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Identification and Creation

Object Number
M26457
People
Claes Oldenburg, American (Stockholm, Sweden 1929 - 2022 New York, New York)
Designed by George Maciunas, American (Kaunas, Lithuania 1931 - 1978 Boston, MA)
Published by Fluxus, American
Title
False Food Selection
Classification
Multiples
Work Type
multiple
Date
1966
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/29325

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Wooden box with offset printed label, containing readymade plastic foods
Technique
Mixed technique
Dimensions
box closed: 8.9 x 42.2 x 19.5 cm (3 1/2 x 16 5/8 x 7 11/16 in.)
box open: 17.8 x 42.2 x 36.8 cm (7 x 16 5/8 x 14 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Barbara Moore, Bound/Unbound, New York, New York, partial gift partial purchase; to Harvard University Art Museums, June 28, 2005.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
S. 341

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Barbara and Peter Moore Fluxus Collection, Margaret Fisher Fund and gift of Barbara Moore/Bound & Unbound
Copyright
© Claes Oldenburg
Accession Year
2005
Object Number
M26457
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
One of a small number of prototypes for a planned but never editioned multiple. Oldenburg recalls that this planned Fluxus edition was a variation of another planned, unrealized edition with Multiples, Inc. for a lunch box with several handmade objects to be cast and encased in plastic. He notes that "in order to conform to the Fluxus movement's emphasis on found objects, I proposed a selection of purchased food imitations, like many of the items found in the 'museum'. Maciunas would obtain as many items as he could from various suppliers. I would choose from among them until I has a group I liked." (Claes Oldenburg: Multiples in Retrospect, p. 24). The box, divided into five compartments, contains 24 items, including (1) ham & eggs (glued to the inside of the lid); in compartment 1: 1 pickle, 1 hot dog, and 1 oatmeal cookie; compartment 2: 1 tomato and 1 pear; compartment 3: 5 "Bakeland" cookies, 5 round butter cookies, 1 "Milk Arrowroot" biscuit, and 1 poppyseed roll; compartment 4: 4 petit-fours, 1 chocolate doughnut; and compartment 5: 1 banana.

Publication History

  • Claes Oldenburg, Claes Oldenburg: Multiples in Retrospect, 1964-1990, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. (New York, 1991), pp. 24-5
  • Susan Dackerman, ed., Corita Kent and the Language of Pop, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2015), pp. 172-173, cat. 44, ill. (color)
  • Susan Costello, Angela Chang, Georgina Rayner, and Elizabeth La Duc, Preserving plastics in the collection at the Harvard Art Museums, Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository, Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository (https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.104117, 2023), 47-61, Figure 4, Page 53

Exhibition History

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu