About this artwork
A landmark early feminist work, Eleanor Antin’s Carving: A Traditional Sculpture comprises 148 black-and-white photographs documenting the artist’s loss of 10 pounds over 37 days. Every morning she was photographed naked in the same four stances to record her barely perceptible self-induced weight loss. (The photographs from each day are arranged vertically, and the entire process can be read horizontally, like a filmstrip.) Antin’s performance purposely toyed with the traditional process of Greek sculptors, who were said to find their ideal form by chipping away at a block of marble and discarding any unnecessary material. The artist’s idea of “carving” her own body was inspired by an invitation from the Whitney Museum of Art for its biennial survey exhibition, which at the time restricted itself to the established categories of painting and sculpture, though this work was considered too conceptual for the exhibition.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Contemporary Art
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Artist
- Eleanor Antin
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Title
- CARVING: A Traditional Sculpture
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1972
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Medium
- 148 gelatin silver prints and text panel
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Dimensions
- Each photograph: 17.7 × 12.7 cm (7 × 5 in.); Text panel: 39.4 × 26 cm (15 1/2 × 10 1/4 in.); Installed: 79.4 × 518.2 cm (31 5/16 × 204 1/16 in.); 79.4 × 518.2 cm (31 1/4 × 204 in.)
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Credit Line
- Twentieth-Century Discretionary Fund
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Reference Number
- 1996.44
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
