Summary

Best known for her drawings of the ocean and the galaxies of the night sky, Vija Celmins has solidified herself as one of the most important artists of the postwar generation. Stepping back from painting in order to explore her photorealistic drawing style, Celmins creates spectacularly precise renderings of the natural world. In her forty year retrospective at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Celmins recalls her beginnings in abstraction, her choices of subject matter after freeing herself of the New York School influence, and her later immersion in what must be termed her great master drawings.