worlds biggest peg

Claes Oldenburg, creator of the giant peg, was a Swedish-born sculptor- most of his work featured larger versions of objects that you see everyday. Many of his works were collaborated on with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen (died 2009). The pair had been married for 32 years! Oldenburg had lived in and worked in New York City for many years. He was born on the 28th of January, 1929 in Stockholm, Sweden and passed in New York City, USA on July 18th, 2022. He moved to America in 1953. HE had 2 children and one ex-wife, divorced in 1970. Oldenburg had one sibling, Richard Oldenburg. Education-wise, he went to Yale University, Latin School of Chicago and Art Institute of Chicago. Claes won many awards, including the National Medal of Arts in 2000.

One of Claes' sculptures, 'Clothespin', is literally what it says it is. It is a clothespin located in Central Square, 1500 Market Street, Philedeplhia. But it's giant! Commissioned in 1974 and built in 1976, the sculpture is made of Cor-Ten steel and praised by art critics for it's velvet-like texture and warm reddish-brown colour. The spring part of the double-textured work resembles a '76'. There are two, smaller-scale models of the sculpture; one in the Oldenburg Gallery at the Denver Art Museum (Clothespin- 4 Foot Version) and a 10 foot model located and occasionally displayed at the Contemporary Art Department of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

And that is A.M signing off for the first blog on the updated version of our website! Thanks for reading- bye!