Claes Oldenburg (May 3, 1929 – August 20, 2013) was an American sculptor. He is known for his long-term collaborations with artists Dale Chihuly and Richard Serra. Oldenburg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father worked for the Royal Theatre, where Claes Oldenburg's father also worked, and the young Claes Oldenburg took dance lessons there
Read more
The family moved to the United States when Oldenburg was 11, first living near his grandmother in Philadelphia, then Milwaukee. After graduating from high school, he studied architecture at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM) for one year. He left UWM without earning a degree to study art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
There he met fellow student Richard Serra, who was later to become Oldenburg's collaborator for several decades.
Oldenburg received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at UW-Madison in 1953 and his Master of Fine Arts at Yale University in 1955. His first solo exhibition was held at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City in 1959. The following year he became associate professor of art at Hunter College in New York City.
In 1960 he received a two-year Guggenheim Fellowship that enabled him to travel throughout Europe and spent time working in Paris and Rome before returning to New York City. While he continued to make sculptures, his focus shifted toward public works based on social issues. He began working with architect Richard Serra on "Untitled" (1968), which they installed outside St Ann's Church in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., as well as several other public works around the city including "The Empire State" (1968) on 22nd Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway.
He collaborated with Chihuly on "Suspended Sculpture" (1977), which was displayed outside St Ann's Church until it burned down in 1996.
In 1978 Oldenburg created "Pentimento", a work commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the death of the designer Paul Revere Williams at New York University's main building on Washington Square Heights which was later moved to St Ann's Episcopal Church across the street from St Ann's Church where it remains today. Oldenburg also created several public works for St Ann's Church including "The Smoking Man" (1974), "The Landscape" (1987), "The Wall" (1987), "Untitled" (1988), and others that are still on display there today.
Old
