MoMA is opening "Ruth Asawa: Retrospective" on October 19, 2025, running through February 7, 2026, featuring 275 works by the artist, including over 60 looped-wire sculptures, bronze casts, paper folds, and drawings. The exhibition, which previously appeared at SFMoMA, occupies 16,000 square feet on MoMA's sixth floor and is the largest show ever devoted to a woman artist at either institution by checklist count, though neither museum has emphasized this superlative.
The curators' reluctance to highlight the record reflects Asawa's own collaborative, non-competitive ethos—she balanced artmaking with raising six children and teaching—and a broader art-world tendency to treat male and female genius differently. The show travels to the Guggenheim Bilbao and Fondation Beyeler in 2026-27, underscoring Asawa's enduring influence and the ongoing conversation about gender parity in museum exhibitions.