Alexander Calder - Monumental Sculptures and Public Works, Bibliography

Sculptor and painter, born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, USA. The son of Alexander Stirling Calder, he studied at Stevens Institute of Technology (1915–19), the Art Students League, New York City (1923–6), and in Paris, where he began his famous circus menagerie, Le Cirque Calder (1926–61), and the first of his wire sculptures, ‘Josephine Baker’ (1926). By 1927 he was based in New York City and Roxbury, CT (1933), and from 1953 also maintained a home in France. He was an abstract painter but became most famous for his moving sculptures, named ‘mobiles’ by Marcel Duchamp, as seen in ‘Big Red’ (1959). His stationary sculptures, named ‘stabiles’ by Jean Arp, are often large public works, as in ‘El Sol Rojo’ (1968).

Flamingo (1974), red painted steel, at the Federal Plaza, Chicago, Illinois The Red Feather (1975), black and red painted steel, 11' x 6'3" x 11'2", The Kentucky Center Untitled (1976), aluminum honeycomb, tubing and paint, 358 1/2 x 912", National Gallery of Art Washington Mountains and Clouds (1976), painted aluminum and steel, 612 inches x 900 inches, Hart Senate Office Building

Monumental Sculptures and Public Works

United States

California

The Hawk for Peace, 1968, Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley Three Quintains, 1964, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Four Arches, 1974, Security Pacific National Bank, Los Angeles Spinal Column, 1968, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Le Faucon (The Falcon), 1963, Stanford University, Stanford Button Flower, 1959, UCLA, Los Angeles

Connecticut

Stegosaurus, 1973, Alfred E. Burr Mall, Hartford Gallows and Lollipops, 1960, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

Georgia

Three Up, Three Down, 1973, High Museum, Atlanta

Illinois

Flamingo, 1974, Federal Center Plaza, Chicago Universe, 1974, Sears Tower, Chicago Le Baron, 1965, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb

Indiana

Peau Rouge, 1970, Musical Arts Center, Indiana University, Bloomington

Kansas

Eléments Démontables, 1975, Bank IV Kansas, Wichita

Kentucky

The Red Feather, 1975, Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville

Maryland

Four Dishes, 1967 The 100 Yard Dash, 1969, The Baltimore Museum of Art

Massachusetts

La Grande Voile (The Big Sail), 1965 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

Michigan

La Grande Vitesse, 1969, Vandenberg Plaza, Grand Rapids Jeune fille et sa suite, 1970, Michigan Bell Telephone Building, Detroit

Minnesota

The Spinner, 1966, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Octopus, 1964, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Missouri

Tom's Cubicle, 1967 Ordinary, 1969, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Five Rudders, 1965, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis Shiva, 1965, Crown Center, Kansas City

New Jersey

Hard to Swallow, 1966 The Stevens Mobile, 1970, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken Five Discs, One Empty, 1970, The Art Museum, Princeton University El Sol Rojo (intermediate maquette), 1968, The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton

New York

Triangles and Arches, 1965, Empire State Plaza, Albany The Arch, 1975, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville Object in Five Planes, 1965, Federal Plaza, New York City .125, 1957, John F. Kendall Sculpture Garden at PepsiCo, Purchase Three Arches, 1963, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Museum of Art, Utica World Trade Center Stabile, 1970-71, 7 World Trade Center, New York City [destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001]

Pennsylvania

The Ghost, 1964, Philadelphia Museum of Art White Cascade, 1975, Federal Reserve Bank of PA Three Discs, One Lacking, 1968, Pennsylvania Convention Center, PA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh, 1958, Pittsburgh International Airport, Pittsburgh

Tennessee

Nenuphar (Lily Pad), 1968, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

Washington

The Eagle, 1971, Seattle Art Museum

Washington, D.C.

Mountains and Clouds, 1976-87, Hart Senate Building 6 Dots Over a Mountain, 1956 Deux Discs (Two Discs), 1965, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution Untitled, 1976, National Gallery of Art Gwenfritz, 1968, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Wisconsin

Red, Black, and Blue, 1968, Milwalkee County Airport

Outside the United States

Australia

Bobine, 1970, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Crossed Blades, 1967, Australia Square Tower, Sydney

Canada

Man, 1967, Montreal Man (intermediate maquette), 1967, York University Art Gallery, Ontario

Denmark

Slender Ribs, 1963 Little Janey Waney, 1976 Almost Snow Plow, 1976, Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek

France

Crinkly, 1969, Amboise Trois pics, 1967, Nouvelle Gare SNCF, Grenoble Théâtre de Nice, 1970, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice L'araignée rouge (The Red Spider), 1976, Etablissement Public pour L'Aménagement de la Région de la Défense, Paris Caliban, 1964, Maison de la Culture de Bourges, Paris Nageoire (Fin), 1964, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris La Spirale, 1958, UNESCO building, Paris Les ailes brisées (The Broken Wings), 1967, Conseils Général des Pyrénées Orientales, Perpignan Totem-Saché, 1974, Saché Les trois ailes (The Three Wings), 1963, Musée d'art Moderne, Saint-Etienne Les Renforts, 1963 Empennage (Airplane Tail), 1953, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence Guillotine pour huit (Guillotine for Eight), 1963 Reims croix du sud (Southern Cross of Reims), 1969, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Villeneuve d'Ascq

Germany

Tétes et queue (Heads and Tail), 1965, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin Les Triangles, 1963, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund Hextopus, 1955, American Consulate General, Frankfurt Le Hallebardier, 1971, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover Cinq Pics, 1972, Insel Hombroich, Neuss Crinkly with a Red Disc, 1973, Stuttgarter Schlossplatz, Stuttgart

Holland

Tamanoir (Anteater), 1963, City of Amsterdam

Italy

Teodelapio, 1962, City of Spoleto

Ireland

Cactus provisoire, 1967, Trinity College, Dublin

Israel

Jerusalem Stabile, 1976, Jerusalem The Cow, 1977, Jersusalem Foundation Community Center The Sun at Croton, 1960; Untitled, 1967, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Japan

Les Arétes de poisson (The Fish Bones), 1966, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa Fafnir-Dragon II, 1969, Nagoya City Art Museum Flamingo (intermediate maquette), 1973, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga Otsu

Mexico

El Sol Rojo, 1968, Aztec Stadium, Mexico City

South Korea

Grand Crinkly, 1971, Ho-am Art Museum, Seoul

Spain

Quatre ailes (Four Wings), 1972, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona

Sweden

Three Wings, 1963, City of Gotenborg

Switzerland

The Tree, 1966, Fondation Beyeler, Basel Brasilia, 1965, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny Stabile, 1963, The Nestle Art Collection, Le Vevey

Venezuela

The City, 1960, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas Aula Magna, 1954, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas

Bibliography

Calder, Alexander.