Alexander Calder

American sculptor Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Philadelphia on July 22, 1898 into an artistic family. His father and grandfather were renowned sculptors and his mother was a well known portrait painter. Calder received a mechanical engineering degree in 1919 before moving to New York City to study at the Art Students League. In 1926, he moved to Paris where he began work on his famous Circus, a performance using characters created from wire, wood, cloth and other found materials. In 1930, a visit to Piet Mondrian's studio inspired the artist to pure abstraction. Later that year Calder moved back to the United States to marry Louisa James. Always fasinated with movement, Calder began to "draw" three-dimensional sculptures with wire. This invention of the "mobile", a term coined by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp, was the spontaneous motion of the wind in careful collaboration with the mathematical construction of the form. Calder's logical progression from these lyrical sculptures was monumental static compostions in metal called "stabiles". These later objects grace public plazas and were included in major retrospectives worldwide including Chicago, Michigan, New York, Israel, Spain, France and Canada. In 1952 he received the grand prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennial. Alexander Calder died on November 11, 1976.

Alexander Calder Images:
Candy Cane
Pyramids
Starburst
Sun And Moon