Finding Aid for EVA HESSE ARCHIVE, 1941-1980 (BULK 1953-1970) Finding Aid Completed: July 2018 Edited: April 2019 Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College 87 N. Main Street ⠂Oberlin, OH 44074 http://www2.oberlin.edu/amam/ (440) 775-8665 Eva Hesse Archive, 1941-1980 OVERVIEW REPOSITORY: Allen Memorial Art Museum Oberlin College 87 N. Main Street Oberlin, OH 44074 http://www2.oberlin.edu/amam/ (440) 775-8665 CREATOR: Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970 TITLE: Eva Hesse Archive INCLUSIVE DATES: 1941-1980 BULK DATES: 1953-1970 QUANTITY: 10 binders, 1 oversized binder, 1 document box, 4 solander boxes LANGUAGE: The materials are in English and German. ABSTRACT: In addition to over 300 works in the museum collection, the Allen Memorial Art Museum also holds the Eva Hesse Archive of over 1300 items. Hesse came to Oberlin College as a visiting artist in 1968, and in 1970, the AMAM became the first museum to purchase a sculpture by Hesse (Laocoön, 1966). In gratitude for the museum’s recognition of Hesse’s work, and following her untimely death, the artist’s sister, Helen Hesse Charash, generously donated the artist’s notebooks, diaries, sketchbooks, photographs, and letters to the museum. (She later donated many of Hesse’s drawings as well.) These are preserved for research, teaching, and exhibition. Eva Hesse Archive, 1941-1980 ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: The papers are open for research. TECHNICAL RESTRICTIONS: There are no technical restrictions on the materials. COPYRIGHT: Copyright is retained by the Estate of Eva Hesse. ACQUISITION: Donation, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1998 ALTERNATE FORMS: Digitized material from the collection is available at: http://allenartcollection.oberlin.edu/emuseum/ view/objects/aslist/1549?t:state:flow=7c6406d 8-9914-46c4-8bcd-86ba945026f9 RELATED MATERIAL: The museum collection holds more than 300 additional works by Hesse (primarily works on paper), as well as one seminal sculpture. PREFERRED CITATION: Object number, binder/box number, Eva Hesse Archive, 1938-1980, The Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH PROCESSING INFORMATION: Collection accessioned in 1977, 1982, 1983, and 1998 by museum registrars DESCRIPTION INFORMATION: Collection inventory prepared by the Allen Memorial Art Museum staff after accession. Finding aid written by Elizabeth Edgar, January 2018 to July 2018. Edited by Andrea Gyorody, April 2019. Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) and local guidelines. Eva Hesse Archive, 1941-1980 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Eva Hesse was born in 1936, in Hamburg, Germany, to Jewish parents. The family fled the Nazi regime, first to Holland in 1938 and then to New York in 1939. Hesse studied at the Art Students League, then at Cooper Union and Yale University, where she received her B.A. in 1959. Her many drawings of around 1960-64 show her working with "the shapes...with which she had always been obsessed—irregular rectangles, parabolas, trailing linear ends, curving forms and circles bound or bulged out of symmetry." Her first sculptures date from 1964, during an eighteen-month stay in Germany with her then- husband, the sculptor Tom Doyle. Her first solo show of three-dimensional work, held at the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, in 1964, consisted of thirty-six drawings and fourteen reliefs made of plaster and cord, either tightly bound or loosely hanging. On her return to New York in 1965, she began to focus and clarify her forms and to work on a large scale. That year was her first period of great productivity and achievement; her earliest significant sculptures—Laocoon, Metronomic Irregularity, Ennead, and Hang-Up—were completed in 1965-66, and her work appeared in two important group exhibitions: Abstract Inflationism and Stuffed Expressionism (Graham Gallery, New York, May 1966) and Eccentric Abstraction (Fischbach Gallery, New York, October 1966). Both exhibitions were organized by Lucy Lippard, Hesse's early supporter and most astute critic. From 1968 onwards she worked frequently in fiberglass, producing some of her most daring attenuations of sculptural "structure," as in the hanging, tangled fiberglass of Right After (1969, Milwaukee Art Museum). She was included in Robert Morris’s Nine in a Warehouse exhibition, held at the Castelli warehouse in 1969, and the important exhibition When Attitudes Become Form at the Kunsthalle Bern that same year. Hesse became ill with cancer in the late 1960s, and died in 1970 at the age of thirty-four. She kept a diary since her childhood, the contents of which have inspired many accounts of possible parallels between her often traumatic life and her work. Her work has been closely associated with Minimalism and Postminimalism, and though her mature career lasted only five years, she is regarded as a critical figure in the art of the 1960s. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE Series 1: Adolescent Materials, 1941-1959 consists of materials pertaining to Hesse up to 1959 when she graduated from Yale University. Included in this series are Hesse’s German birth certificate, report cards, and awards from primary and secondary school; materials from the School of Industrial Art and the Cooper Union Art School; materials from Camp Lebanon, the camp Hesse attended with her sister; and essays and Hesse’s diploma from Yale. Additional materials from the Cooper Union Art School and Yale University are included in Series 16: Notebooks. Eva Hesse Archive, 1941-1980 Series 2: Teaching Materials, 1965-1969 consists of materials from Hesse’s time teaching, including teaching notes and student writings. Additional teaching notes are included in Series 16: Notebooks Series 3: Unbound Personal Writings, 1953-1970 consists of personal writings that are not bound into notebooks. Those writings with dates are arranged chronologically; those without dates are arranged according to their approximate dates, with approximate dates given in brackets when available. Series 4: Unbound Notes on Works, 1964-1969 consists of the notes on works that are not bound into notebooks. The notes that are dated are arranged chronologically; notes without dates are arranged according to their approximate dates, with approximate dates given in brackets when available. Series 5: Biographies and Resumes consists of the biographies submitted by Hesse and others to galleries and resumes written by Hesse, arranged chronologically. Series 6: Gallery, Exhibition, and Auction Materials consists of announcements and invitations, catalogs, and other miscellaneous materials such as press releases and object forms. The announcements, invitations, and catalogs are organized into three sub-groups: exhibitions of Hesse’s work during her lifetime, posthumous exhibitions of her work, and exhibitions of other artists. Materials are arranged chronologically where dates are available. Series 7: Materials by Other Artists consists of essays and artworks by other artists. Materials are arranged chronologically by creation date if available. Series 8: Correspondence, 1944-1970 consists of dated and undated correspondence to and from Hesse from 1944 until her death in May 1970, as well as correspondence that pertained to Hesse and her family. The series is organized into six sub-groups: dated correspondence from Hesse, undated correspondence from Hesse, dated correspondence to Hesse, undated correspondence to Hesse, correspondence to and/or about Hesse’s family, and correspondence about Hesse but not sent to her or her family. Series 9: Business Cards consists of business cards collected by Hesse. The cards are arranged in alphabetical order. Series 10: Transactions, Contracts, and Receipts consists of shopping receipts, museum contracts, and evidence of other monetary exchanges. These materials are arranged chronologically where a date can be determined. Series 11: Published Materials consists of published writings that pertain to Hesse. These include features, interviews, and exhibition reviews. The materials are arranged chronologically by publication date. Eva Hesse Archive, 1941-1980 Series 12: Memorabilia consists of materials saved by Hesse, including souvenirs from her time in Germany and the first money she made with her art. Materials are arranged chronologically where a date is available. Series 13: Medical Documents consists of materials pertaining to Hesse’s medical history, including documents from the hospital at the end of her life. Materials are arranged chronologically where a date is available. Series 14: VisUal Materials consists of four sub-groups based on item type: photographic slides, photographic negatives, photographs, and visual materials sent with correspondence. The photographic slides include color and black and white images of Hesse’s artwork and of Hesse and acquaintances. The photographic negatives include images of Hesse and acquaintances; photographic prints have been made from the negatives for the archive and are grouped with the negatives. The photographs include color and black and white images of Hesse’s artwork, the artwork of other artists, and Hesse and acquaintances. Visual materials sent with correspondence include photographs, photographic negatives, and stereographs. The finding aid entry for these materials indicate the correspondence with which the materials were received. The materials are arranged in chronological order when dates are available. Series 15: Audio Materials consists of one reel-to-reel tape and two cassette tape copies of the reel-to-reel tape. Series 16: Notebooks consists of notebooks