New Exhibition “Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury” to open at MoMA Nov. 1

Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury is an exhibition showcasing approximately 80 drawings made between 1948 and 1961, including six recent acquisitions, exclusively from the Museum’s collection. On view November 1, 2020 through February 6, 2021, Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury spans movements, geographies, and generations to highlight connections between diverse artists who embraced drawing to forge a new visual language in the aftermath of World War II. Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury is organized by Samantha Friedman, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints.

To use a phrase that circulated among artists and writers during these years—was the ideal “degree zero” medium for this “degree zero” moment. Within this impulse common to artists from across the world, drawing took many forms, from the abstract to the figurative, the organic to the hard-edged. The exhibition features American artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Sari Dienes, Ellsworth Kelly, and Jackson Pollock; European artists including Karel Appel, Jean Dubuffet, Henri Matisse, and Sonja Sekula; Latin American artists including Hércules Barsotti, Willys de Castro, Eduardo Ramirez Villamizar, and Alfredo Volpi; and Asian artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Joong Seop Lee, Saburo Murakami, and Morita Yasuji.

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