Crystal Bridges’ preparators carefully lift Claus Oldenburg’s sculpture “Alphabet/Good Humor” into its new location.
On Tuesday afternoon, Crystal Bridges’ preparator team reinstalled a sculpture that will be familiar to guests who visited the Museum in its first two years. Claes Oldenburg’s
Alphabet/Good Humor—a bronze and fiberglass sculpture that features a vaguely peach-colored and squashy-looking alphabet formed into the shape of a frozen Good Humor bar—once greeted Museum guests as they entered the restaurant bridge from the main lobby. Oldenburg’s playful sculpture stands nearly 12 feet tall, and can now be found standing at the west end of the Early Twentieth Century Art Gallery bridge, across from Jim Dine’s
Walking to Boras. The two Pop-Art sculptures will make an interesting welcoming committee to guests as they move into the 1940s to Now gallery!
Claes Oldenburg, b. 1929
“Alphabet/Good Humor,” 1975
Painted fiberglass and bronze
The shape and color of the sculpture often cause guests to think of brains or intestines, and the work garners a range of responses, from humor to puzzlement to disgust. You can read a previous blog post about these varied reactions to the work
here.
Be sure to visit Crystal Bridges soon and get a “taste” of Oldenburg’s “Good Humor” bar for yourself!
