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Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder was born on July or August 22, 1898, in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, into a family of artists. In 1919, he received an engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey. Calder attended the Art Students League, New York, from 1923 to 1925, studying briefly with Boardman Robinson and John Sloan. As a freelance artist for the National Police Gazette in 1925, he spent two weeks sketching at the circus; his fascination with the subject dates from this time. He also made his first wire sculpture in 1925, and the following year he made several constructions of animals and figures with wire and wood. Calder’s first exhibition of paintings took place in 1926 at the Artist’s Gallery, New York. Later that year, he went to Paris and attended the Académie de la grande chaumière. In Paris, he met Stanley William Hayter, created his famous Cirque Calder, which he began performing in the fall of 1926, and exhibited at the 1927 Salon des Indépendants. The first show of his wire animals and caricature portraits was held at the Weyhe Gallery, New York, in 1928. That same year, he met Joan Miró, who became a lifelong friend. Subsequently, Calder divided his time between France and the United States. In 1929, the Galerie Billiet gave him his first solo show in Paris. He met Frederick Kiesler, Fernand Léger, and Theo van Doesburg and visited Piet Mondrian’s studio in 1930. Around this time, he also encountered James Johnson Sweeney, future director of the Guggenheim Museum, who would become a close friend and supporter. Calder began to experiment with abstract sculpture and in 1931–32 introduced moving parts into his work. These moving sculptures were called “mobiles”; the stationary constructions were to be named “stabiles.” He exhibited with the group Abstraction-Création (Abstraction Creation, 1931–36) in Paris in 1933. In 1943, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, gave him a retrospective.

During the 1950s, Calder traveled widely and executed “gongs” (sound mobiles developed in the 1940s) and “towers” (wall mobiles developed around 1951). He won the Grand Prize for sculpture at the 1952 Venice Biennale. He exhibited, along with other pioneers of Kinetic art including Yaacov Agam and Jean Tinguely, in Le mouvement (Movement) at the Galerie Denise René, Paris, in 1955. Late in the decade, the artist worked extensively with gouache; from this period, he executed numerous major public commissions. In 1964–65, the Guggenheim Museum presented a Calder retrospective. He began the “totems” in 1965 and the “animobiles” in 1969; both are variations on the standing mobile. A Calder exhibition was held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1976), and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2003). Calder died on November 11, 1976, in New York.

- Source: Guggenheim's Collection Online 

  • Biography

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Selected artworks

  • Alexander Calder, The Yin and Yang Moon, 1974

    Alexander Calder The Yin and Yang Moon, 1974

    Gouache and ink on paper
    74.9 x 109.8 cm
    117 x 81 cm (framed)
    29 1/2 x 43 1/4 in 
    46 1/2 x 32 in (framed)

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1963

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1963

    Sheet metal, wire, and paint
    66 x 137.2 cm
    26 x 54 in

  • Alexander Calder, Brooch, c. 1938

    Alexander Calder Brooch, c. 1938

    Brass wire, glass, and steel wire
    17.1 x 17.8 cm
    6 3/4 x 7 in

  • Alexander Calder, Earrings, c. 1930

    Alexander Calder Earrings, c. 1930

    Nickel-plated muselets, brass, and silver wire
    7.6 x 3.2 cm
    3 x 1 1/4 in

  • Alexander Calder, Bracelet, c. 1938

    Alexander Calder Bracelet, c. 1938

    Brass wire
    4.4 x 7 x 5.1 cm
    1 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 2 in

  • Alexander Calder, Brooch, c. 1950

    Alexander Calder Brooch, c. 1950

    Silver and steel wire
    4.4 x 4.4 cm
    1 3/4 x 1 3/4 in

  • Alexander Calder, Brooch, c. 1942

    Alexander Calder Brooch, c. 1942

    Silver and steel wire
    7 x 15.2 x 0.6 cm
    2 3/4 x 6 x 1/4 in

  • Alexander Calder, Figa hair comb, c. 1948

    Alexander Calder Figa hair comb, c. 1948

    Silver wire
    19.1 x 8 cm
    7 1/2 x 3 1/8 in

  • Alexander Calder, T brooch, c. 1940

    Alexander Calder T brooch, c. 1940

    Brass and steel wire
    8 x 9.9 cm
    3 1/8 x 3 7/8 in

  • Alexander Calder, Puntos Blancos, 1955

    Alexander Calder Puntos Blancos, 1955

    Sheet metal, rod, wire, and paint
    129.5 x 116.8 x 63.5 cm
    51 x 46 x 25 in

  • Alexander Calder, Yellow Starface, 1974

    Alexander Calder Yellow Starface, 1974

    Gouache and ink on paper
    74.9 x 109.9 cm
    29 1/2 x 43 1/4 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1970

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1970

    Gouache and ink on paper
    74.9 x 108 cm
    29 1/2 x 42 1/2 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1963

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1963

    Gouache and ink on paper
    58.4 x 77.5 cm
    23 x 30 1/2 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1969

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1969

    Gouache and ink on paper
    108 x 74.9 cm
    42 1/2 x 29 1/2 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1953

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1953

    Gouache and ink on paper
    75.6 x 105.4 cm
    29 3/4 x 41 1/2 in

  • Alexander Calder, Stretching Triangles, 1971

    Alexander Calder Stretching Triangles, 1971

    Gouache and ink on paper
    74.9 x 109.9 cm
    29 1/2 x 43 1/4 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, c. 1971

    Alexander Calder Untitled, c. 1971

    Gouache and ink on paper
    74.9 x 109.6 cm
    29 1/2 x 43 1/8 in

  • Alexander Calder, Brooch, c. 1940

    Alexander Calder Brooch, c. 1940

    Silver and steel wire
    7.6 x 7 x 2.5 cm
    3 x 2 3/4 x 1 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, c.1942

    Alexander Calder Untitled, c.1942

    Silver wire
    43.2 x 30.5 cm
    17 x 12 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1963

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1963

    Gouache and ink on paper
    68.6 x 102.2 cm
    27 x 40 1/4 in

  • Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1975

    Alexander Calder Untitled, 1975

    Gouache and ink on paper
    74.9 x 110.5 cm
    116.5 x 82 cm (framed)
    29 1/2 x 43 1/2 in
    32 1/4 x 45 7/8 in (framed)

Gallery exhibitions

Museum exhibitions

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