Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and painter born in 1898 in Lawnton, Pennsylvania. In 1919, he received an engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey and from 1923 to 1925, he attended the Art Students League, New York. He lived and worked mostly in the United States and in France. He died in 1976 in New York City.
Calder is one of the most captivating artists of the twentieth century. Best known for his original kinetic sculptures automated by air currents, the “mobiles” and his bright-colored, fanciful abstract tremendous sculptures, or “stabile”, Calder was a great artist with an inexorable inventive mind. Informed by a unique hand going against any endeavour at cataloging, his diverse practice also comprised painting, mainly gouache, printmaking, miniatures (including his famous Cirque Calder), children’s book illustrations, theater set design, jewelry design and more. His distinct abstract language, brimming with energy and vitality is formed on the instictive use of pure color, gesture, and line, which extends between fine biomorphic shapes and geometric forms, with a palpable sense of animation like the motion in his sculptures. Particularly considered for their immediacy and freshness of color, line and form, the gouaches are an complete part of Calder’s body of work, mirroring and stimulating the sculptural practice for which he is universally recognized.
“Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions”
-Alexander Calder
“The basis of everything I do is the universe.”
-Alexander Calder
Calder’s public commissions are on view in cities all over the world and his work has been the subject of numerous museum exhibitions, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998, traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California); The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (1998–99); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford (2000); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2000); Iwaki City Art Museum, Japan (2000, traveled to The Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art, Japan; The Museum of Art, Japan; Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, Japan; Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan); Storm King Art Center, New York (2001–03); Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2003, traveled to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, through 2004); Foundation Beyeler, Switzerland (2004, traveled to Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., through 2005); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California (2013); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2014); Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2014); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2015); and Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Saint Louis (2015).Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and painter born in 1898 in Lawnton, Pennsylvania. In 1919, he received an engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey and from 1923 to 1925, he attended the Art Students League, New York. He lived and worked mostly in the United States and in France. He died in 1976 in New York City.
Calder is one of the most captivating artists of the twentieth century. Best known for his original kinetic sculptures automated by air currents, the “mobiles” and his bright-colored, fanciful abstract tremendous sculptures, or “stabile”, Calder was a great artist with an inexorable inventive mind. Informed by a unique hand going against any endeavour at cataloging, his diverse practice also comprised painting, mainly gouache, printmaking, miniatures (including his famous Cirque Calder), children’s book illustrations, theater set design, jewelry design and more. His distinct abstract language, brimming with energy and vitality is formed on the instictive use of pure color, gesture, and line, which extends between fine biomorphic shapes and geometric forms, with a palpable sense of animation like the motion in his sculptures. Particularly considered for their immediacy and freshness of color, line and form, the gouaches are an complete part of Calder’s body of work, mirroring and stimulating the sculptural practice for which he is universally recognized.
“Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions”
-Alexander Calder
“The basis of everything I do is the universe.”
-Alexander Calder
Calder’s public commissions are on view in cities all over the world and his work has been the subject of numerous museum exhibitions, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998, traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California); The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (1998–99); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford (2000); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2000); Iwaki City Art Museum, Japan (2000, traveled to The Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art, Japan; The Museum of Art, Japan; Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, Japan; Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan); Storm King Art Center, New York (2001–03); Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2003, traveled to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, through 2004); Foundation Beyeler, Switzerland (2004, traveled to Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., through 2005); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California (2013); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2014); Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2014); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2015); and Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Saint Louis (2015).
