Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Spoonbridge and Cherry, 1988
35. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Balancing Tools, 1984
36. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Dropped Bowl with Scattered Slices and Peels, 1990
37. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Inverted Collar and Tie, 1994
38. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Bicyclette Ensevelie (Buried Bicycle), 1990
39. J. Robert Jennings for Lippincott, Inc., plans and elevations of Free stamp, 1990
40. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, welding joins
41. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, interior view
42. Anon., Portrait of Archibald Willard
43. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Cross Section of a Toothbrush with Paste, in a Cup, on a Sink: Portrait of Coosje’s Thinking, 1983
44. BP America Building, Cleveland, Ohio
45. H. Burnham and Company, Cuyahoga Building, 1892
46. Implosion of Cuyahoga and Williamson Buildings, 1982
47. Joseph Pennell, The Cleveland Bridges, 1919
48. Claes Oldenburg, proposed colossal monument for Stora Höggarn, Stockholm: Stamp, 1966
49. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, notebook page: study for stamp interior, 1984
50. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, study for a sculpture in the form of a stamp, for Cleveland, Ohio, UNSOLVED [1983]
51. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, first version, model, 1985–91
52. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp on extended lettering, 1985
53. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, second version, model, 1985–91
54. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, notebook page: study of stamp proportions, 1984
55. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, 1984
56. Ketchum, Konkel, Barrett, Nickel, and Austin for Lippincott, Inc., plan of Free Stamp base, 1985
57. Chicago Bridge and Iron Company for Lippincott, Inc., plan for handle elevation of Free Stamp, 1985
58. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, view of Free Stamp with figure for scale, 1987(?)
59. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, thrown version, model, 1985–91
60. J. Robert Jennings for Lippincott, Inc., letters, face elevation, 1990
61. Lippincott, Inc., plan and elevation of Free Stamp, 1990
62. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp
63. Claes Oldenburg, Soft Saxophone, 1990
64. Fauquignon, Friar, 1870s
65. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, installation of Free Stamp, 1991
66. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, assemblage of Free Stamp, 1991
67. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, rigging placement
68. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp, placement of lettering
69. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Free Stamp
70. Service Employees Union, Local 47, flyer, 1991
71. Jeff Darcy cartoon, “Congress’ Stamp of Approval,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 24, 1993
72. Jeff Darcy cartoon, “To Bernie Kosar,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 9, 1993
73. Bill Watterson, cartoon, Garfield–Maple Heights Sun, May 1, 1986
Free Stamp (with Cesar Pelli’s Key Bank Building)
PREFACE
Cleveland’s Free Stamp deserves consideration as an unusual project in Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s successful decades-long collaborations on large-scale, public sculptures. It is the first of their works to include writing. In expansion of size, it is the largest of their public sculptures relative to its prototype. Its genesis was the simplest of their many projects, arrived at with minimal discussion and without complicated explorations of drawings and models. Free Stamp became the most controversial of their projects, and was one of lengthiest in coming to fruition.
Transfer of the sculpture from its original corporate domain to a civic setting opened Free Stamp to public scrutiny, judgment, and controversy. The latter posed the dilemma of artistic freedom in a public space, a dialectic which Coosje van Bruggen elaborated in a public address after completion of the project. This study reconstructs the history of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Free Stamp from its commission and genesis in the artists’ collaboration to its temporary rejection, then reacceptance. A new location required a metamorphosis of the rejected sculpture into a new work of art. The reasons for its relocation are probed, touching on political and cultural issues that amplify the international scope of the commission. Surveys of public sculpture in Cleveland and of Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s outdoor sculptures present a backdrop to the commission, and offer insights on the meaning and content of Free Stamp. Their collaboration is characterized, and special requirements for the fabrication of their large works are considered. Creativity as a cognitive process offers further understanding of the genesis of the sculpture.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to many people who agreed to interviews and offered archival information in recreating the background for the sculpture commission. Hunter Morrison, director, City Planning Commission, was generous with his time and gracious in giving access to
