Eva Hesse

by Lucy R. Lippard

As Lippard points out, Hesse's use of obsessive repetition in her works served to increase and exaggerate the absurdity she saw in her life. In many ways, her works were ”psychic models,” as Robert Smithson has said, of ”a very interior person.” In pioneering the use of ”soft” materials, her sculptures betrayed her awareness of the manner in which her experience as a woman altered her art and career. Although she died before feminism affected the art world to any great extent, her major works have since become talismans for succeeding generations of women artists. Eva Hesse was designed by Hesse's friends and colleagues Sol LeWitt and Pat Stier; her sculptures, drawings, and paintings are reproduced and discussed; and the text includes numerous quotations from her diaries. First published in 1976 but long out-of-print, this classic text is both an insightful critical analysis and a tribute to an artist whose genius has become increasingly apparent with the passage of time.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, Art History, 20th Century

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Since 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on feminism, art, politics and place and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations. A 2012 exhibition on her seminal book, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object at the Brooklyn Museum, titled "Six Years": Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art", cites Lippard's scholarship as its point of entry into a discussion about conceptual art during its era of emergence, demonstrating her crucial role in the contemporary understanding of this period of art production and criticism. Her research on the move toward dematerialization in art making has formed a cornerstone of contemporary art scholarship and discourse.

Co-founder of Printed matter (an art bookstore in New York City centered around artist's books), the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D), Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, and other artists' organizations, she has also curated over 50 exhibitions, done performances, comics, guerrilla theater, and edited several independent publications the latest of which is the decidedly local La Puente de Galisteo in her home community in Galisteo, New Mexico. She has infused aesthetics with politics, and disdained disinterestedness for ethical activism.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

ONe of the best artist monograph/biographies I think I've ever read. Lippard's clear precise prose sketches Eva Hesse's sadly short yet amazing rise to success in a highly readable manner. A must read for even fairweather fans of the artist's work.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read my Facebook page or my blog, you can gather I have been thinking of Eva Hesse. Mostly due that I work within a few yards from two of her art works: "Aught" and "Augment" in the current group exhibition at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. Also, since I have been working at ARTBOOK, I have become aware of the art critic/writer Lucy Lippard. So, this is my first little adventure with her as well as reading a book on Hesse's work.

What's really interesting about this book is that it was put together shortly after Hesse's tragic passing (from a brain tumor) and there has been numerous books on her as of this time. But Lippard's book was probably the first one to be totally devoted Hesse's art and life (sort of). The book has biography aspects to it, but mostly focuses on her work in a chronicle order. So, reading the text, seeing the black and white images (I know this is perverse, but I actually like B&W images of artwork) is a very good read.

Lippard was also a close friend of Hesse, but she doesn't let that stand in the way of commenting on her artwork. She's a very good writer, and doesn't write for the academic world, but more for the guys and girls on the street level. Although her life had a tragic bent, her work I find totally up and hopeful. There is an open-ended humor to a lot of the sculptures - and what's interesting when you read the text, is the context of her being a woman in pretty much a men's world at that time. The feminist movement was happening, but it was still a very new thought - at least in the artist planet of that time and place - New York City. The book I suspect, is out-of-print, but my library in Los Angeles has quite a few copies. Do check it out not only for Eva Hesse (of course) but also for the thoughtful writing and commentary by Lucy Lippard.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed Lucy Lippard's writing. Her work here on Eva Hesse is quite good and I believe captures something essential about the artist and her work.

I had a the pleasure of seeing a retrospective of Hesse's work in San Francisco a few years back. Lippard's biography definitely enhanced the experience for me. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes Hesse.

[Julieta · Rating 4 out of 5]

lucy lippard qué geniaaaaaa

súper objetivo y cuidadoso en los lazos que traza entre vida y obra de hesse. cómo habla de las formas! leer descripciones físicas de esculturas has never felt more magical!

reflexiones algo dated sobre ser mujer y artista blablabla pero es súper interesante esa diferencia de épocas! aparte es cero cursi sin llegar a la insensibilidad!

qué importante entender obras de arte tanto en su forma aislada como en consecuencia de procesos individuales y específicos!

[lia 🐩 · Rating 3 out of 5]

lindo, me gustó que lo escribiera alguien cercano a ella y que las historias se cruzaran en algún momento, así como que algunas de las piezas mostradas pertenecieran a lucy. es muy transparente sobre lo que requiere convertirse en artista: elegir el lenguaje con el que hablas de tus obras, por ejemplo. también lo del gran equipo de personas que se necesitaba para hacer sus piezas y que las últimas ya ni las montó ella

[alexisren03 · Rating 5 out of 5]

this lobro is the very interesting every part of it is amazing

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who wouldn't love Lucy Lippard? She is not only a great historian and theorist, but her publications demand an audience....go check it out. Let's not forget that Eva Hesse is among the first female installation artists.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edición hermosísima del diálogo entre Lucy R. Lippard y los diarios y obra de Eva Hesse. Es extraño y revelador reconocer en la artista a Sylvia Plath y, desgraciadamente, a su marido Doyle en Ted Hughes. Casi puedo verlas a ambas habiéndose preguntado: "¿Tengo derecho a la feminidad? ¿Puedo lograr un esfuerzo artístico y pueden coincidir?"

[sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her

[Millicent Villacastin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked seeing her sketches side by side to the product. it reminds me that note taking and sketching are hand in hand if not the same

[Valentina Parra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble artista, inteligente, simple y muy sensible

[Verónica Mora · Rating 5 out of 5]

De las mejores biografías escritas, con excelentes fotografías de bocetos y obra, de verdad que una gran artista y una gran mujer para la historia del arte.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

After recently seeing the Eva Hesse documentary, I went back to this book which I obtained in 1979. Hesse was an important artist who was acknowledged when women were less likely to garner any attention. This made her unsure of herself sometimes, but the work itself has strength and it still feels very relevant now.

The weird thing was hearing Benedict Cumberbatch read Sol LeWitt's letter to Hesse, when she was expressing doubts about herself. https://youtu.be/VnSMIgsPj5M
Knowing LeWitt as a soft-spoken, generous and yet forceful person, hearing the letter read as a piece of theater turned it into hyperbole. Is this the way to entice people who do not know who Hesse or LeWitt are to become interested in their work?

[Lessthanhalf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book–– the first book on Hesse (and frankly, first book on any of the major artists of the 60s) and still the definitive one. Lippard knew Hesse well, and as a result can communicate both the artist and the person. I find her willingness to be critical of Hesse, as well as loving, is refreshing and essential as a means to interpreting this great woman's art divorced from the myths that surround her (and her early death at 34).

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artist I wrote my masters thesis on, a truly inspiring woman.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy Lippards text explains E Hesse's hard work and struggle to make it in male dominated art world. Also excerpts from EH's diary and letters

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly black and white plates for the artist's work, which leaves quite a bit to the imagination. This book hasn't aged well.

[Sophia Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic one of my favourite books!

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

good one...