Calder's Mobiles

 Alexander Calder

Calder's first New York City exhibition was in 1928, and other exhibitions in Paris and Berlin gained him international recognition as a significant artist. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio proved pivotal. Calder began to work in an abstract style, finishing his first nonobjective construction in 1931.

In early 1932, he exhibited his first moving sculpture in an exhibition organized by Marcel Duchamp, who coined the word "mobile." In May 1932, Calder's fame was consolidated by the first United States show of his mobiles. Some were motor-driven, His later wind-driven mobiles enabled the sculptural parts to move independently, as Calder said, "by nature and chance."  Calder returned to the United States to live and work in Roxbury, Massachusetts in June 1932.

From the 1940s on, Calder's works, many of them large-scale outdoor sculptures, have been placed in virtually every major city of the Western world. In the 1950s, he created two new series of mobiles: "Towers," which included wall-mounted wire constructions, and "Gongs," mobiles with sound.

Calder was prolific and worked throughout his career in many art forms. He produced drawings, oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, gouache and serigraphy. He also designed jewelry, tapestry, theatre settings and architectural interiors.   Calder died in 1976.  (text from http://rogallery.com/Calder_Alexander/calder-biography.htm)

Calder's art today is known as kinetic art.  Art based on movement, time, and space.  

1.  How do you think that this type of art changes the way people look at art?  Explain.

2. What do you think about Calder's choice of colors?

3. Calder's work has also served the purpose of installation art.  How do you think that works like those above can change the environment of where it is installed?  How will people react?  

4. How would you react if one of Calder's works were put outside of our school?


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