Christina Ramberg at Hammer Museum in L.A.

The Hammer Museum at UCLA presents “Christina Ramberg: A Retrospective,” the first comprehensive survey in 30 years devoted to the unequivocally distinctive, female-focused work of American artist Christina Ramberg (1946–1995). Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was on view earlier this year, the exhibition presents a rare opportunity for visitors to experience more than 100 works across a range of media including paintings, quilts, and archival ephemera.

The exhibition will be presented at the Hammer from October 12, 2024, to January 5, 2025.

“One hallmark of the Hammer Museum’s exhibition program is presenting retrospectives for previously under-recognized artists,” Ann Philbin, director of the Hammer Museum, said. “Christina Ramberg, who died at the age of 49, had a brief but provocative and influential career. I am pleased that the Hammer will bring this artist’s work to West Coast audiences as the L.A. venue for this touring exhibition.”

“Christina Ramberg: A Retrospective” features several key pieces from public and private collections, many of which have never been on view prior to this exhibition. From intimate early paintings focused on the pattern and form of women’s hairstyles and garments, to mature work that pictures the body barely holding together, the exhibition presents Ramberg’s most iconic imagery while offering a rare opportunity to see all phases and elements of the artist’s 20-year career.

Ramberg pushed boundaries with her paintings while questioning idealized body types and gender presentation. She is best known for these stylized paintings of fragmented female bodies, but she also experimented with quilting, printmaking, and drawing. Among her contemporaries, she served as an archivist, note-taker, slide-maker, collector, and diarist. Sketchbooks and 35mm slides from Ramberg’s informal archive of ephemera offer a fuller understanding of the artist’s practice and how she digested an enormous breadth of source material to create her edgy yet empathetic body of work.

ABOUT THE HAMMER MUSEUM

The Hammer Museum is part of the School of the Arts and Architecture at UCLA, and offers exhibitions and collections that span classic to contemporary art. It holds more than 50,000 works in its collection, including one of the finest collections of works on paper in the nation, the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts.

HAMMER MUSEUM INFORMATION

Admission to all exhibitions and programs at the Hammer Museum is free.

Hours: Tuesday–Thursday & Saturday–Sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m; Friday 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Closed Mondays and national holidays.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard at Westwood, Los Angeles.

Onsite parking is $8 for the first 3 hours (maximum $22), or $8 flat rate after 5 p.m. Valet parking is available at the Lindbrook Drive entrance for $15.

Visit hammer.ucla.edu for details or call 310-443-7000.