Alphabet in the Form of a Good Humor Bar
Claes Oldenburg, Alphabet in the Form of a Good Humor Bar, 1970, color lithograph on paper, Gift of Mr. Ronald Shindler and Mr. Lowell Shindler, © Claes Oldenburg/Coosje Van Bruggen, 81.107.2
This work is on view.
- Title
Alphabet in the Form of a Good Humor Bar
- Artist
Claes Oldenburg (American, born Sweden, active United States, born 1929)
- Date
1970
- Medium
color lithograph on paper
- Edition
174/250
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image: 21 1/2 in x 10 1/2 in; sheet: 29 in x 20 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
blindstamp: © Claes Oldenburg 1970, lower right
maker's mark; date: CO 70, graphite, lower right
edition: 174/250, graphite, lower left
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
planographic print
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Gift of Mr. Ronald Shindler and Mr. Lowell Shindler
- Accession Number
81.107.2
- Copyright
© Claes Oldenburg/Coosje Van Bruggen
- Terms
- Location
Claes Oldenburg humorously transforms familiar things through shifts in scale and media. In this work, the fleshy letters that form a melting ice cream bar recall his soft canvas sculptures from the previous decade. The artist notes that "swollen letters signify the affluence that advertises a good store"; his witty melding of language and food points to the importance of language in the marketing of consumer foodstuffs.
- Exhibitions
1996 Signs of the Times Portland Art Museum
2009 Word and Image/Word as Image Portland Art Museum
2014 Feast and Famine: The Pleasures and Politics of Food Portland Art Museum
2023 Throughlines: Connections in the Collection Portland Art Museum
