UC Irvine

This dissertation traces three interconnected material histories embedded within German-American artist Eva Hesse's sculptural works constructed between 1964-1969. At only 34, she amassed an extensive oeuvre before an untimely death in 1970 from cancer. Most of Hesse's sculptural artworks were constructed during a residency in Kettwig an der Ruhr, West Germany, and in her New York City studio. During this time, the artist conducted pioneering experimentation with industrial and chemical materials, newly made available to the art community by commercial and manufacturing industries. Three chapters attend to the material, cultural, sociological, and geopolitical context of Hesse's artistic exploration of synthetic substances – respectively industrial collage, latex, and plastics. Specifically, I examine how these materials articulated post- war attitudes towards globalization, production, and environment during the 1960s decade. Hesse's use of industrial and chemical elements illuminated the often conflicting, yet essential history of these substances within human society and culture during the so-called "golden age" of synthetics. This dissertation project coincides with the 50th anniversary (May 2020) of Hesse's death, thereby presenting a new historical examination of the artist as a provocative interlocutor for synthetics between the art world, science, and industry.