Joel Shapiro is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sculptor renowned for his dynamic work composed of simple rectangular shapes. Shapiro is represented by The Pace Gallery

Pace Gallery

The Pace Gallery is a New York City-based exhibition space. It was founded in 1960 in Boston by Arne Glimcher.-PaceWildenstein:From 1993 until April 1, 2010, the gallery became "PaceWildenstein," a joint business venture between the Pace Gallery and Wildenstein & Co....

 in New York. He lives and works in New York City, with a summer house on the shore of Lake Champlain, in Westport, New York. He is married to the artist Ellen Phelan.

Early Life and Education

Joel Shapiro grew up in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. When he was twenty two he lived in India for two years while in the Peace Corps. He received a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1964 and an M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in 1969 from New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

Work and Inspiration

While serving his Peace Corp time in India, Shapiro saw many Indian art works, and has said that “India gave me the sense of … the possibility of being an artist.” In India “Art was pervasive and integral to the society”, and he has said that "the struggle in my work to find a structure that reflects real psychological states may well use Indian sculpture as a model." His early work is characterized by some by its small size, but Shapiro has discounted this perception, describing his early works as, “all about scale and the small size was an aspect of their scale”. He described scale as “A very active thing that’s changing and altering as time unfolds, consciously or unconsciously,” and, "a relationship of size and an experience. You can have something small that has big scale.” In these works he said that he was trying "to describe an emotional state, my own longing or desire”. He also said that during this early period in his career he was interested in the strategies of artists Robert Morris

Robert Morris

Robert or Bob Morris is the name of:* Robert Hunter Morris , Lieutenant Governor of Colonial Pennsylvania from 1754 to 1756* Robert Morris , English writer on architecture...

, Richard Serra

Richard Serra

Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...

, Carl Andre

Carl Andre

Carl Andre is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks to more intimate tile patterns arranged on the floor of an exhibition space Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American...

, and Donald Judd

Donald Judd

Donald Clarence Judd was an American artist associated with minimalism . In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy...

.
His later works can have the appearance of flying, falling, being impossibly suspended in space, and/or defying gravity. He has said about this shift in his work that he "wanted to make work that stood on its own, and wasn’t limited by architecture and by the ground and the wall and right angles.”

California

• Untitled, 1978, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla
• Untitled, 1974, Gersh, Philip & Beatrice, Los Angeles
• Untitled, 1988, Gersh, Philip & Beatrice, Los Angeles
• Untitled, 1981, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Untitled, 1979, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Untitled, 1982, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Untitled 1975, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Untitled, 1988, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco

District of Columbia

• Untitled
  Untitled (Shapiro)
  Untitled, 1989, is a bronze abstract sculpture by Joel Shapiro.Constructed in 1989, it is located at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.-External links:...
  
  , 1989, National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Untitled, 1974, National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Untitled, 1975, National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Untitled, 1975, National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Untitled, 1983, National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Untitled, 1986, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington
• Loss and Regeneration, 1993, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington

Florida

• Untitled, 1996, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton
• Untitled, 1988, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton

Illinois

• Untitled, 1984, Elliott, Gerald S., Chicago
• Untitled (Arching Figure), 1985, Elliott, Gerald S., Chicago
• Untitled (for G.S.E.), 1987, Elliott, Gerald S., Chicago
• Untitled, 1981, Governors State University, University Park

Maryland

• Untitled, 1985, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
• Untitled, 1970, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore

Michigan

• Untitled, 1975, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
• Untitled, 1985, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit

Missouri

• Untitled, 1984, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
• Untitled, 1991, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City

Nebraska

• Untitled, 1984, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Garden,

New York

• Seven Elements, 2001-2003, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany
• Untitled, 1988, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
• Untitled, 1988, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
• Untitled (house on shelf), 1974, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
• Untitled, 1994, Sony Plaza, NYC
• Untitled (House on Field), 1976, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
• Untitled, 1978, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
• Untitled, 1981, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
• Untitled, 2000, Rockefeller University, New York
• Untitled, 2004-2005, Albany Academy for Girls, Albany, NY

North Carolina

• Untitled, 1990, North Carolina Museum of Art
• Untitled, 1995, Davidson College, Van Every/ Smith Galleries

Ohio

• Untitled, , University of Cincinnati Galleries, Ohio
• Untitled, 1977, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Untitled, 1989, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Pennsylvania

• Untitled maquette, 1984, CIGNA Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia
• Untitled, 1984, CIGNA Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia

Texas

• Untitled, 1975, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
• Untitled, 1983, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
• Untitled, 1977, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth
• Untitled, 1977, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth
• Untitled, 1990, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Untitled, 2000, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio

Israel

• Untitled, 1991, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
• Untitled, 1996, Billy Rose Art Garden, Israel Museum
  Israel Museum
  The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
  
  , Jerusalem

Sweden

• Untitled, 1979, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
• Untitled, 1982, Moderna Museet, Stockholm

United Kingdom

• Untitled, 1978, Tate Gallery, London
• Untitled, 1984, Tate Gallery, London

External links

• The Pace Gallery
• Shapiro biography and images at L.A. Louver gallery