{"data":{"id":"17199","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":17199,"topgoose_id":6903,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":17199,"title":"Giant BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich)","display_artist_text":"Claes Oldenburg","display_date":"1963","accession_number":"2002.255a-s","dimensions":"Overall: 32 × 39 × 29 in. (81.3 × 99.1 × 73.7 cm)","medium":"Vinyl, kapok, painted wood, and wood","department":"collection","classification":"Sculpture","credit_line":"Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eClaes Oldenburg, \u003cem\u003eGiant BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich)\u003c/em\u003e, 1963. Vinyl, kapok, painted wood, and wood, overall: 32 × 39 × 29 in. (81.3 × 99.1 × 73.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President 2002.255a-s. © Claes Oldenburg\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGiant BLT\u003c/i\u003e, among the earliest of Claes Oldenburg’s soft sculptures, joins other cafeteria edibles in his work, such as the painted plaster reliefs he produced for his 1961 environment \u003ci\u003eThe Store\u003c/i\u003e, or his soft treatments of hamburgers, ice cream cones, and French fries. In 1962, Oldenburg discovered shiny vinyl fabrics, available in many colors, and found the material ideal for making malleable, mutable objects as alternatives to the hard and fixed forms of conventional sculpture. He began creating three-dimensional, monumental replicas of ordinary objects with the pliable fabric, stuffing his forms with various fillers to achieve an optimum degree of flaccidity. Here, he used kapok, a down-like substance. \u003ci\u003eGiant BLT \u003c/i\u003eis composed of several layers—bread, bacon, lettuce, and tomato—pierced with a wooden toothpick. These components must be reassembled each time the sculpture is installed, a process that adds another level of flexibility to the composition.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"Stacked oversized sandwich sculpture with lettuce, tomato, and a black olive on a wooden skewer.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T16:11:20.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T12:00:03.702-05:00","images":[{"id":104638,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/17199/2002_255a-s_vw2_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"964","type":"artist"}]}}}}