Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective (an exhibition catalogue)

One of the leading female artists of the late 20th century, Lee Bontecou (b. 1931) became widely known for her welded steel sculptures and plastic and epoxy molded assemblages from the 1960s and 1970s. Her powerful and original constructions, which were both critically acclaimed and actively collected, evoked natural phenomena and organic biological life even as they grew more abstract. This monograph-the first extensive analysis of her art-presents some 50 sculptures and more than 100 drawings, including her celebrated early works as well as later pieces that are little known and have never been publicly exhibited or published. Along with four original essays, this volume also includes a reprint of Donald Judd's influential 1965 Arts Magazine article on Bontecou.

At last, through this major survey of her work-which accompanies an exhibition organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and ULCA Hammer Museum-we are able to reevaluate the career of an artist who has become legendary in the art world because of the impact of her striking early work and the enormous influence she continues to have on younger artists.