Ruth Asawa

The Faces Of Ruth Asawa
2022-07-06 11:00 - 2026-07-06 17:00 UTC | Cantor Arts Center, 328 Lomita Drive at Museum Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
From the mid-1960s through 2000, Asawa created hundreds of individual face masks out of clay. With the Cantor’s Asian American Art Initiative, this wall of 233 masks becomes a permanent part of their collection.
The Asian American Art Initiative (AAAI) transforms Stanford into the leading academic and curatorial center for Asian American art. Alexander and Marci Kwon, assistant professor in Stanford’s Department of Art and Art History, serve as AAAI co-directors. As part of the initiative, the Cantor works to build the preeminent collection of Asian American art at a university art museum.
The Cantor acquired Untitled (LC.012, Wall of Masks) in 2020. On July 6, 2022, they go on long-term view at the museum, marking the first time this work has been shown in its entirety at any museum or public institution. The focused exhibition, The Faces of Ruth Asawa, curated by Alexander, features the masks and three vessels by Asawa’s son Paul Lanier. These special vessels were created with clay mixed with the ashes of Asawa, her husband Albert, and their late son, Adam. Upon Asawa’s death—per her request—Lanier took this material and threw a set of vessels, one for each remaining sibling. The three included in The Faces of Ruth Asawa were borrowed from the family. Their inclusion in the exhibition further demonstrates Asawa’s deeply intimate connection to clay.
Hear from Asawa’s family and friends, including mask subjects, about her process making the masks >
The museum is open Wed – Sun, free with reservations. Reserve here >
End date is open-ended.

Installation: Ruth Asawa: Untitled (S.272)
2024-10-07 08:00 - 2026-02-28 17:00 | Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA, 94102, United States
An iconic work by a beloved and influential Bay Area artist, Untitled (S.272) is a nine-foot-tall hanging sculpture composed of looped copper and iron wire, created in the mid-1950s by Ruth Asawa (American, 1926–2013). This second installation in the Fang Family Launchpad is a masterful example of the suspended, abstract works of looped wire for which Asawa is best known. Its airy interior and exterior spaces flow seamlessly into one another, using organic lines that evoke shapes found in nature — including the human body — while also suggesting a gently undulating movement.
Museum Hours:
Thu:
1 PM – 8 PM
Fri–Mon:
10 AM–5 PM
Tue–Wed:
Closed
Photo: Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.272, Hanging Seven-Lobed Continuous Interlocking Form with Spheres in Two Lobes), approx. 1954. Copper and iron wire. © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph by Kevin Candland. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Ruth Asawa: Doing Is Living
2024-11-19 09:00 - 2025-02-22 17:00 | David Zwirner Hong Kong, 5–6/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
David Zwirner is pleased to announce an exhibition of sculptures and works on paper by American artist Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) at the gallery’s Hong Kong location. Relentlessly experimental across a range of mediums, Asawa is known for her works built on simple, repeated gestures that accumulate into complex compositions. The artist moved effortlessly between abstract and figurative registers in both two and three dimensions, creating a vast and varied oeuvre that, despite its visual heterogeneity, reflects above all her belief in the total integration of artistic practice and family life. The first solo presentation of Asawa’s work in Greater China, the exhibition provides an overview of the artist’s wide-ranging practice, focusing in particular on her affinity for the natural world, which in turn provided a constant source of inspiration in her art.
The Gallery is open:
Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat: 11 AM-7 PM
Photo: Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.210, Hanging Single-Section, Reversible Open-Window Form), 1959. Photo by Laurence Cuneo. © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
