Flowers III
1965
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph (stone) in black on German Etching paper
Dimensions
image: 12.8 x 21.8 cm (5 1/16 x 8 9/16 in.) sheet: 11 cm (4 5/16 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
1983.18.167
Art Historical Context
**Flowers III** by Ruth Asawa, created in 1965, is a delicate lithograph printed in black ink on German Etching paper. just 12.8 x 21.8 cm for the image, this intimate work captures the artist's fascination with organic forms, rendered through the precise, fluid lines of stone lithography—a technique Asawa mastered alongside her renowned wire sculptures. Drawn directly on lithographic stone with greasy crayon or tusche, the medium allows for rich tonal variations and subtle textures, evoking the natural grace of blooming petals in a single, evocative color. Asawa, a Japanese American artist a...
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...