The artist Elaine Sturtevant, who was known simply by her surname Sturtevant, has died. Sturtevant dealt with simulacra and appropriation throughout her career, remaking the art of other artists since the 1960s, without recourse to images of the original work during her own process of production. She has copied Andy Warhol’s flowers and Marilyns, and even Empire, his eight-hour 1964 film of the Empire State Building. Other artists whose work she faithfully recreated, notable that they are mostly male, include Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys and Jasper Johns
Sturtevant was awarded a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the fifty-fourth Venice Biennale, and the Kurt Schwitters prize for lifetime achievement by the Sprengel Museum. Her solo shows took place at venues including the Museum für Moderne Kunst, the Moderna Museet, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and, last year, the Serpentine Gallery in London. A major exhibition of her work is scheduled to open at the Museum of Modern Art in November of this year.
