Getty Research Institute acquires Claes Oldenburg archives
The Getty Research Institute has acquired the archives of artist Claes Oldenburg and his late wife, Coosje van Bruggen.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Getty Research Institute has acquired the archives of Clothespin sculptor Claes Oldenburg and his late wife, Coosje van Bruggen, a prominent artist and curator in her own right.
The acquisition, announced Tuesday, includes hundreds of diaries, letters, photos, and other materials dating to the beginning of the 90-year-old artist’s career.
It also contains the joint archive compiled by Oldenburg and van Bruggen from 1976 until her death in 2009.
During that time the pair collaborated on the towering, larger-than-life sculptures of everyday objects that Oldenburg is likely best known for.
The works, some more than 40 feet tall, dot cities in Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, the United States, and elsewhere. His Philadelphia works include Fire Brush and Clothespin in Center City, Split Button on the University of Pennsylvania campus, and Giant Three-Way Plug, Scale A, on the grounds of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Getty Research Institute is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which includes the Getty museum and other institutions.