Ruth Asawa: The Tamarind Prints

This online presentation focuses on a group of prints created by Ruth Asawa during a 1965 fellowship at the renowned Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles.

Capturing the form and color of various flowers and intimate scenes from Asawa’s daily life, including depictions of her children and home, this body of work represents a pivotal moment of experimentation and development within her practice.

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (TAM.1487-II, Blue and Purple), 1965

Lithograph on paper

20 x 26 3/8 inches (50.8 x 67 cm)
Framed: 24 x 30 1/2 inches (61 x 77.5 cm)
Edition of 20, 1 AP

Founded in 1960 by artist June Wayne in Los Angeles, the Tamarind Lithography Workshop is credited with revitalizing and revolutionizing lithography as a fine art in the United States, where it had for decades been relegated almost exclusively to commercial use. Wayne created residencies and fellowships to train a group of master printers and launch a new era of collaborative printmaking. Under Wayne, several women artists were given unprecedented opportunities to expand both their practice and the medium of lithography.

Tamarind hosted countless artists, among them some of the most innovative and influential of their time, including Anni and Josef Albers, Elaine de Kooning, Philip Guston, David Hockney, Louise Nevelson, and Ed Ruscha.

Ruth Asawa

Poppy (TAM.1479), 1965

Lithograph on paper

30 x 20 1/2 inches (76.2 x 52.1 cm)
Framed: 35 3/8 x 25 7/8 inches (89.8 x 65.7 cm)
Edition of 20, 2 AP

Asawa was referred to the fellowship at Tamarind by Josef Albers, whose teachings were highly influential for her during her time at Black Mountain College (1946–1949).

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. © Hank Baum

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. © Hank Baum

The two-month workshop typically offered two artists a chance to collaborate with seven master printers. However, when the second student failed to show up, Asawa had the undivided attention of all seven, leading to a prolific period of artistic output in which she produced fifty-four original lithographs.

Ruth Asawa

Plane Trees II (TAM.1472), 1965

Lithograph on paper

22 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches (56.5 x 76.8 cm)
Framed: 35 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches (90.2 x 69.8 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

During her time there, Asawa lived in an apartment near the workshop that soon became a gathering place for her colleagues. She would often cook dinner for the printers, and then they would return to the workshop and continue their work together into the evening. Asawa and Wayne developed a fast friendship and would remain in touch for years to come.

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. © Hank Baum. The Tamarind program relocated to New Mexico where it was established as Tamarind Institute in 1970. It continues to thrive as a division of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico.

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. © Hank Baum. The Tamarind program relocated to New Mexico where it was established as Tamarind Institute in 1970. It continues to thrive as a division of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico.

“It was a joy to have you.… A love affair between Tamarind and Asawa.”

—June Wayne, letter to Ruth Asawa, 1965

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (TAM.1535, Hydrangea, from the Portfolio Flowers), 1965

Lithograph on paper

11 1/8 x 11 inches (28.3 x 27.9 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches (41 x 41 cm)
Edition of 20, 2 AP

The workshop at Tamarind offered Asawa dedicated time and space to explore the printmaking process and its materials. Asawa’s lithographs began as drawings made directly on a slab of limestone with pencil, crayon, or liquid ink. The printers would then process the stone to fix the image and ink it for printing, repeating the process for each additional color on a separate stone. The precision, repetition, and collaboration between Asawa and the printers underscore the remarkable nature of her output at the workshop.

Building on the foundational concepts Asawa had learned from Albers at Black Mountain College, at Tamarind she worked through a small number of basic shapes and motifs derived from nature and leaned into the specificity of the materials of lithography.

Featured works in GIF: Ruth Asawa, Untitled (BMC.145, BMC Laundry stamp), c. 1948–1949 (detail); Ruth Asawa, Untitled (SF.045c, Potato print branches, purple/blue), 1951–1952 (detail)

Featured works in GIF: Ruth Asawa, Untitled (BMC.145, BMC Laundry stamp), c. 1948–1949 (detail); Ruth Asawa, Untitled (SF.045c, Potato print branches, purple/blue), 1951–1952 (detail)

This interest in repeated forms is apparent in her early works on paper made during her time at Black Mountain College and the years that followed, created using everyday objects like laundry stamps and halved potatoes, laying the groundwork for the concepts she would explore at Tamarind.

Ruth Asawa

Desert Plant (TAM.1560, From the Portfolio Flowers (Tied-Wire Sculpture Drawing with Six-Pointed Star Center)), 1965

Lithograph on paper

11 1/4 x 11 inches (28.6 x 27.9 cm)
Framed: 14 x 13 3/4 inches (35.6 x 34.9 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Excerpts from Ruth Asawa: Of Forms and Growth, directed by Robert Snyder, 1978. © Masters and Masterworks Productions, Inc. Featured artworks by Ruth Asawa: Untitled (TAM.1492, Iris, from the Portfolio Flowers), 1965 (detail); Untitled (TAM.1487-II, Blue and Purple), 1965 (detail); Plane Trees II (TAM.1472), 1965 (detail); Untitled (TAM.1480, Succulent [line drawing]), 1965 (detail); Desert Plant (TAM.1560, From the Portfolio Flowers (Tied-Wire Sculpture Drawing with Six-Pointed Star Center)), 1965 (detail). Audio recording of 1973 Tamarind Lithography Workshop orientation. Ruth Asawa Tape 20, Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

“Doing is living. That is all that matters.”

—Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa’s untitled sketchbook drawings from the Tamarind Lithography Workshop (SB.031, p. 98–99), 1965

Ruth Asawa’s untitled sketchbook drawings from the Tamarind Lithography Workshop (SB.031, p. 98–99), 1965

Ruth Asawa

Henry and Adam (TAM.1568), 1965

Lithograph on paper

10 3/4 x 10 inches (27.3 x 25.4 cm)
Framed: 13 5/8 x 12 7/8 inches (34.6 x 32.6 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

While the residency was an unparalleled opportunity to explore these ideas, it was also the longest period of time Asawa had spent away from her six children, and her family features prominently in the works she made at Tamarind. Returning to the Los Angeles region, where she was born, also brought Asawa closer to her aging parents, Umakichi and Haru Asawa, who are depicted in some of the Tamarind prints.

Ruth Asawa

Hudson (TAM.1565), 1965

Lithograph on paper

10 x 9 3/4 inches (25.4 x 24.8 cm)
Framed: 14 7/8 x 14 1/2 inches (37.8 x 36.8 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Ruth Asawa

Paul (TAM.1569, Paul Lanier with homemade puppets), 1965

Lithograph on paper

11 x 9 7/8 inches (27.9 x 25.1 cm)
Framed: 15 7/8 x 14 3/4 inches (40.3 x 37.5 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Ruth Asawa with children Aiko and Xavier, c. 1951. © Imogen Cunningham Trust

Ruth Asawa with children Aiko and Xavier, c. 1951. © Imogen Cunningham Trust

Ruth Asawa

Babies (TAM.1484, Addie Laurie Lanier), 1965

Lithograph on paper

22 1/4 x 30 inches (56.5 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 27 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches (69.8 x 90.2 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Ruth Asawa

Xavier (TAM.1570), 1965

Lithograph on paper

10 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches (27.3 x 24.8 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches (40 x 36.8 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Ruth Asawa

Pigeons and Cobblestones (TAM.1478), 1965

Lithograph on paper

23 x 35 inches (58.4 x 88.9 cm)
Framed: 28 3/8 x 40 1/2 inches (72.1 x 102.9 cm)
Edition of 20, 1 AP

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (TAM.1480, Succulent [line drawing]), 1965

Lithograph on paper

11 1/4 x 11 inches (28.6 x 27.9 cm)
Framed: 14 x 13 3/4 inches (35.6 x 34.9 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

“There is no separation between studying, performing the daily chores of living, and creating one’s work.”

—Ruth Asawa

Ruth planting seeds with son Xavier and his friend at her Saturn Street home, c. 1955. Courtesy Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.

Ruth planting seeds with son Xavier and his friend at her Saturn Street home, c. 1955. Courtesy Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (P.025-I, Irises (Experiment for Tamarind Lithography Workshop)), 1965

Lithograph on paper

15 x 11 inches (38.1 x 27.9 cm)
Framed: 20 1/4 x 16 1/8 inches (51.4 x 41 cm)

Asawa had a deep connection to nature, and many of the prints she created at Tamarind feature plants, flowers, and biomorphic forms.

Ruth Asawa, Untitled (P.025-II, Irises (Experiment for Tamarind Lithography Workshop)), 1965 (detail)

Ruth Asawa, Untitled (P.025-II, Irises (Experiment for Tamarind Lithography Workshop)), 1965 (detail)

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (P.025-II, Irises (Experiment for Tamarind Lithography Workshop)), 1965

Lithograph on paper

15 x 11 inches (38.1 x 27.9 cm)
Framed: 20 x 16 1/8 inches (50.8 x 41 cm)

“The task of the artist is always to notice, digest, and comment on what is going on. We do it whether we’re aware of it or not.… Explore the thing you don’t know about.”

—June Wayne

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (TAM.1492, Iris, from the Portfolio Flowers), 1965

Lithograph on paper

11 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches (28.6 x 28.6 cm)
Framed: 16 x 16 1/8 inches (40.6 x 41 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Ruth Asawa

Succulents (TAM.1475, Three Succulents on Dark Background), 1965

Lithograph on paper

19 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (49.5 x 62.2 cm)
Framed: 25 x 20 1/8 inches (63.5 x 51.1 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Complete sets of Asawa’s Tamarind prints are held in the permanent collections of several museums, and Ruth Asawa Through Line, which examines the artist’s lifelong drawing practice, is currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art through January 2024.

Postcard made by Asawa in 1974, from a collection of correspondence between June Wayne and Ruth Asawa. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Postcard made by Asawa in 1974, from a collection of correspondence between June Wayne and Ruth Asawa. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (TAM.1487, Black), 1965

Lithograph on paper

20 3/8 x 26 1/2 inches (51.8 x 67.3 cm)
Framed: 25 1/4 x 31 7/8 inches (64.1 x 81 cm)
Edition of 20, 2 AP

Ruth Asawa

Untitled (TAM.1483, Marigolds, from the Portfolio Flowers), 1965

Lithograph on paper

11 x 11 inches (27.9 x 27.9 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 16 inches (41 x 40.6 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

“I remember your fellowship with affection: it was a marvellous time for the spirit of Tamarind, and no doubt you are spreading that same energy wherever you go.”

—June Wayne, letter to Ruth Asawa, 1974

Ruth Asawa

Plane Tree Reversal (TAM.1470A), 1965

Lithograph on paper

24 5/8 x 31 5/8 inches (62.5 x 80.3 cm)
Framed: 26 5/8 x 33 5/8 inches (67.6 x 85.4 cm)
Edition of 20, 3 AP

Ruth Asawa

Owl II (TAM.1491), 1965

Lithograph on paper

20 3/4 x 30 inches (52.7 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 27 x 35 1/4 inches (68.6 x 89.5 cm)
Edition of 20, 2 AP

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

Ruth Asawa at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Courtesy Tamarind Institute Pictorial Collection, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico

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All artwork © 2023 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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