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 widely considered to be one of the most important American sculptors of the 20th century. He is best known for innovative kinetic sculptures powered by air currents, the "mobiles" and his colorful, whimsical abstract monumental sculptures, or "stabile". Although primarily known as a sculptor, Calder was a prodigious artist with a restless creative spirit, whose diverse practice included painting, mostly in gouache, and printmaking, miniatures (such as his famous Cirque Calder), children's book illustrations, theater set design, jewelry design, tapestries and rugs, and political posters.
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, Black butterfly, 1969
Gouache and ink on paper
75,2 x 109,2 cm | 29.6 x 43 in
Alexander Calder, Eagle and Fish, 1975
Gouache and ink on paper
58,4 x 77,4 cm | 23 x 30.5 in
Alexander Calder, Mirobolant, 1974
Gouache and ink on paper
74 x 110,5 cm | 29.1 x 43.5 in
Alexander Calder, Rocher au coeur rouge, 1974
Painted metal and wire
108 x 111 x 68,5 cm | 42.5 x 43.7 x 27 in
Alexander Calder, The Red Crescent, 1969
Sheet metal, rod and paint
60 x 225 x 66 cm | 23.6 x 88.6 x 26 in
Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1974
Gouache on paper
109,8 x 37,7 cm | 43.2 x 14.8 in
Alexander Calder, Butterflies, 1964
Gouache on paper
53 x 74,9 cm | 20.7 x 29.5 in
Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1971
Gouache on paper
58,1 x 77,5 cm | 22.9 x 30.5 in
Alexander Calder, The red stag, 1973
Steel metal and paint
98,4 x 37,1 x 66 cm | 38.7 x 14.6 x 26 in
Alexander Calder, Black heart, 1971
Sheet metal and paint
59,7 x 33 x 25,4 cm | 23.5 x 13 x 10 in
Alexander Calder, Good shot, 1974
Gouache and ink on paper
109,5 x 74,9 cm | 43.1 x 29.5 in
Alexander Calder, Les Tropiques, 1972
Gouache on paper
74,9 x 109,8 cm | 29.5 x 43.2 in
Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1969
Gouache and ink on paper
74,9 x 109,2 cm | 29.5 x 43 in
Alexander Calder, Illuminée, 1970
Gouache on paper
74 x 107 cm | 29.1 x 42.1 in
Alexander Calder, Red Octopus, 1971
Gouache on paper
75 x 109 cm | 29.5 x 42.9 in
Alexander Calder, Double Humpbacked Crinkly, 1970
Standing mobile sheet metal, wire and paint
45,7 x 110,5 x 86,4 cm | 18 x 43.5 x 34 in
Alexander Calder, Highway, 1973
Gouache and ink on paper
74,9 x 109,9 cm | 29.5 x 43.3 in
Alexander Calder, Bunny Eared Horse, 1971
Gouache and ink on paper
78,1 x 57,8 cm | 30.7 x 22.8 in
Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1965
Gouache and ink on paper
53,3 x 74,3 cm | 21 x 29.3 in
Alexander Calder, Stabile, 1974
Gouache and ink on paper
74,9 x 109,9 cm | 29.5 x 43.3 in
Alexander Calder, Striped Face, Striped Hand, 1966
Gouache on paper
74,6 x 107,9 cm | 29.4 x 42.5 in