The Accidental Possibilities of the City: Claes Oldenburg's Urbanism in Postwar America

Claes Oldenburg’s commitment to familiar objects has shaped accounts of his career, but his associations with Pop art and postwar consumerism have overshadowed another crucial aspect of his work. In this revealing reassessment, Katherine Smith traces Oldenburg’s profound responses to shifting urban conditions, framing his enduring relationship with the city as a critical perspective and conceiving his art as urban theory.

Smith argues that Oldenburg adapted lessons of context, gleaned from...