Inverted Collar and Tie is a sculpture designed in 1994 by

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

and

Coosje van Bruggen Coosje van Bruggen (June 6, 1942 – January 10, 2009) was a Dutch-born American sculptor, art historian, and critic.Kino, Carol. January 13, 2009 ''The New York Times''. She collaborated extensively with her husband, Claes Oldenburg. Biography ...

. It is located in Frankfurt's

Westend Westend may refer to: * Westend (Trevilians, Virginia), an historic house in Virginia listed on the NRHP * Westend (Berlin), a locality of Berlin in Germany * Westend (Frankfurt am Main), a borough of Frankfurt am Main in Germany * Westend, Espoo, ...

in front of the

Westend Tower Westendstraße 1 is a 53-storey, skyscraper in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. The structure was completed in 1993 and together with the nearby City-Haus, forms the headquarters of DZ Bank. In 1995 it won the "Best Building of ...

. The DG Bank ordered the artwork in 1993. It was made in California. ''Inverted Collar and Tie'' shows a huge

collar Collar may refer to: Human neckwear *Clerical collar (informally ''dog collar''), a distinctive collar used by the clergy of some Christian religious denominations *Collar (clothing), the part of a garment that fastens around or frames the neck ...

of a shirt and a

necktie A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest. Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cra ...

that are mounted top down on a pedestal. The necktie spreads its ends upwards as if it is fluttering lightly in the wind. The pedestal is painted in dark grey, the necktie is coloured in light grey with dark stripes. The artwork's measures are 11.9 x 8.5 x 3.9 metres, it weighs 7.5 metric tons. The sculpture is made from

polymer concrete Polymer concrete, also known as Epoxy Granite, is a type of concrete that uses a polymer to replace lime-type cements as a binder. In some cases the polymer is used in addition to Portland cement to form Polymer Cement Concrete (PCC) or Polymer M ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

and

glass-reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

. The artwork is an ironic allusion to the business people wearing "collar and tie" who work in the DZ's office tower and in the Frankfurt banking district around.

External links

''Inverted Collar and Tie'' on Claes Oldenburg's website

Outdoor sculptures in Germany Buildings and structures in Frankfurt 1994 sculptures Sculptures by Claes Oldenburg Sculptures by Coosje van Bruggen {{Hesse-struct-stub

See also

External links