Who was Alexander Calder?

Alexander Calder was an American artist. He was born in 1898 in Pennsylvania, USA and died in 1976.

Sculptures are usually still as people walk around them, but Calder's sculptures move.

His style of sculpture became known as mobiles. Mobiles are hanging sculptures that move because of the air moving around and under them.

The mobiles might also move because of touch or movement around them.

His mobiles have been called performing sculptures. He used wire rods and metal shapes to make his mobiles.

Calder had to make sure each side of the rods was balanced in weight, even though the shapes might be different on each side.

• Art that moves is sometimes called kinetic art.
• Alexander Calder's grandfather and both his parents were artists. His father was a sculptor and his mother was a painter.
• He made his first sculptures as a child. They were a tiny dog and duck that moved back and forth when touched.
• He loved the circus and even created his own miniature circus and performed with it for his friends and family.
• In his lifetime, Calder made many drawings, paintings, sculptures, stage sets and even jewellery.