‘Ruth Asawa’s astonishing MoMA retrospective draws drama from the everyday’ by Ariella Budick
October 2025
Just two years after the Whitney retrieved the astounding Ruth Asawa from near oblivion with a show of her drawings, the Museum of Modern Art has one-upped the competition with a full-scale retrospective. I worried at first that there might not be many more pleasures left to mine. I needn’t have: Asawa produced new works at an industrial pace and continued her practice of daily drawing almost right up to her death in 2013. Such boundless creativity and potent work ethic ensured a lasting supply of joy.