 “No title,” a cheesecloth piece photographed by Abby Robinson, is part of the “Eva Hesse: Studiowork” exhibition. / Courtesy of the Estate of Eva Hesse |
By Noh Hyun-gi
When legendary artist Eva Hesse died very young from a brain tumor in 1970, her acquaintances and art officials swarmed into her New York studio and took just about everything. Soon, numerous retrospectives took place at prestigious venues including “Eva Hesse: A Memorial Exhibition” at the Guggenheim Museum in 1972, the first retrospective ever given to a female artist.
However, until 2009, two bodies of her most revealing works — her oil paintings and the odds and ends of her small scale experiments — remained in the dark.
Kukje Gallery in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, is currently showcasing the two traveling exhibitions that shed a unique light on Hesse — “Eva Hesse Spectres 1960” and “Eva Hesse: Studiowork.”
More importantly, by highlighting the former, which is a collection of her paintings, “Eva Hesse: Spectres and Studiowork” offers a closer examination of Hesse’s struggles to achieve true originality.
Formally trained as a painter, Hesse shocked the art world by using unorthodox materials like latex, fiberglass and polyester resin. The entire first floor and the entrance of the second floor of the gallery display 20 of the 48 paintings Hesse produced during one year, 1960.
Having just finished studying at Yale University School of Art and Architecture under Josef Albers after graduating from Cooper Union in New York, she painted profusely to discover her own sensibility.
Her murky palettes and skeletal figures resemble the works of the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti.Yet her ingenuity stems from a distinct dissection of the space using fearless brushwork — Hesse creates definitive figures and boundaries with bold strokes. Independent of her later sculptural creations, this is in itself a complete body of work.
All of them labeled “No title,” the dark and distorted figures make the viewer curious about the underlying story, especially, a piece of two ghostly figures in wedding attire. The male figure, squeezed into the left corner, looks sinister. The female figure, wearing a wedding dress and holding a bouquet, is hardly distinguishable from the gray background. The dabbed violet of the bouquet offers the only splash of color.
The cadaverous painting may reflect her issues with marriage. After her family fled Nazi Germany, her loving father left her depressed mother for another woman. Just days before the painter’s 10th birthday, her mother Ruth Hesse committed suicide.
Later in life the artist herself married a relatively established sculptor Tom Doyle. She often referred to herself in her writing as “Doyle’s wife” — the self-deprecation implied that her status in the art world was dependent on her husband, which bred her insecurity. The marriage ended in divorce.
Despite this, Hesse’s works must not be reduced to results of her childhood traumas and tumultuous adult life.
The catalogue for her 1992 retrospective exhibit at Yale University Art Gallery was criticized for attributing her talents to her troubled personal life.
The exhibition, originally organized by E. Luanne McKinnon, director of University of New Mexico Art Museum, specifically confronts the many critics’ opinions which judged the paintings as stemming from a poor self-image and attempts to delve into her inner struggles. “Spectre,” which denotes an “image or apparition” perfectly describes Hesse’s style and her aspiration as an artist at the time.
Hesse transformed the sculptural practice of the late 20th century. It was only after she went to Kettwig an der Rugh, Germany with Doyle in 1964 for a year that Hesse earnestly turned to sculpture.
Until her untimely death Hesse never stopped challenging boundaries. “Eva Hesse: Studiowork,” presented on the second floor of the gallery, showcases the inexplicable objects found in her studio.
Made of papier-cache and cheesecloth, the seemingly ephemeral works defer from the large scale sculptures and installations she is known for.
Barry Rosen, director of the Estate of Eva Hesse, said “These are the most mysterious — they are in some ways leftovers.”
Rosen explained that these, which were stored away, unnoticed after her death, may give clues into what could have been another breakthrough. “I don’t think these are related to her signature pieces at all because they are made with completely different material and materials are crucial.”
The intimate exhibition serves as archeological relics of the genius whose prolific career only spanned a decade but left so much to the creative world.
The exhibition runs through April 7. For more information, call (02) 735-8449 or visit www.kukjegallery.com.
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