Eva Hesse

(No title)
1965

Abstract line drawing on a cream-colored background featuring a series of interconnected, curved lines and shapes with hatch marks. Some lines are highlighted with blue and red accents, creating a sense of depth and movement. The composition is open-ended and leaves much to interpretation, with a playful yet structured arrangement of forms.

Abstract line drawing on a cream-colored background featuring a series of interconnected, curved lines and shapes with hatch marks. Some lines are highlighted with blue and red accents, creating a sense of depth and movement. The composition is open-ended and leaves much to interpretation, with a playful yet structured arrangement of forms.

Not on view

Date
1965

Classification
Drawings

Medium
Ink on paper

Dimensions
Sheet (sight): 25 5/16 × 19 5/8in. (64.3 × 49.8 cm)

Accession number
2015.152

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Helen Hesse Charash in honor of Elisabeth Sussman

Rights and reproductions
© The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

API
artworks/47265

Audio

Eva Hesse, No Title, 1970

In America Is Hard to See

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Eva Hesse, No Title, 1970

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Narrator: Chose one point in Eva Hesse’s sculpture and follow that thick piece of tangled rope for as long as you can. Did you get very far?
To make this piece, Hesse dipped two knotted pieces of rope into liquid latex. You've probably seen this type of rubber used as a special effect in movies, where it’s used to imitate skin. When Hesse first made this piece, the soft latex gave the rope a life-like quality.
You might think of sculptures as being made from materials like stone or metal, which last a long time. But latex gets weaker and weaker over time: it becomes brittle and loses its form.
So while this sculpture might look soft and flexible, you wouldn’t be able to bend it—or really even touch it. The hard, fragile rope could easily crumble.

Eva Hesse
7 works in the collection

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