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Alexander Calder

Alexander Stirling “Sandy” Calder was one of the most innovative and original American artists of the twentieth century. Calder was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Nanette Lederer, was a painter and his father, Alexander “Stirling” Calder, and grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, were noted sculptors. Young Alexander seemed to break the family tradition of studying art by enrolling at the Stephens Institute of Technology in New Jersey to major in engineering. But after graduating from college and holding a succession of jobs, Calder eventually returned to New York to study art (Nelson 2001).
Calder attended classed at the Art Students League in New York from 1923 to 1926, supporting himself by working as an illustrator. Between 1926 and 1930, Calder went to Paris to develop his intricately assembled Cirque Calder, a work of performance art employing small-scale circus figures he sculpted from wire, wood, clothe, and other materials. Calder’s circus helpe...

Posted by: Tamara Moore

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