Happy Birthday to Eva Hesse who was born on this day in 1936.
“If a material is liquid … I can control it but I don’t really want to change it. I don’t want to add color or make it thicker or thinner… I don’t want to keep any rules; I want to sometimes change the rules. But in that sense, process, the materials, become important and I do so little with them, which is I guess the absurdity.” – Eva Hesse in conversation with Cindy Nemser, 1970.
Eva Hesse (1936-1970) was a highly experimental artist who continually challenged the conventions of her time. For Hesse, drawing played a unique role, providing the nexus between her works in all media. "Eva Hesse Drawing" is the first book to explore her drawing process, following her work from drawing to painting and sculpture, and always back to drawing. An accomplished draftswoman, Hesse began to develop her wandering, tentative line while studying at Yale University in the late 1950s. (summarized from the publisher’s note)
Front cover image: top, Hesse at work in her studio in Kettwing and der Ruhr, Germany, c. 1964-65; bottom, no title, 1965, Ink and colored ink on paper.
Photograph of Eva Hesse: c. 1969 by Stephen Korbert.
Eva Hesse drawing Edited by Catherine de Zegher. Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970. New York : The Drawing Center ; New Haven : Yale University Press, 2006. HOLLIS number: 990101665110203941
