Alexander Milne Calder

Alexander Milne Calder (1846 – 1923)

Biography

American sculptor, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of a tombstone carver. He began his career in Scotland, working for sculptor John Rhind, the father of sculptor J Massey Rhind while attending the Royal Academy in Edinburgh. He moved to London and worked on the Albert Memorial. Calder immigrated to the United States in 1868 and settled in Philadelphia, where he took classes (as would his son Stirling Calder) with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy. In 1873 he was hired by architect John McArthur to produce models for the sculpture for the Philadelphia City Hall. This task was to occupy Calder for the next 20 years. Both his son, Alexander Stirling Calder and his grandson Alexander Calder were to become significant sculptors in the 20th Century.

Notable Works

• Philadelphia City Hall, John McArthur architect, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1873 – 1893
• General Meade. West Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1887
• William Penn, 37 foot tall figure on top of Philadelphia City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania placed in 1894
• William Warner Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1889

Images

Sources

• Three Alexander Calders, Margaret Calder Hayes, Paul S Eriksson Publisher, Middlebury, Vermont, 1977
• Sculpture of a City – Philadelphia’s Treasures in Bronze and Stone, Fairmont Park Association, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, NY. NY 1974
• Public Art in Philadelphia, Penny Balkin Bach, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
• Sculpture in America, Wayne Craven, Thomas Y Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968
• Architectural Sculpture of America, Einar Einarsson Kvaran, unpublished manuscript