Bruce Nauman
Wax Impressions of the Knees of Five Famous Artists, 1966

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Wax Impressions of the Knees of Five Famous Artists
Artist name
Bruce Nauman
Date created
1966
Classification
sculpture
Medium
fiberglass and polyester resin
Dimensions
15 5/8 in. × 85 1/4 in. × 2 3/4 in. (39.69 cm × 216.54 cm × 6.99 cm)
Date acquired
1996
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
The Agnes E. Meyer and Elise S. Haas Fund and Accessions Committee Fund: gift of Collectors' Forum, Doris and Donald Fisher, Evelyn Haas, Mimi and Peter Haas, Pamela and Richard Kramlich, Elaine McKeon, Byron R. Meyer, Nancy and Steven Oliver, Helen and Charles Schwab, Norah and Norman Stone, Danielle and Brooks Walker, Jr., and Pat and Bill Wilson
Copyright
© Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/96.92
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Audio Stories

Why is this title a lie?

Show TranscriptHide Transcript

transcripts

NARRATOR:  

Shortly after moving to San Francisco, American artist Bruce Nauman created Wax Impressions of the Knees of Five Famous Artists. At the time, he was just beginning to experiment with using his body for making art. Art historian Pamela Lee.  

 

LEE:  

There is a real sense of play or parody going on in this piece. What Nauman is trying to do is give a mark, give a kind of identification, or a signature, to the artist’s body itself. But instead of, say a hand print, the kinds of which you see in Hollywood, with movie stars, he has in fact used the form of the artist’s knee as the signature or identification mark of the artist.

 

NARRATOR: Though the title is Wax Impressions of the Knees of Five Famous Artists, the work is in fact, neither wax nor the knees of five famous artists.  

 

LEE:  

What we have, actually, is a piece constructed out of fiberglass and not wax. The knees that we see here, or at least the imprints of them, actually belong to Nauman himself.  

Read MoreCollapse

Español

普通话

Other Works by Bruce Nauman

See other works by Bruce Nauman

Please note that artwork locations are subject to change, and not all works are on view at all times.

Only a portion of SFMOMA's collection is currently online, and the information presented here is subject to revision. Please contact us at collections@sfmoma.org to verify collection holdings and artwork information. If you are interested in receiving a high resolution image of an artwork for educational, scholarly, or publication purposes, please contact us at copyright@sfmoma.org.

This resource is for educational use and its contents may not be reproduced without permission. Please review our Terms of Use for more information.