The Swede Spot

Philly has 4 sculptures
by Claes Oldenburg

The latest of four Philly sculptures by Swedish-born Claes Oldenburg is Paint Torch, on Broad Street near The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Photo by Jim Murphy, author of Real Philly History, Real Fast.

I’m not sure anyone knows why Philadelphia has so many public art pieces by 92-year old Swedish-born American sculptor Claes Oldenburg.

Maybe they’re here because the colony of New Sweden existed in this area from 1638 to 1655.

More likely it’s because Philadelphia pioneered a revolutionary Percent for Art program in 1959 with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (RDA). And locals seem to like Oldenburg’s work, too.

Under Percent for Art, no less than one percent of estimated construction costs for private projects on RDA land must go to commissioning original, site-specific public art, says a William Penn Foundation study.

More Oldenburg sculptures than any city in the world

Whatever the reason, Philadelphia’s four Oldenburg sculptures are more than any other city in the world has, says The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Two of them were funded by the Percent for Art program.

Even better, all four pieces are show-stoppers. And unique attention-getters.

By recent order of appearance, the works are: Paint Torch, Giant Three-Way Plug, The Button and Clothespin.

Timeline and Location

2011 — Paint Torch, Lenfest Plaza, 1537 Cherry Street

2010 — Giant Three-Way Plug, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden

1981 — The Button, University of Pennsylvania, 3405 Woodlands Walk, near the Van Pelt Library. Percent for Art program

1976 — Clothespin, Center Square, 1500 Market Street. Percent for Art program

Interesting Oddities:

Clothespin is the first, most prominent and most centrally located piece of Oldenburg’s art installed in Philadelphia. Bought for The Bicentennial in 1976, it’s right across from City Hall at 15th and Market Streets.
Some see two people kissing. Others see a 76, denoting 1976, the year the piece was purchased for The Bicentennial. But Oldenburg once said that was just a coincidence. In early reviews, the Inquirer reportedly called the piece “An artistic eyesore from the cuckoo school of art,” says an audio recording from the Association for Public Art.
The Button (or Split Button), once made an appearance on The Simpsons’ TV show. Oldenburg joked that the button probably came off the nearby Ben Franklin statue on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
Giant Three-Way Plug was initially installed in the backyard of Mr. and Mrs. David Pincus, who bought it in the 1970s. They donated the artwork to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1980, which then placed the piece in its then-new sculpture garden.
Paint Torch, 51-feet high and weighing 11,000 lbs., is the first Oldenberg sculpture to light up at night. You’ll also see a six-foot-high “glob” of paint on the plaza floor nearby.