Howardena Pindell, Untitled #42, 1974, thread, acrylic, watercolor, punched paper, and gouache on mat board, 8 × 7 3/8 inches. Gift of Ladene & Russell Newton in honor of Rebecca Lynch, 2018.36.01. © Courtesy the Artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, image David Dietrich. Untitled #42 is a small yet significant work, created while Pindell was an assistant curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Surrounded by ideas emanating from minimalism and abstraction, Pindell sought to explore these concepts and challenge a practice that was predominantly male and white. Constructed of carefully sewn colorful pieces of paper that are perforated with a hole punch, the materials are a nod to the feminist movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which the artist was actively involved. The visibility of her labor is prominent in the sewing, reattaching, and manipulation of the paper dots—common motifs in many of her works—on a grid system.
— Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator
