Sculpture of Ruth Asawa, Second Edition

The work of American artist Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) is brought into brilliant focus in this definitive book, originally published to accompany the first complete retrospective of Asawa’s career, organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in 2006. This new edition features an expanded collection of essays and a detailed illustrated chronology that explore Asawa's fascinating life and her lasting contributions to American art. Beginning with her earliest works—drawings and paintings created in the 1940s while she was studying at Black Mountain College—this beautiful volume traces Asawa’s flourishing career in San Francisco and her trajectory as a pioneering modernist sculptor who is recognized internationally for her innovative wire sculptures, public commissions, and activism on behalf of public arts education. 

Through her lifelong experimentations with wire, especially its capacity to balance open and closed forms, Asawa invented a powerful vocabulary that contributed a unique perspective to the field of twentieth-century abstract sculpture. Working in a variety of nontraditional media, Asawa performed a series of remarkable metamorphoses, leading viewers into a deeper awareness of natural forms by revealing their structural properties. Through her art, Asawa transfigured the commonplace into metaphors for life processes themselves. The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa establishes the importance of Asawa’s work within a larger cultural context of artists who redefined art as a way of thinking and acting in the world, rather than as merely a stylistic practice. 
 
This updated edition includes a new introduction and more than fifty new images, as well as original essays that reflect on the impact of American political history on Asawa's artistic vision, her experience with printmaking, and her friendship with photographer Imogen Cunningham. Contributors include Susan Ehrens, Mary Emma Harris, Karin Higa, Jacqueline Hoefer, Emily K. Doman Jennings, Paul J. Karlstrom, John Kreidler, Susan Stauter, Colleen Terry, and Sally B. Woodbridge.

Published in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF).

Lucrarea artistei americane Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) este adusa in centrul atentiei in aceasta carte definitiva, publicata initial pentru a insoti prima retrospectiva completa a carierei lui Asawa, organizata de Muzeele de Arte Frumoase din San Francisco in 2006. Aceasta noua editie prezinta o colectie extinsa de eseuri si o cronologie ilustrata detaliata care exploreaza viata fascinanta a lui Asawa si contributiile ei de durata la arta americana. Incepand cu primele sale lucrari - desene si picturi create in anii 1940 in timp ce studia la Black Mountain College - acest volum frumos urmareste cariera infloritoare a lui Asawa in San Francisco si traiectoria ei de sculptor modernist pionier recunoscut la nivel international pentru sculpturile sale inovatoare din sarma, comisii publice si activism in numele educatiei publice de arta. Prin experimentarile pe tot parcursul vietii cu sarma, in special capacitatea sa de a echilibra formele deschise si inchise, Asawa a inventat un vocabular puternic care a contribuit cu o perspectiva unica domeniului sculpturii abstracte din secolul al XX-lea.