Alexander Calder
Biography
Raised in an artistic milieu, Alexander Calder (born 1898 in Philadelphia) decided to train as an engineer, which he completed with a diploma in 1919. In 1923 he joined the New York Art Students League, where he took drawing lessons. He works as a press artist for the National Police Gazette. In 1925 Calder‘s preoccupation with the circus begins. Fascinated by this world, he realized that he had found his motif and subject here. He created drawings, which he showed together with paintings in his first exhibition (The Artists Gallery, New York) in 1926. Calder quickly moved on to transforming his drawings into wire sculptures, thus taking the decisive step that was necessary for his further artistic development. In 1927 Calder appeared in public with animals made of iron wire and bottle corks and caused a sensation with these mechanical toys, which gradually developed into a complete miniature circus. In 1930 the artist goes to Paris, where Marcel Duchamp and Hans Arp are staying. Duchamp gives the motor-driven sculptures of Alexander Calder the name „Mobiles“, Arp coins the term „Stabiles“ for the motionless objects. coined the term „Stabiles“ for the motionless objects. In 1934 Calder settled in the USA. At the end of the 1930s the late 1930s, in addition to numerous Mobiles and Stabiles he also created monumental sculptures made of heavy metal plates. 1946 sees the first of many post-war trips to France, where he settles again in 1954. In 1964/65 a retrospective was held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Musée National d‘Art Moderne in Paris. In addition, Calder repeatedly created stage designs, especially for Parisian theaters. Calder was present at the official opening of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona in 1976. On November 11 of the same year, the artist dies in New York. The Galería Maeght in Barcelona then shows the first posthumous retrospective for which Joan Miró writes a tribute as a picture poem. Numerous prizes honor the artist, including the Grand Prize of the Venice Biennale for sculpture or the Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh.
I started right away, using wire as my main material as well as working with others like string, leather, fabric and wood. Wood combined with wire was almost always my medium of choice. One friend of mine suggested that I should make sculpture entirely of wire, and that is how I started to make what I called ‚Wire Sculpture'.
Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
2022
Alexander Calder - Intricate: Calder and the Poetry of Science, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL, United States
2021
Alexander Calder. Minimal / Maximal, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Alexander Calder - Modern from the Start, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Calder: Great Yellow Sun, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Elemental Calder, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
2019
Calder Stories, Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain
Elemental Calder, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
2017
Alexander Calder Scaling Up, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA),
San Francisco, CA, United States
Calder: Hypermobility, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
Alexander Calder - Motion Lab, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
¡Vaya Circo!, Centre Pompidou Malaga, Málaga, Spain
2015
Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
2014
Calder: Twelve Works, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, NC, United States
Collecting Calder, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
Calder at the Rijksmuseum, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hommage à Alexander Calder a l'occasion du 50ème anniversaire de la Fondation Maeght, Musee d´Art Moderne et d`Art Contemporain Nice (MAMAC), Nice, France
2013
Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA, United States
Alexander Calder – Avantgarde in Bewegung, K20, Dusseldorf, Germany
Calder, Leeum - Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
In the Library, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States
2012
Alexander Calder, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
2011
Calder's Portraits: A New Language, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC,
United States
2010
Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX, United States
2009
Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, United States
Alexander Calder: The Paris Years 1926–1933, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada
Calder Jewellery, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland (Republic)
Alexander Calder, Les années parisiennes, 1926-1933, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2008
Calder Jewelry, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
2007
Focus: Alexander Calder, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Alexander Calder in Focus, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL, United States
2006
I Think Best in Wire: Alexander Calder, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
The Surreal Calder, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, United States
The Surreal Calder, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
2005
The Surreal Calder, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, United States
Uitgelicht - Alexander Calder, Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
2003
Calder. La gravedad y la gracia, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Calder - La gravedad y la gracia, Museo Guggenheim de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, Bilbao, Spain
2002
Alexander Calder - Motion and Color, The Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan
2001
Alexander Calder - Motion and Color, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura, Chiba, Japan
1999
Alexander Calder, Lever House Art Collection, New York City, NY, United States
1998
Alexander Calder: 1898 – 1976, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
Alexander Calder 1898 – 1976, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States
1997
Calder, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
1996
Alexander Calder, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1993
Celebrating Calder, Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art, Gyeongju Bomun, South Korea
Alexander Calder in den Fotografien von Ugo Mulas, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
1979
Calder’s Universe, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, United States
1976
Alexander Calder: 1898-1976, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY,
United States
Calder's universe, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
1975
Alexander Calder, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Alexander Calder, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
1974
Alexander Calder - A Retrospective Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL, United States
Calder's Circus, Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), Indianapolis, IN, United States
Calder Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges – Palais de l’Evêché, Limoges, France
1972
Calder Tapestries, Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), Indianapolis, IN, United States
1971
Alexander Calder. Early Works c. 1927-1944, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Alexander Calder: Tapestries, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
1970
A Salute to Alexander Calder Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO), Bogota, Colombia
Calder Gouaches: The Art of Alexander Calder, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ,
United States
1969
A Salute to Alexander Calder, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY,
United States
Calder, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Calder, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
Calder, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
1967
Alexander Calder, AdK - Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, Berlin, Germany
Recent Stabiles by Alexander Calder, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, United States
Calder: 19 Gifts from the Artist, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1965
Alexander Calder: A Retrospective Exhibition, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, United States
Mobiles and Stabiles by Calder, the Man Who Made Sculpture Move, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada
1964
Alexander Calder: A Retrospective Exhibition, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York City, NY, United States
1962
Alexander Calder, Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom
1960
Alexander Calder, Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR), Brussels, Belgium
1959
Alexander Calder, Stabilen, Mobilen, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Alexander Calder: escultura, guache, Museu de Arte Moderna Rio de Janeiro (MAM), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Calder: Stabiles 1957-59, Mobiles 1956-58, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Alexander Calder, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Alexander Calder, Stabilen, Mobilen, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1957
Alexander Calder, Städel Museum, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Alexander Calder, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland
1956
Children's Holiday Carnival, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Alexandre Calder, Musée Picasso - Château Grimaldi, Antibes, France
1954
Alexander Calder: Stabiles, Mobiles, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
1953
Mobiles by Alexander Calder, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA),
San Francisco, CA, United States
Alexander Calder, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
1952
Alexander Calder, Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lübeck, Germany
1950
Alexander Calder, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1947
Sculpture and Gouaches by Alexander Calder, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
1944
Watercolors by Alexander Calder, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
1943
Alexander Calder, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1941
Mobiles by Alexander Calder, Stabiles and Jewelry, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
1935
Mobiles by Alexander Calder, Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
Alexander Calder – Mobiles, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL, United States
1930
Wire Sculpture by Alexander Calder, Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, Cambridge, MA, United States
Group Exhibitions (Selection from 1980)
2022
Calder | Miró – Liberation from Earth, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld, Germany
At The Heart Of Abstraction - Works From The Collection Of The Fondation Gandur Pour L'art, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
2021
The point of sculpture / El sentido de la escultura, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Enjoy - The mumok Collection in Change, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK), Vienna, Austria
2020
Artist’s Choice: Amy Sillman - The Shape of Shape, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
The shape of time. Highlights of the Centre Pompidou Collection Vol. 1, West Bund Museum, Shanghai, China
The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
Elementarteile. Grundbausteine des Sprengel Museum Hannover und seiner Kunst, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Negativer Raum, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany
Calder-Picasso, Musée Picasso Paris, Paris, France
From Gesture To Form, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
2018
Epic Abstraction, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
The Spirit of a Collection: Donations, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Collection 2: The 1980s Zeitgeist as a Point of Departure, National Museum of Art Osaka (NMAO), Osaka, Japan
Sense of Humor, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States
2017
7 X SPACE X TIME Works from the Collection, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art,
Humlebæk, Denmark
Being Modern: MoMA in Paris, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Oh… Jakob Lena Knebl and the mumok Collection,
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK), Vienna, Austria
Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
2016
From Rodin to Bourgeois: Sculpture in the 20th Century, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
Water, Clouds, Wind, Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Alexander Calder & Fischli/Weiss, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
Beckmann, Picasso, Giacometti & more., Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Musicircus. Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou Collection, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
Sculpture on the Move 1946–2016, Kunstmuseum Basel – Gegenwart, Basel, Switzerland
2015
Black Sun, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
The Whitney's Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
2014
Face à l'oeuvre, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Eine Große Idee – 50 Jahre Lehmbruck Museum, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
2013
Modern Japanese Art from the Museum Collection, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), Tokyo, Japan2012
Great Moderns. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. Art of the Twentieth Century, Centro Cultural Moneda, Santiago, Chile
Encounters with the 1930s, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
The Supersurrealism, Moderna Museet Malmö, Malmö, Sweden
Art of Another Kind: International Abstraction and the Guggenheim, 1949–1960,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
Arcadia in Celle: Art for Nature and Nature for Art, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
2011
Dance Your Life, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2010
Singular Visions, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
New York City, NY, United States
Calder to Warhol: Introducing the Fisher Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, CA, United States
Gipfeltreffen der Moderne. Das Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
Le Mouvement. Vom Kino zur Kinetik, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
2009
Bilderträume. Die Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Play - Film and Video, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
2008
Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom
Coming of Age: American Art, 1850s to 1950s, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
The American Scene, British Museum, London, United Kingdom
Cosas del Surrealismo, Museo Guggenheim de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, Bilbao, Spain
Skulpturen im Blickpunkt, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
2007
Modernisms, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
Poetry in Motion, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland
100 Jahre Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Modernisms, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States
The Shapes of Space, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
Peggy Guggenheim. Un amore per la scultura, Fondazione Cariverona, Verona, Italy
2006
Dialogue avec le siècle 1906-1981, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Was ist Plastik? 100 Jahre - 100 Köpfe- Das Jahrhundert moderner Skulptur,
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
The Imagery of Chess – Revisited, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, United States
Le noir est une couleur, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Full House: Views of the Whitney’s Collection at 75, Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York City, NY, United States
Berlin-Tokyo/Tokyo-Berlin. Die Kunst zweier Städte, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part Two,
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Fest der Farbe; Die Sammlung Merzbacher-Mayer, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Painting and Sculpture Changes 2006, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
New York City, NY, United States
2005
Faites vos jeux! Kunst und Spiel seit Dada, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Von Paul Gauguin bis Imi Knoebel. Werke aus der Hilti art foundation, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
2004
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden: Inaugural Installation,
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
De l’écriture á la peinture, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Kunst - ein Kinderspiel, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Calder / Miró, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
Modern Means: Continuity and Change in Art, 1880 to Now,
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
2003
From Picasso to Pollock - Classics of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York City, NY, United States
Moderna Museet c/o Malmö Konsthall, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden
2002
Claude Monet - ...bis zum digitalen Impressionismus, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
The Global Guggenheim - Selections from the Extended Collection,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
2000
Cosmos - From Goya to De Chirico from Friedrich to Kiefer,
Palazzo Grassi - Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy
Making Choices, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1999
Surrealistas en el exilio y los inicios de la Escuela de Nueva York,
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
1998
Zeichen Der Moderne – Kunst Der Gegenwart Aus Der Sammlung Würth,
Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Peggy Guggenheim: A Centennial Celebration, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Three Collectors/Tre collezionisti, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Peggy Guggenheim: A Centennial Celebration,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
The Maximal Sixties: Pop, Op, and Figuration, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
New York City, NY, United States
1996
Master Prints from the Collection,
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1995
Wege zur Abstraktion, Städel Museum, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Impressions of Nature, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Adding It Up: Print Acquisitions 1970–1995,
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Group Exhibition of Gallery ArtistsPace GalleryNew York City, NYUnited States
1994
A Century of Artists Books, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
New York City, NY, United States
1993
Miró Prints and Books from New York Collections,
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Manifeste, Une histoire parallèle (1960-1990), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Reading Prints, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1991
Art of the Forties, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Obras maestras de la colección Guggenheim. De Picasso a Pollock,
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
1990
Still Life Into Object Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)New York City, NYUnited States
Contemporary Art in a Modern Context, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
1988
20th century drawings : from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of
Abstractions Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)New York City, NY, United States
1987
Fifty Years of Collecting, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
A Century of Modern Sculpture: The Patsy and Raymond Nasher Collection, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States
1986
Six Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Museum New York.Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
1984
Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America 1927-1944, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, United States
The Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
1982
In Our Time: Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum 1948–1982, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH)Houston, TX, United States
1981
Drawing acquisitions, 1978-1981.Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY, United States