Clothespin (Oldenburg)
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| Clothespin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Claes Oldenburg |
| Year | 1976 |
| Medium | steel sculpture |
| Dimensions | 14 m × 3.73 m × 1.37 m (45 ft × 12 ft 3 in × 4 ft 6 in) |
| Location | Philadelphia |
| 39°57′09″N 75°09′56″W / 39.9524°N 75.1656°W[1] | |
| Owner | private[2] |
Clothespin is a weathering steel sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, located at Centre Square, 1500 Market Street, Philadelphia.[2] It is designed to appear as a monumental black clothespin. Oldenburg is noted for his attempts to democratize art with large stylized sculptures of everyday objects, and the location of Clothespin, above Philadelphia's 15th Street/City Hall station, allows thousands of commuters to view it on a daily basis.[3] It was commissioned in May 1974 by developer Jack Wolgin as part of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority's percent for art program, and was dedicated June 25, 1976.[4][5]
Made of Cor-Ten steel, Clothespin is praised by art critics for its velvety texture and weathered, warm reddish-brown color.[3] The silvery steel "spring" part of the two-textured work resembles the numerals "76", apt for the United States Bicentennial year.[6] Tying in Philadelphia's colonial heritage with its difficult present, Clothespin addresses the city's civic issues and tries to bridge gaps across income levels through its universally recognized form.[7] The design has been likened to the "embracing couple" in Constantin Brâncuși's sculpture The Kiss in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[4]
There are at least two small-scale models of the sculpture. The first normally stays in the Oldenburg gallery at the Denver Art Museum: Clothespin – 4 Foot Version, completed in 1974.[8] The second, a 10-foot version completed in 1975, is located and occasionally displayed in the Contemporary Art department of the Art Institute of Chicago.[9]