Nancy Graves

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Nancy Graves (born December 23, 1939 in Pittsfield , Massachusetts , † October 21, 1995 in New York ) was an American sculptor , painter and filmmaker who became known for her occupation with natural phenomena such as camels and lunar maps . She is seen as a representative of forensic evidence (art) .

life and work

Her interest in art, nature and anthropology was nurtured by her father, who was the artistic director of a museum. After starting to study English literature at Vassar College , she graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's and master's degree in 1964. At Yale, she met Chuck Close and Richard Serra . She received a Fulbright scholarship and studied painting in Paris for a year. There she married her fellow student Richard Serra in the summer of 1965. Both moved from Paris to Florence for a year in 1966 , where Graves' first life-size sculptures of camels were made. After returning to the USA, she rented a studio in New York. More camel sculptures were created, which were exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1969 . Graves is the first female artist under the age of 35 to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum. The sculptures show three individual camels, each made of various materials such as wax, fiberglass, sackcloth and animal skin. Each camel is also painted with acrylic and oil paint to make it appear realistic. The Whitney exhibition instantly made Graves known as one of the protagonists of hyperrealism . The camels are now in the National Gallery of Canada , two later "siblings" are in the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen. Other sculptures show simulated bones of prehistoric animals.

Parallel to the sculptures, drawings, paintings, films and collages were created, some of which have the appearance of scientific research materials, but at the same time are autonomous works of art.

From 1970 onwards, more paintings and drawings were created instead of sculptures. Like Pop Art , Graves converted found illustrations from specialist books into paintings. The motifs were initially animals, movement studies according to Eadweard Muybridge or masks of indigenous peoples. A little later, Graves also used the point painting technique developed in this way to paint paintings of the surface of the moon and Mars, which were based on maps and photo material from NASA . Graves always focused on the technical requirements of the respective templates. For example, she incorporated disturbances and image errors in her paintings that were created due to the complicated transfer processes of NASA photos from space to Earth. Each group of motifs was preceded by a profound study of the respective scientific source material. After her death, Graves' personal reference library listed over 2,400 titles from a wide variety of scientific fields.

Nancy Graves was appointed to the Individual Mythologies department at Documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972 and as a participating artist at documenta 6 in 1977.

From the end of the 1970s, there was a renewed turn to sculpture. Post-modern sculptures made of bronze and other materials were created, with which the artist had great success on the US art market. The last years of her life were determined by the experimental use of new materials such as synthetic resin and acrylic glass.

In 1985, Nancy Graves designed the costumes and sets for the dance piece "Lateral Pass" by the choreographer Trisha Brown , with whom Graves was also a personal friend.

Works

  • Goulimine (film, 1970)
  • Izy Boukir (film, 1971)
  • VI Maskeyne Da Region of the Moon (lithograph, 1972)
  • Fragment (painting, 1977)
  • Wheelabout (Plastik, 1985)
  • Hindsight (plastic, 1986)
  • Immovable Iconography (plastic, 1990)

Awards

Exhibitions (selection)

literature

  • Brigitte Franzen, Annette Lagler (Eds.): Nancy Graves Project & Special Guests . Catalog for the exhibition in the Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen. Hatje Cantz publishing house, Ostfildern 2013, ISBN 978-3-7757-3695-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ VI Maskeyne Since region of the Moon (1972)
  2. ↑ Fragment (1977)
  3. ↑ Wheelabout. In: themodern.org. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth , accessed May 3, 2019 .
  4. ^ Hindsight (1986) ( Memento of April 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Immovable Iconography (1990)
  6. ^ Members: Nancy Graves. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 31, 2019 .
  7. ^ National Academy Museum and School : Past Academicians "G" / Graves, Nancy S. NA 1994 ( Memento of January 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed May 3, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Graves, Nancy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sculptor, painter, and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsfield, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1995
Place of death new York