GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Commissioned for the Dallas Museum of Art's Edward Larrabee Barnes downtown building, opened in 1984, the monumental site-specific Stake Hitch embodies artist duo Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's proclivity for sculptures that resemble everyday objects magnified to grandiose proportions. When installed in the 40-foot high barrel vaulted central court of the DMA'S contemporary art galleries, it appeared to be driven directly into the floor at the west end of the gallery with the tip of the stake humorously emerging into the loading-dock area located a floor below it, visible to the public through a window. Stake Hitch is reminiscent of the stakes used to anchor circus tents, mark boundaries on construction sites, or tether rodeo animals. Oldenburg wanted, "...a certain feeling of the outdoors and of country experience to be conveyed by the work in a rough way, to contrast with the refinement of the museum....Maybe there's a steer up there on the roof," he quipped.
In shape, it resembles a tornado, an image Oldenburg dates to a performance he did in Dallas in 1962 at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts. Oldenburg, one of the best-known artists of the pop art movement, began his career in the late 1950s by staging Happenings, hybrid events of theater and art which were humorous, often raucous demonstrations of the absurdity of life. This engagement with the absurd carried over into his wry replications of humble things transformed to exist as if a parallel universe of recognizable yet nonfunctional objects.
The 5,500-pound Stake Hitch, fabricated of steel, aluminum, resin, and expanded foam, was commissioned by the museum to honor longtime benefactor John Dabney Murchison Sr. The sculpture was deinstalled in 2002.
Adapted from
- Suzanne Weaver, "Stake Hitch," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 296.
- Janet Kutner, "DMA's bold new 'Stake' Oldenburg work fills main gallery, Dallas Morning News, Sunday, April 29, 1984.
- Anne R. Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 192.
NOTES
- QUESTIONS FOR GAIL OR KATHERINE: use present tense or past tense for this? I realize I've used both here, but it's confusing since it's deinstalled. Knowing that the removal of this was and is controversial, should I mention something about conservation issues, or why it was removed? Should I link to this unflattering article in D Magazine?: https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2010/may/the-dallas-museum-of-arts-broken-promise/
- WEB RESOURCES
- * D Magazine~Read about the removal of Stake Hitch.
- One of the most striking of these new commissions is Claes Oldenburg's giant "Stake Hitch", designed for the barrel vaulted central court of the Contemporary Art galleries. It is similar to such monumental creations of Oldenburg's as the "Lipstick Monument" at Yale University and the "Batcolumn" in Chicago, but differs from them in being placed inside a building. The work is an 18-foot-high painted metal stake, attached to the 40-foot-high roof of the vault by a huge rope. The tip of the stake is installed in the Museum's basement area under the gallery floor. Pop Art on a gigantic scale, "Stake Hitch" dominates even the very large spaces of the vaulted court.
- With its suggestions of Texas cowboys and tent stakes, "Stake Hitch" joins other examples of everday objects, which Oldenburg has magnified to grandiose proportions. Its color, scale and character are in strong contrast with the elegant, refined architecture of the Museum building, and add a dynamic sense of drama to it. Oldenburg's sculptures are unique in their fusion of grandeur and comedy, a combination likely to stimulate Museum visitors who encounter "Stake Hitch" at the heart of the collection of Contemporary art.
Anne R. Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 192.
With its suggestions of Texas cowboys and tent stakes, "Stake Hitch" joins other examples of everday objects, which Oldenburg has magnified to grandiose proportions. Its color, scale and character are in strong contrast with the elegant, refined architecture of the Museum building, and add a dynamic sense of drama to it. Oldenburg's sculptures are unique in their fusion of grandeur and comedy, a combination likely to stimulate Museum visitors who encounter "Stake Hitch" at the heart of the collection of Contemporary art.
Oldenburg, one of the best-known artists of the pop art movement, began his career in the late 1950s by staging Happenings, hybrid events of theater and art which were humorous, often raucous demonstrations of the absurdity of life. He performed one of his Happenings in 1962 at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts. This engagement with the absurd carried over into his wry replications of humble things transformed to exist as if a parallel universe of recognizable yet nonfunctional objects. Oldenburg and van Bruggen continue to confound expectations by elevating the humdrum experience of contemporary lie to the, at least in size, monumental.
The 165-foot stake with its 30 foot rope coolly measures up to the 40 ft vault. Seemingly driven into the floor at the west end of the gallery, (and through the floor: A 12-foot portion continues into the basement, where it may be seen though a window on the loading dock).
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PROVENANCE
From 1984: Dallas Museum of Art, commissioned to honor John Dabney Murchison, Sr. for his arts and civic leadership, and presented by his family [1]
[1] Accession date is the date on the check issued for the first development fee paid to Claes Oldenburg.
Additional payments were made to Store Days, producer of the physical work (?), on 01-18-83 and 11-9-83.
Final payment check was issued on 12-3-84.
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FUN FACTS
- The twisted cord of the stake hitch is made of woven air conditioning duct.
- Oldenburg says that the scale of Stake Hitch was influenced by construction equipment seen within the museum space during one of his visits.
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General Description
Commissioned for the Dallas Museum of Art's Edward Larrabee Barnes downtown building, opened in 1984, the monumental site-specific Stake Hitch embodies artist duo Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's proclivity for sculptures that resemble everyday objects magnified to grandiose proportions. When installed in the 40-foot high barrel vaulted central court of the DMA'S contemporary art galleries, it appeared to be driven directly into the floor at the west end of the gallery with the tip of the stake humorously emerging into the loading-dock area located a floor below it, visible to the public through a window. Stake Hitch is reminiscent of the stakes used to anchor circus tents, mark boundaries on construction sites, or tether rodeo animals. Oldenburg wanted, "...a certain feeling of the outdoors and of country experience to be conveyed by the work in a rough way, to contrast with the refinement of the museum....Maybe there's a steer up there on the roof," he quipped.
In shape, it resembles a tornado, an image Oldenburg dates to a performance he did in Dallas in 1962 at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts. Oldenburg, one of the best-known artists of the pop art movement, began his career in the late 1950s by staging Happenings, hybrid events of theater and art which were humorous, often raucous demonstrations of the absurdity of life. This engagement with the absurd carried over into his wry replications of humble things transformed to exist as if a parallel universe of recognizable yet nonfunctional objects.
The 5,500-pound Stake Hitch, fabricated of steel, aluminum, resin, and expanded foam, was commissioned by the museum to honor longtime benefactor John Dabney Murchison Sr. The sculpture was deinstalled in 2002.
Adapted from
- Suzanne Weaver, "Stake Hitch," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 296.
- Janet Kutner, "DMA's bold new 'Stake' Oldenburg work fills main gallery, Dallas Morning News, Sunday, April 29, 1984.
- Anne R. Bromberg, Dallas Museum of Art: Selected Works (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1983), 192.
Fun Facts
- The twisted cord of the stake hitch is made of woven air conditioning duct.
- Oldenburg says that the scale of Stake Hitch was influenced by construction equipment seen within the museum space during one of his visits.
Archival Resources
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Notes
- QUESTIONS FOR GAIL OR KATHERINE: use present tense or past tense for this? I realize I've used both here, but it's confusing since it's deinstalled. Knowing that the removal of this was and is controversial, should I mention something about conservation issues, or why it was removed? Should I link to this unflattering article in D Magazine?: https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2010/may/the-dallas-museum-of-arts-broken-promise/
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