Umakichi
1965
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph (stone) in dark brown on buff Arches paper
Dimensions
sheet: 75.5 x 51 cm (29 3/4 x 20 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1983.18.189
Art Historical Context
Ruth Asawa’s 1965 lithograph *Umakichi* showcases the artist’s mastery of printmaking alongside her better-known wire sculptures. Created on stone and printed in rich dark brown ink on buff Arches paper, the work measures just over 29 inches tall, giving it a commanding yet intimate presence. Lithography’s ability to capture subtle tonal gradations and fluid lines made it an ideal medium for Asawa, who often explored organic, looping forms that echo the continuous, hand-woven structures of her three-dimensional pieces. As a Japanese-American artist working in mid-twentieth-century America, As...
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...