Joel Shapiro

Joel Elias Shapiro (September 27, 1941 – June 14, 2025) was an American sculptor. Classified by art critics as a Postminimalist, his works consisted of sculptures composed of simple rectangular shapes. His sculptures were mostly defined through the materials used, without allusions to subjects outside of the works. His works are in major collections and public spaces in the United Space and abroad. Most of his creations are named Untitled. His 1993 Loss and Regeneration was created for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Life and career Early life and education Shapiro was born on September 27, 1941, and grew up in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. His father, Joseph Shapiro, He said about the time: it "heightened my sense of the hugeness and variety of life in general, but also, the possibility of actually becoming an artist became very real to me for the first time".

Personal life and death Shapiro lived and worked in New York City. Around the time of his first exhibition, he married the art educator Amy Snider, who founded a department for education in art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. The couple had a daughter, Ivy, who became an art adviser. They separated in 1972, and Amy died in 2019.

Work and inspiration Untitled, bronze, 1990, Museum of Fine Arts, HoustonWhile in India serving in the Peace Corps, Shapiro saw many Indian art works; he experienced art in India as "pervasive and integral to the society", and he added: "the struggle in my work to find a structure that reflects real psychological states may well use Indian sculpture as a model". 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." He said that in these works he was trying "to describe an emotional state, my own longing or desire". He also said that during this early period he was interested in the strategies of artists Robert Morris, Richard Serra, Carl Andre, and Donald Judd.

Shapiro was Jewish, and Jewish traditions have influenced his art works, including his frequent use of the color blue. Shapiro's work has on occasion been compared to that of Alberto Giacometti, one of his favorite sculptors.

United States California Untitled, 1978, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla Untitled, 1974, Gersh, Philip & Beatrice, Los Angeles Untitled, 1988, Gersh, Philip & Beatrice Untitled, 1981, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Untitled, 1979, Museum of Contemporary Art Untitled, 1982, Museum of Contemporary Art Untitled, 1975, Museum of Contemporary Art Untitled, 1988, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco Untitled, 1982–1985, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

District of Columbia

Untitled, 1989, National Gallery of Art, Washington Untitled, 1974, National Gallery of Art, Washington Untitled, 1975, National Gallery of Art Untitled, 1975, National Gallery of Art Untitled, 1983, National Gallery of Art Untitled, 1986, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington Loss and Regeneration, 1993, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington Blue, 2019, Video Wall Lawn of the REACH at the Kennedy Center, Washington

Florida Untitled, 1996, Boca Raton Museum of Art Untitled, 1988, Boca Raton Museum of Art Up/Over, 2007, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach

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

Indiana Untitled, 1984, David Owsley Museum of Art, Indiana

Iowa Untitled, 2003, Principal Riverwalk, Des Moines Untitled, 1985, Pappajohn Sculpture Park, Des Moines

Maine Untitled, 1984, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville

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

Massachusetts Untitled, 1990, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge Untitled, 1997, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Michigan Untitled, 1975, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Untitled, 1985, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Untitled, 1985, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids

Minnesota Untitled, 1975, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

Missouri Untitled, 1984, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Untitled, 1991, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

Nebraska Untitled, 1984, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sheldon Museum of Art

New York Seven Elements, 2001–2003, Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany Untitled, 1988, Museum of Modern Art, New York City Untitled, 1988, Museum of Modern Art Untitled (house on shelf), 1974, Museum of Modern Art, NYC Untitled, 1994, Sony Plaza, New York City - donated by Sony Corporation of America to Storm King Art Center on April 19, 2016 Untitled (House on Field), 1976, Whitney Museum, New York City Untitled, 1978, Whitney Museum Untitled, 1981, Whitney Museum Untitled, 2000, Rockefeller University Untitled, 2004–2005, Albany Academy for Girls, Albany

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

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

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

Texas Untitled, 1975, Dallas Museum of Art Untitled, 1975, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas Untitled, 1984, Nasher Sculpture Center Untitled, 1985–87, Nasher Sculpture Center Untitled, 1986, Nasher Sculpture Center Untitled, 1986, Nasher Sculpture Center Untitled, 1996–99, Nasher Sculpture Center Untitled, 1977, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Untitled, 1977, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Untitled, 1990, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Untitled, 2000, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio "Elements", 2004–2005, Northpark Center, Dallas Untitled, 2011, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston Untitled, 2019, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas

Washington Untitled, 1980–81, Western Washington University Public Sculpture Collection, Bellingham Untitled, 1980–81, Restricted Owner, Seattle Untitled, 1990, Seattle University campus

Wisconsin Untitled, 1987, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

International collections

Australia Untitled (chair), 1974, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Canada Conjunction, 1999, Embassy of the United States of America, Ottawa

Denmark Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek (note: Joel Shapiro's sculpture name is unknown in the Denmark section, so the name of the sculpture is not known.)

Germany Ohne Titel (1994) in front of Quartier 205, Berlin Untitled, 1996/1999, Skulpturen Park Köln, Cologne

Israel Untitled, 1991, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv Untitled, 1996, Billy Rose Art Garden, Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Italy Untitled, 1993, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

Netherlands

Untitled, 1999, Westersingel sculpture trail, Rotterdam

Sweden Untitled, 1979, Moderna Museet, Stockholm Untitled, 1982, Moderna Museet Untitled, 1984, Tate

Awards Shapiro became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1994, of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998, and of the National Academy of Design in 2012.

His other awards included: 1975 Visual Arts Fellowship of the National Endowment for the Arts 1984 Brandeis University Creative Arts Award 1986 Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture 2015 Lifetime achievement award from the International Sculpture Center