Sheila Hicks
Biography
Sheila Hicks (born in 1934 in Hastings, USA; lives and works in Paris since the 1960's)
Since the late 1950s, Sheila Hicks has been producing work exceptionally difficult to categorise. Knotting, wrapping, folding, twisting and stacking wool, linen and cotton: these are only some of the techniques and materials that have seen her undermine conventional artistic categories and their hierarchical relationships. A pupil of Josef Albers at Yale, Sheila Hicks is the heir to both a Modernist spirit that holds the distinctions between fine art, decoration and design to be unimportant and a textile practice that has its roots in pre-Columbian America.
If Sheila Hicks chose textiles, it is because from clothes to furniture, interior decoration and on to the canvas that undergirds the high art of painting, these are materials that life constantly puts in our way, in a vast variety of contexts. It also allows works to remain alive, taking different forms each time they are shown. Ductile and tactile, Hicks’s work occupies a singular place in the art of our time. It combines forms typical of modernism with non-Western traditions, the play of colour, and a concern to maintain the vital openness of the work.
Sheila Hicks (née en 1934 à Hastings, USA ; vit et travaille à Paris depuis 1964)
Depuis la fin des années 1950, Sheila Hicks produit une œuvre inclassable : nouer, envelopper, plier, tordre, empiler, la laine, le lin ou le coton, voilà quelques-uns des gestes et les matières avec lesquels elle remet en cause les catégories artistiques et leurs hiérarchies convenues. Élève de Josef Albers à Yale, Sheila Hicks est l’héritière tout à la fois d’un esprit moderniste pour lequel les distinctions entre Bel Art, design et décoration ne sont plus essentielles et de pratiques textiles inspirées de l’Amérique précolombienne.
Si Sheila Hicks a choisi le textile, c’est que, du vêtement au support de la noble peinture, en passant par le mobilier et la décoration, il est l’un des matériaux que la vie, au gré d’expériences fort diverses, met constamment sur notre chemin. Il permet aussi aux œuvres de rester vivantes, de prendre des formes différentes à chaque présentation. Ductile, tactile, le travail de Sheila Hicks occupe une place singulière dans l’art de notre temps. Il marie formes typiques du modernisme et traditions non occidentales, jeu des couleurs et désir de garder les œuvres ouvertes, susceptibles de nouvelles actualisations à chaque présentation.
Texts/Textes : Centre Pompidou
Works
Exhibitions
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La Promesse d'Avril
3 - 27 Apr 2024Sheila Hicks, Yasuko Hirano, Yasuhisa Kohyama, Kenjiro Okazaki, Kaz Oshiro, Tobias Pils and Mungo Thomson at Mtk Contemporary Art, Kyoto, Japan 20-1 Okazaki Minamigoshocho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, 606-8334, Japan galerie...Read more -
Emerging, Submerging, Reemerging
Sheila Hicks, Stéphane Henry, Yasuhisa Kohyama and Robert Storr 16 Mar - 15 May 2024galerie frank elbaz is pleased to announce Emerging, Submerging, Reemerging, featuring paintings and sculpture by Yasuhisa Kohyama, Robert Storr, Sheila Hicks and Stéphane Henry. Each artist is driven by an...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
VERS DES HORIZONS INCONNUS 8 - 23 Oct 2023galerie frank elbaz, galleria Massimo Minini, and Meyer Riegger are pleased to present an outdoor installation by Sheila Hicks at the Parvis de l’Institut de France during Paris + by...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Grace, No Gridlock 21 Oct 2021 - 22 Jan 2022For this exhibition, Hicks has invited Paolo Roversi to present his photographs, the result of a collaboration between the two artists. Roversi’s images of Hicks’ works have been specially lit...Read more
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Sheila Hicks
Si j'étais de laine, vous m'accepteriez ? 10 Sep - 15 Oct 2016At the heart of Sheila Hicks’ work lies a fundamental invitation: to collectively engage in the practices of observation, self-questioning, evaluation and exchange. This invitation is also a demand, urging...Read more -
Accrochage
Davide Balula, Sheila Hicks, Rainier Lericolais, Kaz Oshiro, Bernard Piffaretti, Mungo Thomson, Blair Thurman 15 Sep - 3 Oct 2015Pour son programme de rentrée, la galerie frank elbaz a proposé à sept de ses artistes de composer un accrochage. Chaque artiste proposant une nouvelle pièce parmi lesquelles certaines ont...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Unknown Data 6 Sep - 18 Oct 2014To understand that what is interesting about Sheila Hicks’ work lies not so much in the savoirfaire artisanal of textile as in the emancipating elaboration of a new language, you...Read more
News
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Sheila Hicks
SFMOMA Unveils Lineup of Must-See Exhibitions Opening in Spring and Summer 2025 August 9 - Fall 2025SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 27, 2025, updated April 10, 2025) — The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announces its spring and summer 2025...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Liverpool Biennial June 7 - September 14, 2025Writing in 1973, Monique Lévi-Strauss described Sheila Hicks’ life as ‘a tissue of threads woven together on purpose or through chance, fertile encounters’. While decades...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, The Museum of Modern Art, New York April 20–September 13, 2025The Museum of Modern Art presents Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction , an in-depth exhibition that delves into the dynamic intersections between weaving and...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
ARE WE STILL UP TO IT? – ART AND DEMOCRACY, Königsklasse | Schloss Herrenchiemsee May 10 – October 12 2025Sheila Hicks at Schloss Herrenchiemsee ARE WE STILL UP TO IT? – ART AND DEMOCRACY 10 May – 12 October 2025 Königsklasse | Schloss Herrenchiemsee...Read more
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Sheila Hicks
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany October 12, 2024 - February 23, 2025Openings: Friday, October 11, 6 p.m., Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Saturday, October 12, 2 p.m., Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop In the fall/winter of 2024/25, the Josef...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Josef Albers Museum. Quadrat Bottrop, Germany October 12, 2024 - February 23, 2025October 12, 2024 – February 23, 2025 In the fall/winter of 2024/25, the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop and the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf will jointly present...Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Atterissage, Espace Louis Vuitton Séoul, Korea April 30 - September 8, 2024 Read more -
Sheila Hicks
Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum, New Yotk City, USA March 5 – June 16, 2024 Read more
Press
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In Weaving Abstraction, Textiles Travel Through Space and Time
HyperallergicJulie Schneider, May 12, 2024 -
Why textiles are all rage in the art world right now
Washington PostSebastian Smee, May 3, 2024 -
Sheila Hicks, Observing her surroundings in the courtyard
The New York Times MagazineKate Guadagnino, April 21, 2022 -
Riotous colour, terrific textiles: Sheila Hicks: ‘Off Grid’ at The Hepworth Wakefield
WallpaperJessica Klingelfuss, April 18, 2022
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‘Colour is in my blood!’: the vivid life of artist Sheila Hicks
The GuardianCharlotte Higgingd, April 7, 2022 -
Sheila Hicks Just Keeps Spinning
W MagazineTed Loos, March 23, 2022 -
Les fils prodiges de Sheila Hicks
Le gout de M, le magazine du MondeEmmanuelle Lequeux, March 12, 2022 -
Sheila Hicks - The Irrepressible Trajectory of Lines and Color
Sculpture MazagineCara McCarty, March 3, 2022
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Quatre artistes sous influence: Georgia O’Keefe, Etel Adnan, Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks
Beaux Arts MagazineEmmanuelle Lequeux, December 15, 2021 -
Sheila Hicks - Fibre Optics
ApolloYasmine Seale, September 15, 2021 -
Sheila Hicks at MAK Museum
ArtforumBrigitte Huck, April 21, 2021 -
"Sheila Hicks retour aux suds"
Air France MagazineNatacha Wolinski, December 14, 2019
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"Sheila Hicks epic yarns"
Wall Street JournalAlice Cavanagh, June 17, 2019 -
"Sheila Hicks’ thrilling textiles are the antidote to our modern world"
WallpaperJessica Klingelfuss, November 25, 2018 -
"These women are some of America's greatest artists. Why don't they get the respect they deserve?"
The Washington PostSebastian Smee, April 11, 2018
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