Eva Hesse

October Files

by Mignon Nixon (Editor)

A critical primer on the work of artist Eva Hesse.Eva Hesse's distinctive process-based art exerted a powerful influence on minimalist artists of the 1960s and continues to inspire artists today. Using industrial materials such as latex and fiberglass, she exploited their flexibility to produce works with an unsettling psychic and corporeal resonance. Hesse, who was born in Germany in 1936 and raised in New York City, died of cancer in New York in 1970. Eva Hesse focuses on the body of criticism that has developed since the last major retrospective of Hesse's work, at the Yale University Art Gallery in 1992. The book's publication coincides with a major exhibition organized jointly by the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Wiesbaden Museum. Eva Hesse contains a 1970 interview by Cindy Nemser, a discussion between Mel Bochner and Joan Simon, and essays by Briony Fer, Rosalind Krauss, Mignon Nixon, and Anne M. Wagner.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

232 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 2002

Reviews

[Kari]

This book consists of essays and a couple of interviews on Eva Hesse. I liked the interviews but had forgotten or just realized how art theory/art criticism could be word salad to be scarfed down because its perceived to be good because it looks pretty or because you’re starving. In particular the essay “Hesse’s Desiring Machines” was unreadable for me though honestly I’m not sure if I understood the other essays either. I’d forgotten how much philosophy you need to know in general, as well as vocabulary you don’t normally use to truly understand what you’re reading.

I know this review sounds negative, but I actually found a little growth of understanding of Hesse’s work that I didn’t have before the read, and feel like if I slowed down and took the time to work through what was being said I might learn a good deal more or at least be able to pinpoint what I disagreed with. That being said I don’t have a solid enough understanding of what I read to rate it.

[Vaughnda Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked having several perspectives on one artist. Great introduction.