"I think best in wire."
- Alexander Calder, from Calder's Universe, 1976
Alexander “Sandy” Calder born August 22nd 1898 in Lawton, Pennsylvania was a trained design engineer turned American sculptor. Although his grandfather and father were sculptors and his mother was a painter Alexander did not become one until he was 25 years old. Calder found a sudden interest in art and began taking lessons. It was at the Art Students League in 1923 where his discovered his passion of paint, moulding and drawing.
In 1925 Calder received a job as a freelance artist for the National Police Gazette, where he was sent for two weeks to a Ringing Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus to sketch acts. In 1926, at the suggestion of a Serbian toy merchant, Calder began to make toys at Oshkosh Toy Company. Throughout this time, Calder’s Le Cirque de Calder (1926-1932) was formed. The portable suitcase filled to the brim with circus characters, costumes and apparatus fashioned from wire, wood, rubber, material and other objects caught people’s attention as he traveled Europe and America; inviting people to sit in bleachers he erected and eat popcorn while he manipulated his moving wire acrobats, animals and clowns. Le Cirque de Calder is considered the beginning of Calder’s interest and experimentation in wire sculpture and kinetic art.
In 1929 after receiving support from established artist Calder held his first solo exhibition of his wired sculptures in Paris at Galerie Billet in 1929. In June of that year he met Louisa James, Frederick Kiesler and Fernard Lager who were all major influences in his life and artwork. 1930 saw the marriage of Louisa and Alexander and they later had two daughters Sandra and Mary. Louisa’s wedding ring was made and designed by Calder himself and this lead to his design of jewellery.
Calder's work ranged in size from tiny (jewellery) to huge mobiles such as in the one that is 76 feet wide and four stories tall, currently standing in the Smithsonian National Gallery. Calder produced work in every medium, even painting Banff Airline jets in the early 1970's.
The "father of Cubism", Marcel Duchamp took a great interest in Calder, maybe because earlier, Duchamp had experimented with motion in his art works. Calder is now most famous for originating the sculpture technique Duchamp named “mobile”, a French phrase meaning ‘mobile and active’.
Calder's creations challenged the formal art world to accept a new definition of art and he died from a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 78. A foundation was established in his honour and his work is found all over the world, at public auditoriums, stadiums and buildings (Arnason & Mulus, 1971).
In 1925 Calder received a job as a freelance artist for the National Police Gazette, where he was sent for two weeks to a Ringing Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus to sketch acts. In 1926, at the suggestion of a Serbian toy merchant, Calder began to make toys at Oshkosh Toy Company. Throughout this time, Calder’s Le Cirque de Calder (1926-1932) was formed. The portable suitcase filled to the brim with circus characters, costumes and apparatus fashioned from wire, wood, rubber, material and other objects caught people’s attention as he traveled Europe and America; inviting people to sit in bleachers he erected and eat popcorn while he manipulated his moving wire acrobats, animals and clowns. Le Cirque de Calder is considered the beginning of Calder’s interest and experimentation in wire sculpture and kinetic art.
In 1929 after receiving support from established artist Calder held his first solo exhibition of his wired sculptures in Paris at Galerie Billet in 1929. In June of that year he met Louisa James, Frederick Kiesler and Fernard Lager who were all major influences in his life and artwork. 1930 saw the marriage of Louisa and Alexander and they later had two daughters Sandra and Mary. Louisa’s wedding ring was made and designed by Calder himself and this lead to his design of jewellery.
Calder's work ranged in size from tiny (jewellery) to huge mobiles such as in the one that is 76 feet wide and four stories tall, currently standing in the Smithsonian National Gallery. Calder produced work in every medium, even painting Banff Airline jets in the early 1970's.
The "father of Cubism", Marcel Duchamp took a great interest in Calder, maybe because earlier, Duchamp had experimented with motion in his art works. Calder is now most famous for originating the sculpture technique Duchamp named “mobile”, a French phrase meaning ‘mobile and active’.
Calder's creations challenged the formal art world to accept a new definition of art and he died from a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 78. A foundation was established in his honour and his work is found all over the world, at public auditoriums, stadiums and buildings (Arnason & Mulus, 1971).
Alexander Calder provides students in the classroom a large number of different mediums to explore. Calder was well known for his invention of the mobile- a kinetic sculpture using a piece of rod to create a hanging construction but also used wood, paint, steel and ink pouring to create his works. By exploring an artist like Calder students are able to discover a medium that they are confident with working with and be inspired by his abstract artworks. This website is designed to provide teachers with resources they can use when exploring Visual Arts in the classroom, with a particular focus on Alexander Calder.