Biography for claes oldenburg
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Claes Oldenburg’s artistic career spans the experimental decades of the American avant-garde beginning in the late 1960s. His large-scale sculpture, often presented in public spaces or made of soft or industria materials, exemplify the satirical and everyday qualities of Pop Art.
Born in Stockholm in 1929, Oldenburg moved to Chicago with his family in 1936, where his diplomat father was appointed Consul General of Sweden to Chicago. Oldenburg studied at Yale University and the Chicago Institute of Art, before becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1953 and moving to New York in 1956. He met major artists of the period including Allan Kaprow, Tom Wesselmann and George Brecht, and soon became a critical member of the Happenings movement, often performing with his then-wife Patty Mucha throughout the 1960s. Beginning in the late 1960s, his performances led to experimentation with large-scale soft sculpture, for which he is now famed. From the 1970s onward, many of his
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Claes Oldenburg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Claes Oldenburg | |
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Oldenburg in 1985 | |
| Born | (1929-01-28)January 28, 1929 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Died | July 18, 2022(2022-07-18) (aged 93) New York City, U.S. |
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| Education | |
| Known for | Sculpture |
Notable work | List of public art by Oldenburg and van Bruggen |
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| Partner(s) | Hannah Wilke (1969–1977) |
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Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects. Many of his works were made in collaboration with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, who died in 2009; they had been married for 32 years. Oldenburg lived and
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Summary of Claes Oldenburg
With his saggy hamburgers, colossal clothespins and giant three-way plugs, Claes Oldenburg has been the reigning king of Pop sculpture since the early 1960s, back when New York was still truly gritty. In 1961 he rented a storefront, called it The Store, and stocked it with stuffed, crudely-painted forms resembling diner food, cheap clothing, and other mass-manufactured items that stupefied an audience accustomed to the austere, non-representational forms in Abstract Expressionist sculpture. These so-called "soft-sculptures" are now hailed as the first sculptural expressions in Pop art. While his work has continued to grow in scale and ambition, his focus has remained steadfast: everyday items are presented on a magnified scale that reverses the traditional relationship between viewer and object. Oldenburg shrinks the spectator into a bite-sized morsel that might be devoured along with a giant piece of cake, or crushed by an enormous ice pack. His work s