Claire Falkenstein
1908–1997 · USA
About Claire Falkenstein
Claire Falkenstein (1908–1997) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and jewelry designer. Born in Coos Bay, Oregon, she grew up in Berkeley and graduated from the University of California in 1930 after studying art, anthropology, and philosophy. Her first solo exhibition opened at San Francisco’s East-West Gallery that year. She later taught at Mills College and the California School of Fine Arts.
Falkenstein moved to Paris in 1950, where wire, welded metal, glass, and open lattice structures became central to her work. Peggy Guggenheim commissioned her entrance gates for Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1960; they were completed in 1961. Falkenstein returned to the United States in 1962 and established a studio in Venice, California, producing sculpture and architectural commissions that treated air, light, and passage as active elements.
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Claire Falkenstein (1908–1997) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and jewelry designer. Born in Coos Bay, Oregon, she grew up in Berkeley and graduated from the University of California in 1930 after studying art, anthropology, and philosophy. Her first solo exhibition opened at San Francisco’s East-West Gallery that year. She later taught at Mills College and the California School of Fine Arts.
Falkenstein moved to Paris in 1950, where wire, welded metal, glass, and open lattice structures became central to her work. Peggy Guggenheim commissioned her entrance gates for Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1960; they were completed in 1961. Falkenstein returned to the United States in 1962 and established a studio in Venice, California, producing sculpture and architectural commissions that treated air, light, and passage as active elements.