Cowgirl

In her sculpture and installation works, New York-based artist Nancy Davidson (born 1943), recipient of a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship, celebrates and satirizes popular culture. A central example is the American cowgirl. This publication combines archival cowgirl photographs with images of Davidson’s sculptures, photographs of photographs and installations. Nancy Davidson is an interdisciplinary artist, working primarily in sculpture and installation. Davidson grew up in Chicago and received a B.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1975 where she began her professional career, exhibiting in solo and group shows in 1977 and ‘78 [including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Walker Art Center.] In 1979 Davidson relocated to New York. Davidson’s honors include the Guggenheim Fellowship (2014): Creative Capital (2005): Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2001): Anonymous Was a Woman Award (1997): Yaddo Residency (1980, 2003): Massachusetts Council of Arts, Individual Artists Fellowship (1981), NEA (1979). Davidson’s work has been reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, the Village Voice, the Brooklyn Rail, Der Spiegel and Art/Text.