RUTH ASAWA RETROSPECTIVE: Spectacular Hanging Wire Sculptures and Much More

Wire Sculptures, Ruth Asawa Retrospective, SFMOMA.

When I was in Oakland in August, I took BART to San Francisco to see the Ruth Asawa exhibit at SFMOMA, just before it ended. The exhibit, a retrospective of Asawa’s life’s work, will open in New York at the Museum of Modern Art on October 19. It is an amazing show, featuring not only Ruth Asawa's unique wire sculptures, but a wealth of her other work--drawings, paintings, and other media. 

Photograph of Ruth and her young son in front of a sculpture in San Francisco.

Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) began her art career at Black Mountain College (BMC) in North Carolina in 1946. In 1949 she moved to San Francisco with her husband, Albert Lanier, an architect, who had also been a student at BMC. They had six children! Ruth spent the rest of her life living and working in San Francisco and was active in the art community.

Meander, ink on paper, 1948-49.

The exhibit is arranged chronologically, and fills twelve rooms of the museum, beginning with her student work at Black Mountain College.

Ruth had a job in the college laundry. This design was created with the stamp that marked the college linens.

Folded paper design.

Throughout her early works you can see Ruth’s fascination with repetitive motifs, from folded paper, fabric designs, to pen and ink drawings.

 In these two pieces, one chair is defined with positive strong black strokes, the other by negative space.

Detail of chair. Created by repeated dabs of a felt tip marker.

Ruth’s first wire works were baskets, inspired by a trip to Mexico in 1947 where a craftsman showed her how he made egg baskets by looping wire.  

Early works--baskets.

But what has made Ruth Asawa famous are her hanging wire creations of all sizes and shapes--some with shapes nestled within one another, some exploding outward, some resembling giant teddy bears, others like tear drops or space ships, some elegant, others whimsical, and some even calling to mind an extraterrestrial! In room after room the hanging sculptures were the center of attention in the SFMOMA exhibit. Although suspended by wires from the ceiling, they seemed to float in space.

One large room of the exhibit reproduces the living room of Ruth Asawa’s Noe Valley house in San Francisco, which was filled with hanging wire sculptures and other works of art, both hers and those of friends. Many of the same pieces seen in the photo were displayed in the room at the museum.

 

Photograph by Rondal Partridge of Ruth Asawa's family in her living room.

Ruth loved her garden. Among my favorite pieces in the room were watercolor paintings of a geranium and a detailed drawing of a sunflower.

The exhibit is huge, with more than 300 works of art. Truth be told, my friend and I only looked closely at half the exhibit, spending the first two hours in the first six rooms looking at each and every item. By then we were starving for lunch, and walked quickly through the remaining six rooms in order to exit through the gift shop, stopping briefly to look at just a few pieces. We had a tasty lunch in the museum café on the fifth floor. We could have reentered the exhibit after lunch, but would have had to stand in a long line, so decided not to. In any case I felt I had a good experience and I knew I would enjoy the exhibit again and again as I looked at my photos at home.

Casts of Ruth Asawa's hands.

IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM: A Life of Photography, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Entrance to Imogen Cunningham Retrospective at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California.
Two Callas (detail), photo by Imogen Cunningham

When Imogen Cunningham died June 23, 1976, at the age of 93, she was in the midst of a new project, a book about aging. (It was published after her death.) She took photographs for almost her entire life, leaving behind an incredible body of work.  A retrospective exhibit is currently at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and, for the first time, photos from her entire career--spanning seventy years–have been mounted together, allowing us to see the development of her thought and work in relation to other photographers and artists of her time and to marvel at the depth and breadth of her work.

Imogen Cunningham, San Francisco, 1966. Photo by Edmund Teske

Art and I viewed the exhibit on a recent Saturday afternoon and were surprised that there was not a long line waiting for the monorail train for a ride from the parking lot to the museum. Then we discovered that we were supposed to have made a reservation online (a Covid rule made to limit crowds.) Luckily for us, it wasn’t very crowded that day and we were allowed to continue. The exhibit, which opened March 8, will only be up until June 12, 2022. So, if you plan to go while it is at the Getty, make sure you have a reservation. (From September 15, 2022 - January 7, 2023, the exhibit will be at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA.)

The Beach, San Francisco, about 1955.

Each room of the exhibit is devoted to a period in Imogen Cunningham's life–from her early years in Seattle, teaching herself how to make pictures with a camera she ordered by mail, to her marriage and years with small children that forced her to stay close to home, to her later work taking portraits and teaching to earn a living, then traveling and interacting with other photographers in the San Francisco Bay area.

Stan, San Francisco, 1959.

An important part of the exhibit is the 28 minute video interview in which Imogen Cunningham reflects on the course of her life, offering comments on particular pictures on view at the museum.

Angel Island, 1952.

The first thing you notice when you enter each room is that virtually all of the photographs are black and white. The other thing you notice is that they are small. You have to stand up close to each one to appreciate the details and range of values. The earliest photos are dark dream-like images taken with a soft-focus lens, inspired by a trip to Europe after she graduated from the University of Washington.

Mills College, about 1928.

In 1917, Cunningham moved from Washington State to the San Francisco Bay area with her husband, Roi Partridge, who had been hired at Mills College in Oakland, and began to make more sharply delineated pictures.

Amaryillis, 1933.

For the next few years, her main subjects were her children and the flowers in her garden. But Cunningham’s flower photos are not what you’d expect. Rather than beautiful blossoms, she comes in close with her camera to turn the leaves and petals into abstract shapes.

Frida Kahlo, 1931.

One room of the exhibit is devoted to Cunningham’s portrait photography, including many pictures of famous people. After her divorce in 1934, Cunningham supported herself and her family by teaching and studio photography. She also became interested in street photography–unposed pictures of people as they appeared in their daily lives. With other San Francisco area photographers she formed a group call f/64. She also joined the San Francisco Women Artists, a group organized to promote, support, and expand the role of women in the arts.

Looped-Wire Sculpture by Ruth Asawa, 1956.

Among my favorite photos in the exhibit is a close up of a piece by sculptor Ruth Asawa, organic abstract shapes constructed from what looks like wire mesh. I have admired Ruth Asawa's work at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, where the pieces hang like giant bulbous webs in the alcove next to the tower elevator.

Cornish School Trio 2, 1935.

Another photo that particularly intrigues me is a photo of a string quartet, created with double exposures on the same negative to reveal the movement of the players and suggesting the rhythm of the music. Other photos, such as Girl at Point Lobos, look almost like paintings.

Girl at Point Lobos, 1968.

One reason I like to take pictures with my phone when I go to an art exhibit is so I can enjoy and re-examine the pieces again after I go home. The above examples are just a sample of the hundreds of photos on exhibit. I recommend going to the exhibit in person so you can pick out your favorites.