Eva Hesse and Hannah Wilke: Erotic Abstraction

An in-depth look at these two American artists, who explored issues of sexuality and feminism in the 1960s and 1970s in their sculpture and photography.

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 texture that might capture 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 includes primary-source materials, which bring a new history of how both artists' work sits in relation to the wider New York scene. Also included are excerpts of both artists' writing.

About The Author

Eleanor Nairne is an art historian and curator at Barbican Art Gallery. Her recent exhibitions include Basquiat: Boom for Real (2017) and Imran Qureshi: Where the Shadows Are So Deep (2016). Jo Applin is the head of the history of art department at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Anne Wagner is Chair Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. Amy Tobin is a lecturer in the department of history of art at the University of Cambridge and curator at Kettle's Yard.