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    Calder Gardens, a Light-Filled Museum and Prairie, Houses the Sculptor’s Work in Philadelphia

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    All artwork © Alexander Calder. All photos by Iwan Baan, courtesy of Calder Gardens, shared with permission

    Calder Gardens, a Light-Filled Museum and Prairie, Houses the Sculptor’s Work in Philadelphia

    October 3, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    Alexander Calder’s most widely recognized creation is perhaps the mobile. The lauded artist was a titan of Modernism whose desire to “draw” three-dimensional objects spirited the invention of what went on to become both an art historical achievement and a ubiquitous nursery item. Broadly interested in movement and space, Calder (1898–1976) is often cited as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

    Now, his work finds a new home in a sprawling museum in Philadelphia, the city where his family lived for generations and where he was born. Located on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Calder Gardens comprises a 1.8-acre landscape and an 18,000-square-foot building that presents a rotating selection of the artist’s works.

    The museum is designed to bring art, architecture, and nature into a constant and ever-evolving conversation. Outdoor sculptures stand amid a lush prairie by Piet Oudolf, while architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron created an interior that interacts with Calder’s sculptures. Large-scale pieces loom inside airy concrete galleries, while smaller mobiles seem to nest perfectly in a well-lit opening.

    Calder Gardens is open Wednesday through Monday. Find more on its website.

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      A Changing Community and Lived Experiences Converge in Leroy Johnson’s Mixed-Media Houses

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      All images courtesy of Margot Samel, shared with permission

      A Changing Community and Lived Experiences Converge in Leroy Johnson’s Mixed-Media Houses

      December 23, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      From collaged and painted found materials merged with elements of photography and ceramics, Leroy Johnson (1937-2022) created an eclectic vision of life in his hometown of Philadelphia. Through layered, multi-dimensional portraits of houses, the artist represents loci of family life and community in conceptual assemblages that also confront racism, poverty, and gentrification.

      In the first exhibition of his work in New York City, Margot Samel presents Leroy Johnson, a collection of the artist’s house sculptures made “with a documentarian’s eye but a poet’s gaze,” says a gallery statement. His pieces capture a city in transition, peering into its past to underscore the myriad experiences of its present.

      “Spirit House” (c. 2005–2010) mixed media, found object, and collage, 19 1/4 x 20 x 13 1/2 inches

      Through his occupations as a social worker, teacher of disabled youth, rehab counselor, and school administrator, Johnson “surveyed the pleasures, hardships, and contradictions within the Philadelphia neighborhoods where he spent his life,” Margot Samel says, and he “pierced the fabric of collective human experience more deeply than most.”

      Johnson’s abstract, mixed-media houses often feature photographs of people and gatherings, graffiti and text, and swishes of paint or residual imagery from found objects. The gallery adds, “As an African American artist who witnessed the civil rights movement and the impact of racist policies on communities he loved, Johnson took particular pleasure in depicting the richness of Black life.”

      Leroy Johnson runs from January 10 to February 9 in New York. Learn more and plan your visit on the gallery’s website.

      “You Been Had” (c. 2000–2005), mixed media, found object, and collage, 17 x 16 1/2 x 8 inches

      “Heart of Darkness” (c. 1995–2000), mixed media, found object, and collage, 13 x 11 x 6 inches

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      Historic Lithograph Reveals Anamorphic Views of Razed Bank of Philadelphia

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      “Horizontorium” (1832), hand-colored lithograph, 22.5 x 16.5 inches In 1832, artist John Jesse Barker added depth to a drawing by Philadelphia-based William G. Mason to create an optical illusion titled “Horizontorium.” Part of a tradition of anamorphic works, this depiction of the Bank of Philadelphia is one of the two surviving works looking at the […] More