Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was born on July 22, 1898 in Lawton Pennsylvania. Calder was raised by his mother, Nanette, and his father, Alexander. Both of his parents were artist, as well as his grandfather. Growing up, Calder was not interested in pursuing the “family business” of sculpture and various forms of art. As a young boy, he enjoyed tinkering with toys and creating which inspired him to pursue engineering. As he grew older, his family has relocated several times so his father could earn money and find some jobs as a teacher. At the age of 17, a young Alexander enrolled in the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and earned a degree in mechanical engineering. At the age of 24, while abroad a ship in Central America, he experienced both the rising sun and the setting moon which opened him young mind to how the universe works which later inspired his focus on balance and movement. Only one year later, he decided to study art at the Art Students League in New York City. Proving his true artistic abilities, Calder published a book Animal Sketching,
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in 1926. Later that year, Alexander decided to set sail and make his way to Paris, where he remained and continued to work in his own art studio. Being one of the few young American artists who had established himself in Paris, people took a liking to his modern art. Between 1926 and 1933, he quickly acquired the nickname “king of wire” for his clever three-dimensional sculptures. Before his creation of the mobile, he often made renderings of animals such as his work Cow created in 1929. Later on he created a miniature circus that he would assemble on the floor of his studio as well as in the homes of friends during social gatherings. Cirque Calder was complete with spring-action toy performers and animals that he had created out of scraps of cloth, yarn, and other various materials. Calder would put on miniature performances with the tiny animals and performers complete with sound effects. After this work, Calder was considered rather youthful compared to the other artists of the time. Many believe that Cirque helped him develop the idea of objects in motion allowing his incredible invention of the mobile. A couple short years later, a visit to the studio of Piet Mondrian, an artist known for his geometric abstract artwork, giving Calder a brilliant idea.
“I suggested to Mondrian that perhaps it would be fun to makes these rectangles oscillate…This one visit gave me a shock that started it all.” (Calder: An Autobiography with Pictures). Two years following his visit, in 1932, Alexander Calder created his first experiment with mechanical motion Small Sphere and Heavy Sphere. This work was composed of arbitrary items that could be struck to create various sounds, by two spheres suspended from the ceiling. While residing in France and making a himself known there, he was making many trips back the U.S as well as other European countries. Nearing the 1940’s, he became very well known in various parts of the world for his unique contributions as well as being one of the most experimental sculptors during that time
period. In 1931, at the age of 33, he married Louisa James and had two girls named Sandra and Mary Calder. He had a studio in France as well as two in New York and later bought an old icehouse on a farm in Connecticut, where he resided for the remainder of his life. With the growing fame of his mobiles, he began to experiment with the shapes he was using from discs to geometric shapes and even organic shapes. Around the time of WWII, there was a temporary shortage of sheet metal so Calder, being the innovative engineer he is, termed to wood, glass and other materials to continue the production of his artwork. In the late 1940’s, he began a series called Constellations which became his most beloved series of work. In the 1950’s and 60’s, Alexander remained the subject of copious exhibits in museums all over including Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Federal Plaza in Chicago. His work is said to evoke a childlike joy in the viewer because of the primary colors he uses, as well as the various shapes that move ever so slightly. However, nearing the 1970’s, his reputation began to dwindle due the harsh judgments of art critics deeming his work too playful to be taken seriously. Sadly, Calder died in 1976, at the age of 78, just weeks after opening an exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In the 21st century, nearly 22,000 works by Calder have been documented. For many years after his death, and still today, Calder’s popularity grew enormously and regained the reputation as one of the earliest modern and innovative artists who pioneered kinetic art. One of Calder’s earliest supports, James Johnson Sweeney, stated “Calder is an original artist whose contribution is so unique that it may possibly only be appraised of its true value by the future”. Needless to say, art critic, James Sweeney was very accurate with his statement of the early Alexander.
in 1926. Later that year, Alexander decided to set sail and make his way to Paris, where he remained and continued to work in his own art studio. Being one of the few young American artists who had established himself in Paris, people took a liking to his modern art. Between 1926 and 1933, he quickly acquired the nickname “king of wire” for his clever three-dimensional sculptures. Before his creation of the mobile, he often made renderings of animals such as his work Cow created in 1929. Later on he created a miniature circus that he would assemble on the floor of his studio as well as in the homes of friends during social gatherings. Cirque Calder was complete with spring-action toy performers and animals that he had created out of scraps of cloth, yarn, and other various materials. Calder would put on miniature performances with the tiny animals and performers complete with sound effects. After this work, Calder was considered rather youthful compared to the other artists of the time. Many believe that Cirque helped him develop the idea of objects in motion allowing his incredible invention of the mobile. A couple short years later, a visit to the studio of Piet Mondrian, an artist known for his geometric abstract artwork, giving Calder a brilliant idea.
“I suggested to Mondrian that perhaps it would be fun to makes these rectangles oscillate…This one visit gave me a shock that started it all.” (Calder: An Autobiography with Pictures). Two years following his visit, in 1932, Alexander Calder created his first experiment with mechanical motion Small Sphere and Heavy Sphere. This work was composed of arbitrary items that could be struck to create various sounds, by two spheres suspended from the ceiling. While residing in France and making a himself known there, he was making many trips back the U.S as well as other European countries. Nearing the 1940’s, he became very well known in various parts of the world for his unique contributions as well as being one of the most experimental sculptors during that time
period. In 1931, at the age of 33, he married Louisa James and had two girls named Sandra and Mary Calder. He had a studio in France as well as two in New York and later bought an old icehouse on a farm in Connecticut, where he resided for the remainder of his life. With the growing fame of his mobiles, he began to experiment with the shapes he was using from discs to geometric shapes and even organic shapes. Around the time of WWII, there was a temporary shortage of sheet metal so Calder, being the innovative engineer he is, termed to wood, glass and other materials to continue the production of his artwork. In the late 1940’s, he began a series called Constellations which became his most beloved series of work. In the 1950’s and 60’s, Alexander remained the subject of copious exhibits in museums all over including Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Federal Plaza in Chicago. His work is said to evoke a childlike joy in the viewer because of the primary colors he uses, as well as the various shapes that move ever so slightly. However, nearing the 1970’s, his reputation began to dwindle due the harsh judgments of art critics deeming his work too playful to be taken seriously. Sadly, Calder died in 1976, at the age of 78, just weeks after opening an exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In the 21st century, nearly 22,000 works by Calder have been documented. For many years after his death, and still today, Calder’s popularity grew enormously and regained the reputation as one of the earliest modern and innovative artists who pioneered kinetic art. One of Calder’s earliest supports, James Johnson Sweeney, stated “Calder is an original artist whose contribution is so unique that it may possibly only be appraised of its true value by the future”. Needless to say, art critic, James Sweeney was very accurate with his statement of the early Alexander.