What do you think?
Rate this book
Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta
In 1985, the charming, Cuban-born 36-year-old sculptor Ana Mendieta plunged to her death from the 34th-story Greenwich Village apartment she shared with her husband, the well-known and high regarded artist Carl Andre. The mystery of Ana's death and its cicumstances has never been resolved -- until now. Illustrated.
428 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1990
About the author
Robert Katz
50 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 5, 2018
One of my college professors recommended this book nearly 20 years ago and I finally got around to reading it. It's a great book - part detective story, part courtroom drama, part art-world exposé.
The author makes a very good argument that artist Carl Andre killed his wife, artist Ana Mendieta. Andre was acquitted because the legal system and the New York art community failed Ana and let him get away with it. He was then able to continue working and to continue showing his artwork.
What I wasn't expecting from this book was the very clear example of the patriarchy that it provided, without ever mentioning the patriarchy. Carl Andre got away with the murder of his wife because he was a successful, or at least a popular, male artist. And that's what the patriarchy does - it makes a man's job more important than a woman's life. There are too many examples like this to be ignored - from rapists who have received little to no jail time because they were young and had "potential," to the president of this country, who can brag on tape about grabbing women's genitals, which seems to be okay with people because he's a good "businessman."
So, I would totally recommend this book, but be forewarned it will haunt you. RIP Ana Mendieta.
The author makes a very good argument that artist Carl Andre killed his wife, artist Ana Mendieta. Andre was acquitted because the legal system and the New York art community failed Ana and let him get away with it. He was then able to continue working and to continue showing his artwork.
What I wasn't expecting from this book was the very clear example of the patriarchy that it provided, without ever mentioning the patriarchy. Carl Andre got away with the murder of his wife because he was a successful, or at least a popular, male artist. And that's what the patriarchy does - it makes a man's job more important than a woman's life. There are too many examples like this to be ignored - from rapists who have received little to no jail time because they were young and had "potential," to the president of this country, who can brag on tape about grabbing women's genitals, which seems to be okay with people because he's a good "businessman."
So, I would totally recommend this book, but be forewarned it will haunt you. RIP Ana Mendieta.
March 23, 2011
When Ana Mandieta died, I had no idea who she was, who her more famous husband was. Now I am speaking about one of Carl Andre's piece, and decided that I should read up on his trial for murder for killing his wife. This was a big thing in NYC. Andre was one of the stars (still is, I guess) of the Minimalist movement, and when his wife fell from their 34th floor apartment to her death, he was accused of having pushed her to her death. The case split the NYC art scene, with the established artists all circling the wagons around Andre, and many feminist artists calling for his head and for justice. He was found not guilty by the judge who heard the case.
Katz is upfront in admitting that in this divide, he is of the Mandieta camp, but he tries to be fair in presentation of the information we have. Only in getting inside the head of the judge (I know of no interviews he had with the judge, and the judge would not be blabbing about the case to a reporter) where he suggests that the judge found Andre not guilty because the prosecution did not make their case, with some evidence being left out. In other words, the judge felt Andre had done it, but that the prosecution had not proved it. In that moment, Katz does slip up and let his own feelings cloud what the judge may or may not have been thinking. Short of statements by the judge, I'm not sure we can make the leap he does here.
Katz is upfront in admitting that in this divide, he is of the Mandieta camp, but he tries to be fair in presentation of the information we have. Only in getting inside the head of the judge (I know of no interviews he had with the judge, and the judge would not be blabbing about the case to a reporter) where he suggests that the judge found Andre not guilty because the prosecution did not make their case, with some evidence being left out. In other words, the judge felt Andre had done it, but that the prosecution had not proved it. In that moment, Katz does slip up and let his own feelings cloud what the judge may or may not have been thinking. Short of statements by the judge, I'm not sure we can make the leap he does here.
June 1, 2025
Para ponernos en antecedentes: Ana Mendieta era una joven artista cubana que estaba abriéndose paso en la escena neoyorquina de finales de los setenta, principios de los ochenta; la obra que estaba desarrollando en los últimos años de su vida se centraba en la naturaleza y el cuerpo femenino. Su marido era Carl André, trece años mayor que ella, un artista ya más que establecido: el reverenciado pope del minimalismo escultórico. El 8 de septiembre de 1985, ella muere al los 36 años al caer desde la ventana del apartamento que compartían ambos en el Greenwich Village. Las circunstancias en las que esto sucedió nunca estuvieron claras. Carl André fue juzgado por el asesinato de Ana Mendieta y absuelto, pero eso nunca deshizo la controversia que rodeó el asunto y aún lo rodea.
Todo esto es de lo que habla Naked by the Window, de Robert Katz, y creedme que hay mucho que contar. Es una obra fascinante no solo sobre la vida de dos de los artistas más significativos de esa época en sus respectivos estilos, sino también sobre el mundo del arte estadounidense desde el boom del expresionismo abstracto, el ego descomunal de los artistas, lo masculina que era esa escena y lo ninguneadas que estaban artistas como Carolee Schneemann o Nancy Spero. Es una obra minuciosa que cuenta básicamente todo lo contable sobre esta historia. No en vano Robert Katz asistió a cada jornada del juicio contra Carl André e hizo casi unas doscientas entrevistas entre los allegado de ambos artistas (aunque el muro de silencio que construyó el team André hizo decir a la asistente del fiscal del distrito que solo había encontrado algo semejante entre la mafia). Todo eso la convierte en una fuente de información insoslayable para quien quiera opinar sobre el tema. Hay un podcast, Death of an Artist, que se ha apoyado en buena medida en el archivo de Robert Katz, y dentro de no sé cuándo y si no se ha caído el proyecto, que espero que no, habrá una serie de televisión con América Ferrera haciendo de Ana Mendieta (la serie en mi cabeza la interpreta la Sonia Braga de El beso de la mujer araña). Lo que espero que haya a no tardar mucho es una edición en español. A ver si la serie se estrena y contribuye a ello.
Todo esto es de lo que habla Naked by the Window, de Robert Katz, y creedme que hay mucho que contar. Es una obra fascinante no solo sobre la vida de dos de los artistas más significativos de esa época en sus respectivos estilos, sino también sobre el mundo del arte estadounidense desde el boom del expresionismo abstracto, el ego descomunal de los artistas, lo masculina que era esa escena y lo ninguneadas que estaban artistas como Carolee Schneemann o Nancy Spero. Es una obra minuciosa que cuenta básicamente todo lo contable sobre esta historia. No en vano Robert Katz asistió a cada jornada del juicio contra Carl André e hizo casi unas doscientas entrevistas entre los allegado de ambos artistas (aunque el muro de silencio que construyó el team André hizo decir a la asistente del fiscal del distrito que solo había encontrado algo semejante entre la mafia). Todo eso la convierte en una fuente de información insoslayable para quien quiera opinar sobre el tema. Hay un podcast, Death of an Artist, que se ha apoyado en buena medida en el archivo de Robert Katz, y dentro de no sé cuándo y si no se ha caído el proyecto, que espero que no, habrá una serie de televisión con América Ferrera haciendo de Ana Mendieta (la serie en mi cabeza la interpreta la Sonia Braga de El beso de la mujer araña). Lo que espero que haya a no tardar mucho es una edición en español. A ver si la serie se estrena y contribuye a ello.
September 20, 2017
This book is a detailed account of the alleged murder of Ana Mendieta. Mendieta was a wealthy Cuban immigrant to Iowa who went to Iowa for art school, then became a moderately successful New York artist. While my wife's old boss (an artist who came of age in NYC with Mendieta) said her death cemented her place in the art world, she deserves way more credit than that. Her work has gone on to be hugely influential to the artists who come after her.
The book itself is a tale of ego and art world ugliness, in other words, fascinating. For me it was a great read because I got my MFA from Iowa (as did she), and I know some of her old professors, one of whom was her lover. Thus, I had an inherent interest. But the good part of the book is just how crazy disturbing it is. Carl Andre, the famous minimalist scultor, is alleged to have thrown Mendieta out the window. From people I have encountered, Andre should have been found guilty, but it's not so easy to prove, and there were so many crazy politics and art egos involved it's nuts.
Very interesting if you like reading about the underbelly of the big money art world.
The book itself is a tale of ego and art world ugliness, in other words, fascinating. For me it was a great read because I got my MFA from Iowa (as did she), and I know some of her old professors, one of whom was her lover. Thus, I had an inherent interest. But the good part of the book is just how crazy disturbing it is. Carl Andre, the famous minimalist scultor, is alleged to have thrown Mendieta out the window. From people I have encountered, Andre should have been found guilty, but it's not so easy to prove, and there were so many crazy politics and art egos involved it's nuts.
Very interesting if you like reading about the underbelly of the big money art world.
June 15, 2020
Unfortunately I couldn't finish it, the pacing was soo slooow.
October 9, 2022
I really enjoyed most of the book and thought that the way Katz unveiled each connection and element was really intriguing. However, the book went way to into depth in many very insignificant details. I wish this had been edited down. I also think that my thoughts on this book are impacted by the insane amount of details regarding modern art. While they both did specialize in this art style I don't think the discussions surrounding modern art in the book were very interesting and I think they took away a lot from the rest of the events. Lastly, Carl Andre is a MURDER.
December 23, 2014
Not happy with the outcome. Excellent look into the art scene of the 70s and 80s.
February 22, 2026
Ana Mendieta fell out a window and died. It happened in September 1985, just several months after marrying Carl Andre. The couple had been arguing. Both of them were artists in New York City. Other than that, not a lot is known about what jappened that night. We do know that Carl Andre was charged with second degree murder, but was found innocent when taken to trial. The author Robert Katz doesn’t accept this verdict and makes it clear in his book Naked By the Window.
This review doesn’t have any spoilers because there isn’t anything to spoil. It opens with Ana Mendieta falling out the window of Carl Andre’s loft in Lower Manhattan. He calls the police, gets taken to jail, and goes up in front of a grand jury who decide not to send him to trial. The case gets reopened twice with similar results and a verdict of not guilty the final time. The rest of the story is non-sequential, alternating between flashbacks and the 1980s up to the last attempt at conviction.
Ana Mendieta was an up and coming Cuban-born artist. After the Revolution of 1959, her parents sent her and her sister Raquel to the United States where they had rough childhoods in foster homes. The racist white Americans in Iowa were not kind to them. While Raquel opted for the hippy lifestyle as she got older, Ana turned to art to vent her anger and ended up in the blossoming Soho art scene in Manhattan. Her sculptures and photography drew on Land Art and Body Art as source materials, examining the connections between the female body and nature. 1980s Soho was the right time and place for her arrival as an interest in both Latino and feminist art were coming into vogue. It was there that she met Carl Andre.
He was older than Ana Mendieta and had already established himself in the art world. From the late 1970s, he was involved in the postmodernist minimalist movement. His most famous works were things like piles of bricks, pieces of wood, and square tiles of zinc laid on the floor. It’s the kind of stuff that art critics love to praise as genius while making people outside the art world laugh. The concept of the “art world” is important because it has a lot to do with how the public reacted to the death of Ana Mendieta at the time of Carl Andre’s trial.
If people weren’t aware of class, race, and gender divisions in the art scene before Ana Mendieta’s death, they became aware of them at her funeral. Modern artists like to maintain a public image of being anti-establishment revolutionaries, but by Robert Katz’s estimate, they are little more than an miniature establishment unto themselves, a closed society of artists, critics, dealers, collectors, and gallery owners that are predominantly white, male, and rich. Ana Mendieta was becoming a leading figure in the Latin-American art scene and also embraced by some, but not all, feminists; her rising popularity threatened the traditional domain of the art establishment and her funeral became a rallying cry for unity among artists representing the Global South. So her funeral ended up being a tense mixture of white people who were ill at ease and Latinos who were outraged by her death. The walls of demarcation grew taller and thicker over the coming years as the white establishment maintained a code of silent defense, protecting Carl Andre from questioning. Those that believed Ana Mendieta had been murdered became aggressive in their public campaign against him. If art is meant to be revolutionary, this revolution is one that failed.
Aside from the artists’ biographies, the death of Ana Mendieta, and the effect it had on the art scene, the other major component of this book is the invstigation and trial of Carl Andre. The man was a minimalist artist and a man with minimal emotions, and if he truly committed murder, it was a crime with minimal evidence. While the police were convinced that Andre was guilty, they botched the collection of evidence and the small number of material witnesses proved to be unreliable. Aside from Ana Mendieta’s corpse, they couldn’t find much else to go on. That meant the prosecution had little more than circumstantial evidence.
What could be admitted into the case was that the married couple were heavy drinkers and prone to fighting. Carl Andre was adulterous and had a known history for verbally and physically abusing women. In Ana Mendieta’s defense, she wasn’t likely to have committed suicide as Andre claimed since she had extensive plans for the future, one of which was to divorce her husband. She also avoided going near windows because of her extreme fear of heights. The defense’s argument was that Mendieta was overly emotional because of her Cuban heritage, mentally unstable because she incorporated elements drawn from Santeria into her works, and obsessed with death because of the color red, representative of blood, she used in her sculptures indicating an unconscious wish to die. Therefore she killed herself. By Robert Katz’s estimation, Carl Andre had more reason to kill Ana Mendieta than she did to jump to her death. But the prosecution couldn’t provide enough evidence to support their case.
Robert Katz tells this story in a straightforward manner. His bias that Ana Mendieta is clear from the beginning. As mentioned before, those who are attracted to this book are probably already familiar with the case of Mendieta. Katz mostly wrote this book to fill in all the fine details for those who want to know more. But whether Andre pushed his wife out the window or she fell or jumped of her own volition is left an open question. Katz makes it feel overwhelmingly that Carl Andre is guilty of murder, but the reader is still left with the possibility that he is just skilled enough at persuasive writing to manipulate the reader’s emotions. He could have made his case by leaving out or altering information. But in recent times, patterns in the response to Ana Mendieta’s death have emerged even though more evidence hasn’t. Supporters of Carl Andre have continued to maintain strict silence in the questioning of the incident and the cause of Ana Mendieta remains a rallying call for feminists and social activists who are convinced of his guilt. Putting all politics aside, I am of the opinion that Carl Andre murdered Ana Mendieta and justice has never been served. Based on my sum of knowledge so far, I can’t see it any other way though I do admit this might be an impossible case to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt. And the two people who would know best are both dead.
Naked By the Window is a good document, probably the best document, of the Mendieta-Andre case. It is also a good portrait of the Soho art scene of the 1980s and some of its problematic aspects. It gives you a look into the darker side of a closed community that most will never be a part of. It should give you something to think about the next time you visit a gallery or sit for an art history class in a lecture hall. The art market is just as cut throat and vicious as any other big business. Don’t let the aesthetics and the mental stimulation of the art works fool you as to what goes on behind the scenes. As for the works done by those respective artists, and aside from the alleged crime of homicide committed by Carl Andre, the works of Ana Mendieta are certainly more visually engaging and meaningful. Her premature death cut short the life of a promising artist who was just beginning to find her stride towards her mature period of expression. Since her death, Carl Andre’s art has grown in popularity with his bales of hay and rows of bricks selling for millions. Some critics still love him, some consider him to be a con man. Although I’m not a big supporter of minimalism, I do know of some minimalist artists who are good. Carl Andre isn’t one of them. Maybe on that night of September 1985 the wrong person fell out of his window.
This review doesn’t have any spoilers because there isn’t anything to spoil. It opens with Ana Mendieta falling out the window of Carl Andre’s loft in Lower Manhattan. He calls the police, gets taken to jail, and goes up in front of a grand jury who decide not to send him to trial. The case gets reopened twice with similar results and a verdict of not guilty the final time. The rest of the story is non-sequential, alternating between flashbacks and the 1980s up to the last attempt at conviction.
Ana Mendieta was an up and coming Cuban-born artist. After the Revolution of 1959, her parents sent her and her sister Raquel to the United States where they had rough childhoods in foster homes. The racist white Americans in Iowa were not kind to them. While Raquel opted for the hippy lifestyle as she got older, Ana turned to art to vent her anger and ended up in the blossoming Soho art scene in Manhattan. Her sculptures and photography drew on Land Art and Body Art as source materials, examining the connections between the female body and nature. 1980s Soho was the right time and place for her arrival as an interest in both Latino and feminist art were coming into vogue. It was there that she met Carl Andre.
He was older than Ana Mendieta and had already established himself in the art world. From the late 1970s, he was involved in the postmodernist minimalist movement. His most famous works were things like piles of bricks, pieces of wood, and square tiles of zinc laid on the floor. It’s the kind of stuff that art critics love to praise as genius while making people outside the art world laugh. The concept of the “art world” is important because it has a lot to do with how the public reacted to the death of Ana Mendieta at the time of Carl Andre’s trial.
If people weren’t aware of class, race, and gender divisions in the art scene before Ana Mendieta’s death, they became aware of them at her funeral. Modern artists like to maintain a public image of being anti-establishment revolutionaries, but by Robert Katz’s estimate, they are little more than an miniature establishment unto themselves, a closed society of artists, critics, dealers, collectors, and gallery owners that are predominantly white, male, and rich. Ana Mendieta was becoming a leading figure in the Latin-American art scene and also embraced by some, but not all, feminists; her rising popularity threatened the traditional domain of the art establishment and her funeral became a rallying cry for unity among artists representing the Global South. So her funeral ended up being a tense mixture of white people who were ill at ease and Latinos who were outraged by her death. The walls of demarcation grew taller and thicker over the coming years as the white establishment maintained a code of silent defense, protecting Carl Andre from questioning. Those that believed Ana Mendieta had been murdered became aggressive in their public campaign against him. If art is meant to be revolutionary, this revolution is one that failed.
Aside from the artists’ biographies, the death of Ana Mendieta, and the effect it had on the art scene, the other major component of this book is the invstigation and trial of Carl Andre. The man was a minimalist artist and a man with minimal emotions, and if he truly committed murder, it was a crime with minimal evidence. While the police were convinced that Andre was guilty, they botched the collection of evidence and the small number of material witnesses proved to be unreliable. Aside from Ana Mendieta’s corpse, they couldn’t find much else to go on. That meant the prosecution had little more than circumstantial evidence.
What could be admitted into the case was that the married couple were heavy drinkers and prone to fighting. Carl Andre was adulterous and had a known history for verbally and physically abusing women. In Ana Mendieta’s defense, she wasn’t likely to have committed suicide as Andre claimed since she had extensive plans for the future, one of which was to divorce her husband. She also avoided going near windows because of her extreme fear of heights. The defense’s argument was that Mendieta was overly emotional because of her Cuban heritage, mentally unstable because she incorporated elements drawn from Santeria into her works, and obsessed with death because of the color red, representative of blood, she used in her sculptures indicating an unconscious wish to die. Therefore she killed herself. By Robert Katz’s estimation, Carl Andre had more reason to kill Ana Mendieta than she did to jump to her death. But the prosecution couldn’t provide enough evidence to support their case.
Robert Katz tells this story in a straightforward manner. His bias that Ana Mendieta is clear from the beginning. As mentioned before, those who are attracted to this book are probably already familiar with the case of Mendieta. Katz mostly wrote this book to fill in all the fine details for those who want to know more. But whether Andre pushed his wife out the window or she fell or jumped of her own volition is left an open question. Katz makes it feel overwhelmingly that Carl Andre is guilty of murder, but the reader is still left with the possibility that he is just skilled enough at persuasive writing to manipulate the reader’s emotions. He could have made his case by leaving out or altering information. But in recent times, patterns in the response to Ana Mendieta’s death have emerged even though more evidence hasn’t. Supporters of Carl Andre have continued to maintain strict silence in the questioning of the incident and the cause of Ana Mendieta remains a rallying call for feminists and social activists who are convinced of his guilt. Putting all politics aside, I am of the opinion that Carl Andre murdered Ana Mendieta and justice has never been served. Based on my sum of knowledge so far, I can’t see it any other way though I do admit this might be an impossible case to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt. And the two people who would know best are both dead.
Naked By the Window is a good document, probably the best document, of the Mendieta-Andre case. It is also a good portrait of the Soho art scene of the 1980s and some of its problematic aspects. It gives you a look into the darker side of a closed community that most will never be a part of. It should give you something to think about the next time you visit a gallery or sit for an art history class in a lecture hall. The art market is just as cut throat and vicious as any other big business. Don’t let the aesthetics and the mental stimulation of the art works fool you as to what goes on behind the scenes. As for the works done by those respective artists, and aside from the alleged crime of homicide committed by Carl Andre, the works of Ana Mendieta are certainly more visually engaging and meaningful. Her premature death cut short the life of a promising artist who was just beginning to find her stride towards her mature period of expression. Since her death, Carl Andre’s art has grown in popularity with his bales of hay and rows of bricks selling for millions. Some critics still love him, some consider him to be a con man. Although I’m not a big supporter of minimalism, I do know of some minimalist artists who are good. Carl Andre isn’t one of them. Maybe on that night of September 1985 the wrong person fell out of his window.
April 21, 2024
This is the factual account of the relationship between Ana Mendieta and Carl André, ended when Ana landed on a roof after ‘falling’ from the window of the apartment they shared on the 34th floor.
For artists especially, it’s a gripping description of the earliest days of the Soho art scene.
Katz does a service to all of us who have formed our opinions about whether André pushed Mendieta, or if it was an accident or suicide. That last option feels out of the running as Ana comes to life on these pages.
She went from a privileged childhood in Cuba to a horrific situation in America, clearly born with determination and an attachment to her family, art, and all of life. She was just starting to make inroads in her career when she died so violently.
As fascinating to me were descriptions of the power crowd of art dealers, gallerists, and some friends who formed an impenetrable wall around André, already a well established artist. The feminists who knew her seemed unable to give her memory their full support at the time. To this day those involved and affected, many still alive, seem torn about it, unwilling to speak their opinions openly.
I wasn’t in that apartment but after reading this book it’s impossible for me to not have an opinion about what might have happened.
For artists especially, it’s a gripping description of the earliest days of the Soho art scene.
Katz does a service to all of us who have formed our opinions about whether André pushed Mendieta, or if it was an accident or suicide. That last option feels out of the running as Ana comes to life on these pages.
She went from a privileged childhood in Cuba to a horrific situation in America, clearly born with determination and an attachment to her family, art, and all of life. She was just starting to make inroads in her career when she died so violently.
As fascinating to me were descriptions of the power crowd of art dealers, gallerists, and some friends who formed an impenetrable wall around André, already a well established artist. The feminists who knew her seemed unable to give her memory their full support at the time. To this day those involved and affected, many still alive, seem torn about it, unwilling to speak their opinions openly.
I wasn’t in that apartment but after reading this book it’s impossible for me to not have an opinion about what might have happened.
November 25, 2023
Naked By the Window is an extremely detailed comprehensive account of the life and circumstances of the death of artist Ana Mendieta. The author includes a lot of art history as well as court proceedings in this account. If you are intrigued, or curious about this case, I recommend this as a go-to source.
July 3, 2024
Seems to wander but compelling, some will love it, I didn't.
September 11, 2013
This was a fascinating read on many levels, the artistic SoHo community, the lives of the 2 artists, the trial, the justice system. Fascinating. I didn't know Ana Mendieta's work before seeing a few photos of the silhouette series at MCA this summer and a friend told me to read the book. I had to look up Carl Andre's minimalist work since that movement was not one of my favorites and I wasn't familiar with his "bricks", etc. The book covers everything in detail and presents all sides of the event.
August 7, 2007
Did he do it, or didn't he? A true life mystery set in the "Art Scene".
Read
October 27, 2017364.1523 K1992 1990
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews