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ETD Abstract Container

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“Systems Within Systems, Microcosms Within Microcosms”: The Sculpture of Lee Bontecou after 1980

Mastbaum, Sara E.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276999705

Abstract Details

2010, MA, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Art History.
After two decades spent creating work out of the public eye, Lee Bontecou (b. 1931) allowed her work to be exhibited in a major retrospective at the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2003. Co-curated by Ann Philbin and Elizabeth A.T. Smith, the retrospective brought Bontecou and her artwork, past and present, once more into the art world’s purview. Although scholars and critics have discussed Bontecou’s earlier sculptures extensively, very little examination of the artist’s work since 1980 exists at present. This study seeks to fill that gap. In chapter one, I discuss the themes and motifs that Bontecou has used throughout her career, and explore the political context of her work. Chapter two is an exploration of feminist themes and the gendering of Bontecou’s work by art critics. The final chapter focuses strictly upon Bontecou’s work after 1980, the year when she began to create work outside of the gallery system, using the context established in the study to discuss Bontecou’s studio practices, her rural surroundings, the dualities in her work, and the late work’s ties to Surrealism. Bontecou’s art, though formally very distinct in each period of her career, can be understood as a web of continuing ideas and broad themes that are informed chiefly by her life and socio-political interests.
Kimberly Paice, PhD (Committee Chair)
Linda Einfalt, MFA (Committee Member)
Theresa Leininger-Miller, PhD (Committee Member)
89 p.
Art History
lee bontecou; sculpture; cold war; 1960s; feminism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mastbaum, S. E. (2010). “Systems Within Systems, Microcosms Within Microcosms”: The Sculpture of Lee Bontecou after 1980 [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276999705

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mastbaum, Sara. “Systems Within Systems, Microcosms Within Microcosms”: The Sculpture of Lee Bontecou after 1980. 2010. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276999705.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mastbaum, Sara. "“Systems Within Systems, Microcosms Within Microcosms”: The Sculpture of Lee Bontecou after 1980." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276999705

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1276999705
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© 2010, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License “Systems Within Systems, Microcosms Within Microcosms”: The Sculpture of Lee Bontecou after 1980 by Sara E. Mastbaum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.