Oldenburg/van Bruggen

1/7 - Knife Ship 1:12, 2008. aluminum and mahogany wood, 8-1/2" x 40" x 9-1/2" (21.6 cm x 101.6 cm x 24.1 cm), closed without oars27-3/4" x 82-3/4" x 37" (70.5 cm x 210.2 cm x 94 cm), fully extended with oars (blades at 180 degrees; corkscrew at 90 degrees)32-3/4" x 40" x 37" (83.2 cm x 101.6 cm x 94 cm), p.

2/7 - French Horns, Unwound and Entwined, 2005. stainless steel and aluminum painted with polyurethane enamel, 11' 4" x 4' 8" x 5' 6" (345.4 cm x 142.2 cm x 167.6 cm).

3/7 - Floating Peel, 2002. fiber-reinforced plastic and polyester gelcoat, 13' 9" x 8' 6" x 1' 7" (419.1 cm x 259.1 cm x 48.3 cm).

4/7 - French Horn, Unwound, Horn Against Ground, 2001. charcoal and pastel on paper, 37" x 48" (94 cm x 121.9 cm).

5/7 - Blueberry Pie à la Mode, Flying, Scale Acast aluminum painted with polyurethane ename, 29" x 57" x 27" (73.7 cm x 144.8 cm x 68.6 cm).

6/7 - Soft Saxophone, Scale A, Muslin, 1992. muslin, hardware cloth, polyurethane foam, wood, dacron and latex paint, 11-1/4" x 24" x 47" (28.6 cm x 61 cm x 119.4 cm).

7/7 - Monument to the Last Horse, 1990. steel and concrete painted with latex, 31" x 28" x 22" (78.7 cm x 71.1 cm x 55.9 cm).

Claes Oldenburg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1929, but spent most of his childhood in the United States. After studies at Yale University and the Art Institute of Chicago, he moved in 1956 to New York City, where he established himself in the early 1960s with a series of installations and performances influenced by his surroundings on the Lower East Side.

Moving from early environments such as The Street (1960), The Store (1961), and Bedroom Ensemble (1963), Oldenburg then developed a series of soft sculptures, created with the participation with his first wife Patty Mucha. These took as subjects ordinary, everyday objects, often enlarged, as did a series of fantastic proposals for civic monuments. His accumulation of studio miscellany eventually took form as the Mouse Museum and Ray Gun Wing (1965–77), which pioneered collection and display as forms of art.

In 1977, Oldenburg married curator and art historian Coosje van Bruggen, with whom he created over forty large-scale public projects as well as smaller-scale outdoor sculptures and indoor installations. Van Bruggen was born in Groningen, Netherlands, in 1942. She received a Doctorandus degree in Art History from the Rijksuniversiteit in Groningen and was curator at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam from 1967 to 1971. In addition to other curatorial and lecturing positions, van Bruggen is the author of many articles and books including monographs on Bruce Nauman, Hanne Darboven, John Baldessari, and Claes Oldenburg.

Photo Credit: © Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, New York

Oldenburg/van Bruggen

Photo Credit: © Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, New York

Oldenburg/van Bruggen

Photo Credit: © Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, New York

News

Biographical Documents

Exhibitions

View artist's website

Catalogues

News

Oldenburg and van Bruggen at the Norton Museum

Oldenburg and van Bruggen: The Typewriter Eraser, A Favored Form Norton Museum February 9 – June 4, 2019 Considered one of the founders of Pop Art, Claes Oldenburg’s (American, born Sweden, 1929) provocative work transforms common objects into colossal sculptures that upend the conventional relationship between viewer and subject. Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1999, made in partnership with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen (American, born Netherlands, 1942-2009), is recent gift from Trustee Ro

Claes Oldenburg's "Shelf Life" at MFA Boston

A new exhibition at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will show Claes Oldenburg's Shelf Life (2017), recently debuted at Pace Gallery's exhibition in the fall of 2017, alongside a selection of 17th-century Dutch still-life paintings from their collection. The exhibition will open on August 11, 2018 and remain on view through December 2, 2018. Read more about the exhibition on the museum's website.

Pace Paris in CHOICES / Paris Gallery Weekend

Pace is pleased to announce its participation in CHOICES / Paris Gallery Weekend with an exhibition of works by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Marking forty years since Claes Oldenburg, dessins, aquarelles et estampes was exhibited at the Pompidou Center in 1977, Pace Paris will present a selection of sculptures and works on paper that relate thematically to music, a subject that resonates throughout the oeuvre of Oldenburg and van Bruggen. Pace Paris will be open to the public for C

Pace to curate a series of exhibitions at Chesa Büsin, a newly refurbished 12th century house in the Engadin town of Zuoz

Pace Gallery is delighted to announce the opening of a new space, Chesa Büsin, in the historic city of Zuoz in the Engadin valley in Switzerland. The inaugural exhibition Carte Blanche traces fifty-four years of the gallery’s history and feature works in which white is the dominant shade by artists including: Alexander Calder, John Chamberlain, Tara Donovan, Robert Irwin, Lee Ufan, Robert Ryman, Yoshitomo Nara, and Hiroshi Sugimoto. Carte Blanche will run from 20 February through 30 March

Wall Street Journal Reviews "Burning, Bright" at The Pace Gallery

It's been cast in bronze, stuffed in a jar and painted by the likes of Jasper Johns, Man Ray and Alexander Calder. Introducing one of the art world's lesser-known icons: the light bulb. "Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb" casts light on 37 of these efforts, by 32 artists. The exhibition opened last week at the Pace Gallery's 545 West 22nd Street outpost in New York and will end Nov. 26. Artists were among the first to fully embrace the incandescent light bulb as "a beautiful sor

View All