Eva Hesse Page #5

HESSE:
September 30th.

Almost one complete in the U.S.

Dear Arnhard, dear Isa,

we are working hard

and also very busy socially.

The year in Kettwig,

dear Arnhard, was more,

much more than some help to both of us.

The work we are now doing

does show how much we grew

and developed because of the

beautiful year you gave us.

LIPPARD:
When Eva Went to Germany,

she was a sort of

post-abstract expressionist.

When she came back,

she was a funny kind of surrealist.

The work in Germany

obviously had freed her up.

And then she came back,

and I think at that point

she sort of fell under

the influence of minimalism.

I don't think anybody discouraged her

from the strange little things

she was doing in Germany,

but the art world was going

in a different direction

and she intuitively picked up on it.

When minimalism came along,

there was a whole, new world.

You know, no curves, no color,

no anything. Just presence.

It was a lot about presence.

People said, "You're a minimalist.

What does that mean?"

And I said I just had to get rid

of a lot of useless garbage

and get right down to a few essentials.

I think minimalism came out

of abstract expressionism.

It sort of toned down

the, uh, the brush stroke.

At the same time,

there was the other tradition,

people whose work was more

personal and more intense,

and perhaps more surrealist.

Eva, of course, was a transitional figure,

from a minimalist,

her friends were all minimalists,

but she was very personal.

There was a lot

of eroticism in her work.

It was so Warm and human

and full of soul.

HESSE". I feel so strongly

that the only art

is the art of the artist personally.

My interest is in solely

finding my own way.

I don't mind being miles

from everybody else.

She did talk a great deal

about eccentricity and absurdity,

particular absurdity,

that her life had been absurd,

her life at present was absurd,

and she wanted

to get that into the work.

HOLT:
I just remember that wall

where she had all those

different pieces hung.

I saw her rearranging one of

those long, sausage pieces.

And she was kind of high

on the ridiculousness of it.

Her life was so full

of synchronistic oddities,

and there's this sense that,

well, we're just not in control.

The universe is pulling on the strings

and you might as well

stand back and just enjoy it.

LIPPARD:
I look back on that period

with Eva's Work and think,

Oh, that was the preface to feminist art.

HESSE". Certainly I've grown

within myself.

I think my hang-ups now

are almost all related to Tom.

DOYLE:
We had two lofts on the Bowery.

We lived at 134

and my studio was at 135 Bowery,

right across the street.

I would... I've worked all the time.

(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)

(TRAFFIC BUSTLES)

HESSE:
It is now 12:30 a.m.

lam alone, Tom never

with me any longer.

Carries on as always and runs around.

He goes to openings and parties.

But those things

he attends never with me.

DOYLE". She was very difficult,

you know, in many ways.

{wasn't the only bad person

about the whole thing.

It was like she was

very high maintenance, you know'?

Christmas came and I bought

this beautiful pipe.

And I came home and Eva said,

"How much did it cost?"

I said, "35 bucks."

She said, "Get out."

And that was the words

I was waiting for and I left.

HESSE:
All over.

Tom is gone.

He wants a divorce.

I messed all up. Begged.

He's indifferent.

Pm tired and again fee! worn

and used and taken advantage.

That is the childish Eva,

the one that is haunted

by her past isolation and loneliness.

The one abandoned

by her mother who was sick

and therefore notable

to have done otherwise.

CHARASH:
That's hard.

My mother was what

we call today bipolar.

HESSE:

My mother was there, but not there.

There, but not there.

OHARASH:
My mother had a very

difficult time adapting.

And then it came to a head

at a certain point,

and then she felt she was

no longer able to care for us and she left.

HESSE:
I was shifted from home to home,

and used to be terrified.

CHARASH:
H was the end of the war.

And all along, my father

had been working on getting

my mother's parents out of Germany.

But H all came to nothing.

And when my mother got the notification

that her parents were taken into the

concentration camp and they had died,

uh, she jumped from the roof.

My father did not tell us.

H was in the papers,

and kids taunted my sister at school,

and she refused to go to school.

HESSE". I had tremendous fear,

incredible fear.

I had my father tuck my blankets in

tight into my bed,

which had bars at the bottom,

which I would hold at night.

And he would have to tell me

that he'd be there to take

care of me in the morning.

OHARASH:
Eva was ten when

my mother died, exactly.

That's exactly around

her birthday time.

And that's why January was the

worst month of the year for her.

Eva continued to be upset

the years after my mother died.

And at my stepmother's urging,

they sought out a therapist

and Eva started

to see Dr. Helene Papanek.

HESSE". Please, Dr. Papanek.

You've got to help me.

Or maybe soon I'll be with my mommy.

I'll talk to you. I'll tell you all.

I hope I can.

SUSSMAN:
She was suffering greatly

from the circumstances

of her childhood,

and this therapy was

absolutely essential to her.

HESSE". I cannot stand the aloneness,

because H represents abandonment.

BROWN:
She Wasn't happy with Tom,

and she Wasn't happy without him.

But then, she was working a lot

and that

masked her unhappiness somewhat.

HESSE". AH my stakes are in my work.

I've given up in all else.

I do feel I am an artist,

and one of the best.

I do, deeply.

GOLDMAN". The power of her purpose

was more important than what was

going on in her life.

HESSE". Finished two pieces today.

I worked hard.

GOLDMAN". She was crawling

on the floor at times,

because of the Tom business,

and still the art went on.

HESSE". Dear Isa, dear Arnhard.

The last months

have been very difficult.

H's sad how things happen.

Tom and I are separated.

At the same time, very much has

happened for both of us in our Work.

We both have exhibitions opening

the same evening, March 1st.

I went there to the Graham Gallery

when she first showed,

because I really wanted

to see what she was doing.

And I was just floored.

She did this great work, Hang Up.

It was like, so audacious.

I mean H was such a leap for the work.

And that's one of the great

sculptures of that time.

I mean it's just unbelievable.

It is not a painting.

It is not a sculpture.

It just is art.

HESSE". Hang Up is the most important

early statement I made.

H was the first time

my idea of absurdity,

of extreme feeling came through.

She used the sheets

from my house.

She said, Rosie, do you have

any sheets I could use'?

Preferably blue.

I said, "Sure, take the sheets."

And she wrapped them,

and there was a kind of

sage-like, spiritual sense

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