Joel Shapiro, Post-Minimalist Sculptor, dies at 83

One of America’s most renowned artists and a major figure in the history of sculpture in the 20th century, Shapiro—who also worked across drawing and printmaking—pushed the boundaries of sculptural form over the past six decades with a body of work distinguished by its dynamism, complexity, and formal elegance.

In a comment on Instagram Pace director Arne Glimcher says:  “For over 30 years, it has been my honor to represent Joel Shapiro and to count him as a close friend. His early sculptures expanded the possibilities of scale, and in his mature figurative sculptures, he harnessed the forces of nature themselves. With endless invention, the precariousness of balance expressed pure energy—as did Joel. I will miss him dearly.”

From the start of his career, Shapiro sought to transcend the constraints of Minimalism and introduce a more referential, intimate, and psychologically charged mode of art. He explored sculpture’s ability to alter one’s sense of space and scale with works that attest to human resilience in the face of adversity.

“Art,” Shapiro once said, “is about degrees of rapture, these moments of realization. It’s about a kind of self-definition and a clarification of who one is in the world.”

Monumental public projects were also a major part of Shapiro’s practice. Among his over 30 commissions are large-scale works for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the US consulate in Guangzhou, China. His work can also be found in Ottawa; the Denver Art Museum in Colorado; Iowa; Washington, D.C.; Dallas, Texas; Sculpture International Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and Orléans, France.

Main Image: Joel Shapiro, Courtesy Pace Gallery