Store Window: Bow, Hats, Heart, Shirt, 29 Cents

A sculptor, printmaker, and performance artist, Claes Oldenburg staged a number of Happenings during the 1960s, including The Store of 1961. This lithograph is the final print of many works that Oldenburg made in relationship to his performance. For the Happening, the artist set up shop in a storefront in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Circumventing the traditionally high value ascribed to fine art by the gallery system, Oldenburg’s store invited the public to wander in off the street and purchase renderings of household goods—such as food or the articles of clothing featured in this print—for reasonable prices. These ordinary objects were wittily estranged by their massive scale and brightly colored, expressionistically painted surfaces.