Alexander Milne Calder

Alexander Milne Calder
A Tacony Iron Works employee with the head of Calder's statue of William Penn in 1894; the statue now stands atop Philadelphia City Hall
Born	(1846-08-23)August 23, 1846 Aberdeen, Scotland
Died	June 4, 1923(1923-06-04) (aged 76) Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting place	West Laurel Hill Cemetery (Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, U.S.)
Nationality	American
Education	Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Known for	Sculpture

Alexander Milne Calder (August 23, 1846 – June 4, 1923) (MILL-nee) was a Scottish American sculptor best known for the architectural sculpture of Philadelphia City Hall. Both his son, Alexander Stirling Calder, and grandson, Alexander Calder, became significant sculptors in the 20th century.

Early life and education

Calder was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of a tombstone carver. He attended the Royal Academy in Edinburgh during which he worked for sculptor John Rhind, the father of sculptor J. Massey Rhind. Calder then moved to London, where he worked on the Albert Memorial. In 1868, he emigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, where he studied with Joseph A. Bailly and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Career

In 1873, he was hired by architect John McArthur Jr., to produce models for the sculptures adorning Philadelphia City Hall. The commission required more than 250 marble and bronze pieces and took Calder twenty years to complete. That same year, Calder was commissioned by the forerunner of Philadelphia's current Association for Public Art, the Fairmount Park Art Association, to create an equestrian statue of Major General George Gordon Meade for Fairmount Park. Then in 1875, he won the competition for the colossal (37 foot tall) bronze statue of William Penn that was to crown the new City Hall's tower. That portrait sculpture remains to this day the largest atop any building in the world.

Calder is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb.

Notable works

• Philadelphia City Hall architectural sculpture, John McArthur Jr. architect, Philadelphia, 1873 – 1893.
• Major General George Gordon Meade, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 1887
• William Warner Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, 1889
• William Penn, 37-foot-tall statue atop Philadelphia City Hall, Philadelphia, placed in 1894

Images

• 
  William Warner Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery (1889)
• 
  73rd Pennsylvania Infantry monument, Gettysburg Battlefield (1889)
• 
  Indian Figure, prior to installation on City Hall, c. 1892
• 
  Philadelphia City Hall in 1899
• 
  South Portal
• 
  West Portal, illuminated with colored lights (2005)
• 
  William Penn (1894), atop Philadelphia City Hall
• 
  William Penn faces northeast, so the face is generally in shadow
• 
  Equestrian statue of George Meade, Fairmount Park (1887)

Sources

• Bach, Penny Balkin, Public Art in Philadelphia, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992 ISBN 0-87722-822-1
• Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968 ISBN 0-87413-225-8
• Fairmount Park Association, Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze and Stone, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, NY. NY 1974 ISBN 0-8027-7100-9
• Hayes, Margaret Calder Three Alexander Calders, Paul S Eriksson Publisher, Middlebury, Vermont, 1977 ISBN 0-8397-8017-6
• Kvaran and Lockley, A Guide to Architectural Sculpture in America, unpublished manuscript
• Williams, Oliver P., County Courthouses of Pennsylvania: A Guide, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA 2001 ISBN 0-8117-2738-6

External links

• Biography at West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site
• Alexander Milne Calder page at Philadelphia Public Art
• Plaque honoring Alexander Milne Calder at Philadelphia Public Art
• Alexander Milne Calder at Find a Grave