Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) was a California-born, Japanese-American fine artist whose practise involved creating large-scale sculpture using woven wire. Her back-story is both tragic and inspiring.

In 1942, during World War II and after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Asawa’s father (who’d been living in the U.S.A. for forty years) was arrested and taken to New Mexico to be interned. She, her mother and five of her siblings were also interned – in Arkansas. Ruth didn’t see her father for 6 years. One of her sisters, who was on a trip to Japan at the time, was barred from re-entering the US; she had to spend the rest of the war away from her family.

Despite all this, in 1994, Asawa shared:

I hold no hostilities for what happened; I blame no one. Sometimes good comes through adversity. I would not be who I am today had it not been for the internment, and I like who I am.

In 1939, in a school competition, she won 1st prize for her drawing of the Statue of Liberty – a project to produce an artwork that represents what it means to be an American. While at internment school, she gained a scholarship from a Quaker organisation to attend teacher training college in Milwaukee. Later at college in North Carolina, she was tutored by Buckminster Fuller, John Cage, Franz Kline and Josef Albers.

Her balloon-shaped wire works were originally inspired by Mexican basket makers she encountered during a trip to the country in 1947.

I was interested in it because of the economy of a line, making something in space, enclosing it without blocking it out. It’s still transparent. I realized that if I was going to make these forms, which interlock and interweave, it can only be done with a line because a line can go anywhere.

Asawa’s artworks sell at luxury auction houses such as Bonhams and Christie’s, often fetching millions of U.S. dollars.

For those like us who can’t afford an original example of her work, there are numerous books about her an her work that are available from Amazon and eBay. Titles include: A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa by Andrea D’Aquino, Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa by Marilyn Chase, The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa: Contours in the Air by Daniell Cornell, Ruth Asawa: Life’s Work by Tamara Schenkenberg, Aruna D’souza, et al. and Ruth Asawa: A Sculpting Life by Traci Van Wagoner Joan Schoettler.

Later this year (2020), The U.S. Postal Service will be issuing a series of commemorative stamps with a selection of Asawa’s designs.

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Additional image credits:

Bonhams | Christies