Strong Women for Art: In Conversation with Anna Lenz [Paperback]

Who are the spouses and lifelong partners of important contemporary artists? What attitudes and actions characterize the lives of these fascinating companions, many of whom are influential artists or arts professionals in their own right?

To begin to offer an answer to this question, longtime art collector Anna Lenz conducted twenty interviews with the life partners and wives of well-known contemporary artists, including, among many others, Elizabeth Goldring-Piene, wife of German multimedia artist Otto Piene; Karin Girke, widow to the late painter Raimund Girke; Rotraut Klein-Moquay, artist and wife of Yves Klein; and art historian and critic Antje von Graevenitz, wife of op-artist and cofounder of the New Tendency movement Gerhard von Graevenitz. With photographs by Roswitha Pross, the interviews are presented here, offering insight into the womens biographies and their lives with the artists. With great openness, Lenzs interview subjects speak of their families, life plans, and their own professional trajectories, as well as their initial meetings and long-term relationships with the artists. Together, the interviews offer an insightfuland highly personalpiece of contemporary art history.

Anna Lenzand her husband, Gerhard Lenz, have collected art for more than fifty years. Together, they hold one of the largest collections of art from the Epoche ZERO movement, which sought to distance itself from traditional art forms and terms in order start at point zero.