The Encrypted Object: the Secret World of Sixties Sculpture

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The Encrypted Object: the Secret World of Sixties Sculpture Title Page The Encrypted Object: The Secret World of Sixties Sculpture Joanne Louise Applin University College London PhD nL ABSTRACT This thesis examines the work of artists Lucas Samaras,Lee Bontecou and HC Westermann, specifically the way in which they have been excluded from dominant accounts of 1960s sculptural practice. I explore the ways in which a theory of 'secrecy' provides a framework through which to think about each of these artists. Chapter one focuses on Samaras's use of small-scale boxes in relation to his dialogue with the Minimal cubic structure, whilst the second chapter examines the structures of Bontecou in terms of their 'secrecy'. Working from welded steel armatures, Bontecou developed a unique practice of stretching dirty, worn skeins of fabric over the metal structure, always with a gaping hole backed with black felt, a disturbing void (MA around which the surface is organised and the spectatorial encounter disturbed. Unlike the voracious mode of looking Bontecou's works engender, or the partial, fragmented 'peering' offered by Samaras's boxes, Westermann's works require a type of looking that has more in common with the physical act of 'drifting'. I cast both the viewing experience and the mode of construction Westermann's works demand, in terms of 'bricolage' and 'braconnage' (or 'poaching). The concluding chapter analyses the role of the artistic homage and notion of influence, taking as model the work of psychoanalysts Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok on haunting and secrecy in relation to the work of Westermann alongside that of Bruce Nauman and Rachel Whiteread. In chapter four I introduce the idea of the 'phantom, as a way of thinking through the problems of inheritance at work in the artistic homage in terms of a series of ruptures, using Abraham and Toroks' concept of the 'transgenerational phantom', in which familial secretsare unwittingly inherited by one's ancestors. In this final chapter, I attempt to undermine the usual way in which influence and artistic lineage are understood. 2 CONTENTS Volume One Title Page: P. 1 Abstract: p. 2 Contents: p. 3 Acknowledgments: p. 4 List of Illustrations: p. 6 Introduction: The Secret World of SLxties Sculpture p. 13 Chapter one: 'Materialized Secrets:Lucas Samaras and Small-Scale Boxes p. 34 Chapter two: Topographies of the void, or Lee Bontecou's Unspecified Objects p. 82 Chapter three: Bric-a-Brac: The Objects of H. C Westermann p. 125 Chapter four: HauntinglHomage: Bruce Nauman and the p. 170 Case of Westermann's Ear Bibliography: p. 216 Volume Two Title Page P. 1 Contents p. 2 Illustrations: p. 3 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To all the staff in the History of Art department at University College, London, I owe a real debt, for their interest, encouragement and commitment to undergraduateteaching that resulted in my returning there to researchmy Phl). In particular, Briony Fer, Charles Ford, Tamar Garb, Tom Gretton, Andrew Hemingway, Joy Sleeman and Helen Weston, each of whose teaching, encouragementand comments have been and are, crucial to my work. Thank you to the AHRB for funding both my graduate and post-graduateresearch, and to the University College London Graduate School for funding a research trip to New York. For my Masters degree at Essex University, thanks to Dawn Ades and Neil Cox. A special thanks to Margaret Iversen at Essex, supervisor of my thesis on Eva Hesse and Kleinian theory. Her teaching, comments, commitment and enthusiasmhave been a constant source of inspiration for my own work. To my oldest, dearestfriends who I grew up with in Colchester,thanks for friendship, moaningsessions, confidence-boosting emails, and far too many late nights when I should have been writing this thesis. Other friends at UCL and elsewhere,whose conversation, friendships and help havebeen so importantover the years,although they may not know it are,Simon Baker, Andrew Brown, Chris Campbell, Warren Carter, Richard Clay, Paula Feldman, Mark Godfrey, Nick Grindle, Glenn Harvey, Rhiannon Heaton, Chris Mattingly, Jamie Mulherron, HannahRobinson, Rachel Sanders,Isla Simpson,and Izzie Whitelegg. Thanks also to Anna Lovatt, for her continuedfriendship and support,and for finding me the perfect quote to open this thesis. Research trips to New York and Chicago were invaluable to my research, and I thank Halley K. Harrisburg at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York; Jill Weinberg-Adams at Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, for access to her archives and anecdotes about Westermann and Peter Boris at PaceWildenstein Galleries. Thanks also to Michael Rooks, assistantcurator at Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, and Elizabeth T. Smith, James W. Alsdorf Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, for all her help and continued 4 conversation about, and support, of my work on Lee Bontecou. Thanks to Hilda Buchbinder in Chicago and Allan Frumkin in New York for talking with me and allowing me accessto their private collections of Westermann works. Thanks to Lucas Samarasfor a truly fantastic afternoon in New York and Lee Bontecou for her written correspondenceand support. Thank you to my panel on 'Disappearance' at 2003 AAH conference, whose comments and suggestions helped sharpen my argument on Lee Bontecou, especially, Tamar Garb, Margaret Iversen, Marianne May, Gavin Parkinson, Alex Potts and Gill Perry. My thanks go to the two fellow PhD students I have shared this thesis with since the beginning. Firstly, thanks to Harriet Riches, a true friend from day one, without whom the daily grind would have been so much lonely and less fun. And secondly, to Richard Taws, who knows why. My supervisor, Briony Fer, knows how much I owe her for all the time, encouragement,conversation and inspirationthat shehas given me over the years. Without her, this thesiswould not havebeen what it is, and I owe her my deepest thanks. Finally thanks to my family. For their continued, unswerving, often undeserving support, thanks to my late father, Peter Applin, my mum, Marion, my sister Karen and my twin sister Lisa. 5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter one 'Materialized Secrets': Lucas Samaras and Small-Scale Boxes 1.1 Lucas Samaras, Box No. 48,1966, mixed media, 11 x 9.25 x 14.5in (closed), Private collection, New York 1.2 Lucas Samaras, Untitled, 1961, Liquid aluminium, Sculpmetal, and straightenedsafety pin, 24 x 18 x 6in. Collection of the artist 1.3 Photograph of Donald Judd's apartment at 101 Spring Street, New York, fifth floor, view of bedroom with works by John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and Lucas Samaras,bed by Donald Judd 1.4 Photograph of Donald Judd's apartment at 101 Spring Street, New York, fifth floor (Detail), view of bedroom with works by John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and Lucas Samaras,bed by Donald Judd 1.5 Carl Andre, Eight Cuts, 1967, bricks, photographed at Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, 1967, Hallen fUr Neue Kunst, Schaffhausen,Switzerland 1.6 Lucas Samaras, Floor Piece (in sixteen parts), 1961, Sculpmetal, 48 x 48in. Collection of the artist 1.7 Lucas Samaras, Untitled (Shoe Box), 1965, wood, wool, yam, shoe, pins, cotton, paint, 10.5 x 15.5 x1 lin. The Saatchi Collection 1.8 Lucas Samaras, Box No. 8,1963, mixed media, 11 x 15 x 8in (closed), Private collection, New York 1.9 Lucas Samaras, Untitled (face box), 1963, wood, photographs, pins, and wool, 10.5 x 15 x 18.5in. Private collection, Los Angeles 1.10 Andr6 Breton, Page-Object, 1934, wooden box, glass eyes, bait, 3x4x 3in. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Modema, Rome 1.11 Marcel Duchamp, Botte-en-valise, 1935-41; 1941 version, 15 x 14 x 3in. Philadelphia Museum of Modem Art 1.12 JasperJohns, In Memory of My Feelings-Frank OHara, 1961-70, wood, lead, brass, rubber, sand and Sculpmetal, 6.25 x 19 x6x 13in. Collection of the artist 1.13 Robert Morris, Box with the Sound of its Own Making, 1961, wood, tape recorder and cassette,9x9x 9in. Seattle Art Museum 1.14 Marcel Duchamp, With Hidden Noise, 1916, ball of twine in brass frame, Height: 12in. Philadelphia Museum of Modem Art 1.15 Lucas Samaras,Box No. 3,1963, wood, pins, rope and stuffed bird, 24.5 x 11.5 x 10.5in. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1.16 Lucas Samaras,Cornell Size,Arts Magazine, May, 1967, p. 46 1.17 Mel Bochner, Wrap: Portrait of Eva Hesse, 1966, pen and ink on graph paper, Diameter: 4in. Private collection 1.18 Lucas Samaras, Paper Bag No. 3,1962, paper bag with paintings and scratchedmirror, 31 x 22 x 9in. Collection of the artist 1.19 Lucas Samaras,Room No. 2, wood and mirror, 8x 10 x 8ft. Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo 1.20 Lucas Samaras, Room No. 1,1964, mixed media, 10 x 15 x 17.5ft. Destroyed 6 1.21 Eva Hesse, Inside 1,1967, painted papier-mach6 over wood and twine, 12 x 12 x 12in. The Estate of Eva Hesse 1.22 Eva Hesse, Inside 11,1967, painted papier-mache over wood and weights, 5x7x 7in. The Estate of Eva Hesse 1.23 Eva Hesse,Accession H, 1967/69, galvanised steel with plastic tubing, 31 x 31 x 31in. Detroit Institute of Arts 1.24 Lucas Samaras,Box No. 11,1963, mixed media, 10 x 13 x Sin. Private collection, Virginia 1.25 Lucas Samaras, Untitled (small box), 1960, wood, plastered crepe paper and feathers, 11 x6x 7in. Collection of the artist 1.26 Lucas Samaras, Untitled, 1960, wood and plastered cloth, 9x 11 x Sin. Collection of the artist 1.27 Eva Hesse, Laocoon, 1966, acrylic paint, cloth-covered cord, wire, and papier-mache over plastic pipe, 120 x 24 x 24in. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio 1.28 Lucas Samaras,Untitled, c.
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