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Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1960, Oil on canvas. 20 x 20". Verso on upper stretcher "August 1960 eva hesseTop." On lower stretcher "eva hesse 1960." Private collection, New York. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth.

Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1960, Oil on canvas. 49 14 x 49 1/4". Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland.

depictions that resemble the artist herself, in traditionaleasel-size scale (approximately 32 x 42 inches).

The exhibition considers these s emi-representational andevocative works not merely as self-portraits per se, but asstates of c onsciousness, and thereby open a dialogueabout Hesse and her aspirations against a diaristicaccount of nightmares and visions that remained constantthroughout her life. As McKinnon notes, Looking inwardlyand outwardly and with paint as her guide, she began topaint herself out and away and ahead The processionof paintings under examination here represents a rupturethat, once completed (not as a formal solution but ratheras a psychological denouement), settled back into solvingthe problems presented in abstraction, eventually evolvinginto the constructions that Hesse is lauded for. Against abody of commentary suggesting these particular worksare abject exercises of self-deprecation, Eva Hesse

Spectres 1960examines them as testimonies to privateanxiety. This exhibition aims to further understanding thedevelopment of Hesses artistic voice and contribution, asthe spectre paintings demand an historical recons iderationof when Hesse became "Hesse."Born in Hamburg in 1936, Eva Hesse and her family fled in1938 to escape the fate of Germanys J ews and settled inNew York City. She was determined to be an artist from anearly age, str iving at first to be a painter. She began tocreate s tartlingly original configurations that exploited theproperties of cheesecloth, rubber, plastic, tubing, cloth,and other materials. Hesse achieved a level of successattained by few women of the time. By 1963 she had hadher first one-woman show; by 1968 she had galleryrepresentation. She died in 1970 of a brain tumor. Twoyears after her untimely death, the Guggenheim Museumheld a retrospective of her workthe first such exhibitionorganized around a woman.

Eva Hesse,Untitled, 1960, Oil on canvas. 18 x 15". TheMuseum of Modern Art, New York, gift of Mr. and Mrs.Murray Charash.

Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1960, Oil on Masonite. 15-1/4 x 1 2".Verso in ballpoint pen 'p-e'. The Estate of Eva Hesse,courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.


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Eva Hesse,Untitled, 1960, Oil on canvas. 49 -1/4 x 49-1/4". Alexandra Charish, Los Angeles.

Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1960, Oil on canvas. 18 x 16". Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland.

Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1960, Oil on Masonite. 15-3/4 x 1 2"".Verso in ballpoint pen 'p-a', white 'x' in oil. The Estate ofEva Hesse, courtesy Hauser & Wirth.


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Eva Hesse (American, born Germany, 1936-1970). No title, 1960. Oil on canvas. 91.44 x 91.44 cm. Collection of Barbara Bluhm-Kaul and Don Kaul, Chicago, Illinois,USA.


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Eva Hesse, Inside I, 1967, Acrylic, papier-mch,wood, cord, wire, 30.5 x 30.5 x 30 .5 cm, interior

object: 7 x 21.5 x 23 cm.

Eva Hesse, No title, 1969, Papier-cach, 26.5 x 28.5 x 6.6 cm.


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Eva Hesse's Prototypes Find a Defined Place in Her Oeuvre



Hauser & Wirth New York32 East 69th Street+1 212 794 4970New YorkEVA HESSEMarch 16-April 24, 2010

In 1969, one year before her death atthe age of 34, German-born Americanartist Eva Hesse wrote of her desire

to get to non-art, non-connotive, non-anthropomorphic, non-geometric,non-nothing; every thing Its not thenew, it is what is yet not known,thought, seen, touched; but reallywhat is not and that is. In her effort tomake works that could transcendliteral associations, Hesse cultivatedmistakes and surprise,precariousness and enigma. Theobjects she produced, at oncehumble and enormously c harismatic,played a central role in transformingcontemporary art practice.

Hauser & Wirth New York opens anexhibition of such objects : EVAHESSEbrings together 14 works,many never before shown in theUnited States, that have beenconsidered improvisational "testpieces" for larger sculptures. Ofthese, eleven are delicate papier

cach forms wisps of assembledpaper, tape, cheesecloth andadhesive made between 1966 and1969 that are neither round norrectangular, but indeterminate.Intimate manifestations of the artiststhought process, they evoke thebodily, s uggesting fragments of sk ull,sheaths of timeworn parchment,tablets awaiting manuscr ipt, curvingshadows, the lens of an eyeball.These objects evade easy definition:They have been seen variously asexperiments, little pieces, molds, testsfor larger works, or finished works intheir own right. In her recent researchon Hesses work, prominent Britishart historian Briony Fer has renamedthese objects collectively as"studioworks," proposing that theirprecarious nature places them at thevery heart of Hesses influentialpractice and raises important

questions about tr aditional notions ofwhat constitutes sculpture.

EVA HESSEpresents its contentsupon a plinth that loosely alludes tohow these works may have beenencountered in Hesses studio,temporarily arranged in groups on theartists work table, always subject tochange. The objects in this exhibitionis included in the museum survey EvaHesse: Studioworksat FundaciAntoni Tapies in Barcelona (May 14-August 1, 2010), the Art Gallery ofOntario in Toronto (September 10,2010-January 2, 2011), and theBerkeley Art Museum in California(January 26-April 24, 2011).

In New York in the 1960s, Hesse wasamong a group of artists , includingRobert Morris, Bruce Nauman,Richard Serra and Robert Smithson,who engaged materials that were

originally soft and flexible: aluminum,latex rubber, plastic, lead, polythene,copper, felt, chicken-wire, dirt,sawdust, paper pulp and glue. Oftenunstable, these elements y ieldedworks forever alive in their relativityand mutability. Hesse was aware sheproduced objects that wereephemeral, but this problem was ofless concern to her than the desire toexploit materials with a temporal


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Eva Hesse, No title, 1969, Cheesecloth, adhesive, 36.2 x 30.4 x 8.5 cm.


dimension. Much of the tumescent,life-affirming power of Hesses artderives from this confident embraceof moment. As she stated in aninterview with Cindy Nemser in 1970,Life doesnt last; art doesnt last.

Eva Hesse, No title, 1969, Papier-cach, 52.7 x 19 x 13.8 cm.

Photo of Eva Hesse holdingIngeminate, 1965.


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Eva Hesse, Inside II, 1967, Acrylic, papier-mch,sawdust, wood, cord, metal, paper, 13.5 x 18.5 x

18.7 cm.


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Eva Hesse, Accession II, 1967,galvanized steel, plastic tubing


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Eva Hesse, Legs of a walking ball, May 1965, paint, cord, papier-mach, metal on masonite.

Eva Hesse's Lifetime of Large, Small, and Undefined Works

Eva Hesse, S-89, Test Piece for Repetition Nineteen II. Latex, cotton, rubber. Courtesy Florette and Ronald Lynn, NewJersey, 1967.

Camden Arts CentreArkwright Road+44 (0)20 7472 5500LondonEva Hesse: StudioworkDecember 11, 2009-March 7, 2010

Throughout her career, EvaHesse produced a large numberof small, experimental worksalongside her large-scalesculpture. These objects, so-called test pieces, were made ina wide range of materials,including latex, wire-mesh,sculp-metal, wax andcheesecloth. Left in her studio atthe time of her death, sold orgiven to friends during herlifetime, these objects evadeeasy definition, seen variouslyas experiments, little pieces,moulds, tests or finished pieces.

A solo presentation of the workof German-born American artistEva Hesse (1936-1970), amajor figure in post-war art. Theexhibition is the res ult of newresearch by renowned Hessescholar Professor Briony Ferand is curated by Fer and BarryRosen, Director of The Estate ofEva Hesse.

In her recent research onHesses work, Briony Fercollectively renamed theseobjects as studioworks,proposing that their precariousnature places them at the heart

of Hesses work and questionstraditional notions of whatsculpture is.

This exhibition brings togetheraround fifty works drawn frommajor public and privatecollections around the world,showing works which areextremely fragile and rarelytravel. The exhibition and the


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Eva Hesse, S-105. Fibreglass, polyester resin, plastic. Courtesy University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and PacificFilm Archive. Gift of Mrs Helen Charash, 1968.

accompanying major publicationoffer a timely new interpretationof Hesses historical position, aswell as highlighting herrelevance for contemporary artnow.

Eva Hesse (January 11, 1936-May 29, 1970), a German-bornAmerican sculptor, known forher pioneering work in materialssuch as latex, fiberglass, andplastics, was born into a familyof observant Jews in Hamburg,Germany. When Hesse wastwo years old, her parents,hoping to flee from NaziGermany, sent Eva and her

older sister to the Netherlands.She and her sister wereseparated from their parents fora few months before they werereunited. After living in Englandfor a while, the family emigratedto New York City in 1939. Theysettled in Manhattan'sWashington Heights.

After graduating from NewYork's School of Industr ial Art in1952, Hesse studied at NewYork's Pratt Institute (1952-1953) and Cooper Union (1954-1957), then at the Yale School ofArt and Architecture (1957-1959), where she s tudied underJosef Albers and received aB.F.A. On returning to New Yorkshe made friends with manyyoung artists. In 1961, she metand married fellow sc ulptor TomDoyle. In August 1962 EvaHesse and Tom Doyleparticipated in an Allan KaprowHappening at the Art StudentsLeague of New York inWoodstock, New York. ThereHesse made her first threedimensional piece: a costumefor the Happening. In 1963 EvaHesse had a one-person showof works on paper at the AllanStone Gallery on New York'sUpper East Side.

The couple whose marr iagewas coming apart lived andworked in an abandoned textilemill in the Ruhr region ofGermany for about a yearduring 1964-1965. Hesse wasnot happy to be back inGermany, but began sculptingwith materials that had been leftbehind in the abandoned

factory: first relief sculpturesmade of cloth-covered cord,electrical wire, and masonite,with playful titles like Eighterfrom DecaturandOomamaboomba . Returning toNew York City in 1965 shebegan working in the materialsthat would becomecharacteristic of her work: latex,fiberglass, and plastics.

She was assoc iated with themid-1960s postminimal anti-formtrend in sc ulpture, participatingin New York exhibits such asEccentric AbstractionandAbstract Inflationism and StuffedExpressionism(both 1966). InSeptember 1968 she beganteaching at the School of VisualArts. Her only one-person showof sculpture in her lifetime was

Chain Polymersat theFischbach Gallery on W. 57thStreet in New York in November1968; her large piece ExpandedExpansionshowed at theWhitney Museum in the 1969exhibitAnti-Illusion:Process/Materials. There havebeen dozens of majorposthumous exhibitions in theUnited States and Europe,including at The GuggenheimMuseum (1972, the SanFrancisco Museum of ModernArt (2002), The Drawing Centerin New York (2006) and theJewish Museum of New York(2006).

Except for fiberglass, most ofher favored materials age badly,so much of her work presentsconservators with an enormous

challenge. Arthur Danto, writingof the Jewish Museum's 2006retrospective, refers to "thediscolorations, the slackness inthe membrane-like latex, thepalpable aging of the materialYet somehow the work does notfeel tragic. Instead it is full of life,of eros, even of comedy Eachpiece in the show vibrates withoriginality and mischief."


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Eva Hesse, Ingeminate, November 1965, papier-mach, cord, enamel over balloons, surgical hose.

In 1969 she was diagnosed witha brain tumor. Her death in 1970ended a career spanning onlyten years.

"The joy and freedom ofHesses art is staggering. Anyyoung artist could get aneducation just by coming to thisshow a few times."

Jonathan Jones, TheGuardian

Eva Hesse: Studioworkisorganised by The FruitmarketGallery, Edinburgh incollaboration with Camden Arts

Centre, London; FundacioAntoni Tapies, Barcelona; ArtGallery of Ontario, Toronto andBerkeley Art Museum andPacific Film Archive.

The exhibition is supported byThe Foy le Foundation, ColumbiaFoundation, Mike DaviesCharitable Settlement and BrianBoylan.


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Photo of Eva Hesse holding Ingeminate , 1965.

Eva Hesse, Repetition Nineteen III, 1968 , fiberglass and polyester.


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