Wanda Gág’s World

Mar 28–Dec 2, 2024


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"A still life is never still to me”

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In Gág’s prints, inanimate objects appear to wobble in space, tilting this way and that in defiance of the logic of linear perspective. Gág elaborated on her perception of space in a 1938 application for a Guggenheim fellowship grant, writing: 

“To me, perspective is more than a mechanical set of rules—I see in it the potentialities for rhythmic forcefulness and even emotional significance. With form and space it is the same: a still life is never still to me, it is solidified energy—and space does not impress me as being empty.”

Macy’s Stairway, 1940–41

Monochrome artwork of a surreal, gravity-defying room with a staircase, window, and hanging tassel.
Monochrome artwork of a surreal, gravity-defying room with a staircase, window, and hanging tassel.

Wanda Gág, Macy's Stairway, 1940–41. Lithograph, 11 7/8 × 16 1/16 in. (30.2 × 40.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from The Lauder Foundation, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund 96.68.123. © Estate of Wanda Gág



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On the Hour

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Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

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