Alexander Calder (August 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known as the originator of the mobile, a type of moving sculpture made with delicately balanced or suspended shapes that move in response to touch or air currents. Calder’s monumental stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced wire figures, which are like drawings made in space, and notably a miniature circus work that was performed by the artist.

Son and grandson of sculptors. He studied mechanic enginery and attended at the Art Students League of Los Angels, where was influenced by the artists of the school.

In the 1930s, he became notorious in Paris and in USA due to his wire sculptures, as for his portraits, his sketches of continuos line and his abstract motorized constructions.

However the first mobiles and stabiles of Calder were relatively small, little by little he started to walk towards the monumentality in his later works.

Between his most popular works are featured the “Calder Clouds”, in the Great Hall of the Central University of Venezuela.

SOME CENTERS WHERE HE EXPOSED

Salon de la Société des Artistes Indépendants, Grand Palais, Paris.

Harvard Society of Contemporary Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Rockefeller Center, New York.

San Francisco Museum of Art.

Institute of Contemporary Arts, Washington, D.C.

Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany.

Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

Tate Gallery, London.

Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

Museo Nacional-Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.