Alexander Calder - Wikipedia

Alexander Calder created works of art throughout his childhood. In his twenties, he moved to New York and studied at the Art Students League.

See full list on theartstory.org The site includes a robust biography, timelines of Calder and his work, and an archive that contains extensive images, photographs, and bibliographic resources. Locate more resources by program or topic.

He worked concurrently at the National Police Gazette, illustrating sporting events and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and he made hundreds of brush drawings of animals at the Bronx and Central Park zoos. During this period, he commonly used sheet metal and wire for other projects.

Soon after moving to Paris in , Calder created his Cirque Calder.

Made of wire and a spectrum of found materials, the Cirque was a work of performance art that gained Calder an introduction to the Parisian avant-garde. He continued to explore his invention of wire sculpture, whereby he “drew” with wire in three dimensions the portraits of friends, animals, circus themes, and personalities of the day.

Following a visit in October of to Piet Mondrian’s studio, where he was impressed by the environmental installation, Calder made his first wholly abstract compositions and invented the kinetic sculpture now known as the mobile.

See full list on theartstory.org Following a visit in October of to Piet Mondrian’s studio, where he was impressed by the environmental installation, Calder made his first wholly abstract compositions and invented the kinetic sculpture now known as the mobile. Coined for these works by Marcel Duchamp in , the word “mobile” refers to both “motion” and “motive” in French.

Coined for these works by Marcel Duchamp in , the word “mobile” refers to both “motion” and “motive” in French. He also created stationary abstract works that Jean Arp dubbed “stabiles.”

In , Calder completed Devil Fish, his first stabile enlarged from a model.

He received two important commissions: Mercury Fountain () and Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (). His first retrospective was held in at the George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery in Springfield, Massachusetts, followed by another in at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Calder had a major show in at Galerie Louis Carré in Paris for which Jean-Paul Sartre wrote a seminal essay.

He designed sets and costumes for a number of theatrical performances and designed a huge acoustic ceiling for the Aula Magna auditorium at Universidad Central de Venezuela. In , Calder represented the United States at the Venice Biennale, winning the grand prize for sculpture.

During a yearlong stay in Aix-en-Provence, Calder executed the first group of large-scale outdoor works and concurrently concentrated on painting gouaches.

Alexander calder timeline biography of sebastian This site serves as overview on Alexander Calder's life and his genre of art.

In –55, he visited the Middle East, India, and South America, with trips to Paris in between, resulting in an astonishing output and range of work. Toward the late s, Calder turned his attention to commissions both at home and abroad.

In , Calder completed construction of a large studio overlooking the Indre Valley.

With the assistance of a full-scale, industrial ironworks, he began to fabricate his monumental works in France and devoted much of his later working years to public commissions. Calder died in New York in at the age of seventy-eight.