Baseball Bat

Media - 1998.24.2 - SAAM-1998.24.2_1 - 56279
Copied Claire Falkenstein, Baseball Bat, 1941, polychromed ash, 37 5⁄8 x 5 3⁄4 in. (95.6 x 14.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Claire Falkenstein McCarthy Trust, 1998.24.2

Artwork Details

Title
Baseball Bat
Artist
Date
1941
Location
Dimensions
37 5⁄8 x 5 3⁄4 in. (95.6 x 14.6 cm.)
Markings
base bottom carved: '41/C. FALKENSTEIN base bottom in pencil: Sw3
Credit Line
Gift of the Claire Falkenstein McCarthy Trust
Mediums
Mediums Description
polychromed ash
Classifications
Keywords
  • Nonrepresentational
  • Abstract
  • Object — toy — sports equipment
Object Number
1998.24.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1998.24.2

Artwork Description

Claire Falkenstein experimented with a wide variety of materials including reinforced concrete, copper tubing, wire, glass, and steel. In the early 1940s she made wooden sculptures that fragmented simple forms into pieces that could be taken apart and reassembled. Baseball Bat divides the narrow shape of a bat into several colored sections, and Fertility is composed of three painted axe handles. Both pieces disguise the original function of the objects and display Falkenstein’s interest in color and abstract form.