Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Definition: Calder, Alexander from Philip's Encyclopedia

US sculptor. Calder created the mobile, a type of delicate, colourful, kinetic sculpture with parts that move either by motors or air currents. He also developed non-moving sculptures called 'stabiles'.


Calder, Alexander

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(kôl'dӘr), 1898–1976, American sculptor, b. Philadelphia; son of Alexander Stirling Calder and grandson of Alexander Mine Calder, prominent sculptors. Among the most innovative of modern sculptors, he trained as a mechanical engineer and studied at New York's Art Students League. In 1926 Calder went to Paris where he was influenced by the geometric purity and primary colors of Mondrian 's art and by Miró 's biomorphic forms. There he created his colorful, charming, complex, and kinetic wire and collage miniature circus, with dozens of figures manipulated by hand (1926–31; Whitney Mus., New York City), which established his reputation with the French avant garde. In 1932 he exhibited the first of his brightly colored constellations called mobiles , consisting of painted geometric shapes connected by wires and set in motion by motors or by the movement of the air. The earliest examples were mainly wood. After his return to New York in the mid-1930s and particularly during the early 40s, …
159 results

Full text Article Calder, Alexander

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
| 76 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Calder, Alexander

From Philip's Encyclopedia
| 35 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Calder

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary Full text Article Biographical Names
| 11 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Calder, Alexander

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(kôl'dӘr), 1898–1976, American sculptor, b. Philadelphia; son of Alexander Stirling Calder and grandson of Alexander Mine Calder, prominent sculptors. Among the most innovative of modern sculptors, he trained as a mechanical engineer and studied at New York's Art Students League. In 1926 Calder went…
| 336 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article CALDER, ALEXANDER

From The Reader's Companion to American History
(1898-1976), artist and inventor of the mobile. Calder, who was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, grew up in an art environment. His grandfather had been a sculptor and both his parents were artists. Thus the family moved in art circles, and home was always a studio. After graduating from high school…
| 533 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Calder, Alexander (Stirling)

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born July 22, 1898, Lawnton, Pa., U.S.—died Nov. 11, 1976, New York, N.Y.) U.S. sculptor. He was the son and grandson of sculptors, and his mother was a painter. He studied mechanical engineering, and in 1923 attended the Art Students League, where he was influenced by artists of the Ash Can school…
| 222 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Calder, Alexander

From A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes
(22 July 1898–11 November 1976) The son and grandson of sculptors, but also an alumnus of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Calder was a great inventor who recognized that the early modern avant-garde idea of KINETIC ART could be realized without motors. His innovation was three-dimensional art…
| 563 words

Full text Article Calder, Alexander

From Chambers Biographical Dictionary
1898-1976 US artist, pioneer of kinetic art Born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, he trained as an engineer (1915-19) before studying art at the Art Students' League in New York (1923-26). In 1926 he exhibited paintings in the Artists' Gallery, New York, and in 1929 he had a one-man show in Paris. A…
| 125 words
Key concepts:
Sculpture
From the earliest times, the favourite subject for sculptors was the human form, often very stylized, but always representational. In the past, materials used depended on what was available, until trade and improved transport meant that materials could be moved as required. Throughout most of…
| 2,220 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Calder

From Collins English Dictionary
| 23 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources