Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta

In 1985 well-known minimalist sculptor Carl Andre informed police that his wife, avant-garde painter-sculptor Ana Mendieta, had fallen out of the window of their SoHo, New York City, apartment following a quarrel. Charged with murder, he was acquitted three years later in a nonjury trial. Although Katz ( Death in Rome ) does not directly argue that Andre pushed his wife to her death, his post-trial investigation turned up new evidence that casts doubt on the defense's claim that Mendieta's death was accidental or a suicide. At the time of the trial, it was divulged that she had a crippling fear of heights and avoided windows, and that Andre had scratches on his body the night of his wife's death. And the fact that Mendieta, who was planning to file for divorce, had photocopied documentation of her husband's suspected infidelities was deemed inadmissible. Katz's shocking police procedural is at once a glimpse into the tight, elitist New York art world, an affecting portrait of a Cuban-American woman artist, and an act of remembrance. Photos. (May)