Claire Falkenstein
Sculptor
American, (1908–1998)
Claire Falkenstein was born in Coos Bay, Oregon in 1908. In 1920, Falkenstein’s family moved to Oakland, California, where she graduated high school and went on to earn degrees in art, anthropology, and philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1930. As a child in California, Falkenstein would sneak off to the beach in the early morning to watch the sunrise. It was through these ventures that Falkenstein was exposed to the forms of the seaweed, driftwood, shells, and rocks that would predominantly inspire her later artwork. After her graduation from Berkeley, Falkenstein took several teaching positions at Bay Area universities before moving to Paris in 1950.
Upon her return to Los Angeles in 1963, Falkenstein began taking many high-profile commissions for public art sculptures, murals, and fountains. These works would drive her career until her death in 1997.
Book III, C.C.O. 2001.15
Book V, Cutouts 2001.16
Builder 1987.289
City is Man 1987.292
Combined Structures 2001.21
Creation: A Seed 1987.286
Creation: A Seed 1987.288
Destruction 1987.290
Flight 1987.300
Forms in Space 2001.20
Growth 1987.287
Neverending Screen 1984.1176
San Francisco Circulartory System. 1987.291
Space Drawing 2001.18
Structure of Ideas 2001.19
Untitled 1990.20
Untitled 1990.41
Untitled 1987.293
Untitled 1987.294
Untitled 1987.295
Untitled 1987.296
Untitled 1987.297
Untitled 1987.298
Untitled 1987.299
Untitled 2001.17
Untitled 2009.16