Of all the essays written by the German-born Venezuelan artist Gego (Gertrud Goldschmidt, 1912–1994), this one expresses her clearest, most definitive acknowledgment that “the line” is the visual thread that in formal and material terms, provides the organizational element that links together her body of work. The line is the genesis of her works; she uses it to define spatial contours and to develop the work by expressing the possibilities of her materials. As conceived by Gego, the line’s dual role (as inseparable form and matter) became her artistic signature, clearly visible in all the techniques, media, and genres that she explored throughout her artistic career.
This document, which was written in English (and of which Gego only kept “Part Three”), records her responses to a questionnaire prepared by the textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen and the writer and curator Mildred Constantine when they were writing the book Beyond Craft: The Art Fabric (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1972). It appears that the questions were submitted solely as part of the writers’ research, since Gego’s answers are not referenced in the book.
Gego also expressed her thoughts on the line in other documents, such as: “Line as human,” s/f; “Relaciones de líneas” [The Relationship of Lines], s/f; “You invited me,” 1966; and “Planteamiento de problemas e intereses perseguidos” [A Consideration of Problems and Matters of Interest], 1977.
This document is part of the artist’s personal archive, held by the Fundación Gego in Caracas, Venezuela. It was reprinted in: María Elena Huizi and Josefina Manrique (organizers), Sabiduras y otros textos de Gego / Sabiduras and Other Texts by Gego (Houston: International Center for the Arts of the Americas, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Fundación Gego, 2005).
