SFMOMA, San Francisco, United States
April 5, 2025-September 2, 2025
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art announces Ruth Asawa: Retrospective, the first major national and international museum retrospective of the groundbreaking work of Ruth Asawa (1926-2013). Premiering at SFMOMA from April 5 through September 2, 2025, this will be the first posthumous retrospective to feature the entire spectrum of the artist’s awe-inspiring practice. Sculpture, drawings, prints, paintings, design objects, and archival material from U.S.-based public and private collections will offer an in-depth look at her expansive output and its inspirations, exploring the ways her longtime San Francisco home and garden served as the epicenter of her creative universe, and highlighting the ethos of collaboration and inclusivity that informed her numerous public sculpture commissions and unwavering dedication to arts advocacy.
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective will feature more than 300 works spanning six decades of the artist’s career, engaging in the full range of materials and techniques that Asawa employed. Her signature looped-wire sculptures will share gallery space with lesser-known works in other mediums that supply valuable insight into the interconnectedness and relentlessly experimental nature of her artistic vision.
Ruth Asawa: Retrospective is an exhibition partnership between SFMOMA and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) and co-curated by Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture, SFMOMA; and Cara Manes, Associate Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA with invaluable support from Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.
In March 2025, a $1.5M gift from Google was announced to support free admissions to the exhibition.
Following its presentation at SFMOMA, the exhibition will travel to The Museum of Modern Art, New York from October 19, 2025 to February 7, 2026 and the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain from March 22 to September 26, 2026, ending at the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland from October 25, 2026 to January 24, 2027. The tour will coincide with what would have been Asawa’s 100th birthday on January 24, 2026. Learn more at SFMOMA.
