Alexander Stirling Calder

A. Stirling Calder, father of sculptor Alexander Calder, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He later abandoned academic modeling in favor of monolithic sculptures stripped of extraneous details.

Sioux Brave, Our American Stoic refers to the loss of Native American land and culture at a time when sculptural depictions of Native Americans more often symbolized the American continent, its rivers, and its indigenous virtues. The use of the Greek word stoic in the title suggests the virtues of self-control, fortitude, and detachment from distracting emotion—qualities that can equip the individual to find inner peace.