The Museum of Modern Art in New York is presenting its largest exhibition ever devoted to a female artist with a comprehensive retrospective of Ruth Asawa, the Japanese American sculptor who transformed simple materials into complex artistic universes over six decades. The ambitious show, which runs from October 19 through February 7, 2026, features 275 works and occupies MoMA's entire 16,000-square-foot sixth floor gallery space typically reserved for major temporary exhibitions.
Asawa, who worked primarily from her small San Francisco home, created what could be described as entire worlds using wire and other everyday materials. Her persistence and visionary range are fully displayed in this retrospective, which includes more than 60 of her famous looped-wire sculptures, bronze casts, paper folds, and various paintings and drawings that demonstrate her deep connection to nature. The exhibition arrives at MoMA after a successful run at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art this spring and summer, where it occupied 15,000 square feet across two galleries.
Nearly five years in the making, the show represents a milestone in museum programming. The SFMoMA checklist included 327 pieces spanning 81 pages, while MoMA's version features 376 objects across 94 pages thanks to additional archival materials. By sheer numbers alone, this retrospective ranks as the largest exhibition ever dedicated to a female artist at either MoMA or SFMoMA, though neither institution has actively promoted this historic distinction.
SFMoMA's chief curator Janet Bishop, who has been with the museum since 1988, admits the record-breaking nature of the show hadn't initially occurred to her. "We knew that it was going to be a very rich, full presentation that looked at all aspects of her artistic production," Bishop explains, "but I didn't think about the sheer numbers." When asked if any other exhibition by a female artist had come close, Bishop confirmed that previous solo shows in the same space by artists like Eva Hesse and Vija Celmins featured far fewer works.
Cara Manes, MoMA's painting and sculpture curator who co-organized the exhibition, had a similar response when considering the show's scale. After mentally reviewing recent exhibitions featuring Joan Jonas, Yoko Ono, and Adrian Piper, Manes concluded, "I do think that's a safe claim to make and you bring up a great point." A spokesperson for SFMoMA has since confirmed that the Asawa show was indeed the museum's largest by a female artist measured by number of objects, though MoMA declined to provide similar confirmation.
The curators' understated approach to promoting the exhibition seems to reflect Asawa's own modest and collaborative nature. Despite being dismissed by 1950s art critics as merely a "housewife" whose sculptures were described in decorative terms, Asawa remained confident in her artistic direction. She was more collaborative than competitive with other artists, serving as a longtime educator and mother of six children who often created art while cooking dinner or after everyone had gone to sleep.
This quiet confidence contrasts sharply with the art world's typical approach to promoting major exhibitions, particularly those featuring male artists. David Hockney, for instance, seems to have a "biggest retrospective" every five years, culminating in this year's Fondation Louis Vuitton show in Paris featuring around 400 works. Similarly, Picasso curators frequently compete to offer the largest displays of his work, a tradition dating back to MoMA's exhaustive 1,000-work Picasso survey in 1980 that helped define the concept of the museum blockbuster.
The more subdued marketing approach may reflect persistent gender inequality in how the art world treats examples of male versus female artistic genius. Recent Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibitions have engaged in similar competition, with the bicoastal show "King Pleasure" being billed as "the most intimate and comprehensive portrait of Basquiat's life and art to date." In contrast, MoMA's press release simply notes that the Asawa exhibition "coinciding with the centennial of the artist's birth, will include some 300 objects that highlight the core values of experimentation and interconnectedness pervading all dimensions of Asawa's practice."
"We're certainly happy to wave the flag of touting the comprehensive nature of the retrospective exhibition," Manes says, calling it "staggeringly broad." However, she adds that "our framing had mainly to do with the exhibition being the artist's first major career retrospective since her passing in 2013." Bishop echoes this sentiment, explaining that her focus was presenting Asawa's work in its full depth and breadth rather than emphasizing metrics.
The exhibition reveals Asawa as both a maximalist and multitasker who worked across multiple mediums including wire, paper, wood, clay, and bronze, while also experimenting with electroplating techniques. She maintained hundreds of sketchbooks as part of her sustained drawing practice, demonstrating an almost superhuman productivity that may have stemmed from her ability to function on just four hours of sleep nightly, according to Marilyn Chase's 2020 biography "Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa."
Manes confirms this wasn't merely legend, recalling conversations with Asawa's children while reviewing works for the exhibition. "When I was looking at works with some of her children, I would say under my breath, as so often was the case when being confronted with her incredible, prolific work: 'How did she do this? How could she have had time to do this?' They would say, 'She just didn't sleep.'" The curator found evidence of this nocturnal productivity in Asawa's archives, noting that "these sketchbooks are peppered with images of other people sleeping."
Following its New York run, the retrospective will travel to the Guggenheim Bilbao and Fondation Beyeler in Basel during 2026-27, ensuring that Asawa's remarkable artistic legacy reaches international audiences. The exhibition stands as both a celebration of her centennial year and a long-overdue recognition of her significant contributions to modern and contemporary art.
