Ruth Asawa
Through Line
16 Sep 2023 - 15 Jan 2024
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (BMC.121, Exercise in Color Vibration and Figure Background), c. 1948–49; Untitled (SF.063, Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1950s; Untitled (WC.133, Continuous Form within a Form), after c. 1980; Untitled (CF.11, Sculpture, Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1980; Untitled (CF.13, Sculpture, Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1980; Untitled (SD.106, Continuous Form within a Form Sculpture Drawing Rendered in Dots), c. 1960s; Untitled (ZP.16B, Twelve Looped-Wire Sculptural Forms), c. mid-to-late 1950s; Untitled (BMC.107, Dancers), c. 1948–49; Untitled (S.270, Hanging Six-Lobed, Complex Interlocking Continuous Form within a Form with Two Interior Spheres), 1955 (refabricated 1957–58); Untitled (ZP.04, Four Looped-Wire Sculptural Forms), c. mid-to-late 1950s; Untitled (ZP.05, Four Looped-Wire Sculptural Forms), c. mid-late 1950s. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (LP.001, Large Leaf), c. early 1990s; Untitled (LP.009, Fish), 1987; Untitled (BMC.75, Double Sheet Clusters), c. 1948– 49; Untitled (BMC.74, Double Sheet Stamp), 1948; Untitled (BMC.78, BMC Sunburst), c. 1948–49; Untitled (Leaf from the Sacramento Delta), c. early 1990s; Clockwise from top left: Untitled (SF.047a, Potato Print Cross, Blue/Black), c. 1951–52; Untitled (SF.045c, Potato Print - Branches, Purple/Blue), c. 1951–52; Untitled (SF.043e, Bike Pedal - Black/Gray
[Checkerboard]), c. 1951–52; Untitled (SF.045a, Potato Print - Branches, Magenta/Orange), c. 1951–52. Photograph by Filip Wolak
[Checkerboard]), c. 1951–52; Untitled (SF.045a, Potato Print - Branches, Magenta/Orange), c. 1951–52. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (BMC.68, Stem with Leaves), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.123, Studies of Hands and Feet), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.84, Dogwood Leaves), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.127, Meander in Green, Orange, and Brown), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.98, In and Out), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.70, 3's and S's), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.86, Dogwood Leaf), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.124, Meander - Black and Red), 1949; Untitled (BMC.56, Dancers), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.112, Receding Circles), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.48, Jello Molds), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.108, Stacked Triangles), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.132, Color Study of Many Colored Squares and Triangles), c. 1946–49. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (FF.1211, Paul Lanier on Patterned Blanket), 1961; Untitled (AB.004, Waves), c. late 1950s early 1961; Untitled (MI.053, Houses and Hills), 1963; Untitled (AB.002, Waves 2), c. late 1950s; Bentwood Rocker (MI.176), c. 1959–63; Untitled (MI.153, Seven Thonet-Style Bentwood Chairs), c. 1950s; Untitled (SF.031, Red Meander on Pink), c. late 1950s; Untitled (AB.005, Waves), c. late 1950s–1961; Untitled (BMC.57, Curved Lines), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.59, Meander - Straight Lines), c. 1948. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (BMC.68, Stem with Leaves), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.123, Studies of Hands and Feet), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.84, Dogwood Leaves), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.127, Meander in Green, Orange, and Brown), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.98, In and Out), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.70, 3's and S's), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.86, Dogwood Leaf), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.124, Meander - Black and Red), 1949; Untitled (BMC.56, Dancers), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.112, Receding Circles), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.48, Jello Molds), c. 1946–49; Untitled (BMC.108, Stacked Triangles), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.132, Color Study of Many Colored Squares and Triangles), c. 1946–49. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (BMC.148, Trees), c. 1948–49; Untitled (PF.1016, Eucalyptus Grove), 1961; Untitled (PT.106, Plane Tree #12), 1959; Untitled (PT.064, Plane Tree), c. early 1960s; Untitled (S.003, Freestanding Reversible Undulating Form), 1998; Untitled (PT.062, Blue and Black Ink Wash [Water]), c. early 1960s; Untitled (AN.077, Pigeons on Brick), 1963; Untitled (MI.108, Shell), c. 1969; Untitled (WC.252, Persimmons), c.1970s–80s; Untitled (WC.100, Nasturtiums), c. 1970s–80s; Untitled (PF.686, Watermelon), c. 1960s; Allie's Iris (WC.175, Purple Iris with Three Blooms), 1987. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). On wall, from left to right: Untitled (FF.434, Aiko Lanier Blowing Up Balloon), c. 1955; Untitled (AN.003, Mussels), c. late 1960s; Untitled (PF.099, Nasturtiums), 1994; David Tudor's Hands (FF.896), c. 1964; Untitled (FF.016, Life Mask of Ruth Asawa), c. 1968– 70s; Untitled (PF.825, John Elsesser's Leek), 1976; Untitled (WC.112, Andrea Jepson), 1964; Untitled (MI.146, Clam Shell with Petunias), c. 1969; Untitled (FF.1231, Imogen Cunningham with Beads), 1975; Mervin Lane (BMC.7), 1947; Untitled (FF.054, Albert and Child Sleeping), c. 1964; Adam's Ranunculus (PF.1107, Bouquet from Adam Lanier with Snail), 1999; Untitled (FF.116, Albert Lanier), c. 1965; Untitled (WC.134, Self Portrait), c. 1960s; In vitrine, from left to right: Untitled drawings of Addie Lanier sleeping (SB.013), c. 1960; Untitled drawing (SB.076), c. 1974–76; Drawing for The Japanese Tea Garden Golden Gate Park pamphlet (SB.091), 1976; Untitled double-page sketch of cosmos (SB.087), c. 1976–89; 9.16.77 Gladiolas Paul's; Paul's Gladiolas 9.14.77 (SB.092), 1977; Suzanne Jackson, 2.11.77 (SB.100), 1977; N. Purifoy 2.28.77 LA Bd of Ed. (SB.102), 1977; 6.23.83 Venice to Milan (SB.137), 1983; 4:05 AM–3.16.85 hand unsteady 3:20PM–4:07PM 4:10–4:32PM (SB.157), 1985; Hudson's Wildflowers for Mother's Day, 5.14.95 (SB.200), 1995. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Installation view of Ruth Asawa Through Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 16, 2023–January 2024). From left to right: Untitled (S.842, Mounted Paperfold of Alternating Horizontal Black and White Zig-Zag Pattern), c. 1952; Untitled (S.839, Mounted Paperfold of Columns of Alternating Black and White Parallelograms), c. 1952; Untitled (S.841, Mounted Paperfold of Alternating Vertical Black and White Stripes), c. 1952; Untitled (S.843, Mounted Paperfold with Diagonal Black and White Stripes), c. 1952; Untitled (S.840, Mounted Paperfold of Alternating Columns of White and Black Triangles), c. 1952; Untitled (S.691, Wall-Mounted Paperfold with Horizontal Stripes), 1951; Untitled (BMC.93, In and Out), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.91, In and Out), c. 1948–49; Untitled (BMC.102, In and Out), c. 1948–49; Untitled (SF.039b, Logarithmic Spiral Squares, Navy/Blue), c. 1951–52; Untitled (SF.039c, Logarithmic Spiral Squares, Orange/Orange), c. 1951–52. Photograph by Filip Wolak
Ruth Asawa Through Line is the first exhibition to examine Ruth Asawa’s oeuvre through the lens of her lifelong drawing practice. Co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Menil Collection, this presentation reveals the complexity and richness of the materials and processes she experimented with, emphasizing the foundational role that drawing played in developing her distinct visual language. While now widely recognized as a sculptor, Asawa (1926–2013) practiced drawing daily, referring to the act as her “greatest pleasure and the most difficult.” Through drawing, Asawa explored the world around her and the boundaries of the medium itself, turning everyday encounters into moments of profound beauty and endowing ordinary objects with new aesthetic possibilities.
Positioning drawings, collages, and watercolors alongside stamped prints, copper foil works, and sketchbooks, the exhibition will expose the breadth of Asawa’s innovative practice through over one hundred works from public and private collections, many of which have not been previously exhibited. Organized thematically, the presentation will begin with foundational lessons the artist absorbed and built upon at Black Mountain College in the late 1940s. Subsequent galleries will examine the function of repetition and the development of specific motifs and approaches—from the Greek meander to the paper fold—and how they recur throughout her work. The exhibition will show how drawing emerged as a cornerstone of Asawa’s practice in San Francisco, later becoming a key component of her role as an educator and community leader in the Bay Area. Surveying the artist’s impressive range and expansive approach, Ruth Asawa Through Line will offer an unparalleled window into Asawa’s exploratory and resourceful approach to materials, line, surface, and space.
This exhibition is co-organized by Kim Conaty, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Edouard Kopp, John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, with Scout Hutchinson, Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Museum, and Kirsten Marples, Curatorial Associate at the Menil Drawing Institute. After the exhibition closes at the Whitney, it will travel to the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston.
Positioning drawings, collages, and watercolors alongside stamped prints, copper foil works, and sketchbooks, the exhibition will expose the breadth of Asawa’s innovative practice through over one hundred works from public and private collections, many of which have not been previously exhibited. Organized thematically, the presentation will begin with foundational lessons the artist absorbed and built upon at Black Mountain College in the late 1940s. Subsequent galleries will examine the function of repetition and the development of specific motifs and approaches—from the Greek meander to the paper fold—and how they recur throughout her work. The exhibition will show how drawing emerged as a cornerstone of Asawa’s practice in San Francisco, later becoming a key component of her role as an educator and community leader in the Bay Area. Surveying the artist’s impressive range and expansive approach, Ruth Asawa Through Line will offer an unparalleled window into Asawa’s exploratory and resourceful approach to materials, line, surface, and space.
This exhibition is co-organized by Kim Conaty, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Edouard Kopp, John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, with Scout Hutchinson, Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Museum, and Kirsten Marples, Curatorial Associate at the Menil Drawing Institute. After the exhibition closes at the Whitney, it will travel to the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston.