Claes Oldenburg

Cast-polyurethane relief over lithograph printed in colors, 1968-70, signed in pencil, dated '1968', and inscribed 'experimental proof', one of three experimental proofs before the numbered edition of 75 completed in 1970, published by Gemini G.E.L, Los Angeles

Gift of the artist to Carl Breer (c. 1969-70)

Gift of Robert Breer in memory of Carl Breer to The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1986)

The multiple is in good condition. There is a small crack in the polyurethane in the bottom right corner. A few other imperfections in the surface are unobtrusive. Please contact the Print Department for additional details.
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The Chrysler Airflow, brainchild of automotive engineer Carl Breer, debuted in 1934 as one of the first American cars to champion streamlining; with it came Detroit’s first wind tunnel for testing automotive aerodynamics (with the help of Orville Wright).  Almost three decades later, in 1965, Claes Oldenburg undertook an in-depth exploration of the Airflow, Chrysler’s “Car of Tomorrow,” creating soft sculptures of the engine, doors, tires and other parts as well as producing an extensive body of drawings. But rather than completing a full-scale soft Airflow, with his first trip to Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles in 1968 Oldenburg began his romance with the vehicle anew, exploring its innovative design with his own innovative approach to materials and fabrication. The present work, which Oldenburg gave to Carl Breer, was gifted to The Museum of Modern Art in 1986 by Breer’s son, the artist and filmmaker Robert Breer, in memory of his father. Robert Breer and Oldenburg were friends in New York in the 1960s and collaborated on a film; this relationship gave Oldenburg access to original documents and photographs of the Airflow.

For his Profile Airflow, 1969, Oldenburg envisioned a sculpture in an edition that would be “clear in color, transparent like a swimming pool but of a consistency like flesh” (David Platzker, Claes Oldenburg Multiples in Retrospect 1964-1990, page 84).  Oldenburg developed the project in Los Angeles, home base of the aerospace industry and space race of the 1960s, endeavoring to craft the utmost non-print-like edition he could conceive. The edition was produced in master printer Ken Tyler’s home garage where, according to Barbara Rose, “roughly one ‘car’ a day [could] be ‘mass’ produced.” (Barbara Rose, “The Airflow Multiple of Claes Oldenburg,” Studio International, vol. 179, no. 923 [June 1970], pp. 254-255.) Additionally, the artist’s ambition for the Airflow was engrossed with a desire to wield an homage to not only an iconic automobile, a model of which was a favored childhood toy, but also to the sex appeal of the lines of a car. As Rose adds, “The theme of the car itself interested him because the automobile is the machine closest to man… an extension of the human body… it is no accident the parts of the Airflow resemble human organs.”

Not only was the work’s conception deeply complex, its execution was complicated owing to Oldenburg’s efforts with Gemini to make an artwork that was far beyond the publisher’s in-house capacities. And, like an automotive corporation, the artist and Gemini engaged outside contractors to lend their unique know-how. A Disney craftsman was called upon to assist Oldenburg in “tooling up” his model; eighteen polymer consultants were brought in to help develop the flesh-like, translucent, teal polyurethane that would become the relief body of the sculpture.

One of only three experimental proofs, the present example serves as a rare testimony to the unconventional process of achieving these specifications.  The surface of the experimental proof is glossier than the final work, its translucency clearly revealing the underlying lithograph, and the color is more chartreuse in tone than teal, hewing closer to the Pacific Ocean than a Southern California pool at mid-day. Producing a work whose conditions fulfilled the expectations of Oldenburg and Tyler proved challenging, but Gemini, who was likewise interested in invigorating lithography, never backed down from the challenge. In fact, the entire initial edition was recalled (and subsequently remade) by Gemini after it was discovered that the inaugural batch of polyurethane began to brown shortly after completed works were delivered to purchasers. The development and editioning of the work was arduous–spanning three years–and the project might have been abandoned had it not been for the tenacity of the artist and the studio.  This rare chartreuse example, like a custom car, epitomizes an idealized state of the Profile Airflow. Chrysler’s own Airflow, when dramatically unveiled at the 1934 New York auto show, was still six months away from production. Its streamline styling and construction radically broke with convention, but ultimately the manufacturing challenges of its atypical design lead to its going out of production in 1937.

Like Carl Breer’s visionary design, the Profile Airflow stands in testament of Oldenburg’s desire to execute an edition that would resist traditional manufacturing and framing, breaking the taboos of printmaking and reflecting Gemini’s ability to engage with artists eager to turn the fine art print into unique artworks that reach well beyond the expected.