Claes Oldenburg
Multiples in Retrospect 1964-1990 with The Soap at Baton Rouge, 1990
160 page book, cast resin, vinyl filled with aluminum silicate, serigraph on acetate sheet
soap: 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (1.9 x 12.1 x 7 cm)
serigraph on acetate sheet: 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (24.1 x 31.8 cm)
case: 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (24.1 x 31.8 cm)
Edition 204 of 250 + 30 AP
Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati
signed and numbered
$2,400
Oldenburg: “When Carl Solway called me in May 1972 and asked if I would be interested in proposing a large-scale work for Cincinnati, he mentioned that partial funding for such a work might be sought from the Procter & Gamble Corporation, whose world headquarters are in that city. The most familiar product of that company is the bar of pure white soap [with] its embossed slogan, ‘lt floats.’ [...] I proposed to Carl that a colossal soap be made by Procter & Gamble and launched in [the Ohio River in] Cincinnati with appropriate ceremony. It would thereafter float down the river, stopping at towns along the way.” As the colossal soap moved from town to town, it would dissolve and grow smaller. At Cairo, Illinois, the now somewhat-less-than-colossal soap would slip into the Mississippi. From there on, it would become more and more difficult to gather people to celebrate the visit of the soap. By the time the soap reached Baton Rouge, it would be the right size for a multiple.