Ana Mendieta
Three, framed: 19 ¼ x 25 ¼ x 2 in (48.9 x 64.1 x 5.1 cm)
Four, framed: 26 ¾ x 19 ½ x 1 ¼ in (67.9 x 49.5 x 3.2 cm)
In Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants), Mendieta’s longstanding interest in the theme of transformation is first observed in this early work from 1972, made when she was a graduate student at the University of Iowa.
In this performative work, Mendieta slowly and deliberately transferred the facial hair of a friend onto her own face in the Intermedia studio at the university. This work would later form the basis of her master's thesis submitted for the painting program, where the artist acknowledged Duchamp's famous "Rrose Sélavy" and "L.H.O.O.Q." as the sources of her work, writing: "I like the idea of transferring hair from one person to another because I think it gives me that person’s strength." After receiving her Master of Arts degree in 1972, Mendieta continued to take courses in the Intermedia program, eventually obtaining a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977.
Public Collections
Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Exhibitions
Ana Mendieta: Body Imprints and Transformations, 1972-74, Galerie Lelong, New York, NY, November 6 - December 20, 1997.Rest/Energy: Photography, Video, and Sculpture by Ana Mendieta and Marina Abramovic, Galerie Lelong, New York, March 11 - April 24, 1999.
Ana Mendieta: Traces, Hayward Gallery, London, September 24, 2013 - December 15, 2013; Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg, March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014; Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, October 2, 2014 - January 4, 2015.
artevida: corpo [body], Fundação Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, June 28 - September 21, 2014.
Faces, Hygiene Museum, Dresden, Germany, August 19, 2017-February 25, 2018
Ana Mendieta, Sugar Hill Children's Museum, New York, NY, October 11, 2017-September 23, 2018.
Ana Mendieta Silhueta em Fogo (Ana Mendieta: Silueta en Fuego), SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, September 19, 2023 - January 21, 2024.
Hair Pieces, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Australia, 4 May – 6 October 2024.
Grow it, Show it! Hair in View from Diane Arbus to TikTok, Museum Folkwang, Essen, September 13, 2024 - January 12, 2025.