American

1898 – 1976

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing the mobile. In addition to mobile and stabile sculpture Alexander Calder created paintings, lithographs, and tapestries. Born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, Calder came from a family of sculptors. Although initially trained as a mechanical engineer, Calder’s experience of waking early one morning and seeing a sunrise with moon-set deeply impressed him and set him on the path of becoming an artist. In his years as an artist he divided his time between New York and Paris. Calder died on November 11, 1976, shortly following the opening of another major retrospective show at the Whitney Museum in New York.