ALEXANDER CALDER
inventor of the mobile and stabile
American
inventor of the mobile and stabile
American
Alexander Calder
PROFILE:
Greetings! I am Alexander Calder, I am named after my father. I am a sculptor, much like my father before me who displayed his work in Philadelphia, which wasn't too far from home. I was born in Lawntown, Pennsylvania on August 22, 1898. I died on November 11, 1976 in New York. I used wire, wood, clay, stone, and metal in my projects. My portfolio of artwork includes; Cirque Calder, Flamingo, La Grande Vitesse, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, Eagle, Josephine Baker (3), Red Lily Pads, Cheval Rouge (Red Horse), Mountains and Clouds, Four Big Dots, Big Crinkly, Flying Dragon, Gwenfritz, Teodelapio, Calder's Set for Socrate, and many more!
I am the creator of the mobile. So thank me if you had one above your crib when you were a baby, because without me, it would not have been there! I am a very playful and humorous man (or so I've been told.) My family consisted of many artists. As mentioned before my father was a sculptor like me, my mother was a professional portrait painter (she studied in Paris before coming to Philadelphia and meeting my father).
I made my first sculpture when I was 4 years old. No, I'm not kidding! I made a clay elephant when I was four and from then on I continued to create things. When I was a young fourth grader I made a duck and a dog out of a sheet of brass, pretty cool huh? My parents liked creativity and fully supported it, but they advised me not to be an artist, and at first I listened and went off to become a mechanical engineer, I got my degree, but my interest in art never left, and as much as I wanted to please my parents, I pursued an art career instead.
Quotes:
"My fan mail is enormous.Everyone is under 6."
"To an engineer,good enough means perfect with an artist there's no such thing as perfect."
"When everything has gone right, a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life."
"I try something new each time.You invent as you go, depending on the material you're using."
"I always loved the circus, so I decided to make my own circus just for the fun of it."
"I want to make things that are fun to look at."
"I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red."
"I want my art to be serious without appearing to be."
"Why should art stand still? The next step is sculpture in motion."
"I take a piece of wood I've found, then I change it just enough so it turns into something different."
Some of my work:
Greetings! I am Alexander Calder, I am named after my father. I am a sculptor, much like my father before me who displayed his work in Philadelphia, which wasn't too far from home. I was born in Lawntown, Pennsylvania on August 22, 1898. I died on November 11, 1976 in New York. I used wire, wood, clay, stone, and metal in my projects. My portfolio of artwork includes; Cirque Calder, Flamingo, La Grande Vitesse, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, Eagle, Josephine Baker (3), Red Lily Pads, Cheval Rouge (Red Horse), Mountains and Clouds, Four Big Dots, Big Crinkly, Flying Dragon, Gwenfritz, Teodelapio, Calder's Set for Socrate, and many more!
I am the creator of the mobile. So thank me if you had one above your crib when you were a baby, because without me, it would not have been there! I am a very playful and humorous man (or so I've been told.) My family consisted of many artists. As mentioned before my father was a sculptor like me, my mother was a professional portrait painter (she studied in Paris before coming to Philadelphia and meeting my father).
I made my first sculpture when I was 4 years old. No, I'm not kidding! I made a clay elephant when I was four and from then on I continued to create things. When I was a young fourth grader I made a duck and a dog out of a sheet of brass, pretty cool huh? My parents liked creativity and fully supported it, but they advised me not to be an artist, and at first I listened and went off to become a mechanical engineer, I got my degree, but my interest in art never left, and as much as I wanted to please my parents, I pursued an art career instead.
Quotes:
"My fan mail is enormous.Everyone is under 6."
"To an engineer,good enough means perfect with an artist there's no such thing as perfect."
"When everything has gone right, a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life."
"I try something new each time.You invent as you go, depending on the material you're using."
"I always loved the circus, so I decided to make my own circus just for the fun of it."
"I want to make things that are fun to look at."
"I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red."
"I want my art to be serious without appearing to be."
"Why should art stand still? The next step is sculpture in motion."
"I take a piece of wood I've found, then I change it just enough so it turns into something different."
Some of my work:
FRIENDS AND ARTISTS THAT inspired me:
Fernand Leger Joan Miro Pablo Picasso Hans Arp Marcel duChamp
Art movements I was involved in:
Surrealism- An art and literature movement that began in the early 1920's that targeted at artists expressing imaginative dreams and visions without rational control.
Section d'Or- An art movement that lasted from 1911 to 1914,it was the transition between the Cubism and Orphism periods.
Kinetic Art- An art movement where artists began to make their artwork move.
Modern Art- An art movement that included artistic work produced during the 1860s to the 1970s (roughly), and denoted the style and philosophy of the art produced during this particular movement.
5 major HISTORICAL events that happened during my lifetime:
The Titantic - 1912
World War 1 - 1914 to 1918
The Great Depression - 1929 to 1939
World War 2 - 1939 to 1945
Pearl Harbor - 1941