Carolee Schneemann

Eye/Body #5

Maker

Carolee Schneemann (American, 1939 - 2019)

Title

Eye/Body #5
from the series 36 Transformative Actions for Camera

Year

1963/1973

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Sheet: 27.9 x 35.6 cm (11 x 14 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscribed in ink, recto right margin: C. Schneemann 1963 from "Eye Body"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund

Object Number

2013.24

Type

Exhibition History

The Performative Self-Portrait
May 13, 2023 – Nov 12, 2023

Label copy

A nude woman—the artist herself—is covered in snakes and paint as she lies on the floor of her studio-turned-set. Originally photographed in 1963, this is the first work by feminist artist Carolee Schneemann where she incorporated her own body into the frame. She added the gestural scratches and green, pink, and yellow coloring to these prints in 1973.

As both the object of the image and the image-maker herself, Schneemann grappled with the doubled position of seeing and being seen, subject and object, and eye and body. This can be viewed as Schneemann’s rejection of a male-dominated art world where men are image-makers and women are images alone.

Conor Moynihan, assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Carolee Schneemann (American, 1939 - 2019)
Eye/Body #5; from the series 36 Transformative Actions for Camera, 1963/1973
Hand-colored gelatin silver print with scratching
Sheet: 27.9 x 35.6 cm (11 x 14 inches)
Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund 2013.24

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.