Alexander Stirling Calder

Alexander Stirling Calder
A. Stirling Calder at work on the Star Maiden (1913). Audrey Munson was the model.
Born	(1870-01-11)January 11, 1870
Died	January 7, 1945(1945-01-07) (aged 74)
Nationality	American
Education	Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Washington as President Swann Memorial Fountain Leif Eriksson Memorial

Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculptor and teacher. Son of the sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and father of the sculptor Alexander (Sandy) Calder, his best-known works are George Washington as President on the Washington Square Arch in New York City, the Swann Memorial Fountain in Philadelphia, and the Leif Eriksson Memorial in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Education and career

Calder was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1870. At the age of 16, A. Stirling Calder attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he studied under Thomas Eakins. He apprenticed as a sculptor the following year, working on his father's extensive sculpture program for Philadelphia City Hall, and is reported to have modeled the arm of one of the figures. In 1890, he moved to Paris where he studied at the Académie Julian under Henri Michel Chapu, and then was accepted in the École des Beaux-Arts where he entered the atelier of Alexandre Falguière.^[1]

George Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice (1917–18), Washington Square Arch, New York. This is sometimes called Washington at Peace.

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 a larger-than-life-size statue of Dr. Samuel Gross (1895–97) for the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. Calder replicated the pose of Dr. Gross from Eakins's 1876 painting The Gross Clinic. That was followed by a set of twelve larger-than-life-size statues of Presbyterian clergymen for the facade of the Witherspoon Building (1898–99) in Philadelphia.^[2]

Throughout his career he 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 1906, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1913.

He contracted tuberculosis in 1906, and moved to Arizona and then California, for his health. In Pasadena, he modeled architectural sculpture for the Throop Polytechnic Institute (now the California Institute of Technology). He returned to the east coast in 1910.^[3]

In 1912, he was named acting-chief (under Karl Bitter) of the sculpture program for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, a World's Fair to open in San Francisco, California in February 1915. He obtained a studio in NYC and there employed the services of model Audrey Munson who posed for him – Star Maiden (1913–15) – and a host of other artists. 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 (1915–19) in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Hermon Atkins MacNeil and Calder were commissioned to create larger-than-life-size sculptures for the Washington Square Arch in New York City. George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, Accompanied by Fame and Valor (1914–16) was sculpted by MacNeil; and George Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice (1917–18) by Calder.^[4] These are sometimes referred to as Washington at War and Washington at Peace.

He sculpted a number of ornamental works for "Vizcaya", the James Deering estate outside Miami, Florida. These included the famous Italian Barge (1917–19), a stone folly in the shape of a boat, projecting into Biscayne Bay.

Two of his major commissions of the 1920s were the Swann Memorial Fountain (1920–24), and the architectural sculpture program for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (completed 1931), both in Philadelphia.

He was one of a dozen sculptors invited to compete in Oklahoma's Pioneer Woman statue competition in 1927,^[5] which was won by Bryant Baker. That year 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. An institution that would also see his more famous son, Alexander, accept his first public commission in the 1930s with a pair of mobiles for the Museum's new theater.

In 1929, he won the national competition for a monumental statue of Leif Eriksson, to be given by the United States to Iceland in commemoration of the 1000th anniversary of the Icelandic Parliament. Standing before the Hallgrímskirkja, the Lutheran cathedral in Reykjavík, and facing west toward the Atlantic Ocean and Greenland, the Leif Eriksson Memorial (1929–32) has become as iconic for Icelanders as the Statue of Liberty is for Americans.

In 1945, Calder died of funnel chest syndrome, which he developed while working on his final sculpture, titled "Sicilian Nectar". He is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. His memoir, Thoughts of A. Stirling Calder on Art and Life (1947), was published posthumously.

Selected works

Swann Memorial Fountain, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1920–24), Wilson Eyre, architect. Calder called this Fountain of the Rivers.

The Nations of the West (1915), Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California. This massive sculpture group crowned the Arch of the Setting Sun. A second group, The Nations of the East (including a life-size elephant), crowned the Arch of the Rising Sun.

• Dr. Samuel D. Gross Monument (1895–97, bronze), Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1897 to 1970, this stood on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..
• Man Cub: "Sandy" Calder at Age 3 (1901–02, plaster lost), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A 1906 bronze casting is at PAFA; a 1922 bronze casting is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[6]
• Sundial, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1906.^[7]
• Henry Charles Lea Memorial, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1911.^[8]
• An American Stoic, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1912.^[9]
• Star Maiden, Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, 1913–15.
• Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915:
  • The Nations of the West.^[10]
  • The Nations of the East.^[11]
  • Fountain of Energy.^[12]
• Depew Memorial Fountain, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1915–17. Calder completed this commission following Karl Bitter's 1915 death.
• George Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice, Washington Square Arch, New York City, 1917–18.^[13]
• Ornamental sculpture, "Vizcaya" (James Deering estate), Miami Florida, 1917–19.^[14]
• Swann Memorial Fountain, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1920–24, Wilson Eyre, architect.
• Scratching Her Heel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, 1921.^[15]
• The Last Dryad, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1921.^[16] A 1926 bronze casting is at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Shakespeare Memorial, opposite Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1923–26.
• Bust of John James Audubon, Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Bronx, New York, 1927.^[17]
• Leif Eriksson Memorial, Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík, Iceland, 1929–32.^[18]
• Bust of Robert Henri, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1934.^[19]
• Bust of William Penn, Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Bronx, New York, 1936.
• Leda and the Swan, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 1936.^[20]
• Nature's Dance, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, 1938.^[21]
• Bishop William White, Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1940.^[22] This was Calder's last major commission.
• Bust of Winston Churchill, 1943.^[23]

Architectural sculpture

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Calder completed the architectural sculpture program in 1931.

• Apprenticed on his father's sculpture program for Philadelphia City Hall, completed 1893, John McArthur, Jr., architect.
• Twelve figures of clergymen, Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1898–99, Joseph Miller Huston, architect. Six were removed in 1961, and are now on display in the garden of Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia:^[24]
  • Marcus Whitman.^[25]
  • James Caldwell.^[26]
  • Samuel Davies.^[27]
  • John McMillan.^[28]
  • John Witherspoon.^[29]
  • Francis Makemie.^[30]
• Six spandrel figures, Throop Polytechnic Institute (now the California Institute of Technology), Pasadena, California, 1906.^[31]
• Frieze, Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri, 1924, Tracy and Swartwout, architects.^[32]
• Four figures of famous actresses, I. Miller Building, New York City, 1927–29:
  • Ethel Barrymore as Ophelia.^[33]
  • Rosa Ponselle as Norma.^[34]
  • Marilyn Miller as Sunny.^[35]
  • Mary Pickford as Little Lord Fauntleroy.^[36]
• 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).^[37]
  • Gateposts: Asia, Africa, Europe, America (1920s)^{[38][39][40][41]}
  • Peacock doorway (1920s).^[42]
  • Youth doorway (1920s).^[43]

Images

• 

  Dr. Samuel D. Gross Monument (1895–97), National Mall, Washington, DC. Moved in 1970 to Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• 

  Celtic Cross (ca. 1905), Harte gravesite, Chippiannock Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois.

• 

  Star Maiden (1913–15), Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA. A 1980s bronze casting is at the Citicorp Center, San Francisco, California.

• 

  Fountain of Energy (1913–15), Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California.

• 

  Depew Memorial Fountain (1915–17), Indianapolis, Indiana. Completed by Calder following Karl Bitter's 1915 death.

• 

  Italian Barge (1917–19), Vizcaya, Miami, Florida.

• 

  Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River, Swann Memorial Fountain (1920–24), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• 

  Allegorical Figure of the Wissahickon Creek, Swann Memorial Fountain.

• 

  Allegorical Figure of the Delaware River, Swann Memorial Fountain.

• 

  Shakespeare Memorial (1923–26), Logan Circle, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• 

  William Penn (1936), Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Bronx, New York City.

• 

  1968 U.S. postage stamp based on Calder's Leif Eriksson Memorial (1929–32) in Reykjavík, Iceland.

References

• 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, New York 1968
• Fairmount Park Art Association, Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze and Stone, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, New York. 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
• Hoeber, Arthur (September 1910). "Calder – A "Various" Sculptor: A Man Of Craftmanship And Brains". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XX: 13377–13388. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
• 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

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Stirling Calder.

• Works by or about Alexander Stirling Calder at Internet Archive
• Biography at West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site