The Counter Feats of Elaine Sturtevant (1924-2014)

Abstract

This article explores the work of Elaine Sturtevant whose œuvre is entirely composed of images borrowed or copied from other artists. From her first Warhol Flowers in 1965 to her late text performances, Sturtevant belligerently used iconic images by other artists trying not to make them different, but the same. In advance of the Appropriationists, whose critical fortune gave a new perspective on her pursuits, Sturtevant questioned originality and authorship; her actions shifted the material objects she crafted towards image as idea, image as discourse. From Duchamp to Stella to Gonzalez-Torres, Sturtevant’s choice of targets will be examined. Offering a radical case for intericonographic studies, Sturtevant displaces their focus towards the agency of the image and forces us to reconsider the practice of the copy, whose exacerbated status in our culture she anticipated.

Keywords

• appropriation
• copy
• time
• Duchamp
• Stella
• Sturtevant