Flowers I (Title Page)
1965
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph (stone) in red-brown on German Etching paper
Dimensions
sheet: 27.7 x 27.7 cm (10 7/8 x 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1983.18.165
Art Historical Context
Ruth Asawa’s “Flowers I (Title Page)” from 1965 serves as the opening image in a printed portfolio, introducing a series that celebrates natural forms through the artist’s distinctive vision. Rendered as a lithograph in rich red-brown ink on German Etching paper, the work measures just under eleven inches square, inviting close, intimate viewing. Lithography, with its capacity for fine tonal gradations and fluid line work, allowed Asawa to translate delicate botanical motifs into a reproducible medium while preserving the organic softness of her hand-drawn imagery. Created during a period whe...
About the Artist
Ruth Asawa
Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), born Ruth Aiko Asawa in Norwalk, California, as the fourth of seven children to Japanese immigrant farmers Umakichi and Haru Asawa, grew up on a truck farm where she honed her artistic eye sketching natural forms in the sand. During World War II, her family endured separation under Japanese American internment; while most were held at Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas—wh...