Eva Hesse: Diaries

‘I open my new book. What will you tell for the next year. To bring forth a new chapter of wisdom, hopes, joys fears. I shall be honest with myself; and therewith SUCCEED.’ These lines open Eva Hesse’s 1955 diary and lay out the task of her writing. In between weekly to-do lists and personal musings, Hesse used her diaries as a space to process her experience of the world and to reckon with what it means to be an artist. An American sculptor best known for her pioneering work with materials such as rope, latex, and fiberglass, Hesse is regarded as one of the artists who ushered in the Post-Minimalist movement of the late 1960s. This publication presents Hesse’s diaries from 1955 to 1970, providing an intimate glimpse into the artist’s psyche. Now in its second edition, ‘Eva Hesse: Diaries’ was first published in 2016 in association with Yale University Press and was awarded that year’s Most Beautiful Swiss Book Award by the Swiss Culture Awards Federal Office of Culture.