Some fifteen years after its major retrospective, Museum Wiesbaden turns its focus, once again, to the work of Eva Hesse, dedicating the spring of 2019 to the drawings of this exceptional artist. Unlike her sculptural works, produced only in the last five years of her brief life, or her paintings, which belong to her early works, her drawings possess a unique continuity we can trace throughout her entire oeuvre.

The exhibition begins with early studies from the mid-1950s, moving through the painterly watercolors, tempera and ink drawings, and on to the draft sketches and construction “blueprints” for the sculptures of the late 1960s to form a comprehensive view of Hesse’s mere 15 years of artistic production. This broad view is complemented by the closer examination of individual works executed with fascinating delicacy. These works, in particular, embody a vivacity whose subtlety and refined aesthetic of balanced color seem to radiate energy and lightness. For Museum Wiesbaden, this exhibition closes a circle, as the two drawings acquired for its collections in 1990 will now take their place in the context of Hesse’s oeuvre, where they can be discovered anew.

This exhibition is organized by the Estate of Eva Hesse and Hauser & Wirth in collaboration with the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College.