Alexander Calder in Federal Plaza
INTRODUCTION
Alexander “Sandy” Calder (1898-1976) was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia) and grew up
in a household steeped in art. His mother, Nanette Lederer Calder, was a portrait painter who studied art in
Paris and Philadelphia. His father, Alexander Stirling Calder, was a noted sculptor who created many public
monuments in Philadelphia. Sandy Calder’s
grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, also a
sculptor, designed the statue of William Penn
atop Philadelphia’s City Hall.
Sandy Calder created his first sculpture, a clay
elephant, in 1902, at age 4. He soon developed
an interest in tools and in constructing toys and
other objects, and went on to earn a college
degree in mechanical engineering in 1919. After
trying an assortment of jobs, Calder decided to
become an artist and began studying painting
at the Art Students League in New York in 1923.
In 1926, after working as an illustrator in New
York, he traveled to Paris (then the capital of
the art world), where he would live for much of
the rest of his life. He began building mixed
media kinetic toys, which he exhibited in art
galleries in Paris and New York. Calder used
some of the same materials and techniques for
his early sculptures as for the toys, crafting
them in wire and wood. In 1933, Calder and his
wife returned to the United States and
purchased a farmhouse in Roxbury,
Connecticut. He set up an art studio in the
icehouse on the property. In the late 1930s,
Calder started using sheets of metal,
connected by large bolts, to create organic
forms. His career as a public artist began during
World War II, when he received several
important commissions.
Flamingo by Alexander Calder, Federal Center Plaza, Chicago
Calder’s sculptures drew the most attention
from critics and the general public, but he also
produced paintings, drawings, prints, and jewelry throughout his career. He has been the subject of
hundreds of exhibitions in museums and galleries, and his works are included in the permanent collections
of museums around the world.
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
Alexander Calder in Federal Plaza
CREATING FLAMINGO BY ALEXANDER CALDER
In Paris in 1930, Calder began experimenting in abstract art and concentrating on mobiles, the type of
sculpture for which he would become best known. The French artist Marcel Duchamp first used the term
mobile to describe Calder’s works. In French the word indicates both “moveable” and “motive,” a double
meaning Calder liked.
In his last years, Calder devoted himself to large outdoor sculptures. Many take the form of stabiles, a term
coined by another French artist-friend of Calder, Jean Arp. Stabiles are self-supporting and immovable. They
often take forms that suggest abstracted plants, animals, and insects.
Calder typically worked out the design for these large sculptures by creating small maquettes or models.
First, Calder fabricated the maquettes in his Connecticut studio. He then turned over the production of the
monumental artwork to a factory, most often Etablissements, Biémont in Tours, France. The research
department of the factory would scale the piece to its full-size, then boilermakers would fabricate the
actual work in metal, under Calder’s supervision. Stabiles such as Flamingo were made of carbon steel.
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Alexander Calder in Federal Plaza
CHICAGO FEDERAL CENTER PLAZA
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed
the three buildings comprising Chicago
Federal Center Plaza between 1959
and 1964, but budgetary problems
prevented their completion until 1974.
Born in 1886 in Aachen, Germany, Mies
moved to Berlin at age 19 and learned
architecture as an apprentice. In 1930
he joined the Bauhaus, the leading
German design school, as director of
architecture. Mies moved to Chicago in
1937 to lead the architecture school at
the Armour Institute of Technology
(now the Illinois Institute of
Technology). In Chicago he pioneered
the rigidly geometric and simplified
design of steel and glass skyscrapers, a Federal Plaza as viewed from the corner of Adams and Dearborn
building type that has become
streets
synonymous with modern architecture
around the world. Chicago Federal Center Plaza exemplifies the impulse of the US government in the 1950s
to modernize its administrative and judicial buildings. The three buildings frame a large public plaza at the
corner of Dearborn and Adams streets in the heart of the Loop.
The open plaza framed by the
three government buildings
was an important part of the
overall design of the
ensemble. Like the other
open spaces along Dearborn
Street in the Loop—such as
Daley Center Plaza and the
First National Bank of Chicago
(now Chase) Plaza—planners
intended Federal Plaza to
provide breathing room and
space for public gatherings
amid the Loop’s dense
assembly of skyscrapers.
Today Federal Plaza serves as
the site of a regular Farmer’s
Market and many ad hoc
gatherings.
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Alexander Calder in Federal Plaza
FLAMINGO BY ALEXANDER CALDER
When Calder’s Flamingo was installed in
1974, it added color and a sense of
dynamism to the plaza. The sculpture’s
bold vermilion hue and cervical form
offer a bold contrast to the somber, black
rectangular forms of the buildings.
Springing 53 feet into the air and
weighing 50 tons, Flamingo has been
described as a colossal spider, a huge
bird, and a drooping flower. At the same
time, the sculpture’s industrial materials
(sheet metal and giant bolts) echo those
of the skyscrapers, enhancing the visual
and material unity of the entire
ensemble. The sculpture rests on small
feet, leaving virtually the whole plaza
open to pedestrians.
Calder publicly presented the model for
Flamingo at the Art Institute of Chicago
on April 23, 1973. This small version is
currently on view at the museum’s
Modern Wing. The full-sized sculpture
was unveiled in Federal Plaza on October
24, 1974. The same day, a mobile by
Calder titled Universe was put on view at
the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) and
the exhibition “Alexander Calder: A
Retrospective” opened at the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Chicago. The city
declared the day “Alexander Calder Day”
and celebrated the occasion with a circus
parade, in honor of one of Calder’s
favorite subjects. (His famous sculpture
Circus now resides in the Whitney
Museum of American Art in New York City.) President Gerald R. Ford proclaimed Flamingo “a conspicuous
milestone in the federal government’s effort to create a better environment.”
Calder’s Flamingo was commissioned specifically for Federal Plaza by the United States General Services
Agency (GSA), the government bureau that handles commissions of publicly-funded art and architecture,
among other things. It was the first artwork commissioned by the GSA through its Art in Architecture
Program. This program, popularly known as “Percent for Art,” mandates a percentage of the budget for
any government building project be set aside for a major work of public art. (When the program was
established in 1962, the amount was one percent. It was reduced to half a percent in 1972 and has
fluctuated at low levels since then.)
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Alexander Calder in Federal Plaza
ACTIVITIES AND QUESTIONS
During the building boom that followed the
Second World War, modern public art became a
popular addition to urban plazas, parks,
sculpture gardens, airports, and lobbies. The
bold abstract forms and materials of modernist
sculptures complemented the sleek, steel-andglass skyscrapers that came to dominate many
urban landscapes. Unlike earlier public
sculptures, which most often commemorated
famous individuals or events (such as the statue
of Lincoln in Lincoln Park and the relief
sculptures on the DuSable Bridge), abstract
sculpture featured no readily apparent symbols
or historical narrative.
The trend for installing non-commemorative
sculptures around Chicago began in 1967 with
the installation of a massive untitled work by
Picasso fabricated in Cor-Ten steel in front of
the Richard J. Daley Center. Although the
sculpture puzzled many viewers and its
enigmatic appearance stirred controversy, the
Picasso has become a beloved icon of
Chicagoans and visitors alike.
In 1978, the Chicago City Council unanimously
approved an ordinance stipulating that a
percentage of the cost of constructing or
renovating municipal structures be set aside for
the commission or purchase of artwork.
Inspired by the federal “Percent for Art”
program, this city ordinance was one of the first
of its kind in the United States. Today, there are
more than 200 similar programs across the nation.
Activities and Questions for Students
1.
What do you think the sculpture represents?
2. If you happened to walk through Federal Plaza and encountered Flamingo, how would you react to it?
Would you find it friendly? Intimidating? Scary? Explain.
3. How does Calder’s sculpture relate to the surrounding buildings? How does it relate to the public space
of Federal Plaza?
4. What would the plaza look and feel like without it?
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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Alexander Calder in Federal Plaza
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alan G. Artner, “A Century After His Birth, Alexander Calder’s Sculptures Stand Among the City’s Most
Highly Regarded,” Chicago Tribune, July 22, 1998.
“Blind to Explore Calder Work Through Replica,” Chicago Tribune, December 14, 1974.
Elizabeth Brenner, “How Art Structures Chicago Image,” Chicago Tribune, July 15, 1979.
“The Flamingo Fandango,” Chicago Tribune, September 20, 1984.
Michael Kammen, Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 2006), 63-66, 166-169, 213–253.
Michael Knight, “Constructing a Calder is a Labor of Love,” New York Times, February 9, 1974.
Joan Marter, “Alexander Calder’s Stabiles: Monumental Public Sculptures in America,” American Art Journal
11, no. 3, (1979): 75–85.
Marla Prather, Alexander Calder 1898–1976 (Washington DC; National Gallery of Art and New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1998).
© 2012 by the Chicago Metro History Education Center
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