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Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

American, Swedish, 1929-2022

One of the original Pop artists, Claes Oldenburg was born in Stockholm. The son of a Swedish diplomat, he spent his early years in Stockholm and Oslo until the family moved to Chicago in 1937.

Oldenburg attended Yale University, then returned to Chicago, where he worked for a newspaper and also attended drawing classes at the Art Institute. He moved to New York in 1956.

Oldenburg’s early art in New York were works of urban realism in cardboard and paper that were influenced by the work of Dubuffet and the New Realists, and were seen as a brutal response to society. In 1961 Oldenburg rented a storefront on the Lower East Side and sold brightly painted plaster objects as well as three-dimensional and wall reliefs based on hamburgers, pastries, men's and women's clothing, and other commodities. The signature soft sculptures followed, objects of commonplace household objects made of vinyl or canvas stuffed with kapok. These pieces transformed the medium — the soft sculptures are intended to be sensual experiences and commentary on our material world of objects and our relationship to them.

In 1965, still working in vinyl, plaster and cardboard, Oldenburg began making large works termed “Colossal Monuments,” which are large public sculptures with public and private meanings. In the 1970s, Oldenburg was fabricating large-scale works in durable materials such as steel, and working with Coosje van Bruggen, he had received many such public commissions in the United States and Europe.

Find authentic Claes Oldenburg sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Art Commerce)

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Artist: Claes Oldenburg
Notes in hand (London 1966)
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Milano, IT
Offset lithograph 14.8 x 10.4 cm (plate) 25 x 20 cm (paper) cm. 52 x 47 (Cornice) Pencil seal on lower right margin "CO," print run at lower left: 4/100. On verso, on a backing board...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Notes in hand
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Milano, IT
Offset lithograph 14.8 x 10.4 cm (plate) 25 x 20 cm (paper) cm. 52 x 47 (Cornice) Pencil seal on lower right margin "CO," print run at lower left: 4/100. On verso, on a backing board...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Rolling Collar and Tie (Axsom/Platzker 259) iconic Pop Art lithograph Ed of 52
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Rolling Collar and Tie (AXSOM/PLATZKER 259), 1995 Color lithograph on rice paper Pencil signed and numbered from the limited edition of only 52 on the front Measureme...
Category

1990s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Pencil

Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ...
Category

Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Parade of Women, from Deluxe, Hand Signed, 85/100 1 Cent Life Portfolio, Framed
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Parade of Women from the Deluxe hand signed edition of 1 Cent Life Portfolio (Acquired from the Estate of Robert Indiana), 1964 Color lithograph on wove paper Published by E.W. Kornfeld, Germany, Written by Walasse Ting, Edited by Sam Francis Hand-signed by Claes Oldenburg on the lower right front; numbered 85/100 on the colophon page a copy of which is affixed to the back of the frame -see photo Frame included: elegantly floated and framed in hand made museum frame with UV plexiglass, and colophon page with unique edition number affixed to the back. (see photos) This hand signed work is from the Deluxe hand signed edition of only 100 - not to be confused from the unsigned edition of 2000. (None of the works from the edition of 2000 were ever signed by Oldenburg.) Hand signed editions are rarely if ever seen on the marketplace. This original lithograph, splayed across two pages, is from the Deluxe edition of the legendary 1 Cent Life Portfolio, one of the most important and celebrated artistic collaborations of the 1960s. Chinese American artist and writer Walasse Ting, in collaboration with Sam Francis, assembled a group of the most significant Pop and Abstract Expressionist artists in America, including Pop Artist Claes Oldenburg, along with the European COBRA artists to create the definitive artistic portfolio, with text by Walasse Ting. The Deluxe edition, which features hand signed prints was published in a limited edition of only 100. This is one of them. Of the 100, editions numbered 60-100, or 40 portfolios, were reserved exclusively for Artists & Collaborators. This hand signed Claes Oldenburg lithograph...
Category

1960s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Pencil, Lithograph

Claes Oldenburg, Claes Oldenburg (Hand signed by Claes Oldenburg), 1992
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg (Hand signed by Claes Oldenburg), 1992 Softback catalogue with stiff wraps (hand signed by Claes Oldenburg hand signed by Claes Oldenburg on the half title page 11 3/...
Category

1990s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Paper, Offset, Mixed Media, Ink

Symbolic Self-Portrait with Equals
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
A very good impression of this color offset lithograph on white, thick, smooth Louvain Supreme Vellum Bristol 150-pound paper. Signed and numbered 190/300 in pencil. Printed by Color...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Vellum, Color, Lithograph, Offset

Soft Screw as Balloon, Ascending
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
A very good impression of this lithograph on Arches Roll paper. Signed and numbered 25/35 in pencil, lower margin. Printed and published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, with the blind...
Category

1970s Modern Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Houseball with Fallen Toy Bear
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Houseball with Fallen Toy Bear, 2013 Color lithograph on Japanese watercolor paper Hand signed and numbered 21/50 by Claes Oldenburg on the ...
Category

2010s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Colossal Flashlight in Place of Hoover Dam
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Lithograph printed in colors on Rives wove paper Signed in pencil Oldenberg (lower right); numbered 88/100 (lower left) 33 × 23 inches Unframed Executed in 1982, this...
Category

1980s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Striding Figure, from Conspiracy, the Artist as Witness (21, Axsom/Platzker)
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Striding Figure, from Conspiracy, the Artist as Witness Color Silkscreen with enamel inks on CM Fabriano cotton watermarked 100% rag paper Signed and numbered by the artist, front; bears distinctive blind stamp of the publisher, front; title and artist's copyright stamp on the back, APXII 28.5 x 20.75 inches Reference Axsom 76; Number 21 in "Printed Stuff : Prints, Posters and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg : A Catalogue Raisonne 1958-1996" by Claes Oldenburg, Richard H. Axsom, David Platzker. New York / Madison, NY / WI : Hudson Hills Press / Madison Art Center, 1997, p Unframed Claes Oldenburg's 1962 "Striding Figure", a five-color silkscreen on watermarked 100% handmade rag paper, was proofed by the artist by hand in 1971 for the legendary portfolio "CONSPIRACY: the Artist as Witness", to raise money for the legal defense of the Chicago 8 - a group of anti-Vietnam War activists indicted by President Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell for conspiring to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (1968 was also the year Bobby Kennedy was killed and American casualties in Vietnam exceeded 30,000.) The eight demonstrators included Abbie Hoffman...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen, Rag Paper

Study for Sculpture in the Form of an Inverted Q Above & Below Ground Oldenburg
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Study for Sculpture in the Form of an Inverted Q: Above and Below Ground, 1975 Lithograph, soft-ground etching, and aquatint in six colors on cream, thick, slightly textured Rive BFK paper 14 × 11 in. / 35.2 × 28 cm Signed and dated in pencil, lower right, numbered in pencil, lower left. Edition of 100 with 20 AP. Printed by Bill Law, Winston Roeth and Allan Uglow at Petersburg Press...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching, Aquatint, Lithograph

Lipstick Ascending the Caterpillar Tracks, plus Novum Organum No. 7, Yale Univ.
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Lipstick Ascending the Caterpillar Tracks (Print), plus Novum Organum No. 7, Yale University (broadside), 1969 Print is a Photo offset lithograph on two sided paper, plus separate broadside on offset lithograph Hand signed boldly in black marker and numbered 116 34 × 24 inches Published by Yale University, New Haven, CT Unframed Note: This print is THE original 1969 photolithograph - not to be confused with the poster or later editioned works created in the 1970s. See history below: This listing features 2 Elements: (1) A 2 sided photolithograph of the installation plans for Oldenburg's monumental lipstick sculpture...
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1960s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Newsprint, Offset

Fagends Carved in Rock, De-Accessioned from the Denver Art Museum
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Fagends Carved in Rock, De-Accessioned from the Denver Art Museum (137, Axsom and Platzker), 1975 Offset Lithograph. Hand signed and numbere...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset, Graphite, Lithograph

Figure & Phallus II
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Figure & Phallus II, 1975 Etching on Wookey Hole hand-made paper 25 × 20 inches Edition of 60 Hand signed, dated and numbered from the limited edition of 60 on the re...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Chinati Foundation, Marfa Texas (Hand Signed by Oldenburg)
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg Chinati Foundation, Marfa Texas (Hand Signed), 2003 Offset Lithograph poster. Hand signed by Claes Oldenburg 23 1/2 × 13 1/2 inches Exceedingly rare when hand signed. This offset lithograph poster was created on the occasion of the Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen...
Category

Early 2000s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

"Prints: To Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts"
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg "Prints: To Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts" (Punching Bag) Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1967 Exhibition Poster 22 x 20 inches Signed
Category

1960s Contemporary Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

"School Bus Yellow, Adirondack Green, A Film by Coosje van Bruggen"
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen "School Bus Yellow, Adirondack Green, A Film by Coosje van Bruggen", 1982 Poster 33 x 23 inches Signed Poster by Cla...
Category

1980s Contemporary Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

"20th Century Collage"
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg "20th Century Collage" Margo Leavin Gallery, 1991 Exhibition Poster 24 x 18 inches Signed This is an exhibition poster from "20th...
Category

1990s Contemporary Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Offset

NOTES (KASSEL)
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Aventura, FL
Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 100. Sheet size 23 x 15 in. Framed. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of Authenticity is included. All reasonable of...
Category

1960s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Colossal Flashlight in Place of Hoover Dam
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Missouri, MO
Colossal Flashlight in Place of Hoover Dam, 1982 By Claes Oldenburg (Swedish, American, 1929-2022) Signed Lower Right Dated Middle Right Unframed: 23" x 22" Framed: 36.5" x 27.5" Whimsical sculpture of pop culture objects, many of them large and out-of-doors, is the signature work of Swedish-born Claes Oldenburg who became one of America's leading Pop Artists. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His father was a diplomat, and during Claes' childhood moved his family from Stockholm to a variety of locations including Chicago where the father was general consul of Sweden and where Oldenburg spent most of his childhood. He attended the Latin School of Chicago, and then Yale University where he studied literature and art history, graduating in 1950, the same year Claes became an American citizen. Returning to Chicago, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1952 to 1954 and also worked as a reporter at the City News Bureau. He opened his own studio, and in 1953, some of his satirical drawings were included in his first group show at the Club St. Elmo, Chicago. He also painted at the Oxbow School of Painting in Michigan. In 1956, he moved to New York where he drew and painted while working as a clerk in the art libraries of Cooper-Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. Selling his first artworks during this time, he earned 25 dollars for five pieces. Oldenburg became friends with numerous artists including Jim Dine, Red Grooms and Allan Kaprow, who with his "Happenings" was especially influential on Oldenburg's interest in environmental art. Another growing interest was soft sculpture, and in 1957, he created a piece later titled Sausage, a free-hanging woman's stocking stuffed with newspaper. In 1959, he had his first one-man show, held at the Judson Gallery at Washington Square. He exhibited wood and newspaper sculpture and painted papier-mache objects. Some viewers of the exhibit commented how refreshing Oldenburg's pieces were in contrast to the Abstract Expressionism, a style which much dominated the art world. During this time, he was influenced by the whimsical work of French artist, Bernard Buffet, and he experimented with materials and images of the junk-filled streets of New York. In 1960, Oldenburg created his first Pop-Art Environments and Happenings in a mock store full of plaster objects. He also did Performances with a cast of colleagues including artists Lucas Samaras, Tom Wesselman, Carolee Schneemann, Oyvind Fahlstrom and Richard Artschwager, dealer Annina Nosei, critic Barbara Rose, and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer. His first wife (1960-1970) Pat Muschinski, who sewed many of his early soft sculptures, was a constant performer in his Happenings. This brash, often humorous, approach to art was at great odds with the prevailing sensibility that, by its nature, art dealt with "profound" expressions or ideas. In December 1961, he rented a store on Manhattan's Lower East Side to house "The Store," a month-long installation he had first presented at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. This installation was stocked with sculptures roughly in the form of consumer goods. Oldenburg moved to Los Angeles in 1963 "because it was the most opposite thing to New York I could think of". That same year, he conceived AUT OBO DYS, performed in the parking lot of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in December 1963. In 1965 he turned his attention to drawings and projects for imaginary outdoor monuments. Initially these monuments took the form of small collages such as a crayon image of a fat, fuzzy teddy bear looming over the grassy fields of New York's Central Park (1965) and Lipsticks in Piccadilly Circus, London (1966). Oldenburg realized his first outdoor public monument in 1967; Placid Civic Monument took the form of a Conceptual performance/action behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with a crew of gravediggers digging a 6-by-3-foot rectangular hole in the ground. Many of Oldenburg's large-scale sculptures of mundane objects elicited public ridicule before being embraced as whimsical, insightful, and fun additions to public outdoor art. From the early 1970s Oldenburg concentrated almost exclusively on public commissions. Between 1969 and 1977 Oldenburg had been in a relationship with Hannah Wilke, feminist artist, but in 1977 he married Coosje van Bruggen, a Dutch-American writer and art historian who became collaborator with him on his artwork. He had met her in 1970, when she curated an exhibition for him at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Their first collaboration came when Oldenburg was commissioned to rework Trowel I, a 1971 sculpture of an oversize garden tool, for the grounds of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands. Oldenburg has officially signed all the work he has done since 1981 with both his own name and van Bruggen's. In 1988, the two created the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota that remains a staple of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden as well as a classic image of the city. Typewriter Eraser...
Category

20th Century American Modern Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

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Boom Boom, mid century print from the New York International portfolio S/N 1960s
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Previously Available Items
OLDENBURG Chicago Show: Inverted Fireplug as Skyscraper (Hand Signed Lithograph)
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Claes Oldenburg OLDENBURG Chicago Show: Inverted Fireplug as Skyscraper (Hand Signed Lithograph), 1969 Limited Edition Offset Lithograph Poster Pencil signed and numbered from the ed...
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1960s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

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Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Rogers...
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Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

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Claes Oldenburg - Icons in a Smoke-Filled Room - Hand-Signed Serigraphy, 1996
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Varese, IT
Claes Oldenburg - Icons in a Smoke-Filled Room - Hand-Signed Serigraphy, 1996 Additional Information: Material: Serigraphy in 14 colours on Gresham Handmade paper 320 gsm Limited ed...
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20th Century Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Handmade Paper

Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D.,” that he had watched as a boy. This large screen print spells out “Ray Gun” in capital letters. The words look ripped, and the textured background is reminiscent of asphalt and industrial textures. Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine opened the exhibition Ray Gun in 1960 at Judson Gallery in New York, marking Oldenburg’s entry into contemporary art history. The exhibition featured performance and installation, and a wide variety of printed collateral such as mimeographed “artist’s books”, mimeographed drawings, offset lithographs, and posters. Screenprint in three colors based on Claes Oldenburg's 1961 drawing Ray Gun Poster...
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By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Roge...
Category

Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D.,” that he had watched as a boy. This large screen print spells out “Ray Gun” in capital letters. The words look ripped, and the textured background is reminiscent of asphalt and industrial textures. Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine opened the exhibition Ray Gun in 1960 at Judson Gallery in New York, marking Oldenburg’s entry into contemporary art history. The exhibition featured performance and installation, and a wide variety of printed collateral such as mimeographed “artist’s books”, mimeographed drawings, offset lithographs, and posters. Screenprint in three colors based on Claes Oldenburg's 1961 drawing Ray Gun Poster...
Category

Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ...
Category

Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Roge...
Category

Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

TONGUE CLOUD OVER LONDON, WITH THAMES BALL
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Aventura, FL
Etching and aquatint on hodgkins handmade paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 60. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of Authenticity is included. Al...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Handmade Paper, Etching, Aquatint

Ray Gun by Claes Oldenburg: screen print with raw black grey industrial texture
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
Ray gun is one of Oldenburg’s most iconic motifs, and the artist’s tongue-in-cheek alter ego. Oldenburg took the name from a weapon used in the show “Buck Roge...
Category

Late 20th Century Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Screen

TONGUE CLOUD OVER LONDON, WITH THAMES BALL
By Claes Oldenburg
Located in Aventura, FL
Etching and aquatint on hodgkins handmade paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 60. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of Authenticity is included. Al...
Category

1970s Pop Art Claes Oldenburg Abstract Prints

Materials

Handmade Paper, Etching, Aquatint

Claes Oldenburg abstract prints for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Claes Oldenburg abstract prints available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of abstract prints to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of purple and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Claes Oldenburg in lithograph, paper, offset print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Pop Art style. Not every interior allows for large Claes Oldenburg abstract prints, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Larry Rivers, Joseph Rozman, and Milton Glaser. Claes Oldenburg abstract prints prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $550 and tops out at $10,000, while the average work can sell for $2,800.

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