Arbus

Details

Nancy Grossman (b. 1940)
Arbus
signed and dated with nail heads 'N. Grossman 70-71' (on the underside of the larger element)
wood, leather, metal and enamel, in two parts
overall: 15 x 8 x 10 in. (38.1 x 20.3 x 25.4 cm.)
Executed in 1970-1971.

Provenance

Private collection, New York
Anon. sale; Christie's, New York, 14 November 1989, lot 405
Private collection, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1989

Literature

A. Raven, Nancy Grossman, Brookville, 1991, p. 123, no. 112.
K. Johnson, "Blind Ambition of Leather-Clad Heads," The New York Times, July 2011, p. C23.

Exhibited

Brookville, Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus, Hillwood Art Museum; New York, Sculpture Center; New York, Exit Art; Chicago, Artemesia and Beacon Street Galleries, and Little Rock, Arkansas Arts Center, Nancy Grossman: 25 Years, September 1990-November 1992, p. 123, no. 112 (illustrated).
Paris, Palais de Tokyo, The Third Mind–Carte blanche à Ugo Rondinone, September 2007-January 2008.
Long Island City, Museum of Modern Art PS1, Nancy Grossman: Heads, May–August 2011.

Brought to you by

Rachael White

rrwhite@christies.com +1 212 974 4556

Lot Essay

“While Grossman regularly refers to the heads as self-portraits, they are not made to resemble the artist herself. They speak to the malice and subservience of both psychology and worldly conflict…The life-size sculptures are startling for what they obscure as much as for what they expose.” (MoMA PS1, Nancy Grossman: Heads, https://momaps1.org/exhibitions/view/333)

Arbus

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Lot Essay

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