150. Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks. Claes Oldenburg. 1969-1974 CE. Cor-Ten steel, steel, aluminum, and cast resin; painted with polyurethane enamel.

• Function
  • First Installed, secretly, on Beinecke Plaza, New Haven, in 1969
  • Intended as a platform for public speakers; rallying point for anti-Vietnam-era protests
• Materials
  • Sculpture made of inexpensive and perishable materials
  • Refurbished with steel and aluminum; reinstalled in 1974 in front of Morse College, at Yale–not its original location
• Context
  • Tank-shaped platform base with lipstick ascending–antiwar symbolism
  • Male and female forms unite: themes of death, power, desire, and sensuality
  • First monumental sculpture by Oldenburg