Virginia Film Festival

Eva Hesse, one of America’s foremost post-war artists, pioneered the formation of sculptures using latex, fiberglass, and plastics, which facilitated the establishment of the post-minimalist movement. The film incorporates fragments of the artist’s journals, her correspondence with mentor Sol LeWitt, and interviews with fellow artists who recall her passionate and tenacious personality. Hesse, who died of a brain tumor at age 34, had a mere decade-long career that, despite its brevity, is dense with complex, intriguing works that defy easy categorization. The documentary captures the vibrancy of Hesse’s art, as well as the struggles of an artist who, in the downtown New York art scene of the 1960s, was one of the few women to make work that was taken seriously in a field dominated by male pop artists and minimalists. Introduction by Rebecca Schoenthal

Supported by Congregation Beth Israel