Alexander Stirling Calder

Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculptor and art teacher. He won a silver medal at the World's Fair of 1904 for his statue of Philip François Renault and led the sculpture program for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition after the death of Karl Bitter. His notable works include the Samuel Gross statue, George Washington on the Washington Square Arch in New York City, the Swann Memorial Fountain in Philadelphia, the Depew Memorial Fountain in Indianapolis, and the Leif Erikson Memorial in Reykjavík, Iceland.

He taught sculpture at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, the Throop Polytechnic Institute, and the National Academy of Design. His father, Alexander Milne Calder, and son Alexander Calder were also sculptors.

Early life and education Calder was born on January 11, 1870, in Philadelphia, the oldest of six boys, to sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and Margaret Stirling. He attended city public schools and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Fall 1885, at age 15. He studied under Thomas Eakins for several months, until the teacher's forced resignation in February 1886. Calder remained at PAFA, studying under Thomas Anshutz and James P. Kelly. Two of his sculptures were accepted for PAFA's 1887 annual exhibition, a rare honor for a student.

Career

In 1892, he returned to Philadelphia and began his career as a sculptor in earnest. His first major commission, won in a national competition, was for the Samuel Gross statue for the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Another early commission was for a set of twelve statues of Presbyterian clergymen for the facade of the Witherspoon Building in Philadelphia. In 1904, he won a silver medal at the World's Fair of 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, for his statue of Philip François Renault. He obtained a studio in New York City and employed the services of model Audrey Munson who posed for him as the model for the Star Maiden statue. For the exposition, Calder completed three massive sculpture groups, The Nations of the East and The Nations of the West, which crowned triumphal arches, and a fountain group, The Fountain of Energy. Following Bitter's sudden death in April 1915, Calder completed the Depew Memorial Fountain in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He sculpted a number of ornamental works for Villa Vizcaya, the James Deering estate outside Miami, Florida.

He taught at the Art Students League of New York from 1918 to 1922. and the architectural sculpture program for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

He was one of a dozen sculptors invited to compete in Oklahoma's Pioneer Woman statue competition in 1926–27, which was won by Bryant Baker. In 1927, he was also commissioned by the Berkshire Museum to sculpt the woodwork and fountain of the museum's Ellen Crane Memorial Room in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

In 1929, he won the national competition for a monumental statue of Leif Eriksson, to be the gift of the United States to Iceland in commemoration of the 1000th anniversary of the Icelandic Parliament.

Legacy Works from Alexander Stirling Calder will be displayed at a new museum under construction for his son's work in Philadelphia.

Selected works

Architectural sculpture Twelve cast stone figures of Presbyterian clergymen, Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1898–99, Joseph Miller Huston, architect. Six of the figures were removed in 1961, and relocated to the garden of the Presbyterian Historical Society.

Six spandrel figures, cast concrete, Throop Polytechnic Institute (now California Institute of Technology), Pasadena, California, 1906–1909, Myron Hart & Elmer Grey, architects. Nature and Art, Energy and Law, Science and Imagination Oakland Civic Auditorium, Oakland, California, 1914, John J. Donovan, architect. The Riches of the Earth – Seven terra cotta, half-domed friezes within the arched entrances.Category:Riches of the Earth (1915) by Alexander Stirling Calder – Wikimedia Commons Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri, 1924, Tracy and Swartwout, architects. South Frieze, limestone, x , depicts Missouri history in 13 bas relief panels. The frieze flanks the tops of the central portico's columns and continues behind them. North Frieze, limestone, bas relief panels depict Native Americans and Europeans. The frieze flanks the tops of the central columns and continues inside the curved portico.

Four figures of famous actresses, marble, I. Miller Building, Broadway and West 46th Street, Manhattan, New York City, 1927–1929:

Sculpture program for University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, completed 1931, Wilson Eyre, Frank Miles Day, and Cope & Stewardson, architects: Lion's Head Fountain (1920s). Peacock doorway (1920s). Youth doorway (1920s). Gateposts (1920s): Asia, Africa, Europe, America

Medallions Life as a Dance (1938), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City