Oral history interview with Eve Babitz

Scope and Contents

An interview of Eve Babitz conducted 2000 June 14, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at Babitz's home, Hollywood, California.

Scope and Contents

Part of an ongoing series on the theme of artists and models, this interview focused on the subject's experience as the nude woman playing chess with Marcel Duchamp, at his Pasadena Art Museum retrospective, in 1963. Purportedly Duchamp's favorite photograph, staged and taken by Julian Wasser, it is among the key documentary images of American modern art. This interview offers inside information about Los Angeles and the cultural world of the late 1960s. Igor Stravinsky was Babitz's godfather and her own father was a Baroque musicologist who often traveled to Europe. She was introduced to the world of visual arts by the late Jim Elliott's girlfriend and soon became part of the Ferus Gallery circle including Ed Kienholz, Ed Ruscha, and Walter Hopps. She also describes being a student at Hollywood High School and the enormous influence of the film industry and celebrity (her favorite, James Dean) on the student body.

Biographical / Historical

Eve Babitz (1948- ) was an artist's model from Los Angeles, California.