Nancy Graves 1975: An Interview

Nancy Graves (1939-1995) was a New York sculptor, painter, and filmmaker who used natural history as a reference for dealing with the relationships between time, space, and form. Her work shows the formative influence of the natural sciences, history, art, and cultural studies that she encountered as a child. After majoring in English Literature at Vassar, Graves studied painting at Yale with Jack Tworkov, Alex Katz, and Al Held, among other artists and traveled extensively, spending time in Paris and Florence.

In 1969, Graves became the first woman to receive a solo retrospective at the Whitney Museum, where she displayed her famous Camels, sculptures made of burlap, wax, fiberglass, and animal skin. She is also known for her aerial landscapes based on maps of the moon.  In this interview she discusses the diferences in reception she received from the "art public" versus the "layman" or general public. 

A historical interview originally recorded in 1975 and re-edited in 2006 with support from the Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund.