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A drawing of a brown oval form on a black background on off white paper.

The drawing shows a rounded form slightly flattened on the left side. The background is black with lighter areas and visible brush strokes. At the bottom of the rounded form, layer of gray highlighted with black wavy lines is topped by a light green layer highlighted with a pattern of black dots. A center layer of reddish-brown is marked by a black disc slightly off center to the right. A layer of thinly applied gray with a scalloped bottom edge is above, a light brown layer is above that with rounded forms across the top.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2000.52
People
Eva Hesse, American (Hamburg, Germany 1936 - 1970 New York, NY)
Title
Untitled
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1961
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/184823

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown and gray wash, white gouache, black ink and black crayon on off-white wove paper, incised and scrubbed
Dimensions
sight: 15.1 x 24 cm (5 15/16 x 9 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • gallery label: backing board of frame, upper center, ink on paper, printed: Eva Hesse
    UNTITLED
    Gouache and ink on paper
    6 x 9 1/2" 15.2 x 24.1 cm.
    HESS--0061
    ROBERT MILLER GALLERY
    41 EAST 57th STREET NEW YORK 10022

  • gallery label: backing board of frame, l.l., ink on paper, printed, French: Galerie Renos Xippas
    Eva Hesse [underlined]
    Sans titre, 1961
    encre et gouache sur papier
    15,2 x 24,1 cm
    (HESS-0061) book # 33
    108, RUE VIEILLE-DU TEMPLE-75003 PARIS-TEL: 40.27.05.55-FAX: 40.27.07.16
  • stamp: backing board of frame, center bottom, blue ink, stamped: ROBERT MILLER GALLERY
    41 EAST 57th STREET
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022
  • label: backing board of frame, lower center, ink on paper, printed: Commemorative label for Knight Works, Inc, 10th anniversary.
  • stamp: backing board of frame, bottom center, black ink, printed: knight works, inc.
    conservation matting and framing
    346 Pavonia Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302, (201) 659-6675
  • inscription: backing board of frame, lower center, black ink, handwritten: FDVD 847
    DKD 179
    115
  • label: top of vertical sides of the frame, ink on paper, printed: HESS-0061

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Estate of Eva Hesse. [Robert Miller Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2000.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund
Copyright
© The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Accession Year
2000
Object Number
2000.52
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Kathryn Ann Pasternak, "Sculptural Works by Eva Hesse: Inventiveness and Impermanence in Twentieth Century Art" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 1985), Unpublished, pp. 1-167 passim
  • Elizabeth Frank, Eva Hesse, gouaches 1960-1961, exh. cat., Robert Miller and Renos Xippas (New York, NY and Paris, France, 1991), no. 33, repr. in color
  • Brigitte Reinhardt, Eva Hesse: Drawing in Space--Bilder und Reliefs, exh. cat., Hatje Cantz (Ostfildern, 1994), pp. 11 (German), 15 (English), 174, repr. p. 119 in color
  • Volker Rattemeyer and Renate Petzinger, Eva Hesse, exh. cat., Museum Wiesbaden (Wiesbaden, Germany, 2002), pp. 21, 46 and 131, repr. color p. 47 (no cat. no.)
  • Elizabeth Sussman, ed., Eva Hesse, exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Yale University Press (U.S.) (San Francisco and New Haven, 2002), cat. no. 25, p. 320

Exhibition History

  • Eva Hesse: Gouaches 1960-1961, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, 02/26/1991 - 03/23/1991; Galerie Renos Xippas, Paris, 04/13/1991 - 06/01/1991
  • Eva Hesse: Drawing in Space--Bilder und Reliefs, Ulmer Museum, D-89073 Ulm, 03/27/1994 - 05/23/1994; Westfälisches Landsmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, 08/07/1994 - 10/16/1994
  • Eva Hesse, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 02/02/2002 - 05/19/2002; Museum Wiesbaden, 65185 Wiesbaden, 06/15/2002 - 10/13/2002; Tate Modern, London, 11/13/2002 - 03/09/2003
  • 32Q: 1100 60’s Experiment, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/07/2015 - 04/06/2016

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu