Skip to content
Zarina - Artists - Luhring Augustine
Zarina - Artists - Luhring Augustine

Zarina
Dividing Line, 2001
Woodcut printed in black on Nepalese handmade paper mounted on Arches cover white paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 16 x 13 inches (40.6 x 33 cm)
Sheet size: 25 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (65.4 x 50.2 cm)

The work of Zarina is defined by her adherence to the personal and the essential. An early interest in architecture and mathematics is reflected in her use of geometry and her emphasis on structural purity. While her work tends towards minimalism, its starkness is tempered by its texture and materiality. Her art poignantly chronicled her life and recurring themes include home, displacement, borders, journey and memory.

Best known as a printmaker, Zarina preferred to carve instead of draw the line, to gouge the surface rather than build it up. She used various mediums of printmaking including intaglio, woodblocks, lithography, and silkscreen, and she frequently created series of several prints in order to reference a multiplicity of locales or concepts. Her seminal work Home is a Foreign Place for example, consists of 36 woodblock prints, each of which represents a particular memory of home. Each subject is inscribed in Urdu beneath the print to signify the vital role language played in her work, as well as to pay homage to a mother tongue in decline. Other works such as These Cities Blotted into the Wilderness (Adrienne Rich after Ghalib)Countries, and Dividing Line explore geographical borders and contested terrains, particularly those areas which are scarred from political conflict. She had a deep interest in the material possibilities of paper and in addition to printing on it, she created works which entail puncturing, scratching, weaving and sewing on paper. Zarina also created sculpture using a variety of media such as bronze, aluminum, steel, wood, tin, and paper pulp.

Zarina - Artists - Luhring Augustine

Zarina
Wall I, 1979-2009
Cast paper gilded with 22-karat gold leaf
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 3/4 inches
(59.7 x 59.7 x 1.9 cm)

Zarina (1937–2020) was born in Aligarh, India, and after years of itinerant moving, she settled in New York where she lived and worked for over four decades. After receiving a degree in mathematics, she went on to study woodblock printing in Bangkok and Tokyo, and intaglio with S. W. Hayter at Atelier-17 in Paris. She exhibited at numerous venues internationally including representing India at the 2011 Venice Biennale, and her retrospective exhibition entitled Zarina: Paper Like Skin was presented at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles in 2012, followed by the Guggenheim, New York as well as the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013. Her work is in the permanent collections of Tate Modern, London; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and The Menil Collection, Houston. Most recently, she was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2019-2020) and of a solo exhibition at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India (2020-2021).

Artworks Nested Slideshow

Artworks Nested Slideshow Thumbnails
Zarina
The Ten Thousand Things IV, 2018
Detail
Set of 100 collages mounted on Somerset white paper
Each sheet: 9 x 6 inches (22.86 x 15.24 cm)

Zarina
The Ten Thousand Things IV, 2018
Detail
Set of 100 collages mounted on Somerset white paper
Each sheet: 9 x 6 inches (22.86 x 15.24 cm)

Zarina
Untitled, 2016
Collage with crushed Indian handmade paper mounted on Arches Cover buff paper
10 x 10 inches
(25.4 x 25.4 cm)

Zarina
Untitled, 2016
Collage with crushed Indian handmade paper mounted on Arches Cover buff paper
10 x 10 inches
(25.4 x 25.4 cm)

Zarina
Refugee Camp, 2015
Collage with Indian handmade paper on printed black BFK light paper
26 x 19 inches
(66 x 48.3 cm)

Zarina
Refugee Camp, 2015
Collage with Indian handmade paper on printed black BFK light paper
26 x 19 inches
(66 x 48.3 cm)

Zarina
Broken Sky, 2015
Collage with pewter leaf, gold leaf and BFK light paper printed with black ink mounted on Arches Cover buff paper
Image size: 9 x 9 inches (22.86 x 22.86 cm)
Sheet size: 13 x 13 inches (33.02 x 33.02 cm)

Zarina
Broken Sky, 2015
Collage with pewter leaf, gold leaf and BFK light paper printed with black ink mounted on Arches Cover buff paper
Image size: 9 x 9 inches (22.86 x 22.86 cm)
Sheet size: 13 x 13 inches (33.02 x 33.02 cm)

Zarina
Beyond the Stars, 2014
Woodcut printed on BFK light paper collaged with 22-karat gold leaf and Urdu text mounted on Somerset Antique paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 18 x 18 inches (45.72 x 45.72 cm)
Sheet size: 24 x 23 inches (60.96 x 58.42 cm)

Zarina
Beyond the Stars, 2014
Woodcut printed on BFK light paper collaged with 22-karat gold leaf and Urdu text mounted on Somerset Antique paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 18 x 18 inches (45.72 x 45.72 cm)
Sheet size: 24 x 23 inches (60.96 x 58.42 cm)

Zarina
Aleppo, 2013
Collage of Indian handmade paper dyed with Sumi ink and punched gold leaf paper on Arches Cover buff paper
Image size: 15 x 12 1/2 inches (38.1 x 31.75 cm)
Sheet size: 22 x 18 inches (55.88 x 45.72 cm)

Zarina
Aleppo, 2013
Collage of Indian handmade paper dyed with Sumi ink and punched gold leaf paper on Arches Cover buff paper
Image size: 15 x 12 1/2 inches (38.1 x 31.75 cm)
Sheet size: 22 x 18 inches (55.88 x 45.72 cm)

Zarina
Blinding Light, 2009
22 carat gold leaf on Okawara paper
72 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches
(184.15 x 92.71 cm)

Zarina
Blinding Light, 2009
22 carat gold leaf on Okawara paper
72 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches
(184.15 x 92.71 cm)

Zarina
Wall I, 1979-2009
Cast paper gilded with 22-karat gold leaf
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 3/4 inches
(59.7 x 59.7 x 1.9 cm)

Zarina
Wall I, 1979-2009
Cast paper gilded with 22-karat gold leaf
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 3/4 inches
(59.7 x 59.7 x 1.9 cm)

Zarina
Tasbih III, 2008
Maple wood beads formulated with gold leaf and leather cord (500 units)
Edition of 2
Each unit: 1 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 1 1/16 inches (3.81 x 2.7 x 2.7 cm)
Total length: 775 inches (1968.5 cm)

Zarina
Tasbih III, 2008
Maple wood beads formulated with gold leaf and leather cord (500 units)
Edition of 2
Each unit: 1 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 1 1/16 inches (3.81 x 2.7 x 2.7 cm)
Total length: 775 inches (1968.5 cm)

Zarina
Shadow House I, 2006
Cut Nepalese paper
69 x 39 inches
(175.26 x 99.06 cm)

Zarina
Shadow House I, 2006
Cut Nepalese paper
69 x 39 inches
(175.26 x 99.06 cm)

Zarina
Letters from Home, 2004
Portfolio of eight woodblock and metalcut prints on handmade Kozo paper and mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Sheet size: 22 1/4 x 15 inches (56.5 x 38.1 cm)

Zarina
Letters from Home, 2004
Portfolio of eight woodblock and metalcut prints on handmade Kozo paper and mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Sheet size: 22 1/4 x 15 inches (56.5 x 38.1 cm)

Zarina
These Cities Blotted into the Wilderness (Adrienne Rich after Ghalib), 2003
Portfolio of nine woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Okawara paper and mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 20
Image size: variable
Sheet size: 16 x 14 inches (40.64 x 35.56 cm)

Zarina
These Cities Blotted into the Wilderness (Adrienne Rich after Ghalib), 2003
Portfolio of nine woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Okawara paper and mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 20
Image size: variable
Sheet size: 16 x 14 inches (40.64 x 35.56 cm)

Zarina
Dividing Line, 2001
Woodcut printed in black on Nepalese handmade paper mounted on Arches cover white paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 16 x 13 inches (40.6 x 33 cm)
Sheet size: 25 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (65.4 x 50.2 cm)

Zarina
Dividing Line, 2001
Woodcut printed in black on Nepalese handmade paper mounted on Arches cover white paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 16 x 13 inches (40.6 x 33 cm)
Sheet size: 25 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (65.4 x 50.2 cm)

Zarina
Home is a Foreign Place, 1999
Portfolio of 36 woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Kozo paper, mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 25
Image size: 8 x 6 inches (20.32 x 15.24 cm)
Sheet size: 16 x 13 inches (40.64 x 33.02 cm)

Zarina
Home is a Foreign Place, 1999
Portfolio of 36 woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Kozo paper, mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 25
Image size: 8 x 6 inches (20.32 x 15.24 cm)
Sheet size: 16 x 13 inches (40.64 x 33.02 cm)

Zarina
Homes I Made / A Life in Nine Lines, 1997
Portfolio of 9 etchings and one cover plate printed in black on Arches Cover white paper, Chine Colle on handmade Nepalese paper
Edition of 20 with 2 APs
Image size: 14 x 13 inches (35.56 x 33.02 cm)
Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 19 inches (54.61 x 48.26 cm)

Zarina
Homes I Made / A Life in Nine Lines, 1997
Portfolio of 9 etchings and one cover plate printed in black on Arches Cover white paper, Chine Colle on handmade Nepalese paper
Edition of 20 with 2 APs
Image size: 14 x 13 inches (35.56 x 33.02 cm)
Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 19 inches (54.61 x 48.26 cm)

Zarina
Crawling House, 1994
Hand-cut and molded tin
Edition of 1000
5 x 2 1/2 x 2 inches
(12.7 x 6.35 x 5.08 cm)

Zarina
Crawling House, 1994
Hand-cut and molded tin
Edition of 1000
5 x 2 1/2 x 2 inches
(12.7 x 6.35 x 5.08 cm)

Zarina
I went on a Journey III, 1991
Bronze
10 1/2 x 5 x 5 inches
(26.67 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)

Zarina
I went on a Journey III, 1991
Bronze
10 1/2 x 5 x 5 inches
(26.67 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)

Zarina
Untitled, 1989
Cast paper with indigo pigment and surface sizing with mica powder
Edition of 2
24 x 23 x 1 inches
(60.96 x 58.42 x 2.54 cm)

Zarina
Untitled, 1989
Cast paper with indigo pigment and surface sizing with mica powder
Edition of 2
24 x 23 x 1 inches
(60.96 x 58.42 x 2.54 cm)

Zarina
Marrakesh, 1988
Cast paper
Edition of 5
22 x 19 1/2 x 1 inches
(55.88 x 49.53 x 2.54 cm)

Zarina
Marrakesh, 1988
Cast paper
Edition of 5
22 x 19 1/2 x 1 inches
(55.88 x 49.53 x 2.54 cm)

Zarina
Corners, 1980
Cast paper
Edition of 10
31 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 1 inches
(80.01 x 54.61 x 2.54 cm)

Zarina
Corners, 1980
Cast paper
Edition of 10
31 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 1 inches
(80.01 x 54.61 x 2.54 cm)

Zarina
Untitled, 1978
Paper pierced with sewing needle
25 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches
(65.1 x 49.5 cm)

Zarina
Untitled, 1978
Paper pierced with sewing needle
25 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches
(65.1 x 49.5 cm)

Zarina
Spool, 1975
Blind emboss, relief print in white and thread on BFK white paper
Edition of 10
24 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches
(62.23 x 49.53 cm)

Zarina
Spool, 1975
Blind emboss, relief print in white and thread on BFK white paper
Edition of 10
24 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches
(62.23 x 49.53 cm)

Zarina
A Sigh, 1968
Woodcut printed in black on BFK white paper
Edition of 20
25 1/2 x 9 7/8 inches
(64.77 x 25.08 cm)

Zarina
A Sigh, 1968
Woodcut printed in black on BFK white paper
Edition of 20
25 1/2 x 9 7/8 inches
(64.77 x 25.08 cm)

Zarina
Kiss, 1968
Relief print from collaged wood, printed in black and burnt umber on BFK white paper
Edition of 10
30 x 20 3/8 inches
(76.2 x 51.75 cm)

Zarina
Kiss, 1968
Relief print from collaged wood, printed in black and burnt umber on BFK white paper
Edition of 10
30 x 20 3/8 inches
(76.2 x 51.75 cm)

Zarina
The Ten Thousand Things IV, 2018
Detail
Set of 100 collages mounted on Somerset white paper
Each sheet: 9 x 6 inches (22.86 x 15.24 cm)
Zarina
Untitled, 2016
Collage with crushed Indian handmade paper mounted on Arches Cover buff paper
10 x 10 inches
(25.4 x 25.4 cm)
Zarina
Refugee Camp, 2015
Collage with Indian handmade paper on printed black BFK light paper
26 x 19 inches
(66 x 48.3 cm)
Zarina
Broken Sky, 2015
Collage with pewter leaf, gold leaf and BFK light paper printed with black ink mounted on Arches Cover buff paper
Image size: 9 x 9 inches (22.86 x 22.86 cm)
Sheet size: 13 x 13 inches (33.02 x 33.02 cm)
Zarina
Beyond the Stars, 2014
Woodcut printed on BFK light paper collaged with 22-karat gold leaf and Urdu text mounted on Somerset Antique paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 18 x 18 inches (45.72 x 45.72 cm)
Sheet size: 24 x 23 inches (60.96 x 58.42 cm)
Zarina
Aleppo, 2013
Collage of Indian handmade paper dyed with Sumi ink and punched gold leaf paper on Arches Cover buff paper
Image size: 15 x 12 1/2 inches (38.1 x 31.75 cm)
Sheet size: 22 x 18 inches (55.88 x 45.72 cm)
Zarina
Blinding Light, 2009
22 carat gold leaf on Okawara paper
72 1/2 x 36 1/2 inches
(184.15 x 92.71 cm)
Zarina
Wall I, 1979-2009
Cast paper gilded with 22-karat gold leaf
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 3/4 inches
(59.7 x 59.7 x 1.9 cm)
Zarina
Tasbih III, 2008
Maple wood beads formulated with gold leaf and leather cord (500 units)
Edition of 2
Each unit: 1 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 1 1/16 inches (3.81 x 2.7 x 2.7 cm)
Total length: 775 inches (1968.5 cm)
Zarina
Shadow House I, 2006
Cut Nepalese paper
69 x 39 inches
(175.26 x 99.06 cm)
Zarina
Letters from Home, 2004
Portfolio of eight woodblock and metalcut prints on handmade Kozo paper and mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Sheet size: 22 1/4 x 15 inches (56.5 x 38.1 cm)
Zarina
These Cities Blotted into the Wilderness (Adrienne Rich after Ghalib), 2003
Portfolio of nine woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Okawara paper and mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 20
Image size: variable
Sheet size: 16 x 14 inches (40.64 x 35.56 cm)
Zarina
Dividing Line, 2001
Woodcut printed in black on Nepalese handmade paper mounted on Arches cover white paper
Edition of 20
Image size: 16 x 13 inches (40.6 x 33 cm)
Sheet size: 25 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (65.4 x 50.2 cm)
Zarina
Home is a Foreign Place, 1999
Portfolio of 36 woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Kozo paper, mounted on Somerset paper
Edition of 25
Image size: 8 x 6 inches (20.32 x 15.24 cm)
Sheet size: 16 x 13 inches (40.64 x 33.02 cm)
Zarina
Homes I Made / A Life in Nine Lines, 1997
Portfolio of 9 etchings and one cover plate printed in black on Arches Cover white paper, Chine Colle on handmade Nepalese paper
Edition of 20 with 2 APs
Image size: 14 x 13 inches (35.56 x 33.02 cm)
Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 19 inches (54.61 x 48.26 cm)
Zarina
Crawling House, 1994
Hand-cut and molded tin
Edition of 1000
5 x 2 1/2 x 2 inches
(12.7 x 6.35 x 5.08 cm)
Zarina
I went on a Journey III, 1991
Bronze
10 1/2 x 5 x 5 inches
(26.67 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)
Zarina
Untitled, 1989
Cast paper with indigo pigment and surface sizing with mica powder
Edition of 2
24 x 23 x 1 inches
(60.96 x 58.42 x 2.54 cm)
Zarina
Marrakesh, 1988
Cast paper
Edition of 5
22 x 19 1/2 x 1 inches
(55.88 x 49.53 x 2.54 cm)
Zarina
Corners, 1980
Cast paper
Edition of 10
31 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 1 inches
(80.01 x 54.61 x 2.54 cm)
Zarina
Untitled, 1978
Paper pierced with sewing needle
25 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches
(65.1 x 49.5 cm)
Zarina
Spool, 1975
Blind emboss, relief print in white and thread on BFK white paper
Edition of 10
24 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches
(62.23 x 49.53 cm)
Zarina
A Sigh, 1968
Woodcut printed in black on BFK white paper
Edition of 20
25 1/2 x 9 7/8 inches
(64.77 x 25.08 cm)
Zarina
Kiss, 1968
Relief print from collaged wood, printed in black and burnt umber on BFK white paper
Edition of 10
30 x 20 3/8 inches
(76.2 x 51.75 cm)

Contact

For more information, please contact Leah Horowitz at leah@luhringaugustine.com.

Back To Top