Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen

Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1986

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art; New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Bonn, Kunst-und-Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland; London, Hayward Gallery, Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology, February 1995 - August 1996, cat. no. 241, p. 409, illustrated in color

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. There is evidence of wear to the base including noticeable abrasions, slight oxidation and media accretions, some possibly from the time of execution. There is evidence of some light surface soiling to the work overall and under close inspection there are faint scattered accretions and light abrasions visible under raking light.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Claes Oldenburg states, “There is something very beautiful in putting art back into the present world and breaking down the barriers that have been erected for the appreciation of art” (quoted in: Bruce Glaser, “Oldenburg, Lichtenstein, Warhol: A Discussion,” Artforum, New York, February 1966, p. 20). This sentiment is echoed throughout the writing and work of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen. Their use of readymade subjects that one might encounter every day in the street or in a store not only makes their art both familiar and approachable to the viewer, it also removes, in part, the need to compose the piece. Balancing Tools Model offers a very clear example of this and was a commission that Coosje Van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg’s created for Willi Fehlbaum, the proprietor of a Swiss furniture manufacturer.

Willi Fehlbaum had become enamored with the work of Charles and Ray Eames and became the principal rights owner for the manufacture of their furniture. It was the relationship between the Eames brothers and Willi Fehlbaum that influenced the final form of the commission as proposed by Coosje Van Bruggen. Harkening to the Eames’ love of the circus, the piece consists of a surreal arrangement of tools endowed with a seemingly supernatural energy that has allowed them to balance on each other in an improbably manner. The tools selected represent the three basic, iconic tools of wood fabrication: the hammer, a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen have brought these familiar quotidian objects to life imbuing them with a human quality. They seem to be in the middle of a strange form of acrobatics or dance.

In his 1961 manifesto Claes Oldenburg proclaimed: “I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.” The work’s anthropomorphic forms are invested with a strong sense of humor. Like in advertising, this quality is hugely important as a tool for luring the viewer into a sense of familiarity with an artwork. Claes Oldenburg addresses this directly: “The important thing about humor is that it opens people. They relax their guard and you can get serious intentions across” (Barabara Haskel, Claes Oldenburg: Object Into Monument, Pasadena, 1971, p. 8).

For art to have the approachability that Claes Oldenburg desired, it was necessary to not simply make it resemble a real-world commodity, but also to hyperbolize aspects of the humorous and erotic inherent in much of the commoditized world. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen are interested in how everyday consumer objects can seduce us through appeals to aesthetics and emotions, and in turn how their art objects can be formally altered to take advantage of collective psychological predispositions. Coosje Van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg’s overall artistic objective is a reintegration of art back into society—to rescue art from its avant-garde isolation. The model thus plays an integral role in their artistic process as it allows them to visualize for the first time how the work will appear in three dimensional space before executing the gigantic final works. Through the use of familiar imagery based on real objects, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen bring art closer to life so that it can become practically universal. This joyous sculpture is emblematic of their quest to create vivacious and approachable works of art and place them in the public realm whilst also honoring a specific relationship to the site or owner of the commission as seen in the relationship between this sculpture and the Eames brothers.