Wanda Gág’s World

Mar 28–Dec 2, 2024

Intricate black and white illustration of a room with a radiant light fixture, arched fireplace, and detailed patterns.

This exhibition presents a selection of prints by the artist, illustrator, and children’s book author Wanda Gág (1893–1946). These works record the world as Gág experienced it: a place where landscapes move rhythmically and inanimate objects hum with life. Although she also painted, the graphic arts offered her the most effective method for expressing this unique vision.

Born in Minnesota to immigrants from German Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), Gág arrived in New York in 1917 to study at the Art Students League, where she became a fixture of the city’s modernist art scene. Adhering neither to abstraction nor social realism—the dominant artistic movements at the time—Gág forged her own approach to figuration. Over the course of her career, she found modest success selling her prints and produced several popular children’s books, examples of which are presented in the show. Gág was also a prolific writer about her life and work, and excerpts from her letters and diaries accompany the prints on view.

Drawn entirely from the Whitney’s collection, the works in this exhibition span roughly two decades, ranging from the mid-1920s to the year before Gág's death. Together, these still lifes, landscapes, and interiors illuminate what the artist called “Wanda Gág world,” demonstrating her fervent quest to capture the feeling and movement of life as she saw it.

Wanda Gág’s World is co-curated by Roxanne Smith, Senior Curatorial Assistant, and Scout Hutchinson, Curatorial Fellow.

El mundo de Wanda Gág

Esta exposición presenta una selección de grabados de la artista, ilustradora y autora de libros infantiles Wanda Gág (1893-1946). Estos trabajos registran el mundo tal como lo experimentó Gág: un lugar donde los paisajes se mueven rítmicamente y donde los objetos inanimados rebosan de vida. A pesar de que también pintó, las artes gráficas le ofrecieron el método más efectivo para expresar esta visión única.

Nacida en Minnesota de padres provenientes de la Bohemia alemana (hoy República Checa). Gág llegó a Nueva York en 1917 para estudiar en la Art Students League, donde se convirtió en una figura clave de la escena modernista de la ciudad. Sin adherirse ni a la abstracción ni al realismo social, los movimientos artísticos dominantes de la época, Gág forjó su propio enfoque figurativo. A lo largo de su carrera tuvo un éxito modesto vendiendo sus grabados y produciendo varios libros infantiles que se exhiben en esta exhibición. Gág también fue una escritora prolífica sobre su vida y su trabajo, extractos de sus cartas y diarios acompañan los grabados expuestos aquí.

Seleccionados de la colección del Whitney, los grabados en esta exhibición abarcan casi dos décadas, desde mediados de los años veinte hasta el año que precedió su muerte. Al exhibirse en conjunto, estas naturalezas muertas, paisajes e interiores ilustran lo que la artista llamó “el mundo de Wanda”, evidenciando su febril búsqueda para capturar los sentimientos y movimientos de la vida tal como ella la veía.

El Mundo de Wanda Gág ha sido co-curada por Roxanne Smith, Asistente curatorial sénior junto con Scout Hutchinson, Curatorial fellow.

Artworks

An etching of a whimsical fireplace with anthropomorphic flames dancing in the hearth and shadowy wall sconces.

1 "A still life is never still to me”

Monochrome etching of a cluttered workshop with tools, saws, and belts hanging on the walls, and a window with a tattered curtain.

2 “My aesthetic existence teems with forms”

Monochrome landscape drawing with surreal, organic shapes resembling trees and arches, evoking a dream-like atmosphere.

3 “Everything I looked at cried out to be captured”

Black and white woodcut of a stylized forest scene with bold lines and contrasting patterns, signed by Wanda Gág.

4 “I am out on the hills every day now”

A textured drawing of a barren tree in a dense, patterned forest landscape.

5 “Perhaps I have never written of my sandpaper discovery”

6 “There is, to me, no such thing as an empty place in the universe”

Vintage drawing of a room corner with a draped table, dresser, ornate lamp, and various small figurines.

7 "I spent most of my time drawing frantically”

Open book with an illustration of a hill covered in cats and text describing a journey to show kittens to an old woman.

8 “I aim to make the illustrations for children’s books as much a work of art”

Wanda Gág
27 works in the collection
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Audio

Wanda Gág grew up in a household full of music, and it remained a source of inspiration and interest to her throughout her life. This playlist includes examples of the types of German Bohemian folk songs and zither music her family would have played during her childhood, as well as some specific classical songs that she mentioned in her personal writings. Gág’s diaries contain many references to attending concerts and playing music with family and friends; in a 1923 passage she compares the rhythmic quality of her depictions of nature to music:

“Today I played [Schubert’s] ‘Unfinished Symphony’ on the victrola and lost myself contemplating the rhythms that foliage makes. A symphony and a mass of foliage are much the same. In the foliage too, you find your motif and it is amazing how intelligently the lines and masses and forms seem to fall in place after that. There are repetitions of the motif and endless and varied ramifications of it. Lines fall and rise . . . I have also been drawing foliage rhythms this morning.”

This playlist was created in collaboration with Alexander Roth, Curator at the Wanda Gág House in New Ulm, Minnesota.

Installation photography

Installation view of Wanda Gág’s World (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 28–December, 2024). From left to right: Spring in the Garden, 1927; The Forge, 1932; Upright Landscape, 1926; Evening, 1928; Winter Twilight, 1927. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Wanda Gág’s World (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 28–December, 2024). From left to right: Country Road, 1925; Snow Drifts, 1934; Grandma's Parlor, 1930; Spring in the Garden, 1927; The Forge, 1932; Upright Landscape, 1926; Evening, 1928; Winter Twilight, 1927; Lamplight, 1929; Fireplace, 1930; Macy's Stairway, 1940–4. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Wanda Gág’s World (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 28–December, 2024). From left to right: Millions of Cats (Special Edition), 1928; The ABC Bunny, 1933. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Wanda Gág’s World (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 28–December, 2024). From left to right: Christmas at Tumble Timbers, 1928; Lantern and Fireplace, 1931–32. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Wanda Gág’s World (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 28–December, 2024). From left to right: Gumbo Lane, 1927; Stone Crusher, 1929; Backyard Corner, 1930; Country Road, 1925; Snow Drifts, 1934; Grandma's Parlor, 1930; Spring in the Garden, 1927. Photograph by Ron Amstutz