''Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks'' is a
weathering steel sculpture by
Claes Oldenburg.
It is located at
Morse College
Morse College is one of the fourteen residential colleges at Yale University, built in 1961 and designed by Eero Saarinen. It is adjacent to Ezra Stiles College and the two colleges share many facilities. The current Head of College is Catherine ...
Courtyard, at
Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut.
History
Stuart Wrede and a group of fellow Yale architecture students raised money under the name of the Colossal Keepsake Corporation of Connecticut, working in collaboration with Oldenburg, who charged no fee for his work. The piece was installed on the campus on May 15, 1969, in
Beinecke Plaza, as a speakers' platform for anti-war protests.
[''Yale Alumni Magazine'': "Claes Oldenburg’s Lipstick", (Feb 2000)]
(In the autumn of 1969, women were admitted to Yale University, leading some to view the sculpture as a symbol of female empowerment and coeducation.)
The original iteration had a soft, inflated lipstick section, and wooden treads. The sculpture deteriorated and was removed by Oldenburg in March 1970.
It was redone in weathering steel and fiberglass, and reinstalled at Morse College, on October 17, 1974. As of 2019, Wrede was leading an effort to move the piece back to its original location in Beinecke Plaza.
''Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks'' has been shown at the
Guggenheim Museum and
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
.
">''NGA'', "Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology", (02/1995)
See also
* List of works by Oldenburg and van Bruggen
This is a list of public art by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, also termed their "large scale projects". Oldenburg (1929-2022) and van Bruggen (1942–2009) were married Swedish-American and American-Dutch sculptors (respectively), best k ...
References
External links
*http://restoringpublicpossessions.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/lipstick-ascending-on-caterpillar-tracks-1969-1974/
*http://dumboartscenter.blogspot.com/2011/06/secret-garden-party-ii-sneak-peak-1.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks
1969 establishments in Connecticut
1969 sculptures
Buildings and structures in New Haven, Connecticut
Sculptures by Claes Oldenburg
Sculptures by Coosje van Bruggen
Sculptures in Connecticut
Steel sculptures in Connecticut
Artworks at Yale University