Alexander Milne Calder

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Fodor's Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, New York: Fodor Travel Publications, 2007, 51.</ref><ref>Hornblum, Allen M., and George J. Holmes, Philadelphia's City Hall, Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.</ref><ref>DK Travel, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Westminster: Penguin Random House, 2017, 74-5.</ref>

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

• Alex M Calder.jpg

  William Warner Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery (1889)

• 73rd PA Infantry Monument.jpg

  73rd Pennsylvania Infantry monument, Gettysburg Battlefield (1889)

• IndianFigureCityHallTowerc.1892.jpg

  Indian Figure, prior to installation on City Hall, c. 1892

• City Hall Philadelphia.jpg

  Philadelphia City Hall in 1899

• Phlcityhalldetail.jpg

  South Portal

• City Hall holiday.jpg

  West Portal, illuminated with colored lights (2005)

• Philadelphia City Hall-zoom.JPG

  William Penn (1894), atop Philadelphia City Hall

• BillyPenn.jpg

  William Penn faces northeast, so the face is generally in shadow

• Illustrated Souvenir of Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. (1918) (14769096904).jpg

  Equestrian statue of George Meade, Fairmount Park (1887)

Sources

• Bach, Penny Balkin, Public Art in Philadelphia, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992 Template:ISBN
• Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968 Template:ISBN
• Fairmount Park Association, Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze and Stone, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, NY. NY 1974 Template:ISBN
• Hayes, Margaret Calder Three Alexander Calders, Paul S Eriksson Publisher, Middlebury, Vermont, 1977 Template:ISBN
• 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 Template:ISBN

References

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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
• Template:Find a Grave