Yves Klein's Anthropometries: Filling the "Void" in American Scholarship

Abstract

American art historical literature on Yves Klein’s Anthropometries has focused on the artist as art subject with an emphasis on performance of process rather than on the actual paintings as art objects. In doing so scholars put forth a narrative of the artist that promotes a constructed hagiographic myth of Klein as divinely inspired. This thesis examines the missing analysis of the role his female assistants had in the paintings’ creation as well as the role photography played in Klein’s ability to shape his artistic legacy. The continued alienation of his female assistants from painting and process neutralizes any female-centric sexual interpretation and ultimately furthers a single narrative of Klein as a spiritually inspired performer that can only be rectified through objective analysis outside of the Klein mythos.