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Undulating black ink lines stamped on newsprint.

The block letters “BMC” are repeatedly stamped across a sheet of newsprint in wavy lines. The letters appear sometimes upside down, or upright, or at rising and falling diagonal angles. In sections, the letters overlap, creating darker areas that appear at intervals to form vertical lines that run the height of the page. At top and bottom, smaller text shows through in places from the newspaper page, which is turned sideways. At lower left is a handwritten inscription in black ink “ N.C. RUTH ASAWA BLK. MT, COLLEGE”.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR49.390
People
Ruth Asawa, American (Norwalk, California, USA 1926 - 2013 San Francisco, CA)
Title
Untitled (BMC.117, BMC stamp on newsprint)
Other Titles
Former Title: BMC on newsprint
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1948-1949
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/225517

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Stamped ink on newspaper
Technique
Stamped
Dimensions
41.9 x 55.9 cm (16 1/2 x 22 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.r. in black ink: RUTH ASAWA
  • inscription: l.r. in black ink: N.C. // RUTH ASAWA // BLK. MT. COLLEGE

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Josef Albers
Copyright
© Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner
Accession Year
1949
Object Number
BR49.390
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Tamara Schenkenberg, ed., Ruth Asawa: Life's Work, exh. cat., Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Yale University Press (St. Louis, New Haven, 2019), pp. 59, 146, ill. (color)
  • Kim Conaty and Edouard Kopp, ed., Ruth Asawa: Through Line, exh. cat., The Menil Collection, Menil Drawing Institute and Whitney Museum of American Art (Houston and New York, 2023), p. 52, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu