Artwork details

Artist

Title

Four Figures and a Head, on Giant Phallus

Description

This sensuous and playful scene is characteristic of Oldenburg’s printmaking ouevre: a veritable heap of women displaying various expressions of joy and come-hither coquettishness. The loose sketches were drawn directly onto the plate by the artist, a master draftsman whose erotic etchings are largely unknown.

Four Figures and a Head, on Giant Phallus, 1977.
Plate: 20½ × 22⅝ in. / 52.1 × 57.5 cm Sheet: 31 x 37⅝ / 78.7 × 95.6 cm
Etching in two colors on blue-gray, thin, smooth India paper colléd to white, thick, slightly textured paper. Edition of 60 with 12 Artist’s Proofs. This copy 60/60. Signed in graphite, lower right: Oldenburg.; dated in graphite, lower right: 77; numbered in graphite, lower left; copyright blind stamp, lower right, in plate. Printed by Maurice Payne and Dany Levy at Petersburg Press, London. Published by Petersburg Press, New York and London. 1 run from 1 plate: Blue and Crimson

Based on the drawing: Page of Figures, Including Figure and Head, on Giant Phallus, 196s, ball-point pen on paper,

Condition: Image is fresh. Top edge of sheet is bent horizontally. Mild aging of the paper tone especially along upper edge. Some wear on corners and edges as photographed.

Catalogue reference: Printed Stuff: Prints, Posters and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg A Catalogue Raisonné 1958-1996 Hudson Hills Press in association with Madison Art Center Wisconsin, New York, 1997. Illustrated no. 165

Date

1977

Medium

Etching

Edition

Signature

Signed

Image

20.5 × 22.6 inches

Sheet

31 x 37.6 inches

Status

Available

Price

$1,200.00

Claes Oldenburg

A very public artist, Claes Oldenburg is the artist behind a number of high profile public sculptures seen in cities in the United States. His works are typically highly creative and include the clothespin near City Hall in Philadelphia, a giant rubber stamp in Cleveland, and a giant tube of lipstick on caterpillar tracks at Yale University. The Swedish-American artist studied art history and literature at Yale University between 1946 to 1950 and was a member of the Pop Art movement in the 1960s. A prize winning artist, Oldenburg has had his work displayed at the Whitney, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Gallery.