Kinetic sculptures are just one of the many advancements that the 20th century ushered in, bringing new life and movement (both literally and figuratively) to our understanding of art. The appeal of mobiles, both in the US and Europe, can be traced back to the work of an American sculptor named Alexander Calder.

Born in Lawton, Pennsylvania, in 1898, Alexander Calder belonged to a large family of artists, including sculptors and portrait painters. After his family moved to Pasadena, California, young Calder started his work on copper wire to make jewelry and other gifts for his family. In 1915, he studied mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and found work as an engineer for several companies after graduation. But it wasn't until 1925 that Calder joined the Art Students' League and became serious about his sculptures. Drawn to the avant-garde scene in Paris, Calder became acquainted with famous contemporaries like Joan Miro and Marcel Duchamp. Meanwhile, his mobile sculptures continued to be displayed and respected. Calder's career continued for the rest of his life, culminating in a heart attack in 1976 just after he opened a retrospective show of his work at the Whitney Museum in New York.

It's fitting that Calder's education was in engineering, as the art of mobiles makes use of physics and mechanics. Calder's mobiles are abstract designs, either set up as monumental sculptures of twisted shapes or kinetic wire sculptures that Marcel Duchamp dubbed "mobiles." In a mobile, there is a central rod from which weighted objects hang off smaller rods. Using the principle of equilibrium, every small rod creates enough tension to balance out the whole sculpture. The result is an eye-catching display of color and motion.

In 1926, at the suggestion of a Serbian toy merchant he met in Paris, Calder fashioned an elaborate wire sculpture known as Cirque Calder. This miniature, portable circus is different from his later mobiles and monumental sculptures. Small wire models were set up as part of a diorama, constructed from found materials like string, rubber, and cloth. The wire models represent various circus performers like sword eaters, clowns, and lion tamers. When Cirque Calder was put on display, the artist would move the figures around, improvising whole acts for his audience and keeping up a running commentary in French.

Not only did this cement Calder's reputation among the Parisian art crowd, but it also inspired him to work on kinetic sculptures and experiment further with motion. He saw how a collection of small shapes and different masses could be used to create an elaborate structure, balancing different vectors and shapes as a microcosm for the universe itself.

If you would like to see the work of Alexander Calder and other mobiles, you can visit the Calder Room at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Image by Cliff on Flickr