In Focus: Blood of a poet box 1965-8 by Eleanor Antin

Bradnock, Lucy E.

Abstract

Eleanor Antin (born 1935) is widely regarded as a pioneer in the fields of conceptual, feminist, and performance art. Blood of a Poet Box (L02859) is considered by the artist to have been her first major conceptual work. This multi-chapter project is a sustained analysis of that work. I consider the work's crucial place within Antin’s oeuvre and its relation to both traditional art and avant-garde precursors, including Marcel Duchamp, Jean Cocteau, and Joseph Cornell; its anticipation of the issues of gender, culture, and identity that would shape her later projects; and its documentation of the artistic and social networks of the American art and poetry communities in 1960s New York.

Citation

Bradnock, L. E. (2019). In Focus: Blood of a poet box 1965-8 by Eleanor Antin. In Focus,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 28, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Mar 31, 2019
• Publication Date: Mar 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jul 22, 2016
• Journal: In Focus
• Publisher: Tate Research
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Eleanor Antin, Surrealism, American Art, Assemblage, Identity, Portraiture
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/774876
• Publisher URL: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus/blood-poet-box
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus
• Additional Information: ISBN 978-1-84976-531-2