Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg mythological Erotic Fantasy Suite print set of 6 medusa mermaid

1975

This sensuous and playful scene is characteristic of Oldenburg’s printmaking ouevre: a veritable heap of women displaying various expressions of ecstasy and repose. The loose sketches were drawn directly onto the plate by the artist, a master draftsman whose erotic etchings are largely unknown. The composition is based on the drawing: Clinical Study, Towards a Heroic-Erotic Monument in the Academic/Comic Style, 1965, ball-point pen on paper, 20 x 40 in. / 60 x 101.6 cm. *This print was etched in six gorgeous inks, each in an edition of ten: take your pick of color!* Oldenburg had an interest in imaginary monuments: he famously conceptualized works such as “Ball”, an unbuilt monument conceived of in 1967 which imagined two ballcocks – the round mechanism in a toilet tank...

A woman in slip-on heels leans languidly on a cloud-like phallus defined with loose, sketched lines. Gazing dreamily past the viewer, the topless woman dons a diaphanous tutu, and at...

This etching features a nude woman in high heels. Whipping her head to the left, she gazes intently past the viewer through a wild tangle of tresses. A sunhat with a bow nearly floats off her head, a tongue-in-cheek nod to modesty. Taking a wide stance, she straddles a comically large phallus, which springs up eagerly from the ground like a plant. Unusually, this etching was drawn directly onto the plate from the artist’s imagination and not from a life model. This spontaneity is visible around the woman’s bust and arms, where Oldenburg sketched several variations of her anatomy, giving the impression of a figure in movement. Beside her left breast, Oldenburg extends this halo of lines by cheekily doodling a small, floating phallus. Paper 36 x 27.5 in. / 91.4 x 69.2 cm. Plate 23.5 x 17.7 in. / 59.7 x 45.1 cm. Etching in one color on white, thick, slightly textured Wookey Hole handmade paper watermarked with the artist’s signature. Signed by the artist and dated 1975 lower right in pencil. The edition of 60 includes ten prints in each of six different ink colors: Indigo blue, vermilion, mauve, burnt sienna, astral blue, and yellow-ochre. A copy of each color is available: this listing is for one copy in the color of your choice. As recorded in the artist’s unpublished notes: “In 1974 an ambitious project for a suite of large-scale etchings was hatched with Paul Cornwall-Jones, for production by Maurice Payne in Petersburg Press’s new Pembroke studios in London. The project would consist of meticulous transcriptions of a certain group of drawings...

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. T...

Claes Oldenberg (1929-2022) is a Swedish-born American artist, renowned for his contribution to Pop art by way of his iconic soft sculptures and public installations. In 1962, Olden...

Artist: Claes Oldenburg Title: Parade of Women Series: One Cent Life Year: 1964 Medium: Lithograph Initialled in Plate, lower right Dimensions: 16.25 x 23" Provenance: Private Collec...

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...

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1964 and published by Eberhard Kornfeld for the 1 Cent Life portfolio in an edition of 2000. Size: 16 1/4 x 22 3/4 inches (408 x 580 mm). Publ...