House (Primary Title)
Nancy Grossman, American, born 1940 (Artist)
"After twenty-five years, I see that all of the head sculptures are self-portraits that refer to the bondage of my childhood." —Nancy Grossman
Grossman created her series of heads when she wanted to make her drawings of restrained motion and emotion more palpable. The intricate wooden forms she carved remain unseen beneath the dark leather. Grossman meant the heads to evoke the clenched fist of the Black Power salute and the beauty of black. She also connects them to literary and artistic “outsiders”—monsters and other sub- and superhuman beings, including Prometheus and the protagonist of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Grossman traces the use of leather to an equestrian childhood and the bridles, halter, lip straps, and martingales she used. The bound heads further relate to the plight of female artists during the turbulent years of the 1960s and ‘70s.
Seeing Across Cultures: Objects from the VMFA, Marsh Art Gallery, George M. Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, October 4, 1996 – January 18, 1997
Transformed Reality, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, February 18 – May 16, 1993
Contemporary Sculpture form the VMFA Collection, Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, March 21 – May 24, 1992
A Figurative Perspective: Recent Paintings and Sculpture from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA, March 12 – May 21, 1989
Bedford Gallery, Longwood College, Farmville, VA, January 17 – February 19, 1988
The Figure in Sculpture, Institute of Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, October 10 – November 14, 1979
Contemporary American Sculpture, F&M Center Gallery, Richmond, VA, April 30 - June 6, 1975
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.