Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder was one of the most innovative and original American artists of the twentieth century. In 1926, Calder arrived in Paris and devoted himself to a project called the Circus that occupied him for over five years. This contains characters and animals made out of wire, scraps of cloth, wood, cork, labels, bits of scrap metal and pieces of rubber. Calder transported his little theater in suitcases and performed it for his friends. During his performances, Calder invented ways to simulate the flight of birds: "These are little bits of white paper, with a hole and slight weight on each one, which flutter down several variously coiled thin steel wires which I jiggle so that they flutter down like doves…" (Alexander Calder, An ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Calder also cut fantastic animals from sheet metal, creating La vache and Elephant (both 1970) and a mobile entitled Nervous Wreck (1976), which represents the red skeleton of a fish. <br> <br>Calder also drew caricatures and illustrations for various periodicals and designed toys. These experiences enhanced Calder's works. In 1926 he published Animal Sketching, a textbook to teach drawing to beginners; he explored wood sculpture, creating The Horse (1928), and he made bronze castings, such as The Cat (1930). His wire sculptures, such as the four Josephine Bakers, the heads Edgar Varese and Fernand Leger, Acrobats, and Brass Family, were his new generation of works. Calder's sculptures prove that he had observed and learned from Mondrian, Pablo Gargollo, Julio Gonzalez, Laslo Mohly–Nagy, Roman Clemens, Naum Gabo, and Antoine Pevsner. Little Ball with Counterweight (1931), Cruise/Universe (1931), and Spherique I/The Pistil (1930) were linear sculptures, which extended his creation of wire portraits. During World War II, Calder reached his artistic maturity, creating works that made him famous throughout the world. <br> <br>Alexander Calder is one of my favorite artists because his work stands out from others. He has a unique style that catches the eye of the viewer. Out of all the artists that I have studied, Calder is the one that catches

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