"Most famously, there are the Calders, grandfather, father, and son-all, confusingly, named Alexander-whose sculpted work has ornamented the city for more than a century. The elder Calder made the statue of William Penn that crowns City Hall, a monument that caps the city's skyline-with a long-enforced rule that no building could rise above Billy Penn's hat-but is distinguished, too, for radiating the benevolent dignity of a man of peace rather than the anxious arrogance of a warrior."
"That's meant to be remedied by Calder Gardens, a new institution taking shape in a half-buried berm on the Parkway, not far from that paternal fountain. The site joins a civic row of culture-the Franklin Institute (science), the Free Library (books), the Rodin Museum (tormented figures), and the Barnes (eccentric juxtapositions of modern art and Pennsylvania Dutch ironwork). At the top of the drive, a Greek-temple art museum presides, its most recent cultural icon-Sylvester Stallone as Rocky-tactfully tucked out of sight."
Philadelphia hosts notable artistic dynasties, including the Peales, the Morans, and the Calders, whose sculptures have adorned the city for generations. The elder Calder sculpted the William Penn statue atop City Hall; the next Calder created the Fountain of the Three Rivers on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Sandy Calder achieved renown for his mobiles and stabiles. Calder Gardens will be built in a half-buried berm on the Parkway near the Franklin Institute, the Free Library, the Rodin Museum, and the Barnes. The gardens assemble a deliberately whimsical variety of materials and present sculpture that both moves and is moved.
Read at The New Yorker
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