Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022)

This breezy and acerbic collection of early writings and illustrations by Oldenburg presents gnomic visions of an earlier America. Oldenburg’s hand shines through in the loose, vivid prose and in the overall presentation. The pamphlet includes “Two Scenarios from an Incomplete Pageant of America,” a pair of excerpts from the longer, unfinished narrative “Faustina,” and a postscript.

Originally published by Something Else Press between 1965 and 1967, the Great Bear Pamphlet series show more was envisioned by founding editor Dick Higgins as a “poor man’s keys to the new art,” or a means of exposing the most vital work of the time to a mass-market audience, and vice versa. The series made uncompromisingly radical work maximally accessible, with slim, chapbook-like publications of a mostly uniform, pared down design. Taken together, the pamphlets constitute a firsthand survey of the sixties avant-garde (Higgins, Barbara Moore, and Emmett Williams all had a hand in the editorial process) that is both sweeping and utterly unique, transmitting a still-vibrant signal of expanded possibility in art, music, and poetry. Presented here in a facsimile edition, the Great Bears epitomize the utopian vision of Higgins and Something Else. show less

Claes Oldenburg kept a series of pressure binders in which he mounted scraps of paper and drawings, and made notes. This selection of fifty pages from his notebooks is colorful and playful, with his scribblings decoded on the facing pages. At the end of the book, there are notes on which of the pages were eventually the inspiration for completed works.

A finely produced smaller-scale prospectus promoting Swedish-American artist Claes Oldenburg's project titled "Notes". Contained are 12 color plates printed in offset, showing the images that comprise handmade book, which was ultimately produced in larger scale lithographs. The plates here each measure 1/ 1/4 x 6 1/4", and each is accompanied by a text plate from the author describing the image. Housed in a printed white illustrated portfolio

Claes Oldenburg, multiples 1964 - 1990 : [erscheint anlässlich der Ausstellungen: Claes Oldenburg: Multiples 1964 - 1990 ; Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, 22. Februar - 31. März 1992 ; Lenbachhaus München, 8. April - 10. Mai 1992 ; Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Wien, 6. Oktober - 21. November 1992] / [Katalogkonzeption und -bearb.: Martin Hentschel. Übers.: Christoph Hollender]