NO SHOW MUSEUM

GOD, 1955. 

BF | A

"Rhea Sue Sanders is quite a mysterious figure in the history of art. Until today only very little is known about her. She was born into a wealthy american diplomatic family that often changed the place of residence. At the tender age of 16, Rhea Sue came into contact with the French avant-garde scene and very soon became the muse (and lover) of several leading artists - including Marcel Duchamp, Jean-Paul Sartre, Boris Vian, Isidore Isou (whose pornographic scandal book Isou ou la mécanique des femme is supposed to be inspired by this affair). Encouraged by her lovers, Rhea Sue began to create her own works of art in the mid 1950s that combined visual art, philosophy and poetry in an innovative way. The artistic execution is extremely simple and minimalistic: machine-written text on paper. All the more, the focus is on the content: the ideas and imaginations which are being activated while reading the texts. Rhea Sue Sanders described them as "pièces de complices" (accomplice pieces): the title probably refers less to the role of her lovers than to the viewer as an accomplice. For her art is realized only in his imagination. In this way she already anticipated a central demand of the Conceptual Art Movement.

Although Rhea Sue Sanders never participated in any solo or group exhibition, her pieces circulated in the avant-garde circles and had a impact on later movements and innovations, including artists like Joseph Kosuth, Art & Language, Yoko Ono. In the late 1950ies she dissappeared from the art scene completely. Some said that she became a prostitute in an Instambul brothel, others that she had being hijacked or even murdered by a mocked lover. Until today, nothing is known about her whereabouts." (Des mythes et des réalitées de l'avant-garde française. Dissertation by Bénédicte Demelas, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 1988. Translated from French)

ETERNAL LOVE, 1957. BF | A

Credits

All reproductions © Estate of Rhea Sue Sanders