Eva Hesse | Hannah Wilke: Erotic Abstraction Hardcover Catalogue

With Essays by Jo Applin, Michael Findlay, Eleanor Nairne, Amy Tobin and Anne Wagner
Foreword by Eleanor Acquavella

An in-depth look at these two pioneering American artists, whose influential work paved a new direction for post-Minimalist and feminist art in the 1960s and 1970s.

This exhibition and accompanying book offers the first opportunity to appreciate the resonances between the studio practices of Eva Hesse and Hannah Wilke. Both artists found themselves drawn to unconventional materials, such as latex, plastics, erasers, and laundry lint, which they used to make work that was viscerally related to the body. They shared an interest in repetition to amplify the absurdity of their work. These repeated forms—whether Hesse’s spiraling breast or Wilke’s labial fold—sought to confront the phallo-centricism of twentieth-century sculpture with a more intimate, psychologically charged experience. Eleanor Nairne, the curator of the exhibition, writes the lead essay, followed by texts by Jo Applin and Anne Wagner. An extensive chronology by Amy Tobin situates both artists’ work in relation to the wider New York scene and feminist practice.

Authors’ Biographies

Jo Applin is Reader in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She has published widely on modern and contemporary art. Her most recent book is Lee Lozano: Not Working (Yale University Press, 2018).

Michael Findlay is a writer and art dealer in New York City. In 1968, he opened the first gallery in SoHo. From 1984 until 2000, he was a senior director and head of the Impressionist and Modern department at Christie’s. Since 2000, he has been a Director at Acquavella Galleries. He has authored two books on art, both published by Prestel: The Value of Art (2012) and Seeing Slowly—Looking at Modern Art (2017).

Eleanor Nairne is an art historian and curator at the Barbican Art Gallery, London. Her recent exhibitions include Lee Krasner: Living Colour (2019-20) and Basquiat: Boom for Real (2017) and is currently working on Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty which is scheduled to open in September 2020.

Amy Tobin is Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Cambridge and Curator at Kettle’s Yard. Her research focuses on the relationship between art and feminism after 1960 and she is currently working on a book on this subject, looking at artists working in Britain and North America.

Anne Wagner is an art historian, critic, and teacher, as well as Class of 1936 Chair Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 2010, she has lived in London.

Publish Date: April 28, 2020
Format: Hardcover
Category: Art – Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions – Group Shows
Publisher: Rizzoli
Trim Size: 9-3/4 x 12
Pages: 224
US Price: $75.00
CDN Price: $100.00
ISBN: 978-0-8478-6810-0
For more information visit Rizzoliusa.com

Contact: David Simantov