post minimalism and gender

Post Minimalism and Gender

Art 109A: Art since 1945

Westchester Community College Fall 2012 Dr. Melissa Hall

Post Minimalism and Gender As Anna Chave and others have argued, Minimalism was in many ways the apotheosis of the macho ideal of the arHst

Richard Serra, Splashing, Leo Castelli Warehouse, New York, 1968

“The minimal arHsts of the sixHes were like industrial fronHersman exploring the factories and the steel mills. The artwork must carry the stamp of work-‐-‐that is to say, men's work, the only possible serious work, brought back sHll glowing from the foundries and mills without a drop of irony to put a sag in its erect heroism. And this men's work is big, foursquare, no nonsense, a priori.” Julia Bryan-‐Wilson, “Hard hats and Art Strikes: Robert Morris in 1970,” Art BulleHn (June 2007) h]p://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-‐30961677_ITM

Post Minimalism and Gender Significantly, many of the leading pioneers of the new Post minimalist aestheHc were women

ArHst Lynda Benglis painHng a floor w. 40 gallons of bright latex and pigments at the University of Rhode Island, 1969 Henry Groskinsky, LIFE Magazine

Eva Hesse in her studio 134 Bowery Street , New York 1969 ©The Eva Hesse Estate, Courtesy Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zürich

Lynda Benglis In 1969-‐70 Lynda Benglis began working with poured latex, translaHng the drip and pour methods of Jackson Pollock, Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler into sculpture


Lynda Benglis The poured pieces used industrial materials and grand gestural methods coded as “masculine”


Henry Groskinsky, LIFE Magazine

Lynda Benglis But the resulHng pieces are candy-‐colored blobs that melt and ooze, rather than assert an authoritarian presence

Lynda Benglis, Night Sherbet A, 1968

Donald Judd, Un9tled, 1972 Tate

Lynda Benglis The sculptural pieces were presented without pedestal or frame -‐-‐ like Minimalist “specific objects”

Lynda Benglis, Installa9on at Cheim Read, 2004

Lynda Benglis But the squishy material was a deliberate deflaHon of the Minimalist “heavy metal” aestheHc

Lynda Benglis, For Carl Andre, 1970 Polyurethane foam

Carl Andre, Fall, 1968 Guggenheim

Lynda Benglis In other pieces Benglis deflated the macho associaHons of lead by foregrounding its fluid properHes

Lynda Benglis, Quartered Meteor, 1969 Lead Brooklyn Museum

Lynda Benglis, Eat Meat, 1969/1975 Lead

Lynda Benglis Like Louise Bourgeois, Benglis invited explicitly sexual associaHons in her work

Lynda Benglis, Come, 1974 Bronze Linda Benglis and Louise Bourgeois,

Circa 70 at Cheim & Read Gallery, 2007

Lynda Benglis While sexual self expression and an “ejaculatory” approach was admired in men, it was shocking for a woman to assert her sexual idenHty

Hans Namuth, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, 1953

Lynda Benglis But Benglis’ art was informed by an emerging Feminist consciousness, and we will meet her again as a leading figure in the Feminist art movement

Lynda Benglis, Smile, 1974 Bronze

Lynda Benglis, ArIorum adverHsement 1974

Eva Hesse Eva Hesse was born in Germany and immigrated to the Unites States in 1939 to escape Nazi persecuHon

Eva Hesse circa 1959 (Photo by Stephen Korbet) Image source: h]p://www.gwarlingo.com/2011/sol-‐lewi]s-‐advice-‐to-‐eva-‐hesse/

Eva Hesse She studied at Cooper Union and at the Yale School of Art, and aoer a brief life marked by tragedy she died of a brain tumor at the age of 34.

Josef Albers and Eva Hesse at Yale, c. 1958

Eva Hesse Coming of age when the Feminist movement was gepng underway, Hesse’s work has ooen been interpreted as a Feminist criHque of Minimalism

Eva Hesse holding Ingeminate, 1965. SFMOMA

“Using materials then new to sculpture, like latex and fiberglass, she made work that hung, draped, dangled, looped, drooped, slumped, webbed, protruded breast-‐ and penislike, imitated skin, suggested bodily orifices, spilled or just lay on the floor.” Grace Glueck, “Bringing the Soul into Minimalism: Eva Hesse,” Time Magazine May 2006

Eva Hesse While Hesse conHnued to work abstractly, and conHnued to employ many of the strategies used by Minimalist sculptors, her work “humanized” Minimalism by reintroducing bodily associaHons, and allowing for qualiHes of fragility and vulnerability absent from the Minimalist “heavy metal” aestheHc.

Eva Hesse’s studio Image source: h]p://nogoodforme.filmsHlls.org/blog/archives/2008/03/18/style_icon_eva.html

Eva Hesse Rejected cool impersonality of Minimalism

“Humanized” Minimalism by reintroducing bodily associaHons, and allowing for qualiHes of fragility and vulnerability absent from the Minimalist “heavy metal” aestheHc

Eva Hesse in her Bowery Studio, New York, ca. 1965, courtesy of Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Switzerland. (c) The Estate of Eva Hesse h]p://www.evahesse.com/work_detail.php?media_id=2217&sequence_id=2576&sequence_posiHon=4&kat=4

Eva Hesse Hesse strove to create works that were without “preconcepHon”

Working without preconcepHon allowed for creaHve exploraHon beyond what could be imagined

Eva Hesse, Hang Up, 1966 Acrylic paint on cloth over wood; acrylic paint on cord over steel tube Art InsHtute of Chicago http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/71396

“I would like the work to be non-‐work. This means that it would find its way beyond my preconcepHons . . . What I want of my art I can eventually find. The work must go beyond this. It is my main concern to go beyond what I know and what I can know. The formal principles are understandable and understood. It is the unknown quanHty from which and where I want to go.” Eva Hesse, Statement, 1968; cited in SHles & Selz, p. 594

Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse, Accession Il, 1967-‐9 Aluminum mesh, rubber tubes

In Accession II Hesse directly engaged the Minimalist cube

Donald Judd, Un9tled, 1972 Tate

Eva Hesse Accession II -‐-‐ galvanized steel cube woven with thousands of rubber tubes


“Hesse's technique of weaving brings to mind a stereotype of female domesHcity that clashes with the hard-‐edged masculinity of the mass-‐produced steel. The sculpture -‐-‐ weirdly seducHve on the inside, forbidding on the outside -‐-‐ can be linked with the work of other arHsts of the Hme, like Donald Judd . . .” Michael Kimmelman, “Eva Hesse and the Lure Of 'Absurd Opposites',” New York Times, Jan 14 2009 h]p://query.nyHmes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D61330F933A25756C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Eva Hesse


“You can't not see it as organic: sea anemone, vagina . . . its obvious predecessor is that icon of oral sex in the Museum of Modern Art, Meret Oppenheim's fur-‐lined cup and spoon.”

Robert Hughes, “Telling An Inner Life,” Time Dec 28, 1992 h]p://www.Hme.com/Hme/magazine/arHcle/0,9171,977372,00.html Meret Oppenheim, Object (Fur-‐lined teacup) 1936.

MOMA

Eva Hesse Minimalism privileged hardness, order, logic, and certainty

Hesse’s works are ooen soo rather than hard; irregular rather than precise; perverse rather than serious; and sensual rather than austere

“absurdity is the key word” Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse, Un9tled, 1970

Eva Hesse Like the Minimalists, she also worked with grids, seriality, and repeHHon

Eva Hesse, Sans II (one unit), 1968

Eva Hesse But the pieces assert a defiant irregularity that refuses to “snap-‐to-‐grid”

Eva Hesse, Repe99on Nineteen III. 1968 Fiberglass and polyester resin, nineteen units, Each 19 to 20 1/4” MOMA

Eva Hesse Rather than imposing order and regularity, Hesse embraced chance, disorder, and chaos as a fact of life

Eva Hesse, Metronomic Irregularity, 1966-‐67 Image source: h]p://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/eva_hesse.php?i=1701

“Her goal, she explained, was to portray the essenHal absurdity of life. In formal terms, this theme was realized through a wedding of contradicHons: “order versus chaos, stringy versus mass, huge versus small,” in the arHst’s words.” Nancy Spector h]p://www.guggenheimcollecHon.org/site/

arHst_work_md_63_1.html

Eva Hesse The pieces are notoriously fragile, made from materials the arHst knew would decay over Hme

Eva Hesse, Con9ngent, 1969 NaHonal Gallery of Australia

“Hesse was aware that latex is an unstable material, disposed to oxidize and turn bri]le . . . . She was very aware that it was temporary. She was not defensive about it; she was offensive about it. She would say that it was an a]ribute. Everything was for the process-‐-‐a moment in Hme, not meant to last.” Arthur Danto, “All About Eva,” Na9on June 28, 2006 h]p://www.thenaHon.com/doc/20060717/danto

Eva Hesse, Expanded Expansion, 1969 Reinforced fiberglass poles and rubberized cheesecloth, Overall: 122 x 300 inches Guggenheim Museum

"At this point," Hesse wrote, "I feel a li]le guilty when people want to buy it. I think they know but I want to write them a le]er and say it's not going to last. I am not sure what my stand on lasHng really is. Part of me feels that it's superfluous, and if I need to use rubber that is more important. Life doesn't last; art doesn't last.” Arthur Danto, “All About Eva,” Na9on June 28, 2006 h]p://www.thenaHon.com/doc/20060717/danto

Eva Hesse Towards the end of her life Hesse worked on a series of rope pieces that hang from the ceiling like delicate clouds

Eva Hesse in her studio 134 Bowery Street , New York 1969 ©The Eva Hesse Estate, Courtesy Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zürich

Henry Groskinsky, Eva Hesse’s Studio with rope pieces, 1969 © Life Magazine

“This piece is very unordered. . . . When it’s completed its order could be chaos, which is an order in itself. Chaos can be as structured as non-‐chaos.” h]p://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibiHons/EvaHesse/gallery

Eva Hesse, Right ASer 1969 Milwauke Art Museum

"Eva Hesse took sculpture, which had supposedly been empHed of its associaHve qualiHes by Minimalism, and showed that repeHHon, the grid, scale, did in fact have evocaHve powers that echoed our experience of the world and of our bodies.” Elizabeth Frank; cited in Michael Kimmelman, “Eva Hesse and the Lure Of 'Absurd Opposites',” New York Times, Jan 14 2009 h]p://query.nyHmes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D61330F933A25756C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Louise Bourgeois In the 1960s Louise Bourgeois abandoned the verHcal format and rigid materials of her early personages

Louise Bourgois Image source: h]p://www.centrepompidou.fr/educaHon/ressources//ENS-‐bourgeois-‐EN//ENS-‐bourgeois-‐EN.html

Louise Bourgeois She began working with malleable materials like plaster and latex, and organic forms that suggest natural processes

Louise Bourgeois, Clutching, 1962 Plaster

Louise Bourgeois While Minimalist sculpture looked prisHne and machine-‐made, Bourgeois’ “eccentric abstracHons” seemed artless, unformed, and debased

Louise Bourgeois, Amoeba, 1962 Bronze painted white

Louise Bourgeois One of her most famous pieces from this period is FilleVe

Louise Bourgeois, FilleVe, 1968 Latex on plaster

“Her most famous and most photographed “eroHc” work is her latex sculpture FilleVe (1968), which playfully confuses genders. While it is obviously a 2o-‐long phallus, it is comic and diminishing rather than commanding. Bourgeois emphasised her jokey French name for the object – a li]le girl – by calling it “a li]le Louise”. Elaine Showalter, Tate Gallery h]p://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue11/lumpsbumps.htm

Louise Bourgeois

Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bougeois with FilleVe, 1968

“In one photograph, suspended, it resembles a toy clown in a hat and overcoat with big round boots. In a celebrated photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, she holds it tucked casually under her arm like a bague]e.” Elaine Showalter, Tate Gallery h]p://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue11/lumpsbumps.htm

Louise Bourgeois Like the Surrealists, Bourgeois was interested in forms that speak directly to us in a visceral way (rather than appealing to the raHonal mind)

Louise Bourgeois, Sleep II, 1967 Marble

Louise Bourgeois, Le Regard, 1966 Latex on plaster

Louise Bourgeois She was especially interested in forms that confound our preconceived noHons and seem to be in a constant state of metamorphosis

Louise Bourgeois, Janus Fleuri, 1968 Bronze, gold paHna

Louise Bourgeois Her engagement with ambiguous sexual references was personal

She was brought up by an abusive father, and saw her art as a means of working through psychic trauma

Louise Bourgeois, Janus in Leather Jacket, 1968 Bronze

Louise Bourgeois One of her most famous pieces is Htled the Destruc9on of the Father, one of her first installaHon pieces

In this work the arHst indulges in a fantasy of a family banquet in which her father’s flesh is consumed

Louise Bourgeois, Destruc9on of the Father, 1974

Yayoi Kusama Yayoi Kusama was born in Japan and came to New York in 1957

Kusama in front of Infinity Net painHng, New York. c.ﾊ1961 MOMA

Yayoi Kusama She began painHng large scale canvases that used repeHHve pa]erns of nets and dots

Kusama in her New York studio, c.1958–59. Image source: h]p://interacHve.qag.qld.gov.au/looknowseeforever/Hmeline/

Yayoi Kusama, Pacific Ocean, 1960

Yayoi Kusama, Pacific Ocean detail

Yayoi Kusama In the early 1960s Kusama began covering common household objects with soo protruding forms suggesHng phalluses (Claes Oldenberg’s soo sculptures were influenced by her work)

Yayoi Kusama, Accumula9on Chair, 1963

Yayoi Kusama, The Man, 1963 Image source: h]p://arrestedmoHon.com/2012/02/previews-‐yayoi-‐kusama-‐tate-‐modern/

Yayoi Kusama, Oven-‐Pan, 1963. Walker Art Center

InstallaHon of Kusama’s AccumulaHon sculptures at the Tate Modern Image source: h]p://arrestedmoHon.com/2012/02/previews-‐yayoi-‐kusama-‐tate-‐modern/

Yayoi Kusama These then became props for installaHons, as Kusama began to explore the creaHon of total environments

Yayoi Kusama, Accumula9on 2, 1968 Image source: h]p://metaphysicalpepper.tumblr.com/post/446311293/yayoi-‐kusama-‐accumulaHon-‐no-‐2-‐1968

Yayoi Kusama In 1967 Kusama began staging performances that linked the Happenings of the 1950s to the 1960s sexual revoluHon and peace movement

Yayoi Kusama, Alice in Wonderland performance, Central Park, New York, 11 August, 1968. Image source: h]p://www.flickr.com/photos/sco]_waterman/6782823389/

Body FesHval Poster, 1967 h]p://www.yayoi-‐kusama.jp/e/happening/index.html

Yayoi Kusama In Infinity Mirror -‐ Phalli’s Field Kusama created a total environment that immersed the viewer in a disorienHng field of endless repeHHon

Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirror Room -‐ Phalli’s Field, 1965

Yayoi Kusama In the following year she completed an installaHon Htled Love Forever -‐-‐ a mirror lined environment with flashing electric lights

Yayoi Kusama, InstallaHon view of Infinity Mirrored Room -‐ Love Forever (1966; remade 1994) at Le ConsorHum, Dijon in 2000 Tate

Yayoi Kusama One of Kusama’s more recent mirror rooms was exhibited at the Whitney biennial in 2004

Yayoi Kusama , Fireflies on the Water, 2002. Mirror, plexiglass, 150 lights, and water Whitney Museum

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