{"data":{"id":"538","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":538,"topgoose_id":2115,"tms_id":538,"display_name":"Nancy Grossman","sort_name":"Grossman Nancy","display_date":"1940–","begin_date":"1940","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAs a teenager, Nancy Grossman\nassisted at her parents’ dress factory in\nOneonta, New York, learning to sew\nand make patterns—skills she would employ\nin her most notable body of work, known\nas “Heads.” Grossman has worked in a\nrange of two- and three-dimensional\nmediums but is most identified with these\nfastidiously crafted, life-sized, leather-\ncovered sculptures of human heads, which\nshe began making in 1968 and continued\nto produce until the mid-1990s. Each head\nbegins as a block of wood that Grossman\ncarves, sands, and polishes before tautly\nwrapping it with pieces of leather—sourced\nfrom items such as biker jackets and\nboxing gloves—that are then joined together\nwith nails, stitches, and zippers. Additional\nadornments might include spikes, horns,\nand other protrusions; buckles, straps,\nand chains; noses fashioned from rubber\nor enamel; dentures; and eyes made of\nglass or buttons.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe eyes and mouth of \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1097\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHead\n1968\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, like those in many of Grossman’s head\nsculptures, are obscured, suggesting a\nsubject who is being silenced or restrained.\nAs the artist wrote in 1969: “This work\nhas to do with the taboos against . . . knowing\nwhat you know . . . and what you are not\nsupposed to know even though you do\nknow. . . . We are buckled and bound in our\ntaboos.” Created within the context of\nthe social and political upheavals of the late\n1960s, including, as Grossman elaborated\nthen, “the second-class citizenship of Blacks,\npolice brutality, corruption in the military,\nand hunger in America,” \u003cem\u003eHead 1968\u003c/em\u003e today\ntranscends a specific moment, instead\nsymbolizing the individual’s encounter with,\nand refusal or inability to respond to, the\ninjustices that surround us.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500067133","wikidata_id":"Q6962720","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:00:58.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-12T07:04:29.194-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/538/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/538/exhibitions"}}}}