Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective

This first retrospective of the drawings of American contemporary artist Richard Serra traces his investigation of drawing as an activity both independent from and linked to his sculptural practice. Serra's drawings have played a crucial role in his work for more than forty years, yet they have not been as widely recognized as his sculptures. This major exhibition features some sixty works from the 1970s to the present, including many loans from European and American public and private collections. Serra's drawings from the early 1970s began as a means of exploring formal and perceptual relationships between his sculpture and the viewer; with time they evolved into autonomous works of art and increased in scale. In the mid-1970s, Serra made the first of his monumentally scaled Installation Drawings, some of which hang from floor to ceiling. To make these works, the artist attached linen directly to the wall and applied black paint-stick using repetitive and vigorous physical gestures. Over the last twenty-five years, working primarily on paper, Serra has continued to invent new drawing techniques and radically change the practice and definition of drawing. The exhibition will culminate with new large-scale works completed specifically for this presentation.

The exhibition is made possible in part by the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund.

It was organized by The Menil Collection , Houston.