CALDER Alexander

Alexander CALDER is an American painter and sculptor born in 1898 and died in 1976. He is the creator of the mobile sculpture and pioneer in kinetic art. This artistic movement includes artists such as Victor Vasarely or Bridget Riley. Alexander Calder is a major artist in the history of art of the twentieth century. He’s also a pioneer in the creation of delicate sculptures that evolve with movement.

He invented the “mobile”, a sculpture formed by wires and metal parts that move with the movement of air and remain perfectly balanced.

Born into a family of artists in Pennsylvania, Alexander Calder was encouraged to create and invent from an early age. His parents set up a studio for him in the basement of the family home in California where they had settled. Already, the young boy had a passion for movement and imagined becoming a mechanical engineer.

He made the circus shows more popular with the help of Leonard Fujita. The latter was in charge of the music while Calder was in charge of the figurine creation. These shows attracted great artists and celebrities such as Marcel Duchamp, Jean Cocteau and Man Ray.

His meeting with Mondrian was the turning point in his career as he was inspired by the colored white squares scattered on the wall. This meeting with Mondrian pushed him to pursue his interest in the movement. It was Marcel Duchamp who, in 1932, found the right term for Alexander Calder’s suspended sculptures: mobiles. Thanks to wire and an electrical system, balls and abstract forms inspired by nature come to life. He also created works ruled by an opposite principle, immobilism.