City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works School of Arts & Sciences Theses Hunter College Spring 5-13-2020 Beyond Movements: Senga Nengudi’s Art Within and Without Feminism, Postminimalism, and the Black Arts Movement Tess Thackara CUNY Hunter College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/605 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Beyond Movements: Senga Nengudi’s Art Within and Without Feminism, Postminimalism, and the Black Arts Movement by Tess Thackara Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History, Hunter College The City University of New York 2020 Thesis Sponsor: May 4, 2020 Dr. Howard Singerman _____________ ______________________ Date Signature May 4, 2020 Dr. Lynda Klich _____________ ______________________ Date Signature Table of Contents List of Illustrations……………………………………………………………………………....ii Introduction……………………………………………………………………….......................1 Chapter 1: “Black Fingerprints and the Fragrance of a Woman”: Senga Nengudi and Feminism………………………………………………………………………………………..12 Chapter 2: Toward Her Own Total Theater: Senga Nengudi and Postminimalism…………….31 Chapter 3: Ritual and Transformation: Senga Nengudi and the Black Arts Movement……………………………………………………………………………………….49 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………64 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….68 Illustrations……………………………………………………………………………………...72 i List of Illustrations Fig. 1: Senga Nengudi, ACQ series (install view), 2016–7, refrigerator and air conditioner parts, fan, nylon pantyhose, and sand. © Senga Nengudi. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 2: Senga Nengudi, ACQ I, 2016–7, refrigerator and air conditioner parts, fan, nylon pantyhose, and sand. © Senga Nengudi. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 3: Senga Nengudi, ACQ IV (detail), fan, nylon pantyhose. © Senga Nengudi. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 4: Senga Nengudi at Henry Moore Institute (installation view). Courtesy the artist, Levy Gorvy, New York/London and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York; and Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau Munchen KiCo Collection. Photo: John McKenzie. https://www.henry-moore.org/whats-on/2018/09/21/senga-nengudi Fig. 5: R.S.V.P. activated by Maren Hassinger in 1977. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. https://fisher.usc.edu/senga/ Fig. 6, 7: Senga Nengudi, Swing Low, 1977/2014, nylon mesh and sand. © Senga Nengudi. https://kunstbeziehung.goldecker.de/work.php?sd%5BwCode%5D=5da0d7450f8b8 Fig. 8: Senga Nengudi and Maren Hassinger perform with an R.S.V.P. sculpture at Pearl C. Woods Gallery, Los Angeles, May 1977; Swing Low (1977) is visible in the background. Photograph: Harmon Outlaw. © Senga Nengudi. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. https://walkerart.org/collections/publications/side-by- side/individual-collective-a-conversation-with-senga-nengudi Fig. 9: Womanhouse (installation view),1972, featuring Robin Weltsch’s Kitchen and Vicki Hodgett’s Eggs to Breasts. https://blogs.getty.edu/pacificstandardtime/explore-the- era/archives/i103/ Fig. 10, 11: (left) Sandy Orgel’s Linen Closet in Womanhouse, 1972; (right) Faith Wilding’s Womb Room in Womanhouse, 1972. http://lemagazine.jeudepaume.org/blogs/beatrizpreciado/2013/10/03/revisiting-womanhouse/ Fig. 12: David Hammons, Untitled (Rock Head), 1998, stone, hair, shoe polish container. © David Hammons. https://hairisforpulling.blogspot.com/2016/07/david-hammons.html Fig. 13: David Hammons, In the Hood, 1993, jersey sweatshirt. Photo: Jake Naughton for The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/arts/design/david-hammons-is-still- messing-with-what-art-means.html ii Fig. 14: David Hammons, Which Mike Would You Like to Be Like, 2003, microphones. © David Hammons. Courtesy of White Cube Gallery. Fig. 15: Senga Nengudi, Insides Out, 1977, nylon mesh, metal, sand. https://ocula.com/art- galleries/thomas-erben-gallery/exhibitions/repondez-sil-vous-plait-nylon-mesh-pieces-1975-77/ Fig. 16: Senga Nengudi, R.S.V.P. 1975, 1975, nylon mesh and sand. https://www.moca.org/collection/work/rsvp Fig. 17: Beverly Buchanan’s Wall Column (foreground), 1980, cement brick. Photo: Emon Hassan for The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/arts/design/beverly- buchanan-ruins-and-rituals-brooklyn-museum.html Fig. 18: Judith Baca, Uprising of the Mujeres (detail), 1979, acrylic on wood. Courtesy of the artist and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/calendar/event/conversation_judith_baca_june_2018 Fig. 19, 20: Senga Nengudi, R.S.V.P. I, 1977/2003, nylon mesh and sand. https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/fellow/senga-nengudi/ Fig. 21, 22: Senga Nengudi, Ceremony for Freeway Fets (performance documentation), 1978. © Senga Nengudi. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 23: Senga Nengudi, Ceremony for Freeway Fets (performance documentation), 1978. © Senga Nengudi. Photograph by Roderick Kwaku Young. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 24: Senga Nengudi, Ceremony for Freeway Fets (performance documentation), 1978. © Senga Nengudi. Photograph by Roderick Kwaku Young. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 25: Senga Nengudi, Ceremony for Freeway Fets (performance documentation), 1978. © Senga Nengudi. Photograph by Roderick Kwaku Young. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 26: David Hammons, RoHo, Kenneth Severin, two members of the group Freedom N’ Expression, Franklin Parker, Joe Ray, and Maren Hassinger performing Ceremony for Freeway Fets. © Senga Nengudi. Photograph by Roderick Kwaku Young. Courtesy Senga Nengudi, Thomas Erben Gallery, Levy Gorvy, and Spruth Magers. Fig. 27, 28: Senga Nengudi, Ceremony for Freeway Fets (performance documentation), 1978. © Senga Nengudi. Photograph by Roderick Kwaku Young. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers Fig. 29: Senga Nengudi, Studio Performance with R.S.V.P. (performance documentation), 1976. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. iii Fig. 30: Joseph Beuys, I Like America and America Likes Me (performance documentation), 1974. https://www.kidsofdada.com/blogs/magazine/35963521-joseph-beuys-i-like-america-and- america-likes-me Fig. 31: Rebecca Horn, Finger Gloves, 1972, fabric, wood, metal. Rebecca Horn Collection. © 2019: Rebecca Horn/ProLitteris, Zürich. Fig. 32, 33: (left) Lygia Clark, Rede de elástico (performance documentation), 1973; (right) Lygia Clark, Mascaras Sensoriais (performance documentation),1967–8. https://post.at.moma.org/content_items/1007-part-2-lygia-clark-at-the-border-of-art http://pelicanbomb.com/art-review/2017/presence-silence-intimacy-duration-lygia-clarks- relational-objects Fig. 34, 35: (left) Ana Mendieta, Untitled: Silueta Series, Mexico, 1976, photograph. (right) Ana Mendieta, Untitled: Silueta series, 1978, photograph. https://mcachicago.org/Collection/Items/1973/Ana-Mendieta-Untitled-From-The-Silueta-Series- 1973-77-2 https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/5221 Fig. 36: Senga Nengudi, Rapunzel (performance documentation), 1981. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Photo: Barbara McCullough. Fig. 37: Lucy Lippard’s Eccentric Abstraction exhibition at the Fischbach Gallery (installation view), 1966, featuring works by Eva Hesse, Frank Ulner, Keith Sonnier, and Don Pott. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/installation-view-eccentric-abstraction-show- fischbach-gallery-13488 Fig. 38: Eva Hesse, Accretion (detail), 1968, fiberglass, polyester resin. © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Abby Robinson. Fig. 39: Senga Nengudi. Topologies at Lenbachhaus (installation view), featuring Untitled (Water Compositions), 1969–70/ 2020. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Photo: Ernst Jank. Fig. 40: Senga Nengudi at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (installation view), featuring Untitled (Water Compositions), 1969–70/ 2018. Photo: Tess Thackara. Fig. 41: Senga Nengudi at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (installation view), featuring Untitled (Water Compositions), 1969–70/ 2018. Photo: Tess Thackara. Fig. 42: Gutai: Splendid Playground at Guggenheim Museum (installation view), featuring Sadamasa Motonaga’s Sakuhin (Water), 1956/2011. http://artobserved.com/2013/04/new-york- gutai-splendid-playground-at-the-guggenheim-museum-through-may-8th-2013/ iv Fig. 43: Senga Nengudi, Swing Low, 1976/2014, nylon mesh and sand. © Senga Nengudi. Courtesy of the artist, Lévy Gorvy, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Sprüth Magers. Fig. 44: Eva Hesse, Untitled or Not Yet, 1966, nets, polyethylene, paper, sand, cord. © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Fig. 45: Senga Nengudi, R.S.V.P. XI, 1977/2004, nylon mesh, sand, rubber. https://collection.cmoa.org/objects/2c5038eb-a63e-485f-9411-3fccf66d66f4 Fig. 46: Eva Hesse, Accession II, 1968 (1969), galvanized steel and vinyl. © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth and Detroit Institute of Arts.