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Collections

Claes Oldenburg
Typewriter Eraser1970

On view:
Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3
Sculptural object combining a terra-cotta red leather ovoid base, a white organic-shaped panel with a circular hole, and a spray of cobalt blue rubber cords fanning upward
Circular object with a red leather-covered disc and a matte silver metal plate with scalloped edges centered over it, featuring a small cylindrical dark opening at its center; a flat silver handle extends upward from the top.
Close-up of a sculptural object with a smooth white surface and a single circular hole, edged by a curved layer of textured terracotta-red material with a perforated, leather-like surface.
Sculpture with a white collar-like form secured by a metal clasp, from which a fan of blue rubber or plastic tubes extends upward and outward; set against a red rounded base and light gray background.
Sculptural object combining a red leather handle, white cuff with metal snap fastener, and bundle of blue electrical cables fanning upward against a pale gray background.
Sculpture of a bundle of hollow cobalt-blue tubes or rods fanning outward from a brushed metal ferrule, resembling an oversized paintbrush form against a pale gray background.
Sculpture of multiple curved blue rods bundled and intertwining upward against a white background, with smooth tubular surfaces casting subtle shadows between strands.
Close-up photograph of a bundle of blue cylindrical tubes fanning outward against a pale grey background, with hollow openings visible at the tips.
Artist or Maker
Claes Oldenburg
Sweden, active United States, 1929-2022
Title
Typewriter Eraser
Date Made
1970
Medium
Vinyl, canvas, cardboard, painted with spray enamel
Dimensions
21 1/2 × 12 3/4 × 9 in. (54.61 × 32.39 × 22.86 cm), Base: 13/16 × 21 3/16 × 19 1/8 in. (2.06 × 53.82 × 48.58 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the 2016 Collectors Committee, with additional funds provided by The Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach Directors
Accession Number
M.2016.109
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
Modern Art
Curatorial Notes

Claes Oldenburg’s sculptural practice is characterized by his witty and often audacious depiction of mundane objects. Playing with contradictions of material and form, he converts a wide variety of consumer products into soft sculptures or expands them to larger-than-life scale. In Typewriter Eraser, a once-common object that is now obsolete is enlarged and frozen in balletic motion. The typewriter eraser is a recurring motif in Oldenburg’s work; he created several drawings, prints, and sculptures of the object, culminating in a twenty- foot-tall work made in 1999. This sculpture is the first of the series, and the basis for subsequent versions.


Wall label, 2021.