Oldenburg & van Bruggen
Paula Cooper Gallery, in partnership with Brookfield Properties and WatermanClark, is thrilled to present Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen at Lever House. This marks the first major presentation of the artists’ work since Oldenburg’s passing in 2022 and will showcase important, career-spanning artworks throughout the landmark building and its outdoor spaces. The exhibition will be free and open to the public from November 18, 2024, through Fall 2025.
The works on view will include two monumental sculptures for which Oldenburg and van Bruggen are widely known, installed on the outdoor plazas and highly visible from Park Avenue. Additionally, the exhibition will feature plaster sculptures first shown in the East Village in 1961, iconic fabric “soft” sculptures from the 1960s and 1970s, and drawings for proposed large-scale monuments, such as a Good Humor bar to replace the Pan Am Building.
A primary focus of the presentation is Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s sculptures depicting consumer products, such as toothpaste and lipstick, to reflect Lever House’s history as the original headquarters for Lever Brothers, a leading manufacturer of soap and other goods. These sculptures will be displayed in the building’s original and newly restored lobby vitrines, previously used by Lever Brothers to showcase their products.
Additional works in the exhibition connect with midcentury architecture, including Architect’s Handkerchief, a twelve-foot depiction of Mies Van Der Rohe’s signature pocket handkerchief, positioned to “blow” toward the Seagram Building across Park Avenue, and Plantoir, a 16-foot garden trowel sculpture in the central courtyard adjacent to Lever House’s iconic planter, exemplifying the building’s integration of indoor and outdoor space.
“The connections between Oldenburg’s early work and Lever House are just remarkable,” explained Jacob King, who organized the presentation. “Oldenburg’s 1960s pieces, with everyday objects like hamburgers, typewriters, pastries, and sneakers rendered in materials like plaster and fabric, reflect the consumer culture of postwar America: a society of fast cars, tall buildings, and vast supermarkets. Lever House, with its open floorplans and glass curtain walls, similarly embodies the optimism and prosperity of the 1950s.”
Paula Cooper noted, “We were honored when Jacob King proposed showcasing the full breadth of Claes and Coosje’s practice at Lever House, a building originally designed to exhibit art. New York has surprisingly few large-scale sculptures by Claes and Coosje on view, so it’s especially exciting that two monumental outdoor works will be featured in this exhibition.”
Designed by architects Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Lever House was built in 1952 as the headquarters of Lever Brothers. Its radical design and glass curtain wall reshaped Park Avenue and influenced office buildings worldwide. In 1982, it became New York City’s first modernist landmark.
This exhibition follows a recent restoration of Lever House, which includes its 21-story tower, ground-level plaza, lobby, terrace spaces, and the third-floor Lever Club, a hospitality suite by Marmol Radziner. Following a year-long presentation of Ellsworth Kelly sculptures, the installation reaffirms Lever House’s commitment to blending art with commerce, creating an enriching environment for tenants and the public.
