R.S.V.P. I belongs to a series of performance-based sculptures comprising pantyhose that have been filled with sand and stretched across space. Created as Nengudi observed her body’s changes following childbirth, the work possesses seemingly contradictory qualities; it sags and swells, is fragile and firm. When she first made the R.S.V.P. series, the artist and her collaborators performed with the work, stretching and contorting the nylon forms, becoming entangled in and expanding its parts. Nengudi uses the language of abstraction to articulate various complex experiences of being human: as a Black woman, a pregnant body, and an artist commanding space.
Vital Signs: Artists and the Body, November 3–February 22, 2024
Gallery label from 2019
R.S.V.P. I followed Nengudi’s first pregnancy and her experience of watching her changing body. “I am working with nylon mesh because it relates to the elasticity of the human body,” she explained. “From tender, tight beginnings to sagging… the body can only stand so much push and pull until it gives way, never to resume its original shape.” The sculptural installation debuted in 1977 at Just Above Midtown, a gallery that focused on work made by African American artists. During the exhibition, R.S.V.P. I functioned as a performative object for Nengudi and others, who would entangle themselves in its limb-like forms, stretching the pantyhose even further and reaching for the swollen pockets of sand.
Kids label from 2022
To create this work, the artist stretched out pantyhose and filled the fabric with sand. Her inspiration for creating the sculpture was how our bodies and minds change over time. Think about a time when your mind or body changed.
In the 1970s Nengudi staged performances with her artworks. She wanted people to respond to them with their bodies. Create a movement in response to this sculpture.
Explore more
Senga Nengudi
American, born 1943 7 works onlineSenga Nengudi transforms everyday materials like paper, masking tape, nylon pantyhose, sand, water, and plastic into art. Although she works primarily in abstraction , Nengudi consistently references the body and its capacity to shift states—through materials and forms and through the presence of costumed bodies that animate her performance works.
Learn more →
Feminist art
Art that seeks to challenge the dominance of men in both art and society, to gain recognition and equality for women artists, and question assumptions about womanhood.
Learn more →
Articles and videos
From MoMA Design Store
Installation views
We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.