No title
1970

The web is simultaneously graceful and chaotic, with lyrical swooping arcs and frenetic, dense snarls throughout the composition. It is made up of two lengths of rope that have been coated in latex. The latex is a warm ocher in some places, and a deeper brown shade where the material has dried more thickly onto the rope’s surface. In these spots, the rubber completely obscures the rope beneath it, but in places where the coating is thinner, the coiled shape of the rope is visible underneath. Although the latex coating appears smooth and flexible, it is actually quite brittle, and will continue to grow increasingly fragile as it ages.

The elements of No title have been described in organic terms—like branches and swathes of moss hanging low in a marsh. It stands in opposition to the hard geometric forms, industrial materials, and intentional perceptual clarity of Minimalism, which was the dominant artistic movement in New York City when Eva Hesse made the work in 1970. Hesse began No title by making drawings, which is reflected in the line-like quality and variable weight of the ropes as they hang  in the space of the gallery. Although this work is sculptural, it may also be understood as a drawing in three dimensions, with the density of interwoven skeins analogous to lines built up darkly on the page. 

Hesse made No title with the help of a studio assistant, as she was battling brain cancer and was limited in her mobility. But beyond the physical support she received, the materials she used also did a great deal of work. The liquid latex, as it was drying, would have dripped down the length of the ropes, lending a sense of heaviness and movement to the finished web. In a preparatory drawing for No title, Hesse noted that the work “completes itself.”