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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).

sculpture [visual works] --- spheres [geometric figures] --- spirals [geometric figures] --- fountains --- wire --- Asawa, Ruth

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"This is the story of a woman who wielded imagination and hope in the face of intolerance and who transformed everything she touched into art. Born in California in 1926, Ruth Asawa grew from a farmer's daughter to a celebrated sculptor. She survived an adolescence in the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II, attended the groundbreaking art school at Black Mountain College, fought through lupus, and revolutionized arts education in her adopted hometown of San Francisco. She forged an unconventional path in everything she did-whether raising a multiracial family of six children, founding a high school dedicated to the arts, or pursuing her own practice independent of the New York art market. Her beloved fountains are now San Francisco icons, and her signature hanging-wire sculptures grace the MoMA, de Young, Getty, Whitney, and many more museums and galleries across America. In this compelling biography, Marilyn Chase brings Asawa's story to vivid life. She draws on Asawa's extensive archives and weaves together many voices-family, friends, teachers, and critics-to offer a complex and fascinating portrait of the artist. With 70 photographs and artworks reproduced throughout the book, this is a richly visual volume that invites readers to step inside Asawa's story"--

Art --- sculpture [visual works] --- spheres [geometric figures] --- spirals [geometric figures] --- fountains --- wire --- Asawa, Ruth --- Sculptors --- Japanese American sculptors --- 73.07 --- Asawa, Ruth 1926-2013 (°Norwalk, Verenigde Staten) --- Vrouwelijke kunstenaars --- Sculptors, Japanese American --- Beeldhouwkunst ; beeldhouwers A - Z --- Asawa, Ruth. --- Lanier, Ruth Asawa

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Art --- sculpture [visual works] --- installations [visual works] --- feminism --- fiber art --- Gego --- Asawa, Ruth --- Falkenstein, Claire --- Pepe, Sheila --- Scott, Judith --- Smith, Shinique --- Echelman, Janet --- Gomes, Sonia --- anno 2000-2099

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In 1933, John Rice founded Black Mountain College in North Carolina as an experiment in making artistic experience central to learning. Though it operated for only 24 years, this pioneering school played a significant role in fostering avant-garde art, music, dance, and poetry, and an astonishing number of important artists taught or studied there. Among the instructors were Josef and Anni Albers, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Karen Karnes, M. C. Richards, and Willem de Kooning, and students included Ruth Asawa, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly. 

Leap Before You Look is a singular exploration of this legendary school and of the work of the artists who spent time there. Scholars from a variety of fields contribute original essays about diverse aspects of the Collegespanning everything from its farm program to the influence of Bauhaus principlesand about the people and ideas that gave it such a lasting impact. In addition, catalogue entries highlight selected works, including writings, musical compositions, visual arts, and crafts. The books fresh approach and rich illustration program convey the atmosphere of creativity and experimentation that was unique to Black Mountain College, and that served as an inspiration to so many. This timely volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in the College and its enduring legacy.


art history --- art appreciation --- art education --- History of civilization --- Twombly, Cy --- Cunningham, Merce --- Johnson, Ray --- Fuller, Richard Buckminster --- Asawa, Ruth --- Kooning, de, Willem --- Albers, Anni --- Rauschenberg, Robert --- Albers, Josef --- Chamberlain, John --- Cage, John --- Black Mountain College [Black Mountain, N.C.]

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"Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) is known for intricate crocheted-wire sculptures, a medium she explored throughout her career after first encountering it as a student at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. After graduating, Asawa moved to San Francisco and created dozens of works in wire and cast metal, among them an iconic bronze fountain--her first of many public commissions--for the city's Ghirardelli Square. Bringing together works from across Asawa's career, this expansive volume examines her output in depth and situates it within the context of 20th-century art"--

Asawa, Ruth --- Art --- sculpture [visual works] --- installations [visual works] --- cones [geometric figures] --- spheres [geometric figures] --- spirals [geometric figures] --- plant-derived motifs --- metal thread --- bronzes [visual works] --- drawing [image-making] --- painting [image-making] --- Metal sculpture --- Sculpture, Abstract --- Japanese American art --- 73.07 --- Asawa, Ruth 1926-2013 (°Norwalk, Verenigde Staten) --- Vrouwelijke kunstenaars --- Abstract sculpture --- Sculpture, Modern --- Art, Japanese American --- Ethnic art --- Metal-work --- Sculpture --- Beeldhouwkunst ; beeldhouwers A - Z --- Lanier, Ruth Asawa --- Criticism and interpretation. --- Exhibitions