Alexander Calder was a sculptor of international renown. Born in Philadelphia, he grew up in an artistic family; both his father and his grandfather were accomplished and dedicated sculptors, who created heroically scaled figurative monuments.

Calder studied at New York's Art Students League, but the significant influence on his early career occurred during the two weeks he spent sketching at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. From his drawings of the performers, he created a miniature animated circus, which introduced the artist to the Parisian international art world.

In 1926 Calder also began his first independent wire sculptures. About 1930 he began to create abstract works, influenced by the art of Joan Miro as well as that of Piet Mondrian, whose Neoplastic colored rectangles inspired Calder to realize a vision of "oscillating" art. He eventually developed two sculptural modes: "stabiles," or stationary abstract sculpture; and "mobiles," or motor-powered art. He soon gave up mechanically-driven motion, however, for that produced naturally by air and wind. Beginning in the late 1930s, Calder commuted between his home in Connecticut and France, and his work was exhibited extensively both in America and abroad, with major sculptures installed in public places in major cities throughout the world.

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton