Alexander Calder
- Introduction
- Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, and static "stabiles" monumental public sculptures. He didn't limit his art to sculptures; he also created paintings, jewelry, theatre sets and costumes.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."Born into a family of artists, Calder's work first gained attention in Paris in the 1920s and was soon championed by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, resulting in a retrospective exhibition in 1943. Major retrospectives were also held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1964) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1974). Calder's work is in many permanent collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. He produced many large public works, including .125 (at JFK Airport, 1957), Pittsburgh (Carnegie International prize winner 1958, Pittsburgh International Airport) Spirale (UNESCO in Paris, 1958), Flamingo and Universe (both in Chicago, 1974), and Mountains and Clouds (Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 1996). Although primarily known for his sculpture, Calder also created paintings and prints, miniatures (such as his famous Cirque Calder), theater set design, jewelry design, tapestries and rugs, and political posters. He was honored by the US Postal Service with a set of five 32-cent stamps in 1998, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously in 1977, after refusing to receive it from Gerald Ford one year earlier in protest of the Vietnam War. An important Calder work is the monumental "Floating Clouds" (1952-1953) of the Aula Magna (Central University of Venezuela) of the University City of Caracas in Venezuela. This work is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Calder's clouds were specially designed to combine art and technology, making the auditorium one of the top 5 university auditoriums in the world by sound quality.
- Wikidata
- Q151580
- Introduction
- Calder graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1919 with a degree in mechanical engineering. After taking classes at the Arts Students League, he became a freelance artist and illustrator, and published a book titled Animal Sketching. In the 1920s, Calder began traveling to Paris, where he was exposed to modernist tendencies in art. In 1930, after visiting Piet Mondrian's studio, where he was impressed by the studio environment, he began to create Comment on works: abstract, moving constructions, coined “mobiles” by Marcel Duchamp in 1931, for which he is most known. From the 1930s onward, Calder divided his time between trips abroad and his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, and as his commissions grew more frequent, his mobiles became increasingly gigantic. Examples are Flamingo, the stabile at Federal Center Plaza in Chicago, and L’Araignée rouge, at the Rond Point de La Défense Métro station in Paris.. Comment on works: abstract
- Nationalities
- American, French
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Designer, Tapestry Designer, Illustrator, Painter, Sculptor
- Names
- Alexander Calder, Sandy Calder, Calder
- Ulan
- 500007824
Exhibitions
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Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift
May 28–Sep 12, 2020
MoMA
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401: Out of War
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
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Artist’s Choice: Amy Sillman—The Shape of Shape
Oct 21, 2019–Oct 4, 2020
MoMA
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How Should We Live? Propositions for the Modern Interior
Oct 1, 2016–Apr 23, 2017
MoMA
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Sculpture from the Collection 1960–1969
Jun 25, 2016–Jul 14, 2017
MoMA
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Alexander Calder has
104 exhibitionsonline.
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Alexander Calder Josephine Baker (III) Paris, c. 1927
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Alexander Calder The Hostess 1928
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Alexander Calder The Horse 1928
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Alexander Calder Sow 1928
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Alexander Calder Marion Greenwood New York, early 1928
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Alexander Calder Soda Fountain 1928
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Alexander Calder Elephant Chair with Lamp 1928
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Alexander Calder Cat Lamp 1928
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Alexander Calder Cow 1929
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Alexander Calder Cow c. 1926
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Alexander Calder Portrait of a Man New York, c. 1928
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Alexander Calder Shark Sucker New York, 1930
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Alexander Calder Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Title page (folio 4) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 1) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 3) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 5) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 7) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 11) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 13) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 15) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 16) and in-text plate (page 16) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 19) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 20) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 23) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 24) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 27) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 29) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 32) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 37) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 39) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 41) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 4) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 46) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 49) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 53) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 57) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 60) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 63) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 67) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 70) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 73) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 77) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Tailpiece (page 81) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder Headpiece (page 83) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 86) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 89) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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Alexander Calder In-text plate (page 90) from Fables of Aesop 1931
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