Images(4)

Baked Potato

Date1966

Maker Claes Oldenburg American, 1929 - 2022

Label TextAn Offering: Vessels and Votives in Contemporary Ceramics Shaping humble clay into transcendent forms fit for the divine is a tradition as old as ceramics themselves. Drawing inspiration from the ancient vernacular of forms and techniques, contemporary artists work with clay to create sculpture that, to our eyes, is both instinctively familiar and unexpectedly fresh. Realistically painted or sculpted food was an indispensible part of both Sumerian and Egyptian beliefs and rituals. The image of food or other offerings would nourish gods or the deceased in perpetuity. Claes Oldenburg’s Baked Potato revisits this custom centuries later.

Object number86.274.4

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present, Sept. 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pop Departures, Oct. 9, 2014 - Jan. 11, 2015. Text by Catharina Manchanda, et al. No cat. no., p. 102, reproduced p. 48.

Credit LineGift of Sidney and Anne Gerber

Dimensions4 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 7 in. (11.43 x 26.67 x 17.78 cm)

MediumCast resin, painted with acrylic, Shenango china dish