Miriam Schapiro Canadian, 1923-2015
Miriam Schapiro was a Canadian painter who led the feminist art movement of the 1970s alongside Judy Chicago. First moving to New York in the 1950s, her uphill climb towards notoriety in a male-dominated field was successful, as she became the first female to mount a solo exhibition at the André Emmerich Gallery. In 1971, her and Judy Chicago founded the Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts, culminating in the influential Womanhouse exhibition.
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Down to Earth, 1959 -
Double Rose, 1978
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Ninth Street Women
Group Exhibition 3 April - 15 May 2025
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Art Toronto 2024
William Perehudoff, Kenneth Noland, Miriam Schapiro 24 - 27 October 2024This October, we return to Art Toronto with a selection of high-quality contemporary and modern works by leading artists, including Kenneth Noland, Alfred Leslie and...Read more -
Art Miami + Online 2021
Friedel Dzubas, Miriam Schapiro, Jack Youngerman 30 November - 5 December 2021Rukaj Gallery's Art Miami + Online booth features an exceptional selection of paintings and works on paper by modern and contemporary artists including Friedel Dzubas,...Read more
“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
Brazenly using craft and pattern was part of Miriam Schapiro’s effort to elevate traditional women’s work to fine art status. Schapiro, a central figure in the feminist art movement, 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. One of the founders of the Pattern and Decoration Movement, Schapiro began making what she called femmages around this time, combining acrylic paints and feminine fabrics to honor women whose artistry had historically been considered inferior.
Schapiro’s artworks are held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others (via Artsy).