The brief but impactful career of the amazingly inventive Christina Ramberg is up at the Art Institute of Chicago. The works below are a case study for the importance of seriality, study and travel. Ramberg's father was in the military and was posted in Japan among other places. When I saw Ramberg's hair and the hand studies they brought to mind the tradition of miniature models used to sell all kinds of products at the Tokyo National Museum. At the bottom is my photo of "models for wrapping chords on archer gloves" but I also saw similar miniature models for hair styles for ladies and Samurai armor. Ramberg built upon that knowledge and developed her own models but she builds an entire lexicon from these images. Look for that in my next post.
![]() |
| Christina Ramberg, Hair, 1968, Acrylic on 16 Masonite panels |
![]() |
| Christina Ramberg, Cabbage Head (Side 1) |
![]() |
| Christina Ramberg, Untitled (Hand), 1971, Acrylic oon Masonite |
![]() |
| Models for the wrapping cords on archers gloves, Tokyo National Museum |
\
