Lucy R. Lippard

As Lippard points out, Hesse's use of obsessive repetition in her works served to increase and exaggerate the absurdity she saw in her life. In many ways, her works were ”psychic models,” as Robert Smithson has said, of ”a very interior person.” In pioneering the use of ”soft” materials, her sculptures betrayed her awareness of the manner in which her experience as a woman altered her art and career. Although she died before feminism affected the art world to any great extent, show more her major works have since become talismans for succeeding generations of women artists. Eva Hesse was designed by Hesse's friends and colleagues Sol LeWitt and Pat Stier; her sculptures, drawings, and paintings are reproduced and discussed; and the text includes numerous quotations from her diaries. First published in 1976 but long out-of-print, this classic text is both an insightful critical analysis and a tribute to an artist whose genius has become increasingly apparent with the passage of time. show less

As Lippard points out, Hesse’s use of obsessive repetition in her works served to increase and exaggerate the absurdity she saw in her life. In many ways, her works were ”psychic models,” as Robert Smithson has said, of ”a very interior person.” In pioneering the use of ”soft” materials, her sculptures betrayed her awareness of the manner in which her experience as a woman altered her art and career. Although she died before feminism affected the art world to any great extent, her show more major works have since become talismans for succeeding generations of women artists.Eva Hesse was designed by Hesse’s friends and colleagues Sol LeWitt and Pat Stier; her sculptures, drawings, and paintings are reproduced and discussed; and the text includes numerous quotations from her diaries. First published in 1976 but long out-of-print, this classic text is both an insightful critical analysis and a tribute to an artist whose genius has become increasingly apparent with the passage of time. show less

Apparently I used to read alotof art bks. & Lucy Lippard was one of the people I respected for writing about the newest work. Now I cd practically give a shit. Although, recently, thinking about how my social circle once included mostly painters, poets, sculptors, classical musicians, filmmakers, photographers, rock musicians, etc, I realize how boring it is that I know so few people active in some of these fields anymore. So, who cares, right? Get to the fucking review.

I reckon this was show more one of Lippard's earliest bks. Some of the essays are about older work: dadaism & surrealism; some on newer work: "The Dematerialization of Art". All of it is on something that Lippard had things of substance to say about.

Perhaps the most forward-thinking & creative of the essays is one entitled: "A1b2s19e5n14720e5e5 I9n14f6o15r18a1t20i9o15n14 a1n14d4 o15r18 C3r18i9t20i9c3i9s19m13". The original title wd have all of the letter's numbers in subscript but I don't know how to do that here. In this, Lippard give instructions for creating a piece relating to all the artists in a MoMA show that involves doing reasearch on them & getting them together w/ MoMA board members to discuss things like artists' rights & the relationship of the museum to the world at large, etc. She further specifies that no films glorifying war be shown. Here's an instance typical of the possibilities that conceptual & political art opened up: a critic details what she might do in relation to an art exhibit & then turns that into a script for an action by someone else - using it as an opportunity to examine social responsibility of all parties involved. Bravo! show less

This book divides into two parts: the materials by Lippard (an introduction about the role of photography in the relationship between colonizers and the colonized, backed by an arresting, and sometimes troubling, collection of photos), and the twelve essays by Native authors, each about a individual photo.

Topically, the photos chosen by the essayists span family photos, photos of famous men (Ishi, Geronimo), photocollages by Native artists, photographs taken by white outsiders to Native show more society, or photographers like Frank Matsura, who are outsiders to both Native AND white society. Taken together, the essays explode the historical context set by Lippard in her introduction--far from the usual run of photographs of Native Americans, a la Curtis' "The Vanishing Race", these essays are narratives of resistance and self-determination. show less