Claus Oldenberg's Batcolumn, Chicago 1993 (20656703)

''Batcolumn'' (or ''Bat Column'') is a outdoor sculpture in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Designed by

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

, it takes the shape of a

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

standing on its knob. It consists of gray-painted

COR-TEN steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rus ...

arranged into an open

latticework __NOTOC__ Latticework is an openwork framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a grid or weave. Latticework may be functional &nda ...

structure. ''Batcolumn'' stands outside the Harold Washington Social Security Administration Building at 600 West Madison Street near downtown Chicago. The

United States General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

commissioned the sculpture, which was dedicated in 1977. Oldenburg originally designed the sculpture to be painted red, but he abandoned that idea to distinguish it from Chicago's ''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

'' sculpture by

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

. Oldenburg instead had ''Batcolumn'' painted gray, which he also hoped would make the sculpture easier to see against the sky. A plaque on the sculpture reads, "Oldenburg selected the baseball bat as an emblem of Chicago's ambition and vigor. The sculpture's verticality echoes the city's dramatic skyline, while its form and scale cleverly allude to more traditional civic monuments, such as obelisks and memorial columns." The sculpture has been a source of controversy. On the day of its dedication, a number of people came to protest, holding signs saying "Tear it down" and "Expensive joke".Michael Hirsley. "Some strike out at the Batcolumn". ''Chicago Tribune''. April 15, 1977. 1. However, ''Batcolumn'' has also had its defenders. A 2005 ''Chicago Tribune'' article named it one of the newspaper's favorite Chicago sculptures (along with ''

Standing Lincoln ''Abraham Lincoln: The Man'' (also called ''Standing Lincoln'') is a larger-than-life size bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. The original statue is in Lincoln Park in Chicago, and later re-castings of ...

'' and the lions outside the Art Institute of Chicago Building).

References

External links

Claes Oldenburg (''Batcolumn'')
{{Public art in Chicago Outdoor sculptures in Chicago 1977 sculptures Steel sculptures in Illinois Sculptures by Claes Oldenburg Sculptures by Coosje van Bruggen

See also

References

External links