“I studied […] the space within the space within the line within the division.”

In the 1960s Virginia Jaramillo found inspiration in ma, a Japanese philosophy that emphasizes the importance and beauty of empty space. It is sometimes translated as “the space in between.” As an aesthetic concept, ma may also refer to the harmony between space, color, line, and form. Jaramillo combined her interest in these ideas with her commitment to abstraction and minimalism to create the Curvilinear paintings (1969–74), which include this painting.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Jaramillo grew up in East Los Angeles, California, and studied art at the Manual Arts High School and Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design). She moved to Paris with her family in 1965 before settling permanently in New York in 1967.   

Virginia Jaramillo (born 1939), Untitled, from the Curvilinear series. Acrylic on canvas, 1969. 60 × 60 in. (152.4 × 152.4 cm). Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 2024.24. On view in Gallery 2A (Wolfe Gallery).

Image Description: This is an abstract painting with two shapes against a black background filling the square canvas. An orange curving shape starts from the upper-left corner and stretches to a little more than half the width of the canvas, then curves downward to the left and ends near the bottom of the painting’s left edge. Another curving shape in a rich maroon fills about two-thirds of the bottom of the canvas from the lower-right side. A thin light-green line outlines the maroon shape. Another thin green line curves across the orange shape, not quite outlining it, and continues to the bottom of the canvas.