Claes Oldenburg visited London for the first time in October-November 1966 while preparing his first one-man show at the Robert Fraser Gallery, London.
"Created as a proposal for a gigantic monument at the Victoria Embankment, London. 'London Knees' (1966), was a very contemporary phenomenon, due to the recent invention of the miniskirt. It is difficult now to imagine how revolutionary this paradoxical combination of masculine voyeurism and feminine liberation seemed in its time. However, 'Knees' would not have qualified as the subject of a colossal monument, without links to other formal themes observed in London's surroundings, such as turrets and columns in the city's architecture or the ubiquitous posters of a government anti-smoking campaign showing heaps of butts, or 'fagends'. The architectural and fetishistic functions of 'Knees' was accentuated by the fashion of wearing boots with the mini, which created a sharply demarcated area of the body suitable for objectification." Oldenburg. Multiples in Retrospect.
From Oldenburg. Multiples in Retrospect pg 56
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