{"data":{"id":"215","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":215,"topgoose_id":2481,"tms_id":215,"display_name":"Alexander Calder","sort_name":"Calder Alexander","display_date":"1898–1976","begin_date":"1898","end_date":"1976","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAcross the course of more than six decades, Alexander Calder worked with materials ranging from thin pieces of wire to sheets of bolted steel, and experimented with scales and sites that encompassed everything from wearable jewelry to monumental outdoor sculpture. Calder had trained as a mechanical engineer, but he was an aspiring artist by the time he arrived in Paris in 1926, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both well-known sculptors. There he began working on \u003ca href=\"/collection/series/5488\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eCalder’s Circus\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, an ensemble work comprising dozens of small movable figures and accompanying props made from wire as well as readily available, everyday items. Transporting the miniature circus in several suitcases, he gave performances with the creations in his studios and at the homes of friends and art patrons in Paris and New York. The artist served as impresario, narrating the acts in English and French, manipulating the figures, and providing musical accompaniment and sound effects. Adding acts over several years, he fabricated a \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5524\"\u003eringmaster\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5541\"\u003etrapeze artists\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5502\"\u003eclowns\u003c/a\u003e, a \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5513\"\u003ebelly dancer\u003c/a\u003e, and a \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5535\"\u003esword swallower\u003c/a\u003e—often basing his characters on real circus performers—as well as numerous circus animals, including \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5530\"\u003eseals\u003c/a\u003e, a \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5517\"\u003ekangaroo\u003c/a\u003e, and a majestic, bearded \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/5519\"\u003elion\u003c/a\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCalder’s interest in the circus stemmed from a job he had held at a newspaper in New York, which sent him to illustrate the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1925. Describing his drawing technique, Calder spoke of his “knack for doing it with a single line,” barely lifting pen from paper. It was a technique he adapted to his small wire circus figures and later to a series of figurative sculptures. Using pliers to bend and contort his preferred medium, Calder created what he called “three-dimensional line drawing” in open wire portrait heads. His subjects included celebrities, politicians, sports stars, and fellow artists. He worked quickly, and while he made preparatory sketches for his portraits, he primarily improvised in the construction of these sculptures. “I think best in wire,” he explained. Calder met the French composer Edgard Varèse in 1930 and captured the details of his friend’s unique features in \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/2784\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eVarèse\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, using an economy of materials and gestures.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA formative visit to the Paris studio of the Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian, also in 1930, nonetheless convinced Calder to abandon such representational imagery in most of his work. He soon began making abstract paintings as well as sculptural constructions. Due to wartime shortages of metal, Calder’s sculptures from the early 1940s are predominantly composed of hand-carved wooden elements. In the Surrealist-inspired \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/2773\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWooden Bottle with Hairs\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, for example, an abstract piece that nonetheless retains some elements of representation, wood “hairs” dangle from tiny chains attached to wires that protrude from a bulbous wood form; the hairs quiver and vibrate with the slightest shifts in movement.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe sculptural forms for which Calder is best known, however, are his abstract “mobiles”—a term coined by his friend \u003ca href=\"/artists/1715\"\u003eMarcel Duchamp\u003c/a\u003e—which were inspired by the kinetic qualities of his earliest pieces. Calder had initially generated movement in these works with manual cranks and motors but soon discovered that natural air currents alone could set the traditionally stationary art form into motion. “Why must art be static?” he famously queried. “The next step in sculpture is motion.” For many of his mobiles, including \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/2826\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eBig Red\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e,\u003c/em\u003e Calder cut flat, biomorphic shapes from sheet metal, painted the components black, white, or one of the primary colors, and attached the segments to supporting rods. He secured his mobiles to bases, mounted them to walls, and suspended them from the ceiling, where they would be subject to air currents. Calder controlled the range of movements of his mobiles through carefully calibrated systems of weights and balances. The full composition of \u003cem\u003eBig Red\u003c/em\u003e spins slowly through 360 degrees, while its subsidiary offshoots rotate independently, resulting in a captivating and unpredictable dynamism.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"gray\"\u003eDana Miller and Adam D. Weinberg, \u003ca href=\"https://shop.whitney.org/products/whitney-handbook-of-the-collection\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHandbook of the Collection\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2015), 84–86.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500007824","wikidata_id":"Q151580","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:24:21.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-13T07:02:51.097-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/215/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/215/exhibitions"}}}}