The American painter and sculptor Ida Applebroog (1929-2023) died on October 21 in her hometown of New York. After initially working as a commercial artist and freelance illustrator in the 1960s, she turned her full attention to artistic work from 1970 onwards and is now regarded as an important pioneer of feminist art.

With her figurative works on paper and canvas, often reminiscent of comic strips, storyboards and diary sketches, she was represented twice at the documenta in Kassel: in 1987 at documenta 8 and in 2012 at documenta 13, which led to a rediscovery of her work in Germany.

In some respects, her contribution to Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev's documenta 13 echoed her early work in the advertising industry: Applebroog's sketchy sheets, reproduced as free posters, were available to take away on the second floor of the Fridericianum, while a group of Situationist demonstrators were out and about in the streets of Kassel on the opening weekend as sandwich boards hanging around their necks. The "demonstrators" had a wide variety of texts and messages on their front and back:

"OCCUPY KASSEL", "FIRST ENSLAVE MANKIND",
"I WASN'T BORN YESTERDAY COCKSUCKER",
"CAN I HAVE A GLASS OF WATER",
"SCREW MOTHERS DAY"
"WHAT IS LOVELY NEVER DIES"
...

Ida Applebroog passed the age of 93.