The Artist’s Eye: Property from the Collection of Joel Shapiro
STAIR’s upcoming Modern & Contemporary Fine Art & Design sale includes Property from the Collection of Joel Shapiro, offering a look into the life and work of one of America’s foremost sculptors.
American artist Joel Shapiro (1941-2025) was a central figure in the development of post-Minimalist sculpture, challenging the formal constraints of Minimalism by imbuing his work with a depth of feeling that was not otherwise obvious in the simplicity of his stick-figure constructions. Shapiro’s best-known sculptures are made of wooden beams that extend in different directions, creating tension and balance at the same time. His early work was a reaction to the sleek, unemotional Minimalism of artists like Donald Judd and Sol Lewitt. Shapiro wanted to take his art in a more personal direction, saying “Every form is loaded with the psychology of its maker.” His early career took off quickly with a show of works on paper in 1969 with Paula Cooper who would give him his first one-man show the following year. In 1982, Shapiro was given a much-praised midcareer retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, cementing his position as one of America’s most important sculptors. Over the course of his career, Shapiro executed thirty public-sited large-scale sculptures in Asia, North America and Europe. In addition to his three-dimensional work, Shapiro was well regarded for his work on paper, specifically his chalk and charcoal abstractions that clearly show the thought process of a sculptor working out ideas of form and mass in two dimensions.
Property from the Collection of Joel Shapiro includes art from his personal collection by friends and contemporaries alongside furniture and decorative items from his studio in Long Island City, his Upper East Side apartment, and his home in the Adirondacks. Highlights include works by Joel Shapiro, Lucien Freud, Gerhard Richter, Barry Le Va, and Bernar Venet, furniture by Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Roe, and Shapiro’s personal desk by Klaare Klint, as well as lighting by Isamu Noguchi and a large group of pottery by Warren McKenzie.
Seen together, Property from the Collection of Joel Shapiro offers a glimpse into the life of one of America’s most renowned artists, giving us the rare opportunity to see what he chose to surround himself with in his studio and in his personal spaces.
CATALOGUE ONLINE: Friday, November 7
GALLERY PREVIEW:
Friday, November 7: 9am – 5pm
Saturday, November 8: 11am-5pm
Sunday, November 9: Closed
Monday, November 10: 9am – 5pm
Tuesday, November 11: 9am – 5pm
Wednesday, November 12: 9am – 5pm
Thursday, November 13: 9am – 5pm
Friday, November 14: 9am – 5pm
Saturday, November 15: 11am-5pm
Sunday, November 16: Closed
Monday, November 17: 9am – 5pm
Tuesday, November 18: 9am – 5pm
Wednesday, November 19: 9am – 5pm