Iannone, born in Boston in the year 1933, was a literature graduate from Brandeis University. Her marriage to the wealthy investor and painter James Upham led to extensive travels across Europe and Asia from 1961 to 1967. As a fixture in the downtown art scene of New York, Iannone began creating cutout wooden portraits of prominent figures like Jacqueline Kennedy and Charlie Chaplin, which served as precursors to her later works.
In 1961, U.S. Customs confiscated Iannone’s copy of Henry Miller’s 1934 sexually explicit novel, Tropic of Cancer, at a New York airport. Her successful lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union resulted in lifting the 30-year ban on Miller’s work.
Around seven years later, Iannone met artist Dieter Roth while on a trip to Iceland. She left her husband at the time to move to Reykjavik with Roth, who she considered her muse. During the 1970s, she created some of her most famous works, often depicting scenes from her and Roth’s intimate life.
In 1969, Iannone’s work was censored by the director of Kunsthalle Bern for its inclusion of genitalia. In response, Roth withdrew his work from the show and curator Harald Szeemann resigned. Iannone then created the comic book “The Story of Bern (or) Showing Colors,” reflecting on the experience.
Both Iannone and Roth became prominent figures in the Fluxus movement. They remained lovers until 1974 and close friends until Roth’s passing in 1998. In 1976, Iannone received a scholarship to move to Berlin, where she resided until her death.
Despite the art world taking time to catch up, Iannone’s controversial work was critically reassessed in the early 21st century. Her video sculpture “I Was Thinking of You” (1975), a human-sized box painted with an erotic scene and featuring a monitor screening a video of the artist masturbating, was recreated at the Wrong Gallery at Tate Modern in 2005 and for the 2006 Whitney Biennial.
www.ftn-books.com has several titles on Iannone and Roth available.
