Questioning The Line

From the late 1950s until the 1980s, the German-born Venezuelan artist Gego (Gertrud Goldschmidt) made drawings, prints, three-dimensional works, hanging-net pieces (reticulareas), and wire constructions (drawings without paper) of extraordinary quality. Taken as a whole, these works illustrate the issue at the core of her production: the liberation of line from volume and form into space. Though little known outside of Latin America, Gego's work enjoyed a dialogue with twentieth-century artists and movements active not only in Venezuela, but also worldwide. In a series of essays examining her art in relation to Modernism, Informalism, kinetic art, and other tendencies, this volume--the second in the MFAH International Center for the Arts of the Americas series--situates Gego in her international context.