a: Gouache, felt-tip pen, colored pencil, and pencil on paper b: Gouache, felt-tip pen, and pencil on paper c: Gouache, felt-tip pen, and pencil on paper d: Gouache, felt-tip pen, and pencil on paper e: Gouache, felt-tip pen, and pencil on paper f: Gouache, felt-tip pen, and pencil on paper
Not on view
Zittel lives and works in the Mojave Desert, where she is engaged with questions of lifestyle, nomadism, and productivity. In addition to drawing she makes furniture, clothes, and "station wagons" that refer to and question traditions of homesteading. This series of gouaches documents her experiments in transforming household waste into decorative wall panels, and they illustrate the artist's relationship with nature. Zittel presents herself as an efficient worker who labors from dusk until dawn, adapting her existence to the structures and colors of the surrounding landscape.
Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, April 22, 2009–January 4, 2010.
Gallery label from Contemporary Galleries: 1980-Now , November 17, 2011-February 17, 2014.
Zittel fabricates objects that propose an idealized way of living, incorporating the everyday needs of basic human existence into compact, easily movable spaces. Her gouaches of these objects are graphically striking, with their clean lines and vibrant colors reminiscent of the acidic hues of midcentury California modernism. The work in pencil is a compendium of drawings of six flat, functional objects, some found (an embroidered doily, a hot pad, a stack of paper), others made by the artist (the sheaths of a uniform or dress, a carpet, a cover or blanket).
Explore more
From MoMA Design Store
Installation views
We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.