Alexander Stirling Calder
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| Alexander Stirling Calder | |
 Swann Memorial Fountain, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
|
| Born | January 11, 1870 |
| Died | January 7, 1945 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Sculpture |
| Training | Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts |
Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculptor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and the father of sculptor Alexander (Sandy) Calder.
In 1885 at age 16, A.S. Calder attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he studied under the renowned Thomas Eakins. He first worked as a sculptor the following year, assisting his father in producing the extensive sculpture program on the Philadelphia City Hall, and is reported to have modeled the arm of one of the figures. In 1890 Calder moved to Paris where he studied at the Academie Julian under Henri Michel Chapu, and then was accepted in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he entered the atelier of Alexandre Falguière. In 1902 he returned to Philadelphia and began his career as a sculptor in earnest. Throughout his career Calder was frequently a teacher, variously teaching sculpture or anatomy at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia, the National Academy of Design in NYC and the Art Students League of New York.
In 1912, Calder, along with Karl Bitter, was named head of the sculpture program for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Calder obtained a studio in NYC and there employed the services of model Audrey Munson who posed for Calder and a host of other artists. In 1945, Calder died of funnel chest syndrome, which he obtained while working on his final sculpture, titled "Sicilian Nectar".
He is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Contents |
[edit] Selected architectural sculpture
- Assisted father on Philadelphia City Hall, John McArthur, Jr., architect, completed 1893
- Witherspoon Building Figures, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1898 – 1899
- Six spandrel figures, Throop Polytechnic Institute (now the California Institute of Technology), 1906
- Frieze, Missouri State Capitol, Tracy and Swartwout, architects, Jefferson City, Missouri, 1924
- Four figures of famous actresses, I Miller Building, New York City, 1928
[edit] Selected other works
- Sundial, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1906
- Henry Charles Lea Memorial, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1911
- Depew Fountain, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916 (Calder finished this commission that was begun by Karl Bitter prior to his death)
- George Washington, Washington Square Arch, New York City, 1916
- Swann Memorial Fountain, Wilson Eyre, architect, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1920
- Gateposts, Asia, Africa, Europe & America, and fountain, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Wilson Eyre, Frank Miles Day, Cope & Stewardson architects, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1920s
- Shakespeare Memorial, opposite Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1926
- Leif Eriksson, Reykjavík, Iceland, 1932
[edit] Images
 Leif Eiriksson Memorial, Reykjavík, Iceland |
 Depew Memorial Fountain, Indianapolis, Indiana |
 Shakespeare Memorial, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
 The Nations of the West topped the Arch of the Setting Sun at the Panama-Pacific Exposition held at San Francisco in 1915. |
[edit] Sources & resources
- Armstrong, Craven et al., 200 Years of American Sculpture, Whitney Museum of Art, NYC, 1976
- Bach,Penny Balkin, Public Art in Philadelphia, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
- Calder, A. Sterling, Thoughts of A. Stirling Calder on Art and Life, Privately published, New York, 1947
- Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968
- Fairmont Park Association, Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze and Stone, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, NY. NY 1974
- Falk, Peter Hastings, ed., Who was Who in American Art, Sound View Press, Madison Connecticut, 1985
- Gadzinski, Cunningham, Panhorst et al., American Sculpture in the Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1997
- Hayes, Margaret Calder, Three Alexander Calders, Paul S Eriksson Publisher, Middlebury, Vermont, 1977
- Kvaran and Lockley , A Guide to American Architectural Sculpture unpublished manuscript,
- Opitz, Glenn B ed., Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986
- Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, 1968
