Alexander Calder Art
American, 1898-1976
The American sculptor Alexander Calder is known as the father of the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling.
Because Calder's parents, both artists themselves, did not want him to suffer the hardships of trying to make a living in art, they encouraged the young Calder to study mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He worked a number of jobs, including as a hydraulic engineer and draftsman for the New York Edison Company, before deciding to pursue an artistic career. He never abandoned his engineering background, however, applying his understanding of gears and moving parts in all his artworks, from mechanical toys like the Cirque Calder (1931) and his revered prints to his free-standing abstract sculptures, called stabiles.
In 1926, Calder moved to Paris and established a studio in the Montparnasse quarter. He began creating the many parts of his famous miniature circus from found materials, such as wire, string, cloth, rubber and cork. Designed to be transportable, Cirque grew to fill five suitcases over the years. Always interested in putting forms in motion, Calder also pioneered a new art form called wire sculptures, which he described as “drawings in space.” Like his famous mobiles, the wire sculptures were suspended so that they turned with any movement of the air, presenting different forms when viewed from different angles.
In the 1950s, Calder returned to his roots in mechanical engineering, creating monumental abstract sculptures that verged on the architectural. He worked from loose gestural drawings like this preparatory sketch for his Man Stabile, from 1966. Throughout his career, he also worked as a set designer for the theater, as well as an illustrator and printmaker, producing vibrant, whimsical drawings for books and journals.
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Artist: Alexander Calder
Sabot et bonnet Phrygien
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors
Edition of 125
Signed
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Lune jaune et porc qui pique
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors
Edition of 125
Signed
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled (from the La memoire elementaire portfolio)
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on Japon nacre - Printed by Arts-Litho, Paris and published by Éditions de la Différence, Paris.
Edition of 100 + L
Signed
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled (Spirals and Forms)
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Edition of 125
Signed
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
UNTITLED
By Alexander Calder
Located in New York, NY
This work of art is a lithograph on paper featuring abstract geometric shapes in primary colors.
Category
20th Century Abstract Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
The Triangles and Spiral
By Alexander Calder
Located in Missouri, MO
The Triangles and Spiral, 1973
By. Alexander Calder (American, 1898-1976)
Signed Lower Right
Numbered: 66/150
Unframed: 26 x 19.25 inches
Framed: 34 x 27 inches
Alexander Calder was born in Philadelphia in 1898. After obtaining his mechanical engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology, Calder worked at various jobs before enrolling at the Art Students League in
New York City in 1923. During his student years, he did line drawing for the National Police Gazette.
In 1925, Calder published his first book, Animal Sketches...
Category
1970s Abstract Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Eclipse - American Kinetic Art - 1961
By Alexander Calder
Located in London, GB
ALEXANDER CALDER 1898-1976
Lawnton, Pennsylvania 1898 - 1976 New York (American)
Title: Eclipse, 1961
Technique: Signed and Dated Gouache on Wove Paper
Size: 55 x 74.5 cm. / 21.7 ...
Category
1960s Kinetic Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Gouache
Alexander Calder Lithographic cover Derrière le miroir 1973
By Alexander Calder
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Alexander Calder Lithographic cover: Derrière le miroir 1973:
Lithographic cover sheet; 15 x 11 inches.
Very good overall vintage condition.
Unsigned from an edition of unknown.
Por...
Category
1970s Modern Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Chaussette Rouge
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Comes with gallery invoice and certificate
Edition of 75
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Alexander Calder Derrière le Miroir lithograph (1960s Calder prints)
By Alexander Calder
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Vintage original 1960s Alexander Calder lithograph from Derriere le Miroir:
Dimensions: 11 x 15 inches.
Minor signs of handling; good overall vintage condition with well preserved colors.
Unsigned from an edition of unknown. Sold unframed.
Derrière le miroir:
In October 1945 the French art dealer Aimé Maeght opens his art gallery at 13 Rue de Téhéran in Paris. His beginning coincides with the end of Second World War and the return of a number of exiled artists back to France. The publication was created in October 1946 (n°1) and published without interruption until 1982 (n°253). Its original articles and illustrations (mainly original color lithographs by the gallery artists) who were famous at the time. The lithographic publication covered only the artists exhibited by Maeght gallery either through personal or group exhibitions. Among them were, Pierre Alechinsky, Francis Bacon, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Eduardo Chillida, Alberto Giacometti, Vassily Kandinsky, Ellsworth Kelly, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Saul Steinberg and Antoni Tapies.
Alexander Calder was an American artist best known for his invention of the kinetic sculptures known as mobiles. Calder also produced a variety of two-dimensional artworks including lithographs, paintings, and tapestries as seen in his Butterfly (1970). “My whole theory about art is the disparity that exists between form, masses, and movement,” the artist once said. Born on August 22, 1898 in Lawnton, PA, Calder turned to art in the 1920s, studying drawing and painting under George Luks and Boardman Robinson at the Art Students League in New York. Calder moved to Paris to continue his studies in 1926, where he was introduced to the European avant-garde through performances of his Cirque Calder (1926–1931). “I was very fond of the spatial relations,” he said of his interest in the circus. “The whole thing of the—the vast space—I’ve always loved it.” With these performances, along with his wire sculptures, Calder attracted the attention of such notable figures as Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, and Fernand Léger. Notably, it was his friend Duchamp that coined the term mobile—a pun in French meaning both “motion” and “motive”—during a visit to Calder’s Paris studio in 1931. His earliest mobiles moved by motors, but Calder soon abandoned these mechanics and designed pieces that moved by air currents or human interaction. Over the course of seven decades, along with his mobiles, he also produced paintings, monumental outdoor sculptures, works on paper, domestic objects, and jewelry. The artist lived in both Roxbury, CT, and Saché, France, before his death on November 11, 1976 in New York, NY. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Tate Gallery in London.
Related Categories:
Alexander Calder prints. Mid Century Modern Calder prints. 1970s. Calder spiral. Calder mobile. Vintage Alexander Calder. Miro. Calder spirals. Calder flowers.
Category
1960s Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
The Cross
By Alexander Calder
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"The Cross" is a painting by Alexander Calder. The painting is signed in the lower right, "Calder". The framed dimensions are 30 x 37.5 x 1.75 in. "The Cross...
Category
1940s Abstract Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
L’albero del bene e del male
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph on paper
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Spirale millepiedi
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph on paper
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Girandola
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph on paper
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Tabouret Et Trois Pieds
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on BFK Rives - Published by Maeght, Paris
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Grey Oval (Flat Mobile)
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Signed
Edition of 100
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Alphabet Et Serpent
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Signed
Edition of 90
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Les Deux Lues
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on Arches paper
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Les Vagues #21 (The Waves)
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors, on Arches paper, the full sheet - published by Maeght, Paris
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Trois Oignons
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on Rives paper - Published by Maeght, Paris.
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Alphabet Et Serpent
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Edition of 90
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Trois Oignons
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on Rives paper - Published by Maeght, Paris.
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Les Vagues #21 (The Waves)
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors, on Arches paper, the full sheet - published by Maeght, Paris
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Le Lettres
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Published by the gallery Maeght in 1969
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Grey Oval (Flat Mobile)
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Edition of 100
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Les Deux Lues
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on Arches paper
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Tabouret Et Trois Pieds
By Alexander Calder
Located in Tbilisi, GE
Lithograph in colors on BFK Rives - Published by Maeght, Paris
Accompanied with a certificate from Composition gallery
Category
20th Century Contemporary Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Dice, Gouache Painting by Alexander Calder 1974
By Alexander Calder
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Alexander Calder
Title: Dice
Year: 1974
Medium: Gouache on Canson Lavis Paper, signed and dated lower right (titled, verso)
Paper Size: 29 x 42 inches
Frame: 37 x 51 inches
...
Category
1970s Modern Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Gouache
Acier du Constructeur
By Alexander Calder
Located in Miami, FL
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Alexander Calder
Acier du Constructeur, 1965
Lithograph
21 7/16 × 29 3/8 in
54.5 × 74.6 cm
Edition of 75
Condition: This work is in excellent condition
Category
1960s Abstract Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Alexander Calder - Composition - Original Lithograph
By Alexander Calder
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Alexander Calder - Original Lithograph - Composition
1972
From the art review XXe Siecle
Dimensions: 32 x 24
Edition: G. di San Lazzaro.
Unsigned and unnumbered as issued
Category
1960s Modern Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
The Birth of the Unexpected
By Alexander Calder
Located in San Francisco, CA
Original lithograph printed in five colors (black, blue, red, yellow, grey) on Arches wove paper
Hand-signed in pencil lower right Calder.
A superb impression of the definitive st...
Category
1970s Pop Art Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Seahorse
By Alexander Calder
Located in London, GB
ALEXANDER CALDER 1898-1976
Lawnton, Pennsylvania 1898 - 1976 New York (American)
Title: Seahorse, 1962
Technique: Original Signed and Dated Gouache and Ink on BFK Rives Wove P...
Category
1960s Kinetic Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Gouache
The Yellow Shock Absorber - Gouache American Kinetic Art Post War
By Alexander Calder
Located in London, GB
ALEXANDER CALDER 1898-1976
Lawnton, Pennsylvania 1898 - 1976 New York (American)
Title: The Yellow Shock Absorber, 1969
Technique: Original Signe...
Category
1960s Kinetic Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Gouache
Sky Swirl
By Alexander Calder
Located in San Francisco, CA
Signed with the artist’s monogram and dated on the stone lower right CA 74.
A superb impression of the definitive state, from the edition commissioned by Braniff International Air...
Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Alexander Calder Art
Materials
Lithograph
Alexander Calder art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Alexander Calder art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of orange, red, yellow and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Alexander Calder in lithograph, paint, gouache and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Alexander Calder art, so small editions measuring 5 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Sam Francis, Teodora Guererra, and Robert Motherwell. Alexander Calder art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $150 and tops out at $2,850,000, while the average work can sell for $1,331.
Artists Similar to Alexander Calder
Questions About Alexander Calder Art
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022The term ‘mobile’, which was coined by Marcel Duchamp, was used to describe Alexander Calder’s work, as Calder’s sculptures often moved with the help of motors or wind. ‘Mobiles’ was a French pun which meant ‘motion’. On 1stDibs, find a variety of original artwork from Alexander Calder.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022There are several interpretations of how to describe the characteristics of Alexander Calder’s sculptures. Some say they are abstract, with life-like elements, others say they are flat, simplified shapes that intersect at opposing angles. See the magic for yourself — shop a selection of Alexander Calder pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Like all meaningful works of art, the mood that best describes American artist Alexander Calder’s sculptures is subject to interpretation. Common descriptors for his abstract work include “playful” or “whimsical.” Calder is best known as the father of the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling. Shop a selection of Alexander Calder pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 3, 2024Alexander Calder invented the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling. The revered American sculptor's mobiles were an innovative feat and initially used motors for movement, which he later abandoned for air currents alone. Calder was also a pioneer of wire sculptures. (He was a celebrated modernist printmaker, too, and while jewelry was a secondary métier for him, interest in his wearable art has accelerated in recent years.)
For Calder, the fascinating moment of artistic alchemy comes sometime between his representational canvases of the late 1920s and 1931, the year of his first show of abstract sculpture. Moving to Paris helped spur his creativity, as it did for so many artists and writers. The moment Calder arrived, he began working on one of his most seminal pieces, Cirque Calder (1931), his delightful distillation of the circus into what are essentially three-dimensional line drawings made with wire.
Shop authentic Alexander Calder prints, sculptures and other art from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs. - 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022American artist Alexander Calder is best known for his work in sculpture, particularly his monumental sculptures and innovative ‘mobiles’ in the tradition of kinetic art. Shop a collection of authentic Alexander Calder pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
- Where is Alexander Calder’s art?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Alexander Calder’s artwork has found its home in many museums and art galleries around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum. Shop a selection of Alexander Calder’s pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertOctober 12, 2021The American sculptor Alexander Calder is known as the father of the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling. On 1stDibs, find a variety of vintage Alexander Calder drawings and other sculptures.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022The American sculptor Alexander Calder invented the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling. His mobiles were an innovative feat and initially used motors for movement, which he later abandoned for air currents alone. Calder was also a pioneer of wire sculptures. Shop a selection of Alexander Calder pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Alexander Calder is best known for his sculptures. He produced large, playful freestanding and hanging works in vibrant colors. Examples include Mobile-Stabile, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail and Flying Dragon. On 1stDibs, you can shop a selection of Alexander Calder art.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Alexander Calder's mobiles were revolutionary because he largely pioneered the art form of creating hanging sculptures that were able to move freely in response to airflow. Calder was a prolific artist believed to have produced more than 22,000 works during his life. Shop a variety of Alexander Calder art on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 16, 2024Alexander Calder used many of the elements of art when producing his works. The American sculptor is known as the father of the mobile, a moving artwork composed of delicately balanced sculptural forms suspended from the ceiling. These kinetic pieces use color, shape and space to convey a sense of unity, and the form of the art allows it to interact with its environment. Find a variety of Alexander Calder art on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 13, 2024Alexander Calder produced more than 22,000 works of art during his lifetime. The prolific artist made paintings, drawings, prints, tapestries, stage sets, jewelry and other types of art. Some of his most famous pieces include Cirque Calder, Josephine Baker (III), A Universe, Mobile (Arc of Petals) and Devil Fish. Shop a diverse assortment of Alexander Calder art on 1stDibs.
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