Miriam Schapiro

Miriam Schapiro and Shapiro (* November 15, 1923 in Toronto, Canada) is an American artist of Canadian origin. She is a pioneer in the field of feminist art and a participant in the artistic " Pattern and Decoration Movement".

Life and work

Miriam Schapiro was the only child of Russian-Jewish parents, Fannie Cohen (1899-1998) and Theodore Shapiro (1898-1999), whose grandparents had emigrated from Russia. Miriam Schapiro graduated from the University of Iowa, where he met the artist Paul Brach (1924-2007), whom she married in 1946. In 1951 they moved to New York and became friends with many artists of the New York School, such as Joan Mitchell, Larry Rivers and Michael Goldberg. During her stay in New York in the 1950s and - 60s Schapiro had a successful career as a painter in the style of Abstract Expressionism and specifically in the form of Hard Edge. 1955 son Peter was born.

In the 1970s she moved to California and founded there the " Feminist Art Program" at the California Institute of the Arts, along with Judy Chicago. In 1972, she participated in the exhibition " Woman House " in Hollywood part.

Schapiro's work from the 1970s is mainly composed of collagen, made ​​from a mixture of painted parts and materials, which she calls " femmages ". Your essay Waste Not Want Not: An Inquiry into What Women Saved and Assembled - FEMMAGE, written 1977/78 with Melissa Meyer describes, " femmage " as the use of collage, assemblage, decoupage and photomontage in the form in which they apply women traditionally: sewing, cutting, applying, cooking and the like. In 1988, a collage featuring a portrait of Frida Kahlo was born.

Schapiro's work has been exhibited in numerous museums, such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Their important role in the arts in 2002 with the award of "Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement " of the College Art Association, the American national organization of artist and art historian, clearly.