This is a superb original signed and numbered limited edition color etching and photogravure by internationally acclaimed Pop artist CLAES OLDENBURG (Swedish, born 1929-), dated 1982.

This rare original color etching is entitled "The Pick Axe", superimposed on a drawing of the site by Emil Ludwig Grimm (A./P. 180), 1982, and is signed in pencil by the artist on the front lower right "Oldenburg" and dated "1982". It is also numbered on the lower left "23/100", from the total limited edition of only 100 impressions printed on Auvergne à la main paper. It was published by Multiples, Inc., New York, and printed by Aeropress, New York, with their embossed blindstamp on the lower right. It is in excellent condition, measures 20 ¼" x 26 ½" (sheet), 6 ½" x 10" (image) and is framed for a total size of 25" x 31" (there is wear to the frame). Authenticity is GUARANTEED. Packing and shipping is $85.00 within the US only, please email for international shipping rates. Please view my eBay store for additional museum quality fine art and collectibles.

One of the original Pop artists, Claes Oldenburg was born in Stockholm the son of a Swedish diplomat, and spent his early years in Stockholm and Oslo until they moved to Chicago in 1937. He attended Yale University, then returned to Chicago, where he worked for a newspaper and also attended drawing classes at The Art Institute. Oldenburg moved to New York in 1956. His early work in New York was an urban realism in cardboard and paper influenced by the work of Dubuffet and the New Realists, seen as a brutal response to society. In 1961 he rented a storefront on the Lower East Side and sold brightly painted plaster objects, three dimensional and wall reliefs, based on hamburgers, pastries, men's and women's clothing, and other commodities. The signature soft sculptures followed, objects of commonplace household objects made of vinyl or canvas stuffed with kapok. The soft sculptures transformed the medium, and they are intended as sensual experiences and commentary on our material world of objects and our relationship to them.