Alexander Calder (1898 to 1976) known to many as ‘Sandy’, was one of the most consequential sculptors of the twentieth century, celebrated for liberating sculpture from static mass and establishing motion, air, and chance as fundamental artistic materials. Born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, to a prominent family of sculptors and painters, Calder initially earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology before studying at the Art Students League in New York. Moving to Paris in 1926, he gained early renown in avant garde circles for his wire figures and his innovative performance piece, Cirque Calder.

Alexander Calder's decisive turn toward abstraction followed a 1930 visit to Piet Mondrian's studio. By 1931, he began creating kinetic sculptures that Marcel Duchamp termed mobiles, progressing from motorized units to suspended wire and sheet metal works animated solely by air currents. Concurrently, he created grounded sheet steel constructions termed stabiles by Jean Arp, which evolved into monumental public landmarks across the globe, such as La Grande Vitesse in Grand Rapids and Flamingo in Chicago.

Throughout five decades of practice, Alexander Calder expanded his structural language across series including his wartime wood and glass Constellations, sound producing gongs, wall mounted towers, animobiles, gouaches, and tapestries. Characterized by a palette of primary colors, black, and white, his work merged strict engineering calculations of counterweight with playful, organic abstraction. His career received premier international honors, including the Grand Prize for sculpture at the 1952 Venice Biennale, the French Legion of Honor, and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom.