Eva Hesse

German-born American artist Eva Hesse (1936–70) was a pioneering figure in Postminimalism, known for her use of materials such as latex and fiberglass to evoke fleshy, organic forms. This volume provides a historical account of Hesse’s landmark institutional exhibitions following her death, from 1972 to the present. Contributions from the museum curators involved in organizing these shows reflect the personal dimension of crafting an exhibition, such as intent and reception. Extensive installation views are included throughout, along with exhibition-related ephemera, lending historical texture to the curators’ essays.
Curators and corresponding exhibitions include: Linda Shearer (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1972); Nicholas Serota (Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1979); Ellen Johnson (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1982); Helen Cooper (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 1992); Elisabeth Sussman (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2002); Renate Petzinger (Museum Wiesbaden, Germany, 2002); Sabine Folie (Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, 2004); Fred Wasserman (Jewish Museum, New York, 2006); Catherine de Zegher (Drawing Center, New York, 2006); Briony Fer (Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 2009); Luanne McKinnon (University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, 2011); Brigitte Kölle and Petra Roettig (Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, 2013–14); Andrea Gyorody (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, 2019/22); Lena Stringari (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2022).

“Giving life to a once white piece of linen stretched on 4 pieces of wood, to create a rich visual experience is indeed an intriguing complete experience,” wrote Eva Hesse in a 1957 diary entry between notes on her weekly plans and further musings about her goals as an artist. In this extensive collection of Hesse’s diaries, recorded from 1955 to 1970, readers are given an intimate glimpse into the mind of one of contemporary sculpture’s most prominent figures. Despite personal tragedies and the difficulties she faced as one of the few female artists in the male-dominated postminimalist movement, Hesse remained intrepid in both her life and craft. Composed of twisted ropes and delicate plastic among other unconventional materials, Hesse’s sculptures defy traditional notions of form; her deeply thoughtful practice as a sculptor and a painter are revealed at length in her writing.
Born to Jewish parents in 1936, American painter and sculptor Eva Hesse fled Nazi Germany with her older sister at the age of two and eventually reunited with her family in New York City a year later. In 1959 she received her BA from Yale University, and within a few years began creating the sculptures that would put her at the forefront of the postminimalist movement. Though her life was cut short in 1970, Hesse’s prolific output of artwork in her decade-long career has cemented her as a pioneer of contemporary sculpture.

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This monumental tome contains the entirety of the important German artist’s drawings held in the collection of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio. The AMAM was the first museum to purchase a sculpture by Hesse, Laocoon, in 1970. In gratitude for its recognition of Hesse's work, and following the artist's untimely death, her sister Helen Hesse Charash generously donated the artist's notebooks, diaries, sketchbooks, photographs and letters to the museum.

Hesse’s drawings played a crucial role in her work, which in turn gave way to an array of highly innovative techniques and styles that today still defy classification. As she commented in 1970: “I had a great deal of difficulty with painting but never with drawing ... the translation or transference to a large scale and in painting was always tedious.... So I started working in relief and with line.” Hesse’s custom of introducing sculptural materials into drawing and painting continues to influence artmaking today.

Eva Hesse (1936–70) was one of the foremost artists of the 20th century. Her work combined the seriality and reductionism of 1960s minimalism with emotion, sensuousness and physicality. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, Guggenheim and many others.