Claes Oldenberg, the Swedish-born pop artist known in Philadelphia for his iconic "Clothespin" sculpture, has died at 93 years old.
Considered a pioneer in pop art, Oldenberg was known for his public commissions that celebrated everyday objects with irony and unfamiliar grandeur. His death was confirmed Monday by the Pace Gallery in New York, which had long represented him. He had been recovering at his home and studio in Manhattan after a suffering a fall.
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The commission was part of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority's Percent for Art program, which requires 1% of the budget for new construction on major renovation projects to include site-specific public art. Philadelphia was the first city in the nation to adopt this model in 1959, which has since become practice in many U.S. cities. The development project for "Clothespin" was led by Jack Wolgin, who led the construction of the Centre Square building.
Sitting atop a pedestal at the entrance to SEPTA's 15th Street Station, within view of City Hall, "Clothespin" has been a beacon of the Center City landscape for decades.
Oldenberg also was commissioned to complete "Split Button," a sculpture installed in 1981 at the University of Pennsylvania's Blanche Levy Park on Locust Walk between 34th and 36th Streets. His "Giant Three-Way Plug" sculpture, a motif in the artist's charcoal drawings, was built in 1970 and later donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it is displayed outside the main building.
Born in Stockholm, Oldenberg studied literature and art history at Yale University and later went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1950s. He moved to New York in 1956 and emerged as a performance artist before landing influential shows such as "The Store," a mock shop in the East Village that blended art and commerce with its display of painted sculptures of merchandise.
Oldenberg later lived in Los Angeles, where he had a close friendship with architect Frank Gehry, and has a number of notable sculptures in the city. His public art projects around the world include his "Flashlight" in Las Vegas, his "Batcolumn" baseball bat in Chicago and his "Spoonbridge and Cherry" in Minneapolis.
During his lifetime, Oldenberg was married first to artist Patty Mucha and later to Coosje van Bruggen, with whom he often collaborated on his sculptures. Between his marriages, he also had a long relationship with feminist artist and sculptor, Hannah Wilke, who took many photographs of Oldenberg.
Oldenberg is survived by two stepchildren and three grandchildren. His brother, Richard E. Oldenburg, who died in 2018, was the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1972-1994.