“Drawing Down The Moon”

Caspar David Friedrich, A Walk at Dusk, ca. 1830–35.

Oil on canvas. 13 1/4 × 17 in.

Unknown maker, Japan, Moon-Shaped Rabbit, 18th century

Ivory with staining, sumi. 1 7/8 × 1 5/8 × 1 in.

Alison Saar, Eclipse, 2017

Etching, aquatint. Sheet: 18 × 18 in.

Unknown maker, India, Rajasthan, Mewar, Udaipur, Chandra, the Moon God; Folio from a Book of Dreams, 1700–1725

Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper. Sheet: 10 1/8 x 8 1/2 in

Vassily Kandinsky, Heavy Circles, 1927

Oil on canvas. 22 1/2 × 20 1/2 in

Betye Saar, Nine Mojo Secrets, 1971

Wood, paper, acrylic paint, fabric, glass, feathers, yarn, metal, beads, plastic objects. 49 3/4 × 23 1/2 × 1 3/4 in.

Zarina, Untitled, 2015

Woodcut printed on BFK light paper collaged with pewter leaf and printed black paper mounted on Somerset Antique paper. Sheet: 23 1/2 × 22 in.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Ushiwaka and Benkei Dueling on Gojo Bridge or Gojo Bridge, from the Life of Yoshitsune, 1881.

Color woodcut. Sheet: 14 × 27 15/16 in.

The moon has been bound to life and consciousness since the beginning of humankind. It has served elemental and vital functions such as providing light and measuring time, but it has also influenced the more ethereal and spiritual realms of gods, myths, and magic. This exhibition operates at the crux of a lunar spectrum, between the lure and mystery of the unattainable moon and the eternal quest to conquer the moon in its material form. Drawn primarily from institutional collections in Los Angeles, the survey leads visitors through a panoply of objects dating from antiquity to the present.

Press release and images via The Hammer Museum.