The Clothespin

The Clothespin is a 45 foot steel sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, located at Centre Square, across from City Hall. Oldenburg is known for his large sculptures of everyday objects. It was commissioned in 1974 by developer Jack Wolgin, as part of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority's 1% percent for art program, and was dedicated June 25, 1976.

While flying over Chicago in 1967, Oldenburg held up a wooden clothespin to his window and matched it to the skyscrapers below. Upon returning to New York, he prepared a drawing of a skyscraper in the form of a clothespin for the cover of an art magazine. In 1972, the clothespin was used for a poster and a screenprint designed for an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). When developers in Philadelphia commissioned Oldenburg in 1974 to create a large scale project, it was no surprise that they chose the clothespin.

Oldenburg saw the Philadelphia Clothespin, in its shape and “crack” down the middle, as a modern updating of the Liberty Bell. He further associated the clinging forms of the Clothespin with Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture, The Kiss, in the PMA, and with Philadelphia’s identity as “The City of Brotherly Love.” He even felt that the stainless steel spring, in a fitting nod to the American Bicentennial, resembled the numerals 7 and 6. Oldenburg always wanted his Large-Scale Projects to accommodate the history of their locations.

1972 Print for PMA 10' version at Art Institute of Lifting into place, 1976

Chicago, 1975

1976 Today