Untitled

1959

BA from Yale; Josef Albers as her teacher

In 1959 she receives her BA from Yale University, having studied at Cooper Union from 1954 to 1957. At Yale she studied under Josef Albers and was heavily influenced by Abstract Expressionism.

1960–1965

Early work: abstract drawings and paintings

Hesse’s early work (1960–1965) consists mainly of abstract drawings and paintings. She made the drawings as a separate body of work and did not regard them as drafts for her sculptures; in the early 1960s she was influenced by Marcel Duchamp.

1960s

Befriends LeWitt, Judd and Kusama

Back in New York after Yale, she grows close to the young minimalist artists Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd and Yayoi Kusama. Her friendship with LeWitt lasts to the end of her life; they wrote to each other often.

November 1961

Marries the sculptor Tom Doyle

In 1961 she meets and marries the sculptor Tom Doyle (1928–2016); they will divorce in 1966.

1963

Solo show of works on paper at the Allan Stone Gallery

In 1963 the Allan Stone Gallery on New York’s Upper East Side holds a one-person show of her works on paper.