Features

• Box set

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - Museum    4. History - Contemporary (1945- )    5. Individual Artist    6. Sculpture    7. Catalogues raisonnes   

Reviews (7)

Long overdue assesment of this groundbreaking sculptor!
Eva Hesse was one of those rare creative spirits who took the unsettled, unhappy, tragic, and difficult aspects of her life and used the underpinnings of uncertainty to forge a wholly unique and superbly creative body of work."Oh...more absurdity!" she would exclaim, reviewing her latest creation. One hears in that comment an undertone of glee, that she has unleashed another unheard-of creation upon the world.Her use of uncoventional materials is also a provocative element of her work, and she knew that...saying "art doesn't last...life doesn't last..." and this was before her terrible diagnosis of brain cancer in her early 30's.As with the early death of Mozart, here we have an instance of a powerfully creative spirit cut off in her prime.Who knows what powerful masterpieces she would have created had she lived on...(she would have been 70 this year...not unreasonably old...)
great design and reproductions
I really appreciate the work of this artist who I only found out about recently. The essays in this book are full of details of the artist's process and pursuit of a pure vision while living in the U.S. and in Europe. She had a hard time being taken seriously in the early days but she persisted in her work--thankfully for all of us. The interviews with her are fascinating and show her internal struggle as she was developing a creative direction. Great catalogue!

Gorgeous book; too much space for early work
This is a beautiful volume on Hesse.Elizabeth Sussman, a wonderful curator and Hesse scholar, organized this exhibition and this is the catalogue. The design, images and layout are just wonderful, the only thing that is somewhat off is the concentration on her earlier work.Her paintings especially are widely featured and those are not nearly as transcendent and absolute as her later work.Her great accomplishment as a major artist was done when she "left" the canvas.The book does not present it as such; I find Lippard's book "Eva Hesse" to be the very best available.This, however, still has the best reproductions and it is a definitive book for all of us who admire Eva Hesse. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1936-1970    2. American - General    3. Art    4. Art & Art Instruction    5. Artists, Architects, Photographers    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - General    8. Exhibition Catalogs    9. Exhibitions    10. General    11. Hesse, Eva,    12. History - Contemporary (1945- )    13. Individual Artist    14. Sculpture    15. Art / General    16. Individual artists    17. Sculpture & other three-dimensional art forms   

Reviews (1)

informative overview to this influential but short-lived artist
Leaving an extensive body of work in varied media and an unfinished, seeming boundless career when she died in 1970 at the age of 34 from over-exposure to the toxic materials she used in her art, Eva Hesse was rendered into an almost legendary figure representing the risks and promise of art coming about in the culturally fertile period of the 1960s. Born in Germany, she emigrated as a girl to the U.S. with her family; and did most of her art work in New York City.Containing numerous samples of all kinds of Hesse's work, the book with its nine writings from individuals who knew Hesse and her work well, including an interview with Hesse's one-time collaborator Doug Johns, is mainly an expansive reflection on her as a person and artist. The writers variously recount and discuss her techniques, and consider her place in modern art. The assorted remembrances and thoughts combine for an attempt "to apply these newer critical concepts to her work" (referring to new critical theory which has been developed for dealing more appropriately with postmodern and women's art in the decades since Hesse died). In an informal way through remembrances, knowledgeable though limited comments on the art including pertinent of pertinent remarks by Hesse, and loosely organized chapters--rather than systematic or scholarly investigation, for example--the book brings comprehension of Hesse forward without proffering a definitive view. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Individual Artist    4. Individual artists    5. Minimalist art    6. Sculpture   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. History - Contemporary (1945- )    5. History - General    6. Techniques - Drawing    7. Art / General    8. Drawing & drawings    9. Individual artists   

Subjects:  1. 1936-1970    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Criticism and interpretation    5. Hesse, Eva,    6. History - General    7. Individual Artist    8. Minimal art    9. United States    10. Art / Individual Artist    11. Individual artists   

Subjects:  1. Hesse, Eva   

Reviews (2)

Wonderful tribute to Groundbreaking Artist
I have this book and I love it.You are given a glimpse of the New York art scene in the 1960's and get a feeling of what it must have been like during that exciting period.In fact, it's a little scary to imagine being around during that time, kind of overwhelming.Conceptual art, pop art, Andy Warhol, the whole psychedelic hippie scene.But oddly still a man's world, for all the miniskirts and 'free love' hype.Her contemporaries were pretty much all men, and the women tended to be more like sidekicks and dilettantes. (Not to take anything away from male artists, that's just the way it was at the time.) The end of Eva's marriage, to another artist, seems almost a given once she really started to come into her own right.It must have been kind of lonely, men were probably threatened by the idea of a female artist, or maybe it was just that she didn't have time to find the right person in her short life.Also, at the time there was much less awareness of toxicity in art materials both traditional and non-traditional.I have to admit I'm fascinated by the romance of this heroic figure producing art despite the cost to her personal life and health.I don't see her as a martyr but as a brave pioneer who left us with beautiful art.Many of Eva Hess's sculptures were made using ephemeral materials but this book has pictures of them when they were new.Even if the actual sculptures don't survive, the image of them will somehow continue to survive, maybe with the help of virutal reality technology?Anyway, thank you Lucy Lippard for this informative book packed with pictures and info about Eva!

Great document of crucial, endlessly fertile Hesse
Featured are reproductions even of artworks which no longer exist, and Lippard's commentary is always to the point.I don't dwell on the fact that Eva Hesse died young -- in fact, I'm not interested in the cult ofpersonality which in my view only obscures the works themselves.But in atleast three directions Hesse has given me plenty to think about and purelyenjoy, and this book documents everything...maybe it slights the drawingsa bit, but there's another book out there with nothing but drawings,drawings galore.The implications of what Hesse accomplished remain"mindblowing."Anyone who has only heard about her or seen oneor two works needs to see what they've missed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1936-1970    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Artists    5. Biography    6. Hesse, Eva,    7. History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)    8. Individual Artist    9. United States    10. Biography: general    11. Hesse, Eva    12. Individual artists    13. Painting & paintings    14. Sculpture & other three-dimensional art forms   

Subjects:  1. 1936-1970    2. Exhibitions    3. Hesse, Eva,   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. General   

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Reviews (4)

inviting but not satisfying
I picked up this book after seeing the Hesse retrospective in San Francisco. Although it provides a lot of useful background, the reading the art are somehow too pat. I guess it is a problem to always refer to the artist's life, however fascinating, to explain their work? And the 'feminist' framework did seem forced -- the photos were very suggestive but the author seemed afraid to really go for it. Why is so much academic writing afraid to make a strong argument or provocative, unexpected analysis?

Insightful, scholarly, and accessible
One is reluctant to criticize the reviews of other customers, yet the two reviews prior to mine attempt to force upon Wagner's book both an historical framework and a point of view that are outside of her intended goal.If one reads the book for what it is, one finds a work of analytical insight, scholarship, humanity, and understanding of historical context.Enjoy it, savor it, reflect upon it!

well-reviewed feminist art criticism
Everyone who reviewed it seemed to love this overview of the careers of 3 artists:Krasner, Hesse. It's a fun read, with great photos, but I wish art historians would start to see there's more to the sixties than Hesse:what about Agnes Martin, Lee Bontecou, Yoko Ono, Alison Knowles, and allthe rest??Read more

Subjects:  1. 1887-1986    2. 20th Century Art    3. 20th century    4. Art    5. Art & Art Instruction    6. Art, American    7. Biography    8. History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)    9. History and criticism    10. Individual Artist    11. O'Keeffe, Georgia,    12. United States    13. Women And Art    14. Women artists    15. Women's Studies - General    16. Art / General    17. Hesse, Eva    18. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    19. Individual artists    20. Krasner, Lee    21. O'Keeffe, Georgia    22. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Fine Arts    4. Individual Artist   

Subjects:  1. Exhibitions    2. Hesse, Eva   

Features

• Complete

Subjects:  1. Individual artists    2. Painting & paintings   

Features

• Complete

Subjects:  1. 1936-1970    2. Architecture    3. Art    4. Catalogues raisonnes    5. Catalogues raisonnâes    6. General    7. Hesse, Eva,    8. Individual Sculptors And Their Work    9. Sculpture    10. Catalogues raisonnés    11. Hesse, Eva    12. Individual artists   

Features

• Box set