Mario Merz, Italian, 1925-2003, Untitled from Noi giriamo intorno alle case o girano intorno a noi? (Do We Surround The Houses, Or Do The Houses Surround Us?), 1982, Spray paint and charcoal on transparentized paper with bamboo and clothespins, 48” x 13’ 5 ¼” (121.9 x 409.6 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Estate of Mario Merz.

Alighiero e Boetti, Italian, 1940-1994, I sei sensi (The Six Senses), 1973, Ballpoint pen on six pieces of paper, 39 ½” x 14’ (100.3 x 426.7 cm), The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Estate of Alighiero e Boetti.

Amelie von Wulffen, German, born 1966, Untitled, 2003, Cut-and-pasted chromogenic color print, synthetic polymer paint, and ink on paper, 47 x 68 1/2" (119.4 x 174 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Amelie von Wulffen.

Cady Noland. American, born 1956, Untitled Xerox Cut-Out (Squeaky Fromme / Gerald Ford), 1993-94, Printed paper with paper clips and pencil on paper, 14 x 14" (35.6 x 35.6 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Cady Noland.

Nick Mauss, American, born 1980, Untitled, 2003, Synthetic polymer paint on printed paper, 11 x 8 1/2" (27.9 x 21.6 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Nick Mauss.

Neo Rauch, German, born 1960, Verrat (Treason), 2003, Oil on paper, 8’ 4 3/8” x 6’ 3/8" (255 x 199 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Neo Rauch / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
212-708-9400
New York
Contemporary Galleries,
second floor
Compass in Hand:
Selections
from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection
April 22-July 27, 2009

Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection is the first comprehensive presentation of the collection and includes more than 300 works, a donation of approximately 2,500 works on paper by more than 650 artists that entered the Museum’s collection in May 2005. Assembled over a two-year period and ranging from the 1930s to 2005 with a heavy focus on contemporary practice, the collection provides a unique panorama of the state of drawing today. The collection was formed by the Foundation’s sole trustee, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, who is also a MoMA Trustee, in consultation with Gary Garrels, who was MoMA's Chief Curator of Drawings and Curator of Painting and Sculpture from 2000 to 2005. Compass in Hand is organized by Christian Rattemeyer, The Harvey S. Shipley Miller Associate Curator of Drawings, with Connie Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings, The Museum of Modern Art.

This exhibition, the largest drawings exhibition ever mounted at MoMA, will survey the collection and show the various methods and materials within the styles of gestural and geometric abstraction, representation and figuration, and systems-based and conceptual drawings. Brought together are historical works by Lee Bontecou and Joseph Beuys, Minimalist and Conceptual works by Donald Judd and Hanne Darboven, detailed narrative drawings by Elizabeth Peyton and John Currin, collages by Amelie von Wulffen, Mona Hatoum, and Lucy McKenzie and Paulina Olowska, and large-scale installations by Nate Lowman and Ján Mancuska, to name just a few. A publication on the exhibition will be available as well as a catalogue raisonné on the entire collection.

The exhibition was organized by Christian Rattemeyer, The Harvey S. Shipley Miller Associate Curator of Drawings, with Connie Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings, The Museum of Modern Art.

Elizabeth Peyton, American, born 1965, Hockney at the RCA, 1997, Pencil on notebook paper, 13 7/8 x 11" (35.2 x 27.9 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Elizabeth Peyton.

Chloe Piene, American, born 1972, Thirty Years Old, 2002, Charcoal on transparentized paper, 46 x 30" (116.8 x 76.2 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Chloe Piene.

Paul McCarthy, American, born 1945, Penis Hat, 2001, Cut-and-pasted printed paper, charcoal, pencil, and oil pastel on cut-and-pasted paper, 13’ 11 3/8” x 8’ 4" (425.1 x 254 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Paul McCarthy.

Jo Baer. American, born 1929, Sex Symbol, 1961, Gouache and pencil on paper, 6 x 3 1/4" (15.3 x 8.3 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift (purchase, and gift, in part, of The Eileen and Michael Cohen Collection), © 2009 Jo Baer.

Alighiero e Boetti. Italian, 1940-1994, Aerei (Airplane), 1983, Ballpoint pen on three sheets of printed paper on paper on canvas, 9 1/8 x 19 1/4" (23.2 x 48.9 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Estate of Alighiero e Boetti.

Öyvind Fahlström, Swedish, born Brazil 1928-1976, Sketch for World Map, 1972. Ink on paper, 19 x 37" (48.3 x 94 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Öyvind Fahlström / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany.

Franz West, Austrian, born 1947, Sammler und Jäger (Winterkirschenernte) (Hunters and Gatherers [Winter Cherries Harvest), 1983, Gouache and synthetic polymer paint on printed paper in artist's frame, 18 7/8 x 34 1/2 x 3/4" (47.9 x 87.6 x 1.9 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Franz West.

Peter Doig, British, born 1959, Camp Forestia, 1996, Pastel on paper, 7 7/8 x 9 1/2" (20 x 24.1 cm), The Museum of Modern Art. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift, © 2009 Peter Doig.