Cynthia Albritton, Rock’s ‘Plaster Caster,’ Is Dead at 74

Jun 01, 2023

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She gained fame making sculptures of male rockers’ genitals, an attention-getting gimmick that she grew to regard as art and that became part of rock ’n’ roll lore.

By Neil Genzlinger

"Do I have a favorite?" the artist Cynthia Albritton once said of her signature works. "No, I love them all."

But, she added, in a 1995 interview with The Evening Standard of London, "other people are most interested in the Hendrix."

The Hendrix, also sometimes referred to as the Penis de Milo, is a plaster cast of Jimi Hendrix's genitalia. Ms. Albritton, better known as Cynthia Plaster Caster, made the piece in 1968, an early entry in what would become a series of more than 50 phallic casts, most of rock musicians, and ultimately part of rock ’n’ roll lore.

There are songs about her, including Kiss's "Plaster Caster." That was also the title of a 2001 documentary film about her work. In addition to Hendrix, Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin’ Spoonful, Eric Burdon of the Animals, Wayne Kramer of the MC5 and Jon Langford of the Mekons are among those represented in her collection.

Ms. Albritton died on April 21 at a care facility in Chicago. She was 74. Chris Kellner, a close friend, said the cause was cerebrovascular disease.

What became her claim to fame started as an assignment for an art class she was taking at the Chicago branch of the University of Illinois in 1966. The professor told students that their homework was to make a cast of "something that could retain its shape, something solid," as Ms. Albritton put it in a 2012 video interview with Rock Scene Magazine.

Accounts have varied, but most say that her first subjects were two male friends. Soon, though, she had moved on to rockers, since she was, as she acknowledged, one of those fans who liked to chase the famous.

"Originally I saw it as a great ruse to divert rock stars from the other girls," she told The Evening Standard. "Only by accident did it become an art form. I take it seriously, though there is an absurd side. But I’m laughing with them, not at them."

In the anything-goes era of the late 1960s, Ms. Albritton didn't have much trouble finding rockers willing to be immortalized, especially after Frank Zappa heard about what she was doing and promoted her efforts (though declining to be cast himself). She did, however, have trouble finding the right medium, trying a variety of substances and methods before hitting on dental mold.

If the sculptures started out as a lark, the subjects who cooperated with her saw something more in her efforts.

"Hers was a revolutionary art in a time that demanded revolutionary work," Mr. Kramer, who had his sculptural session in the late 1960s, said by email. "She smashed the barriers of sexual conversation and helped open up people's minds to the endless possibilities of art."

Mr. Langford, who was cast about 20 years after Mr. Kramer and is an artist as well as a musician, had a similar assessment.

"I think Cynthia was a brilliant conceptual artist who made her art with great humor, a deep love of music and a reckless disregard for societal norms," he said, also by email. "It was fun and deadly serious at the same time — a mad science experiment, really."

Ms. Albritton, whose works were eventually taken seriously enough to be exhibited at galleries, acknowledged that technical difficulties left her collection not as complete as it might have been.

"I’m sorry to say I’ve had some mold failures on some very groovy people," she said in the 2012 interview.

Mr. Kramer related some details of his casting session.

"Personally, I thought being asked signaled my arrival as a bona fide member of the rock and roll community," he said. "A real career milestone! Sadly, on the night of my casting, Cynthia was ‘short handed’" — that is, the assistant whose job was to make sure the penises were erect wasn't there.

"Timing was crucial, and on this night it all fell apart," Mr. Kramer said. "I was left to attempt to reach my full manliness alone, and I failed miserably. My finished cast ended up as a small plaster representation, a mere shell of what could have been. I think it's one of the funniest of the collection, as do so many others. And, no matter, I’m proud to be included."

Cynthia Dorothy Albritton was born on May 24, 1947, in Chicago. Her father, Edward, was a postal clerk, and her mother, Dorothy (Wysocki) Albritton, was a secretary. For decades Ms. Albritton would not give her last name in interviews because she didn't want her mother to know what she was up to.

She grew up in Chicago, a big stop on the circuit for touring rock bands major and minor. She was particularly drawn to the British bands, she said — "cute British boys with long hair and tight pants." Pamela Des Barres, in her 1987 memoir, "I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie," wrote that Ms. Albritton seemed an unlikely person to get zippers unzipped.

"She was painfully shy," she wrote, "and I couldn't imagine her with the alginate and plaster, buried in Eric Burdon's crotch area, but I saw the casts for myself, and was wowed by the artistry involved."

Ms. Albritton, in a 2005 interview with The Sunday Age of Melbourne, Australia, said Zappa's backing was key.

"Frank was just the most important person in my life, my mentor and my supporter and my dear friend and shoulder to cry on," she said. "He was the first person in the world to tell me I was an artist."

But her connection to Zappa, who died in 1993, resulted in a court case. At one point, after her home was burglarized, Ms. Albritton turned her sculptures over for safekeeping to Herb Cohen, a music industry figure who had business dealings with Zappa. She had to sue him to get them back, a case she won in 1993.

She leaves no immediate survivors.

Ms. Albritton continued to make male sculptures over the years — the actor Anthony Newley was among the nonmusicians in her collection — and eventually added women's breasts to her repertory.

"Breasts have been ignored for too long," she said in the 1995 interview, possibly satirically. Her breast subjects included Sally Timms of the Mekons and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In 2009, the conceptual artist Rob Pruitt presented her with the Rob Pruitt Award at an irony-heavy performance event called "The First Annual Art Awards" at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Ms. Albritton said that in recent, less exploratory decades, finding willing subjects had gotten more difficult. But she remained interested.

"As long as there are talented musicians with appendages," she said in a video in 2011, "I’ll be available for my casting call."

An earlier version of this obituary misstated part of the name of the author of "I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie." She is Pamela Des Barres, not Des Berres.

An earlier version of this obituary misstated the surname of the friend who confirmed Ms. Albritton's death. He is Chris Kellner, not Hellner.

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Neil Genzlinger is a writer for the Obituaries desk. Previously he was a television, film and theater critic. @genznyt • Facebook

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