 | |
After
completing his arts education in 1926, he then
left for Paris where he joined the Abstraction-Creation
group, pioneering the modern abstract movement
with Mondrian, Pevsner, and Miro. Internationally
recognized as one of the major artists of our
century, Calder is best known for his Mobiles
and Stabiles, artfully conceived constructions
that are as whimsical as they are engineered
and as delicate as they are assertive. He was
the first artist to paint the exterior of an
airplane - Flying Colors - a commission from
Braniff Airlines in the 1970s.
During the 1950s Calder traveled widely and
executed Towers (wall mobiles) and Gongs (sound
mobiles). He won First Prize for Sculpture at
the 1952 Venice Biennale. Late in the decade
the artist worked extensively with gouache;
from this period he executed numerous major
public commissions. In 1964-5 the Solomon R
Guggenheim Museum presented a major Calder retrospective.
He began the Totems and the Animobiles, variations
on the standing mobile, in 1966 and 1971, respectively.
An important Calder exhibition was held at the
Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in
1976. Calder died in New York on November 11,
1976.
|
|
