Claes Oldenburg

Bust (Mauve): Erotic drawing of nude bound woman

1975

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 As recorded in the artist’s unpublished notes: “In 1974 an ambitious project for a suite of large-scale etchings was hatched with Paul Cornwall-Jones, for production by Maurice Payne in Petersburg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 cheeky, pastel pink print depicts a range of intimate styles, a tongue-in-cheek recollection of the gridded haircuts displayed outside barber shops. It is from the Oo La La portfolio of 15 lithographs printed offset from zinc plates, drawn by both artists. Produced in collaboration with Ron Padgett...

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...

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...

Artist: Donald Saff Title: Year: 1980 Medium: Etching with Aquatint, Hand signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 150 30 in. x 22.5 in. (76.2 cm x 55.88 cm) bears publishers blindst...

Artist: Donald Saff Title: Wolf and Man Year: 1980 Medium: Etching with Aquatint, Hand signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 50 39 in. x 27.5 in. Donald Jay Saff (born 12 Decemb...

Hand signed, numbered and dated by the artist. From Eight Little Nudes (D'Oench & Feinberg 123-30). Etching with drypoint and aquatint in colors on BFK Riv...

Aquatint with embossing on BFK Rives paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 75. Printed by Branstead Studio, New York with their blind stamp. Published by Intern...