| Coosje van Bruggen | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 6, 1942 Groningen, Netherlands |
| Died | January 10, 2009 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Nationality | Dutch-American |
| Field | Sculpture |
Coosje van Bruggen (June 6, 1942 – January 10, 2009) was a sculptor, art historian, and critic.[1] She collaborated extensively with her husband, Claes Oldenburg.
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Van Bruggen studied history of art at the University of Groningen. From 1967 to 1971, she worked at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Until 1976, van Bruggen taught at the Academy for Art and Industries in Enschede. In 1978, Van Bruggen moved to New York, in 1993 she became a United States citizen.
She collaborated extensively with her husband, sculptor Claes Oldenburg, since 1976. They were married in 1977. Together, they designed several large scaled sculptures such as the Inverted Collar and Tie in Frankfurt am Main. Since the early 1980s Van Bruggen worked as an independent critic and curator. In 1982 she was member of the selection committee of the documenta 7 in Kassel. In 1988, her work along with Oldenburg Spoonbridge and Cherry was commissioned by the Walker Art Center, and became a permanent fixture of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden as well as an iconic image of the city of Minneapolis. Van Bruggen published books about the early work of Oldenburg, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the works of Bruce Nauman.
Together with Oldenburg, Van Bruggen received numerous awards including the Distinction in Sculpture, Sculpture Center, New York (1994); Nathaniel S. Saltonstall Award, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1996); Partners in Education Award, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2002); the Medal Award, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2004) and honorary degrees from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California (1996); University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, England (1999); Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia (2005); and the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan (2005).
The Estate of Coosje van Bruggen is represented by The Pace Gallery, New York.
She died in 2009, aged 66, after a long battle with breast cancer.