Alexander calder biography brevetey

Summary of Alexander Calder

American artist Alexander Calder redefined sculpture by introducing the element of movement, first through performances of his Cirque Calder and later with motorized works and, finally, with hanging works called "mobiles." In addition to his abstract mobiles, Calder also created static sculptures, called "stabiles," as well as paintings, jewelry, theater sets, and costumes.

Accomplishments

• Many artists made contour line drawings on paper, but Calder was the first to use wire to create three-dimensional line "drawings" of people, animals, and objects.

  These "drawings in space" introduced line into sculpture as an element unto itself.

• Calder shifted from figurative linear sculptures in wire to nonobjective forms in motion by creating the first mobiles. Composed of pivoting lengths of wire counterbalanced with thin metal elements, the appearance of the entire piece was randomly arranged and rearranged in space by chance simply by the air moving the