The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Installs Claes Oldenburg's "Paint Torch"

Written by Conrad Underhill Sunday, 06 November 2011 22:48

Philadelphia, PA.– World-renowned American artist Claes Oldenburg’s new sculpture, "Paint Torch", was installed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia within the new civic space, Lenfest Plaza. The sculpture is positioned between PAFA’s Historic Landmark and the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Buildings. The 51-foot "Paint Torch" sculpture, the centerpiece of Lenfest Plaza, honors the act of painting, from the classical masters in the Academy Museum to the students in PAFA’s School of Fine Arts. The sculpture at a startling 60-degree diagonal position protrudes into the space on Broad Street, and is visible against the background of City Hall. Situated underneath the paintbrush is a 6-ft paint glob. A site-specific sculpture commissioned by PAFA for Lenfest Plaza, "Paint Torch", is the artist’s first large-scale work to incorporate light sources. The glob and the tip of the brush are both illuminated from within at night by changing red hues.

Oldenburg titled the work "Paint Torch", merging two ideas in this project: the paintbrush and the torch. He stated that the paintbrush is a good fit for PAFA to “celebrate a place where painting with a brush is really practiced.” Thus the paintbrush refers to location as well as identifies the activities of the School. Overseeing the installation was artist Claes Oldenburg. Also present were Bill Kreysler, who fabricated the Paint Torch (as well as 16 other Oldenburg sculptures), and Jen Lewin, the artist who collaborated with Claes Oldenburg to engineer and illuminate the Paint Torch. Lenfest Plaza was designed by internationally renowned landscape architecture firm OLIN. The new civic space offers public outdoor seating and rotating works of emerging and established artists in an urban setting. The installation of Paint Torch makes Philadelphia home to four large-scale public sculptures by the artist, more than any other city in the world. Oldenburg’s first public sculpture to be realized in urban scale was the 45-foot high steel "Clothespin" which has become a fixture in the city’s urban landscape, standing tall across from the historic late 19th century City Hall and alongside modern architectural buildings. Oldenburg’s second major Philadelphia work, done with his partner and wife Coosje van Bruggen, was "Split Button" (1981), an enormous white aluminum button commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania and installed on campus. Philadelphia’s third Oldenburg is the colossal steel and bronze electric plug, "Giant Three-Way Plug (Cube Tap)" (1970), which was donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and installed in the museum’s d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden in 2010.


Through the rare combination of spectacular galleries, an internationally known school of fine arts, and their public programs, the Academy strives to provide students and visitors alike with a unique and thrilling experience. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a national leader in fine arts education that brings together artists and the public through exceptional teaching programs, a world-class collection of American art, major exhibitions, and widely accessible public programs. A rare combination of a world-class museum and school of fine arts, PAFA will be a defining voice for education in the evolving traditions and cultural diversity of the fine arts in America. PAFA's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Its archives house important materials for the study of American art history, museums, and art training. Since its founding in 1805, PAFA has been committed to fostering and collecting American art. Scholars have deemed PAFA’s one of the world’s three best collections of American art for its depth, breadth, and quality.With a collection of nearly 1,800 paintings, PAFA owns some of the most important and recognizable works in American art, including works by Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale and Winslow Homer. The paintings collection is renowned for its holdings from the Federal period, including works by the Peale family, numerous portraits by Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Sully, and a fine collection of portrait miniatures. Works from the late 19th century, when American artists began working in a more international style, constitute one of the high points of the Academy's collection. Paintings bv William Merritt Chase, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, John Twachtman, Theodore Robinson, Childe Hassam, Henry O. Tanner, Cecilia Beaux and Thomas Eakins are among the most significant examples. In the early 20th century, the Academy collected works by some of its famous alumni, including Robert Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, Everett Shinn and George Luks, all of whom were connected with the Ashcan School.


Twentieth century developments in abstraction are documented in the collection by artists such as Arthur B. Carles, Florine Stettheimer, Stuart Davis, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ben Shahn, Jack Levine, Mark Rothko, Jacob Lawrence and Richard Diebenkorn. As a school synonymous with the figurative tradition, the Academy's collections also are rich in the works of 20th-century representational artists such as Edward Hopper, Guy Pène du Bois, Reginald Marsh, Isabel Bishop, Thomas Hart Benton, Alfred Leslie, Philip Pearlstein, Andrew Wyeth and Bo Bartlett. PAFA houses more than 12,000 works on paper, including drawings, watercolors, pastels and all media of printmaking. The Academy's collection is highlighted by noteworthy works by some of America's most important artists such as John Singleton Copley, John James Audubon, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Maxfield Parrish, John Sloan, George Bellows, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Charles Burchfield, Andrew Wyeth, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol. Sculpture has been an intrinsic part of the Academy since its founding in 1805. With more than 300 works ranging from 1780 to the present, the Academy's sculpture collection is particularly notable for its portrait busts, neoclassical marble sculpture, French-inspired bronze figures, direct carvings in stone and wood and the overall variety of materials and techniques represented. William Rush, one of the three artists connected with the formation of PAFA, was also one of the nation's first sculptors, representative of the American craft tradition aspiring to European fine arts. The Academy holds several notable works by Rush, including a masterful self-portrait. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.pafa.org/Museum

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