Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse was a sculptor in New York during the height of modernism (late 50s, 60s), though she . She was born into a Jewish family 1936 in Hamburg, Germany. Her family fled Germany in 1938 and arrived in New York in 1939. Eva studied at several notable art schools including the School of Industrial Art in New York, Pratt Institute, and Cooper Union. In 1965 she began sculpting with plastic materials: latex, fiberglass, etc., the materials for which she became known. She died in 1970, at the young age of 34, as a result of a brain tumor, likely related to her chosen materials.

       Her work tends to be organic in form, evoking skin or dried seaweed. She is associated with postminimalism, a trend typified by emphasis on the formal, aesthetic aspects, and lack of formal complexity. Her work is usually the natural color of her materials, having a translucent quality. The materials are often very fragile, and degrade as they age, bringing a temporal aspect to her work In light of the death that they probably caused, Eva's sculptures take on a sinister aspect. Their light airy appearance hides a lurking, invisible threat.

 Article by Arthur C. Danto