Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Cleveland's Free Stamp: Cleveland's Free Stamp

by Edward J. Olszewski

Overview

In 1985, the Sohio oil company commissioned Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen to design and construct a large outdoor sculpture for its new corporate headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. The result was Free Stamp, a bold and distinctive installation that captured both a Pop Art sensibility and a connection to the city’s industrial past. Sohio executives approved the design, and work was already underway, when British Petroleum acquired the company. The new owners quickly decided that the sculpture was “inappropriate” for their building and attempted to rid themselves of Free Stamp by donating it to the city of Cleveland—a gift that the city initially had no desire to accept. After much debate and public protest, the sculpture found a home in Willard Park, where it stands today.

This is the first study of any sculpture by Oldenburg and van Bruggen to examine the genesis of their art from conception to installation. Edward J. Olszewski has put together a fascinating narrative based on interviews with the artists, archival material from city records, and in-house corporate memoranda, as well as letters to the editor and political cartoons. He traces the development of the sculpture from the artists’ first sketches and models to the installation of the completed work in its urban environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821422717
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	08/04/2017
Edition description:	1
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Edward J. Olszewski is emeritus professor of art history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has published numerous books and articles on topics from Praxiteles to Renaissance master drawings, late Roman Baroque patronage, and the art of Goya, Degas, and Picasso.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

1 Sohio, Free Stamp, and BP 6

2 The Artists 13

3 Sculptural Collaborations 16

4 Rejection and Recuperation 30

5 The Legal Issue 33

6 Impasse: June 1986 to September 1989 35

7 Other Voices, Other Rooms 41

8 Rejected Sculpture 49

9 An Early Apologetic 60

10 Pop Art 62

11 Formalism 67

12 A Meeting of Minds 71

13 Fabrication 80

14 The Final Phase 85

15 Public Art 89

16 Re: Locations 92

17 The Sketches 98

18 How Stamps Function 110

19 Construction of a Hand Stamp 114

20 Space in Time 123

21 Cognition 131

22 Events Postinstallation 136

Postscript 143

Appendix A Petition Letter of September 15, 1989, to Mr. James H. Ross 145

Appendix B Ordinance No. 1320-85, May 22, 1985

Chronology 149

Notes 153

Bibliography 175

Index 183

Editorial Reviews

This book is for anyone who has ever passed an oversized Oldenburg & van Bruggen object and wondered about the artists’ creativity and the daunting process of bringing such a colossus into being. It is the definitive account of Cleveland’s Free Stamp.”—John Garton, Clark University


“While the goal of Olszewski’s book is to educate and enlighten the reader about the importance of the sculpture and the long process involved in bringing this work to the public, it is a remarkably concise and well-written book.…It seems probable that Olszewski’s book will elevate Cleveland’s sculpture to an even higher place of recognition in the world of art.”—Ohioana Quarterly

From the Publisher