American sculptor and painter, born at Lawnton, a suburb of Philadelphia.
His grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, and his father, Alexander Stirling Calder. were sculptors and his mother was a painter. His father had charge of the sculptural work for the Los Angeles World Exhibition in 1912.
Alexander Calder, however, studied mechanical engineering from 1915 to 1919 and began to take an interest in landscape painting only in 1922 after having tried his hand at a variety of jobs. In 1923 he enrolled at the School of the Art Students' League. New York, where George LUKS and John SLOAN were among the teachers. Calder and his fellow students made a game of rapidly sketching people in the streets and the underground and Calder was noted for his skill in conveying a sense of movement by a single unbroken line. He also took an interest in sport and circus events and contributed drawings to the satirical National Police Gazette. From these activities it was but a step to his wire sculptures, the first of which -- a sun-dial in the form of a cock -- was done in 1925. In 1927 he made moving toys for the Gould Manufacturing Company and small figures of animals and clo ...
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