Claes Oldenburg

An Anthology

de Germano Celant

Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) first made his mark on the New York art scene in the early 1960s, and from that time he has been widely regarded as one of America's most influential and appealing artists. His subject matter is the everyday object - food, clothing, mechanical devices, and the like - which he reincarnates into witty and provocative sculptures ranging in scale from the intimate to the expansive. This volume, published to accompany a major retrospective organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is the most comprehensive to date on Oldenburg and his multifaceted art. Interweaving photographs of installations and Happenings, texts, and new reproductions of the sculptures and drawings, this lavishly produced book traces Oldenburg's entire career. Among the subjects presented are The Street, his early exhibition devoted to the street life of New York City; The Store, his infamous array of painted plaster sculptures of food and clothing, which he sold in a Manhattan storefront; the celebrated soft sculptures; his drawings for fanciful monuments; and the large-scale public projects made in collaboration with Coosje van Bruggen.