The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announces Ruth Asawa: Retrospective, the first major national and international museum retrospective of the work of Ruth Asawa (1926–2013).
Premiering at SFMOMA from April 5 through September 2, 2025, this first posthumous retrospective will feature the entire spectrum of the artist’s practice.
Sculpture, drawings, prints, paintings, design objects and archival material from U.S.-based public and private collections will offer an in-depth look at her output and its inspirations, say museum spokesmen.
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective will feature more than 300 works spanning six decades of the artist’s career, engaging in the full range of materials and techniques that Asawa employed.
Her signature looped-wire sculptures will share gallery space with lesser-known works in other mediums that supply insight into the interconnectedness and experimental nature of her artistic vision.
In addition to Asawa’s own work, the exhibition will include a select number of works by peers and mentors with whom Asawa engaged in creative dialogue including Josef Albers, Imogen Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Ray Johnson, Hazel Larsen Archer, Merry Renk and Marguerite Wildenhain.
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective is an exhibition partnership between SFMOMA and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) and co-curated by Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture, SFMOMA and Cara Manes, Associate Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA; with support from Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.
Following its presentation at SFMOMA, the exhibition will travel to The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (October 19, 2025–February 7, 2026); Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (March 20–September 13, 2026); and Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland (October 18, 2026–January 24, 2027), with its tour coinciding with what would have been Asawa’s 100th birthday on January 24, 2026.