Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

known both for his innovative

mobiles Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

(kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his monumental public sculptures. Calder preferred not to analyze his work, saying, "Theories may be all very well for the artist himself, but they shouldn't be broadcast to other people."

Early life

Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in 1898 in Lawnton, Pennsylvania. His birthdate remains a source of confusion. According to Calder's mother, Nanette (née Lederer), Calder was born on August 22, yet his birth certificate at Philadelphia City Hall, based on a hand-written ledger, stated July 22. When Calder's family learned of the birth certificate, they asserted with certainty that city officials had made a mistake. Calder's grandfather, sculptor

Alexander Milne Calder Alexander Milne Calder (August 23, 1846 – June 4, 1923) (MILL-nee) was a Scottish American sculptor best known for the architectural sculpture of Philadelphia City Hall. Both his son, Alexander Stirling Calder, and grandson, Alexander "San ...

, was born in Scotland, had immigrated to Philadelphia in 1868, and is best known for the colossal statue of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

Philadelphia City Hall Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia. ...

's tower. His father,

Alexander Stirling Calder Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculptor and teacher. He was the son of sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and the father of sculptor Alexander (Sandy) Calder. His best-known works are ''George Washi ...

, was a well-known sculptor who created many public installations, a majority of them in Philadelphia. Calder's mother was a professional portrait

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, who had studied at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris from around 1888 until 1893. She moved to Philadelphia, where she met Stirling Calder while studying at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.UC Berkeley Art Museum. Four-year-old Calder posed nude for his father's sculpture ''The Man Cub'', a cast of which is now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York City. In 1902 he also completed his earliest sculpture, a clay elephant. In 1905 his father contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, and Calder's parents moved to a ranch in

Oracle, Arizona Oracle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,686 at the 2010 Census, falling to 3,051 at the 2020 Census. Buffalo Bill Cody owned the High Jinks Gold Mine in Oracle briefly and, in 191 ...

, leaving the children in the care of family friends for a year. The children were reunited with their parents in March 1906 and stayed at the Arizona ranch during that summer. The Calder family moved from Arizona to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. The windowed cellar of the family home became Calder's first studio and he received his first set of tools. He used scraps of copper wire to make jewelry for his sister's dolls. On January 1, 1907, Nanette Calder took her son to the

Tournament of Roses Parade A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

in Pasadena, where he observed a four-horse-chariot race. This style of event later became the finale of Calder's miniature circus performances. In late 1909 the family returned to Philadelphia, where Calder briefly attended

Germantown Academy Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Gree ...

, then they moved to

Croton-on-Hudson Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern sub ...

, New York. That Christmas, he sculpted a dog and a duck out of sheet brass as gifts for his parents. The sculptures are three-dimensional and the duck is kinetic because it rocks when gently tapped. In Croton, during his high school years, Calder was befriended by his father's painter friend

Everett Shinn Everett Shinn (November 6, 1876 – May 1, 1953) was an American painter and member of the urban realist Ashcan School. Shinn started as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia, demonstrating a rare facility for depicting animated movement, a ...

with whom he built a gravity-powered system of mechanical trains. Calder described it, "We ran the train on wooden rails held by spikes; a chunk of iron racing down the incline speeded the cars. We even lit up some cars with candle lights". After Croton, the Calders moved to Spuyten Duyvil to be closer to New York City, where Stirling Calder rented a studio. While living in Spuyten Duyvil, Calder attended high school in nearby

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

. In 1912, Calder's father was appointed acting chief of the Department of Sculpture of the

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely s ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and began work on sculptures for the exposition that was held in 1915. During Calder's high school years (1912–1915), the family moved back and forth between New York and California. In each new location, Calder's parents reserved cellar space as a studio for their son. Near the end of this period, Calder stayed with friends in California while his parents moved back to New York, so that he could graduate from Lowell High School in San Francisco. Calder graduated with the class of 1915.

Life and career

Alexander Calder's parents did not want him to be an artist, so he decided to study

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

. An intuitive engineer since childhood, Calder did not even know what mechanical engineering was. "I was not very sure what this term meant, but I thought I'd better adopt it," he later wrote. He enrolled at the

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical ...

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

, in 1915. When asked why he decided to study mechanical engineering instead of art Calder said, "I wanted to be an engineer because some guy I rather liked was a mechanical engineer, that's all". At Stevens, Calder was a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...

fraternity and excelled in mathematics. He was well-liked and the class yearbook contained the following description, "Sandy is evidently always happy, or perhaps up to some joke, for his face is always wrapped up in that same mischievous, juvenile grin. This is certainly the index to the man's character in this case, for he is one of the best natured fellows there is." In the summer of 1916, Calder spent five weeks training at the Plattsburgh Civilian Military Training Camp. In 1918, he joined the Student's Army Training Corps, Naval Section, at Stevens and was made guide of the battalion. Calder received a degree from Stevens in 1919. He held a variety of jobs including

hydraulic engineer Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the mov ...

and

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

for the New York Edison Company. In June 1922, Calder took a mechanic position on the passenger ship ''H. F. Alexander''. While sailing from San Francisco to New York City, Calder slept on deck and awoke one early morning off the Guatemalan Coast and witnessed both the sun rising and the full moon setting on opposite horizons. He described 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." The ''H.F. Alexander'' docked in San Francisco and Calder traveled to

Aberdeen, Washington Aberdeen () is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 17,013 at the 2020 census. The city is the economic center of Grays Harbor County, bordering the cities of Hoquiam and Cosmopolis. Aberdeen is occasi ...

, where his sister and her husband, Kenneth Hayes resided. Calder took a job as a timekeeper at a logging camp. The mountain scenery inspired him to write home to request paints and brushes. Shortly after this, Calder decided to move back to New York to pursue a career as an artist. Calder-redmobile

In New York City, Calder enrolled at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, studying briefly with

George Luks George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 – October 29, 1933) was an American artist, identified with the aggressively realistic Ashcan School of American painting. After travelling and studying in Europe, Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator a ...

Boardman Robinson Boardman Michael Robinson (1876–1952) was a Canadian-American painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Biography Early years Boardman Robinson was born September 6, 1876 in Nova Scotia. He spent his childhood in England and Canada, before mov ...

, and

John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...

. While a student, he worked for the ''

National Police Gazette The ''National Police Gazette'', commonly referred to as simply the ''Police Gazette'', is an American magazine founded in 1845. Under publisher Richard K. Fox, it became the forerunner of the men's lifestyle magazine, the illustrated sports w ...

'' where, in 1925, one of his assignments was sketching the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Calder became fascinated with the circus action, a theme that would reappear in his later work. In 1926, Calder moved to Paris, enrolled in the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acad� ...

, and established a studio at 22 rue Daguerre in the

Montparnasse Quarter Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has be ...

. In June 1929, while traveling by boat from Paris to New York, Calder met his future wife, Louisa James (1905–1996), a daughter of Edward Holton James and grandniece of author

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

and philosopher

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

. They married in 1931. While in Paris, Calder befriended a number of

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

artists, including

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

, Jean Arp, and

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

. Leger wrote a preface for the catalogue of Calder's first exhibition of abstract constructions held at the Galerie Percier in 1931. Postiglione, Corey. "Alexander Calder", ''Dictionary of American Biography'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, Supplement 10 (1976–1980), 1994, pp. 89–92. Calder and Louisa returned to America in 1933 to a farmhouse they purchased in

Roxbury, Connecticut Roxbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,260 at the 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City. History Roxbury, whose Native name was ''Shepaug'', a Mahican word signifying "roc ...

, where they raised a family (Sandra born 1935, Mary born 1939). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Calder attempted to join the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

as a camofleur, but was rejected. In 1955 he and Louisa traveled through India for three months, where Calder produced nine sculptures as well as some jewelry. In 1963, Calder settled into
new workshop
overlooking the valley of the Lower Chevrière to Saché in

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it ...

(France). He donated to the town a sculpture, which since 1974 has been situated in the town square. Throughout his artistic career, Calder named many of his works in French, regardless of where they were destined for eventual display. In 1966, Calder published his ''Autobiography with Pictures'' with the help of his son-in-law, Jean Davidson. Calder died unexpectedly in November 1976 of a heart attack, shortly after the opening of a major retrospective show at the Whitney Museum in New York.

Artistic work

Sculpture

In Paris in 1926, Calder began to create his '' Cirque Calder'', a miniature circus fashioned from wire, cloth, string, rubber, cork, and other found objects. Designed to be transportable (it grew to fill five large suitcases), the circus was presented on both sides of the Atlantic. Soon, his ''Cirque Calder'' (on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at present) became popular with the Parisian avant-garde. He also invented

wire sculpture Wire sculpture is the creation of sculpture or jewelry (sometimes called wire wrap jewelry) out of wire. The use of metal wire in jewelry dates back to the 2nd Dynasty in Egypt and to the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe. In the 20th century, the wor ...

, or "drawing in space", and in 1929 had his first solo show of these sculptures in Paris at Galerie Billiet. ''Hi!'', in the collection of the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...

, is an early example of the artist's wire sculpture. The painter

Jules Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 5, 1930), known as Pascin (; erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist known for his paintings and drawings. He later became an American citizen ...

, a friend from the cafes of

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

, wrote the preface to the catalog. A visit to

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...

's studio in 1930, where he was impressed by the environment-as-installation, "shocked" him into fully embracing

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

, toward which he had already been tending. PikiWiki Israel 1042 STABILE מחווה לירושלים

It was the mixture of his experiments to develop purely abstract sculpture following his visit with Mondrian that led to his first truly kinetic sculptures, actuated by motors, that would become his signature artworks. Calder's kinetic sculptures are regarded as being among the earliest manifestations of an art that consciously departed from the traditional notion of the art work as a static object and integrated the ideas of gesture and immateriality as aesthetic factors. Dating from 1931, Calder's abstract sculptures of discrete movable parts powered by motors were christened "mobiles" by

, a French pun meaning both "motion" and "motive". However, Calder found that the motorized works sometimes became monotonous in their prescribed movements. His solution, arrived at by 1932, was hanging sculptures that derived their motion from touch or air currents. The earliest of these were made of wire, found objects, and wood, a material that Calder used since the 1920s. The hanging mobiles were followed in 1934 by outdoor standing mobiles in industrial materials, which were set in motion by the open air.Alexander Calder
Tate Collection. The wind mobiles featured abstract shapes delicately balanced on pivoting rods that moved with the slightest current of air, allowing for a natural shifting play of forms and spatial relationships. Calder was also experimenting with self-supporting, static, abstract sculptures, dubbed "stabiles" by Jean Arp in 1932 to differentiate them from mobiles. At

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mus ...

(1937), the Spanish pavilion included Calder's sculpture ''

Mercury Fountain A mercury fountain is a fountain constructed for use with liquid metallic mercury ("quicksilver") rather than water. Mercury fountains existed in some castles in Islamic Spain; the most famous one was located at the Kasr-al-Kholaifa in Córdob ...

''. During

, Calder continued to sculpt, adapting to a scarcity of aluminum during the war by returning to carved wood in a new open form of sculpture called "constellations". Postwar, Calder began to cut shapes from sheet metal into evocative forms and hand-paint them in his characteristically bold hues. Calder created a small group of works from around this period with a hanging base-plate, for example ''Lily of Force'' (1945), ''Baby Flat Top'' (1946), and ''Red is Dominant'' (1947). He also made works such as ''Seven Horizontal Discs'' (1946), which, like ''Lily of Force'' (1945) and ''Baby Flat Top'' (1946), he was able to dismantle and send by mail for his upcoming show at Galerie Louis Carré in Paris, despite the stringent size restrictions imposed by the postal service at the time.Alexander Calder, ''Seven Horizontal Discs'' (1946)
Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale, November 8, 2011, New York. His 1946 show at Carré, which was organized by Duchamp, was composed mainly of hanging and standing mobiles, and it made a huge impact, as did the essay for the catalogue by French philosopher

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

. In 1951, Calder devised a new kind of sculpture, related structurally to his constellations. These "towers", affixed to the wall with a nail, consist of wire struts and beams that jut from the wall, with moving objects suspended from their armatures. While not denying Calder's power as a sculptor, an alternate view of the history of twentieth-century art cites Calder's turning away in the early 1930s from his motor-powered works in favor of the wind-driven mobile as marking a decisive moment in Modernism's abandonment of its earlier commitment to the ''machine'' as a critical and potentially expressive new element in human affairs. According to this viewpoint, the mobile also marked an abandonment of Modernism's larger goal of a rapprochement with science and engineering, and with unfortunate long-term implications for contemporary art.

Monumental sculptures

In 1934, Calder made his first outdoor works in his

studio, using the same techniques and materials as his smaller works. Exhibited outside, Calder's initial standing mobiles moved elegantly in the breeze, bobbing and swirling in natural, spontaneous rhythms. The first few outdoor works were too delicate for strong winds, which forced Calder to rethink his fabrication process. By 1936 he changed his working methods and began to create smaller-scale

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

s that he then enlarged to monumental size. The small maquette, the first step in the production of a monumental sculpture, was considered by Calder a sculpture in its own right. Larger works used the classic enlargement techniques of traditional sculptors, including his father and grandfather. Drawing his designs on craft paper, he enlarged them using a grid. His large-scale works were created according to his exact specifications, while also allowing him the liberty to adjust or correct a shape or line if necessary. In the 1950s, Calder concentrated more on producing monumental sculptures (his ''agrandissements'' period), and public commissions increasingly came his way in the 1960s. Notable examples are ''.125'' (1957) for

JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...

in New York, ''Spirale'' (1958) for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in Paris, and ''Trois disques'', commissioned for

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada. Calder's largest sculpture, at 25.7 meters high, was ''El Sol Rojo'', constructed outside the

Estadio Azteca Estadio Azteca () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Mexico City. It is the official home of football clubs Club América and Cruz Azul as well as the Mexico national football team. The stadium sits at an altitude of above sea level. Wit ...

for the 1968 Summer Olympics "Cultural Olympiad" events in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Many of his

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

works were commissioned by renowned architects; for example,

I.M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

commissioned '' La Grande Voile'', a 25-ton, 40-foot high stabile sculpture for the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1966.

Most of Calder's monumental stationery and mobile sculptures were made after 1962 at Etablissements Biémont in

Tours, France Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metrop ...

. He would create a model of his work, the engineering department would scale it up under Calder's direction, and technicians would complete the actual metalwork — all under Calder's watchful eye. Stabiles were made in steel plate, then painted. An exception was ''Trois disques'', in

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

at 24 meters tall, commissioned by

International Nickel Company of Canada Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

. In 1958, Calder asked

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring m ...

to construct the steel base of ''Spirale'' in France, a monumental mobile for the UNESCO site in Paris, while the top was fabricated in Connecticut. In June 1969, Calder attended the dedication of his monumental "stabile" sculpture ''

La Grande Vitesse ''La Grande Vitesse'', a public sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder, is located on the large concrete plaza surrounding City Hall and the Kent County Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Popularly referred to as simply ...

'' in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. This sculpture is notable for being the first civic sculpture in the United States to receive funding from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. In 1971, Calder created his '' Bent Propeller'' which was installed at the entrance of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

's North Tower in New York City. When

Battery Park City Battery Park City is a mainly residential planned community and neighborhood on the west side of the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the Hudson River on the west, the Hudson River shoreline on the north ...

opened, the sculpture was moved to Vesey and Church Streets. The sculpture stood in front of 7 World Trade Center until it was destroyed on

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. In 1973, the 63-foot tall vermillion-colored public art sculpture '' Four Arches'' was installed on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles to serve as "a distinctive landmark." The plaza site was designed in tiers to maximize the sculpture's visual effects. In 1974, Calder unveiled two sculptures, ''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

'' at Federal Plaza, and ''Universe'' at

Sears Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...

, in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, accompanied by the exhibition ''Alexander Calder: A Retrospective Exhibition,'' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago which opened simultaneously with the unveiling of the sculptures. Originally meant to be constructed in 1977 for the Hart Senate Office Building, ''Mountains and Clouds'' was not built until 1985 due to government budget cuts. The massive sheet-metal project, weighing 35 tons, spans the nine-story height of the building's atrium in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Calder designed the maquette for the United States Senate in the last year of his life.

Theatrical productions

Calder created stage sets for more than a dozen theatrical productions, including ''Nucléa'', ''Horizon'', and most notably,

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...

's ''Panorama'' (1935), a production of the Erik Satie symphonic drama ''

Socrate ''Socrate'' is a work for voice and piano (or small orchestra) by Erik Satie. First published in 1919 for voice and piano, in 1920 a different publisher reissued the piece "revised and corrected". Wolfgang Rathert and Andreas Traub, "Zu einer bi ...

'' (1936), and later, ''Works in Progress'' (1968). ''Works in Progress'' was a "ballet" conceived by Calder himself and produced at the Rome Opera House, featuring an array of mobiles, stabiles, and large painted backdrops. Calder would describe some of his stage sets as dancers performing a choreography due to their rhythmic movement.

Painting and printmaking

In addition to sculptures, Calder painted throughout his career, beginning in the early 1920s. He picked up his study of printmaking in 1925, and continued to produce illustrations for books and journals.Alexander Calder: Printmaker, October 30, 2009 – January 31, 2010
Bruce Museum, Greenwich CT. His projects from this period include pen-and-ink line drawings of animals for a 1931 publication of

Aesop Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales cre ...

's fables. As Calder's sculpture moved into the realm of pure abstraction in the early 1930s, so did his prints. The thin lines used to define figures in the earlier prints and drawings began delineating groups of geometric shapes, often in motion. Calder also used prints for advocacy, as in poster prints from 1967 and 1969 protesting the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. As Calder's professional reputation expanded in the late 1940s and 1950s, so did his production of prints. Masses of lithographs based on his gouache paintings were marketed, and deluxe editions of plays, poems, and short stories illustrated with fine art prints by Calder became available.

Painted aircraft and automobile

One of Calder's more unusual undertakings was a commission from Dallas-based

Braniff International Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

to paint a full-size

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...

-62 four-engined jet as a "flying canvas". George Stanley Gordon, founder of the New York City advertising agency Gordon and Shortt, approached Calder with the idea of painting a jet in 1972, but Calder responded that he did not paint toys. When Gordon told him it was a real, full-sized airliner he was proposing, the artist immediately gave his approval. Gordon felt that Braniff, known for melding the worlds of fashion and design with the world of aviation, would be the perfect company to carry out the idea. Braniff Chairman

Harding Lawrence Harding Luther Lawrence (July 15, 1920 – January 16, 2002) was executive vice president of Continental Airlines and then president and chairman of Braniff International Airways, a Dallas, Texas-based carrier. Lawrence's bold and dramatic accomp ...

was highly receptive and a contract was drawn up in 1973 calling for the painting of one Douglas DC-8-62 jet liner, dubbed ''Flying Colors'', and 50 gouaches for a total price of $100,000. Two years later, Braniff asked Calder to design a flagship for their fleet celebrating the U.S. Bicentennial. That piece, a Boeing 727-291 jet N408BN called the ''Flying Colors of the United States'', and nicknamed the 'Sneaky Snake' by its pilots (based on quirky flight tendencies), featured a rippled image of red, white and blue echoing a waving American flag. A third design, to be dubbed ''Salute to Mexico'', was commissioned but went uncompleted following his death. Alexander Calder, 1975 BMW 3

In 1975 Calder was commissioned to paint a BMW 3.0 CSL automobile, which would be the first vehicle in the

BMW Art Car The BMW Art Car Project was introduced by the French racecar driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain, who wanted to invite an artist to create a canvas on an automobile. In 1975, Poulain commissioned American artist and friend Alexander Calder to pain ...

Project.

Jewelry

Calder created over 2,000 pieces of jewelry over the course of his career, many as gifts for friends. Several pieces reflect his fascination with art from Africa and other continents.

Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is a Singapore-born author and journalist who is based in New York. Born and raised in Singapore, she moved to the U.S. to study at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. As a journalist, she has been a staff write ...

(December 11, 2008)
The Intimate Side of Alexander Calder
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. They were mostly made of brass and steel, with bits of ceramic, wood and glass. Calder rarely used solder; when he needed to join strips of metal, he linked them with loops, bound them with snippets of wire or fashioned rivets. Calder created his first pieces in 1906 at the age of eight for his sister's dolls using copper wire that he found in the street. For his lifelong friend

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

, Calder set a shard of a broken porcelain vessel in a brass ring.

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down wi ...

received enormous silver mobile earrings and later commissioned a hammered silver headboard that shimmered with dangling fish. In 1942, Guggenheim wore one Calder earring and one by

Yves Tanguy Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy (January 5, 1900 – January 15, 1955), known as just Yves Tanguy (, ), was a French surrealist painter. Biography Tanguy, the son of a retired navy captain, was born January 5, 1900, at the Ministry of Naval Aff ...

to the opening of her New York gallery, The Art of This Century, to demonstrate her equal loyalty to Surrealist and abstract art, examples of which she displayed in separate galleries. Others who were presented with Calder's pieces were the artist's close friend,

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

; Teeny Duchamp, wife of

; Jeanne Rucar, wife of the filmmaker

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

; and

Bella Rosenfeld Bella Rosenfeld Chagall (russian: link=no, Бэлла Розенфельд-Шагал, 15 November 1895, Vitebsk – 2 September 1944, New York State) was a Jewish Belarusian writer and the first wife of painter Marc Chagall. She was the subject ...

, wife of Marc Chagall.

Exhibitions

Calder's first solo exhibition was in 1927 at the Gallery of Jacques Seligmann in Paris. His first solo show in a US commercial gallery was in 1928 at the Weyhe Gallery in New York City. He exhibited with the Abstraction-Création group in Paris in 1933. In 1935, he had his first solo museum exhibition in the United States at The Renaissance Society at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. In New York, he was championed from the early 1930s by the Museum of Modern Art, and was one of three Americans to be included in Alfred H. Barr Jr.'s 1936 exhibition ''Cubism and Abstract Art''. Calder's first retrospective was held in 1938 at George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

. In 1943, the Museum of Modern Art hosted a Calder retrospective, curated by

James Johnson Sweeney James Johnson Sweeney (1900–1986) was an American curator, and writer about modern art. Sweeney graduated from Georgetown University in 1922. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art. He was the second director of the Solom ...

and

; the show had to be extended due to the number of visitors. Calder was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

in the summer of 1949. His mobile, ''International Mobile'' was the centerpiece of the exhibition. Calder also participated in '' documentas'' I (1955), II (1959), III (1964). Major retrospectives of his work were held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1964), the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France (1969), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1974). In addition, both of Calder's dealers, Galerie Maeght in Paris and the Perls Galleries in New York, averaged about one Calder show each per year.

Collections

Calder's work is in many permanent collections across the world. The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, has the largest body of work by Alexander Calder. Other museum collections include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...

, Madrid; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. There are two pieces on display in the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection in Albany, NY. The Philadelphia Museum of Art offers a view of works by three generations of Alexander Calders. From the second floor window on the east side of the Great Stair Hall (on the opposite side from the armor collection) there is behind the viewer the ''Ghost'' mobile from the 3rd generation (born 1898), ahead on the street is the ''Swann Memorial Fountain'' by the 2nd generation (born 1870), and beyond that the statue of ''William Penn'' atop

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

from the 1st generation (born 1846).

Recognition and awards

* 1939 – First prize in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, competition for Plexiglas sculpture * 1952 – Represented the United States at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

and was awarded the main prize for sculpture * 1955 – Philadelphia Art Festival, for Pre-eminence in Art * 1957 – Stevens Institute of Technology Honor Award for Notable Achievement * 1958 – First Prize for Sculpture at the Pittsburgh International * 1958 – First Prize for Sculpture in

Carnegie Prize The Carnegie Prize is an international art prize awarded by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It currently consists of a $10,000 cash prize accompanied by a gold medal. History The Carnegie Prize was established in 1896, to ...

* 1959 – Award with Carlos Raúl Villanueva at IV Bienal, Museu de Arte Moderna, Exposição Internacional de Arquitetura * 1960 – National Institute of Arts and Letters, insignia * 1960 – Gold Medal of Honor, the Architectural League of New York, for sculpture at UNESCO * 1961 – Fine Arts Gold Medal for a Master of Sculpture at the American Institute of Architects * 1962 – Art in America Annual Award for Outstanding Contribution to American Art (shared with Alfred H. Barr, Jr.) * 1962 – Creative Arts Award for Sculpture at Brandeis University * 1963 – President's Medal, Art Director's Club * 1963 – Edward MacDowell Medal for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts from The MacDowell Colony * 1964 – Elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters * 1966 – St. Botolph Distinguished Artist Award * 1966 – Honorary Degree, Doctor of Arts, Harvard University * 1967 – Honorary Sponsor, Philadelphia International Festival of Short Films * 1968 – Officier de la Légion d'honneur, Ministry of Culture, France * 1968 – New York State Award * 1969 – Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology * 1969 – Key to the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan * 1969 – Granted the same droit de suite rights as French authors * 1969 – Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts, Grand Valley State College * c.1970 – Monnaie de Paris, 2 Calder coins * 1971 – The Gold Medal for Sculpture, National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters * 1973 – Honorary Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Hartford * 1974 – Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, Ministry of Culture, France * 1974 – Saint Pierre des Corps * 1974 – Citoyen d'Honneur, Commune de Sáche, France * 1974 – Official Mayoral Decree of "Alexander Calder Day in Chicago" (October 25, 1974) * 1974 – Honorary Citizen of Chicago * 1974 – Grand Prix National des Art et Lettres, Ministry of Culture, France * 1975 – U.N. Peace Medal * 1975 – Liberty Bell, City of Philadelphia * 1975 – United Nations Peace Medal * 1976 – Official Cachet, presented to Calder as designer of the WFUNA Cachet on the first day of issue * 1977 – Posthumously awarded

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

* 1977 – Goslar Award for Modern Art * 1983 – United States Mint issues a half-ounce gold medallion honoring Calder * 1998 – US Postal Service issues a set of five 32-cent stamps honoring Calder

Calder Gardens

Calder Gardens, a 1.8-acre, indoor-outdoor center dedicated to Calder's work is set to open on Philadelphia's

Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Named for founding father Benjamin Franklin, the mile-long Parkway c ...

by late 2024.

Art market

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Calder's works were not highly sought after, and when they sold, it was often for relatively little money. A copy of a

Pierre Matisse Pierre Matisse (June 13, 1900 – August 10, 1989) was a French-American art dealer active in New York City. He was the youngest child of French painter Henri Matisse. Background and early years Pierre Matisse was born in Bohain-en-Vermandois on ...

sales ledger in the foundation's files shows that only a few pieces in the 1941 show found buyers, one of whom,

Solomon R. Guggenheim Solomon Robert Guggenheim (February 2, 1861 – November 3, 1949) was an American businessman and art collector. He is best known for establishing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Guggen ...

, paid only $233.34 () for a work. The Museum of Modern Art had bought its first Calder in 1934 for $60, after talking Calder down from $100.Randy Kennedy (October 18, 2011)
A Year in the Work of Calder
''The New York Times''. And yet by 1948 Calder nearly sold out an entire solo show in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first internationally renowned sculptor.

Galerie Maeght The Galerie Maeght is a gallery of modern art in Paris, France, and Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The gallery was founded in 1936 in Cannes. The Paris gallery was started in 1946 by Aimé Maeght. The artists exhibited are mainly from France and Spa ...

in Paris became Calder's exclusive Parisian dealer in 1950 and for the rest of Calder's life. After his New York dealer

Curt Valentin Curt Valentin (5 October 1902, Hamburg, Germany – 19 August 1954, Forte dei Marmi, Italy) was a German-Jewish art dealer known for handling modern art, particularly sculpture, and works classified as "degenerate" and stolen from European museums b ...

died unexpectedly in 1954, Calder selected the Perls Galleries in New York as his new American dealer, and this alliance lasted until Calder's death. In 2010, his metal mobile ''Untitled (Autumn Leaves)'', sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

New York for $3.7 million. Another mobile brought $6.35 million at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

later that year. Also at Christie's, a standing mobile called ''Lily of Force'' (1945), which was expected to sell for $8 to $12 million, was bought for $18.5 million in 2012. Calder's 7.5-foot-long hanging mobile ''Poisson volant (Flying Fish)'' (1957) fetched $25.9 million, setting an auction record for the sculptor at Christie's New York in 2014.

Legacy

Beginning in 1966, winners of the

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

are awarded an "Ellie", a copper-colored stabile resembling an elephant, which was designed by Calder. Two months after his death, the artist was posthumously awarded the

, the United States' highest civilian honor, by President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. However, representatives of the Calder family

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

ed the January 10, 1977, ceremony "to make a statement favoring amnesty for

draft resisters".

Calder Foundation

In 1987, the Calder Foundation was established by Calder's family, "dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, preserving, and interpreting the art and archives of Alexander Calder and scharged with an unmatched collection of his works". The foundation has large holdings, with some works owned by family members and others by foundation supporters. The art includes more than 600 sculptures including mobiles, stabiles, standing mobiles, and wire sculptures, and 22 monumental outdoor works, as well as thousands of oil paintings, works on paper, toys, pieces of jewelry, and domestic objects.Carol Vogel (October 2, 1998
Calder Works On the Move
''The New York Times''. After having worked mainly on cataloging Calder's works, the Calder Foundation is now focusing on organizing global exhibitions for the artist. One of Calder's grandsons, Alexander S. C. "Sandy" Rower, is the president of the foundation and other family members are on the board of trustees.

Authenticity issues

The Calder Foundation does not authenticate artworks; rather, owners can submit their works for registration in the Foundation's archive and for examination. The committee that performs examinations includes experts, scholars, museum curators, and members of the Calder family. The Calder Foundation's website provides details on the current policies and guidelines governing examination procedures. In 1993, the owners of ''Rio Nero'' (1959), a sheet-metal and steel-wire mobile ostensibly by Calder, went to the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...

charging that it was not by Alexander Calder, as claimed by its seller. That same year, a federal judge ruled that for ''Rio Nero'' the burden of proof had not been fulfilled. Despite the decision, the owners of the mobile could not sell it because the recognized expert,

Klaus Perls Klaus Gunther Perls (1912–2008) was born in Berlin, Germany, where his parents were art dealers. He studied art history in Munich, but after the Nazis stopped granting degrees to Jews he moved to Basel, Switzerland and completed his studies. Here ...

, had declared it a copy. The judge recognized the problem at the time, noting that Perls' pronouncement would make ''Rio Nero'' unsellable. In 1994, the Calder Foundation declined to include the mobile in the

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

on the artist. Referring to the ''Rio Nero'' case, the Appellate Division of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

in 2009 rejected the appeal of an art collector who wished to sell a couple of

stage set Set construction is the process undertaken by a construction manager to build full-scale scenery, as specified by a production designer or art director working in collaboration with the director of a production to create a set for a theatric ...

s that Calder had designed but did not live to see completed, which had been unsuccessfully submitted to the Calder Foundation for authentication. The court found that it did not have the power to declare the purported Calder work authentic, nor to order the Calder Foundation to include it in the catalogue raisonné. In 1995, questions arose about another purported Calder, ''Two White Dots'' (not to be confused with the similarly named piece, ''Two White Dots in the Air'', which Calder created in 1958). In 1973, Calder had created a -high sheet metal

for an unrealized stabile he called ''Two White Dots''. He gave this maquette to Carmen Segretario, founder and owner of the Segré Foundry of

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

. For decades, Calder had utilized the services of Segré Foundry in manufacturing his mobiles and stabiles. Each piece (no matter how many copies were made) would be initialed personally by Calder in white chalk, after which a welder would follow the chalk marks to burn the initials into the work. Calder died in 1976, without a full-size version of ''Two White Dots'' having been made. In 1982, Segretario constructed a full-size version of ''Two White Dots'', and sold it in 1983 to art dealer Shirley Teplitz for $70,000. Segetario's documentation claimed that the work had been fabricated around 1974 "under the supervision and direction of Artist". ''Two White Dots'' was then sold at auction in May 1984 for $187,000. Over the next decade, the piece was sold repeatedly. In 1995,

Jon Shirley Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

and a Calder collector) purchased ''Two White Dots'' for $1 million. When Shirley submitted the work to the Calder Foundation for inclusion in their catalogue raisonné, the Foundation contested the work's authenticity. The André Emmerich Gallery refunded Shirley's money, and sued the Segré Foundry, which sought

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection. The suit was settled out of court in the late 1990s. ''Two White Dots'' now resides outdoors on a farm near a river outside the small town of

Washington, Connecticut Washington is a rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 census. Washington is known for its picturesque countryside, historic architecture, and active civi ...

. In 2013 the Calder Estate filed a lawsuit against the estate of his former dealer,

, alleging that Perls had sold fake Calders as well as concealing the ownership of 679 works by the artist. After a high-profile battle with much press coverage, the lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Shirley Werner Kornreich in the

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

Personal life

Calder and his wife, Louisa, were the parents of two daughters, Sandra (born 1935) and Mary (1939-2011). Mary's husband, Howard Rower (1939-2000), had been chairman of the board of the Alexander and Louisa Calder Foundation. Mary and Howard's two sons are Alexander S. C. "Sandy" Rower (1963), president of the Calder Foundation, and Holton Rower (1962), a vice president of the Foundation. Alexander Rower established the Foundation in 1987 with the support of the Calder family. He has four children, including Gryphon Rower-Upjohn, a sound experimentalist, composer-performer, and curator in the field of audiovisual culture, who is also known as Gryphon Rue. Sandra Calder Davidson and her late husband, Jean Davidson, have a son, Shawn (1956), and a daughter, Andréa (1961). Sandra, Shawn and Andréa are vice presidents of the Calder Foundation. Jean Davidson was the son of artist

Jo Davidson Jo Davidson (March 30, 1883 – January 2, 1952) was an American sculptor. Although he specialized in realistic, intense portrait busts, Davidson did not require his subjects to formally pose for him; rather, he observed and spoke with them. H ...

. Sandra is an illustrator of children's books. She caricatured her family and friends as animals in the 2013 book ''The Calder Family and Other Critters: Portraits and Reflections.'' The Calder family has a long-standing connection with the

Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-ed ...

, a progressive co-ed boarding school in Vermont. Calder's daughters attended the school as did several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Around 2007, the Rower family donated a standing mobile (a mobile that stands on its own fixed base) to Putney. A 13-foot mobile hangs in Calder Hall in the Michael S. Currier Center on campus.

Gallery

Wfm_calder.jpg, ''L'empennage'' (1953),

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is part of the National Galleries of Scotland, which are based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The National Gallery of Modern Art houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to th ...

Aula Magna-Calder-UCV.JPG, '' Acoustic Ceiling'' (1953),
Aula Magna,

Universidad Central de Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Alexander Calder - La Ciudad.JPG, ''La Ciudad'' (1960), Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas - Venezuela Mobil 3 Moderna museet, Stockholm 2006.jpg, ''The Four Elements'' (1961),

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö i ...

, installation at the museum entrance Calder Rotterdam 002.jpg, ''Le tamanoir (The Anteater)'' (1963),

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Netherlands Têtes et Queue, Stahl, 1965 (Alexander Calder).jpg, ''Têtes et queue (Heads and tail)'' (1965),
Berlin, Germany De tre vingarna, Alexander Calder.JPG, ''De tre vingarna (The Three Wings)'' (1967), Blå Stället, Angered,

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Cc belem 2.jpg, ''Untitled'' (1968),

Centro Cultural de Belém Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duqu ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Sandy Calder 3 disks 1 lacking 1968 no c.JPG, ''Three Disks, One Lacking'' (1968), Franklin Parkway,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania NGA Bobine by Alexander Calder (429168632).jpg, ''Bobine (

Bobbin A bobbin or spool is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which yarn, thread, wire, tape or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in industrial textile machinery, as well as in sewing machines, fishing reels, tape measure ...

)'' (1970),

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Hannover Calder Modern art.jpg, ''Le hallebardier (The

Halberdier A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...

)'' (1971), Sprengel Museum,

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany Alexander Calder Crinkly avec disc Rouge 1973-1.jpg, ''Crinkly avec disque rouge (Crinkly with Red Disk)'' (1973), Schlossplatz in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany Feuille D'arbro.jpg, ''Feuille d'arbre (Tree leaf)'' (1974),

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Israel Calderflyingdragon.jpg, ''

Flying Dragon ''Flying Dragon'', known in Japan as , is a fighting game with role-playing video game elements that was developed by Culture Brain and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Part of the '' Hiryū no Ken'' series, it was published in Japan by Cu ...

'' (1975),

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

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, 11½ x 5¾ x 29.2 in. * ''Hi!'' (ca. 1928), brass wire, painted wood base,

* Policeman (ca. 1928) wire and wood. * ''Aztec Josephine Baker'' (1930), wire, 53" x 10" x 9". A representation of

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

, the exuberant lead dancer from ''La revue nègre'' at the

Folies Bergère The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...

. * ''Untitled'' (1931), wire, wood and motor; one of the first kinetic mobiles * ''Small Feathers'' (1931), wire, wood and paint; first true mobile, although designed to stand on a desktop * ''Cône d'ébène'' (1933), ebony, metal bar and wire; early suspended mobile (first was made in 1932) * ''Object with Yellow Background'' (1936), painted wood, metal, string,

* ''

'' (1937), sheet metal and liquid mercury metal * ''Devil Fish'' (1937), sheet metal, bolts and paint; first piece made from a model * ''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, lifesize "stabiles" (predating

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' industrial objects. His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moor ...

'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 The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, 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 (standing mobile) * ''Snow Flurry'' (1948), sheet metal, wire and paint (suspended mobile) * '' Stillman House Mural'' (1952)
View of pool at Stillman House
* ''.125'' (1957), steel plate, rods and paint
''Spirale''
(1958), steel plate, rod and paint, 360" high; public monumental mobile for Maison de l'UNESCO, Paris * ''Guillotine pour huit (Guillotine for eight)'', (1962), at the LaM,

Villeneuve d'Ascq Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; pcd, Neuvile-Ask) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métropole Européenne de Lille and the largest in area ( ...

, France * '' Teodelapio'' (1962), steel plate and paint, monumental stabile,

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

, Italy * '' Sky Hooks'' (1962) * ''La Grande voile'' (1966), a 33-ton metal sculpture composed of five intersecting forms, four planes, and one curve. It stands tall, on the

campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology occupies a tract in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The campus spans approximately one mile (1.6 km) of the north side of the Charles River basin directly opposite the Back Bay neigh ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. * ''Trois disques'' (1967) stainless steel plate, bolts and paint, 65' x 83' x 53', monumental stabile,

Canada * '' Gwenfritz'' (1968)

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

* '' Spinal Column'' (1968),

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Galler ...

* ''

'', (1969), steel plate, bolts and paint, 43' x 55' x 25',

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

* '' Bent Propeller'', estroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 20011970–71, 7 World Trade Center, New York City * ''Peau Rouge Indiana (Red Skin Indiana)'' (1970), steel plate, bolts and paint, 40' x 32' x 33', Bloomington,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

* ''Reims, Croix du Sud (Reims, Cross of the South)'' (1970), at the LaM,

, France * ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

'' (1971), steel plate, bolts and paint, 38'9" x 32'8" x 32'8",

Olympic Sculpture Park The Olympic Sculpture Park, created and operated by the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), is a public park with modern and contemporary sculpture in downtown Seattle, Washington. The park, which opened January 20, 2007, consists of a outdoor sculpture mu ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

* ''White and Red Boomerang'' (1971), Painted metal, wire,

* "Four Arches" (1973), red painted steel plate, 63' tall

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

* ''Stegosaurus'' (1973), steel plate, bolts and paint, 50' tall,

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

* ''

Cheval Rouge ''Cheval Rouge'' is an abstract sculpture by Alexander Calder. Constructed in 1974 of painted sheet steel, it is at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is the most recent addition to the Nat ...

(Red Horse)'' (1974), red painted sheet metal, at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, Washington, D.C. * ''

'' (1974), red painted steel, at the Federal Plaza, Chicago, Illinois * ''Universe'' (1974), motorized "wallmobile", black, red, yellow, and blue painted steel,

Willis Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), ...

, Chicago, Illinois * ''Black Flag'' (1974), black painted steel,

Storm King Art Center Storm King Art Center, commonly referred to as Storm King and named after its proximity to Storm King Mountain, is an open-air museum located in New Windsor, New York. It contains what is perhaps the largest collection of contemporary outdo ...

, New York StateStorm King Art Center: Alexander Carter, American 1898–1976
/ref> * ''Tripes'' (1974), black painted steel, Storm King Art Center * ''The Arch'' (1975), black painted steel, Storm King Art Center * ''The Red Feather'' (1975), black and red painted steel, 11' x 6'3" x 11'2",

The Kentucky Center The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, located in Louisville and currently branded as "The Kentucky Center", is a major performing arts center in Kentucky. It is one of three venues owned bKentucky Performing Arts Tenants include Broadway ...

* ''

'' (1975), red painted steel, believed to be the final stabile personally created by Alexander Calder,

, Chicago, Illinois * ''Untitled'' (1976), aluminum honeycomb, tubing and paint, 358½ x 912",

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Washington, D.C. * ''L'Araignée Rouge (The Red Spider)'' (1976), 15m tall, monumental sculpture, Paris La Défense France * ''

Mountains and Clouds ''Mountains and Clouds'' is a sculpture by Alexander Calder located in the Hart Senate Office Building. Background The Hart Senate Office Building, first occupied in 1982 and named for Michigan Senator Philip A. Hart, broke with tradition. Un ...

'' (1976), painted aluminum and steel, 612 inches x 900 inches,

Hart Senate Office Building The Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building is the third U.S. Senate office building, and is located on 2nd Street NE between Constitution Avenue NE and C Street NE in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Construction began in January 1975, an ...

* '' Calder's set for Socrate'' (1976), Pivotal stage sets presented in New York on the first anniversary of Calder's death * ''Five Swords'' (1976), red painted steel, Storm King Art Center

Notes

References

# Baal-Teshuva, Jacob. ''Alexander Calder 1898–1976''.

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

, Cologne 2002, . # Calder, Alexander. ''An Autobiography With Pictures''. Pantheon Books, 1966, # Calder Hayes, Margaret. ''Three Alexander Calders: A Family Memoir''. Paul S. Eriksson, 1977, . # Guerrero, Pedro E. ''Calder at Home. The Joyous Environment of Alexander Calder''. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, 1998, # Prather, Marla. ''Alexander Calder 1898–1976''.

, Washington DC, 1998, , # Rosenthal, Mark, and Alexander S. C. Rower. ''The Surreal Calder. The

Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of approximately 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawing ...

'', Houston, 2005, # Rower, Alexander S. C. ''Calder Sculpture''. Universe Publishing, 1998, # Barbara Zabel, ''Calder's Portraits 'A New Language (Washington, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2012). # Thalacker, Donald W. ''The Place of Art in the World of Architecture''. Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1980. * December 19, 2014. "Famous Artists Send Greeting Cards: An exhibit in New York showcases nearly 60 holiday cards from major artists", ''The Wall Street Journal''. By Alexandra Wolfe.

External links

* List of Alexander Calder public artworks
Calder Foundation website

Atelier Calder website

*
Smithsonian holdings of artworks by Alexander Calder

* ttps://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/alexander-calder-papers-7294 A finding aid to the Alexander Calder papers in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Guide to the Calder-Hayes Family Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

Calder and Braniff Airways

Braniff Flying Colors Historical Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calder, Alexander American abstract artists Modern sculptors 01 1898 births 1976 deaths American male sculptors Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Sculptors from Connecticut Sculptors from New York (state) Sculptors from Pennsylvania Art Students League of New York alumni Stevens Institute of Technology alumni Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière American people of Scottish descent People from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania People from Pasadena, California People from Croton-on-Hudson, New York

Early life

Life and career

Artistic work

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Painting and printmaking

Painted aircraft and automobile

Jewelry

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Recognition and awards

Calder Gardens

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Calder Foundation

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