DUANE HANSON, Housewife, Christine Breyhan, Reihe Cantz 001, Cantz, 2000

Christine Breyhan
Reihe Cantz 001
Cantz, 2000

Published in April 2000 as number 001, the inaugural title in the Reihe Cantz series. Christine Breyhan's study concentrates on a single sculpture: Duane Hanson's Housewife, 1969/70.

Page 7 records the sculpture's institutional history: polyester resin and fibreglass, from the collection of Reinhard Onnasch, first exhibited at O.K. Harris Gallery in New York and on view at the Neues Museum Weserburg in Bremen since 1991. A publication written in the presence of its subject.

That arrangement was temporary. The Onnasch collection left the Weserburg in 2005, five years after the book appeared. The Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo now lists a Hanson sculpture titled Housewife (Homemaker), 1969–1970, in its collection. The relationship between the two collection records remains to be established.

On the cover, the figure sits in a worn green armchair beneath a dome hairdryer, cigarette at her mouth, one slippered foot resting on a vinyl pouffe. Two pink bars carry the title across the photograph. The reverse is entirely pink, with a German text describing the figure as an American anti-Playmate.

Inside, close-up photographs isolate the sculpture's details: the plastic hairdryer cap, stained fingers, a copy of Sunset magazine, the hem of a slip. Other works are reproduced with collection credits, including two attributed to the artist's estate. Hanson died in 1996, four years before publication. The text notes that the figure stands without a plinth.

This copy retains evidence of a previous reading. Yellow highlighting runs throughout, following Breyhan's argument across successive pages. On page 13, the reader marks a passage describing Hanson's subjects: not the famous or successful, but individuals characterised by anonymity and failure.

The annotations introduce a second, independent reading of the work. Hanson's sculpture reproduces the ordinary body in exacting detail. The previous owner, in turn, selected and marked the printed account, leaving a record of attention within the publication itself.

Originally produced to accompany the understanding of a particular sculpture, the book now carries another layer of use. The text remains unchanged. Its reception has become visible.

The sculpture's institutional setting was temporary. The book retains its reader.

Details
Cantz, 2000. Text by Christine Breyhan. German language. Illustrated softcover. 68 pages, 27 photographs. 15.5 × 20.1 cm. First title in the Reihe Cantz series.

Condition: Good. Light edge wear to covers. Yellow highlighter annotations throughout by a previous owner, with a small pencil mark in the margin of page 31. The markings are retained as part of this copy's reading history.