingo maquette, 1973, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga Otsu

MEXICO El Sol Rojo, 1968, Aztec Stadium, Mexico City

SOUTH KOREA Grand Crinkly, 1971, Ho-am Art Museum, Soeul

SPAIN Quatre ailes (Four Wings), 1972, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona

SWEDEN Three Wings, 1963, City of Gotenborg

SWITZERLAND The Tree, 1966, Fondation Beyeler, Basel Brasilia, 1965, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny Stabile, 1963, The Nestle Art Collection, Le Vevey

VENEZUELA The City, 1960, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas Aula Magna, 1954, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas

Bibliography

  • Alexander Calder: An Autobiography With Pictures, HarperCollins, ISBN 0068532687

External links

1898 births | 1976 deaths | American sculptors | Modern sculptors | New York artists | People from Philadelphia | Scottish-Americans

Alexander Calder | Alexander Calder | アレクサンダー・カルダー | Alexander Calder | Alexander Calder | Alexander Calder

 

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