Eleanor Antin facts for kids

Eleanor Antin (born Eleanor Fineman on February 27, 1935) is an American artist. She is known for her unique art forms like performance art, filmmaking, and conceptual art. She also taught art at a university.

Growing Up and School

Eleanor Fineman was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1935. Her parents, Sol Fineman and Jeanette Efron, were from Poland. They had recently moved to the United States. Eleanor had one sister named Marcia.

She went to the High School of Music & Art in New York. Later, she studied at The New School and the City College of New York. She finished college in 1958.

At City College, she met David Antin, who was a poet and art critic. They got married in 1961. Eleanor also studied acting and performed in some plays. In 1968, she and David moved to San Diego with their baby son, Blaise.

Eleanor taught art at the University of California at Irvine from 1974 to 1979. After that, she became a professor of visual arts at the University of California at San Diego.

Her Artistic Journey

Eleanor Antin started her art career as a painter in New York. She later made assemblages, which are artworks made from different objects. But in the 1960s, she began to focus on conceptual art. This type of art is more about ideas than traditional paintings or sculptures.

Early Conceptual Works

One of her first big conceptual projects was Blood of a Poet Box (1965-1968). For this, she collected blood samples from poets and put them on slides. This artwork was inspired by a film called Blood of a Poet. It ended up with 100 samples, including blood from famous poets like Allen Ginsberg. This piece is now in the Tate Modern museum.

In 1969, she created a portrait called Molly Barnes. But it wasn't a painting! She used everyday items like a lavender bath rug, an electric razor, and spilled talcum powder to make it. This was part of a series where she made "portraits" of real or imaginary people using new consumer products.

The Famous 100 Boots

100 Boots is one of Eleanor Antin's most famous conceptual artworks. She arranged 100 boots in different places and took photos of them. Then, she made 51 postcards from these photos. She mailed these postcards to hundreds of people all over the world from 1971 to 1973.

The project relied on the people who received the postcards. They had to remember the story and imagine the boots' adventures. The postcards were sent out at different times, from every few days to every few weeks. This depended on what Antin felt the "story needed." The photos showed the boots on a journey, starting at the Pacific Ocean and ending in New York City. The journey was later shown in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.

Exploring Identity and Transformation

In 1972, Antin created a performance piece called Carving: A Traditional Sculpture. She photographed her body 148 times over a month while she was on a strict diet. This serious artwork is seen as an important piece of early feminist art.

Another work from 1972 was The Eight Temptations. In this piece, Antin posed in dramatic ways, showing herself trying not to eat snacks that would break her diet.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Eleanor Antin made several videos where she played different characters. These characters were her "invented personae" or alter egos. They included an Elizabethan-style king, a ballerina from the Romantic era, a modern black movie star named Eleanora Antinova, and Eleanor Nightingale, who was a mix of Florence Nightingale and herself.

In 1974, Antin explained that these impersonations were part of her interest in how people can change themselves. She said she wanted to explore the "limits of myself." She felt that things like age, gender, or talent could limit a person's freedom.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Antin used these different characters in a project she called "Selves." This project included four videos: The King (1972), The Ballerina and the Bum (1974), The Adventures of a Nurse (1976), and From the Archives of Modern Art (1987).

Later Works and Recognition

More recently, Antin created two large photo series inspired by ancient Roman history. These were The Last Days of Pompeii (2002) and Roman Allegories (2005). Her work was also featured in Season Two of the PBS TV series Art:21.

Eleanor Antin has had many solo shows (shows just for her art) and has been part of countless group exhibitions. Her art has been shown at major museums like the Hirshhorn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Her work is also in the permanent collections of many important museums around the world.

Her art often explores ideas about identity and the role of women in society. She once wrote that she wanted to show women "without pathos or helplessness."

In 2009, Antin talked about how she became an artist. She said she was lucky to grow up when "all the barriers were falling down." It was a time of "invention and discovery" in the art world.

In 2013, Antin published a book called Conversations with Stalin. Her image is also part of a famous 1972 poster called Some Living American Women Artists by Mary Beth Edelson.

Awards and Honors

• 1997: Guggenheim Fellowship
• 1998: National Foundation for Jewish Culture Media Award
• 2003: International Association of Art Critics, Best Gallery Show for "The Last Days of Pompeii"
• 2009: Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• 2023: UC San Diego Revelle Medal Award, a top honor for retired professors

See also

• Blackface in contemporary art