Claire Falkenstein

Artist Biography

Claire Falkenstein was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer, and teacher, best known for her often large-scale abstract sculptures in metal and glass for public spaces. Falkenstein was one of the most experimental and productive artists in 20th-century America, relentlessly exploring media, techniques, and processes with uncommon courage and intellectual rigor. Although respected in the art world in Europe and the United States after World War II, her indifference to the commodification of art, combined with her constant movement from one artistic metropolis to another, made her an elusive figure. Falkenstein worked first in the San Francisco Bay Area, then in Paris and New York, and finally in Los Angeles. She was involved in such radical art groups as the Gutai Group in Japan and Un Art Autre in Paris, and acquired an enduring position in the avant-garde, which she maintained until her death in 1997. Her interest in Einstein's theories of the universe inspired her to create wire and fused glass sculptures exploring the concept of infinite space.
Falkenstein's current reputation rests on his sculpture, and his three-dimensional work was often radical and ahead of its time.