While spending a majority of her time in New York, Miriam Schapiro is a Toronto-born painter responsible for major contributions to the Feminist Art Movement. Struggling for acceptance within the male-dominated art world of Abstract Expressionism, Schapiro became the first female artist to lead a solo show at the André Emmerich Gallery. “As a leading figure in the feminist art movement, [Shapiro] has encouraged and challenged the aspirations of countless women artists for a bright future. Her impact is seen in the feminist art history courses taught throughout colleges and universities and in the number of women artists now represented in many art history texts.” – Carol Salus. Down to Earth (1959) was painted the year after Schapiro made her debut with Emmerich. Schapiro is also known for directing the landmark Womanhouse (1972) installation together with Judy Chicago in Los Angeles as an outgrowth of the Feminist Art Program they cofounded at the California Institute of the Arts. Starting in 1967 while teaching and lecturing at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla, Schapiro collaborated with scientists and computer programmers like David Nalibof and Jack Mance. Using early computers (such as Hewlett-Packard plotters and mainframes), she translated her hand-drawn sketches into calculated, hard-edge geometric patterns, open cubes, and symmetrical shapes before rendering them on canvas. Today, Schapiro is recognized as a trailblazing artist across multiple quintessential movements of the Post-War period.

“We really didn’t have any literature telling us it was a good thing to be a woman artist. When I was trained, there were no precedents, and that was something to get really angry about.” - Miriam Schapiro