Miriam Schapiro

Canadian-born Miriam Schapiro (1923 to 2015) was a pioneering feminist artist in America, renowned for her vibrant abstract paintings, collages, sculptures and printmaking.

During the 1970s she spearheaded the Pattern and Decoration movement and invented ‘femmages’ – collages which carry a conscious feminist subtext, constructed with crafts that had long been associated with women and femininity, such as fabrics and embroidery. Through these she pays homage to creative women of the past who have been ignored by art history.

Schapiro expressed, “I wanted to validate the traditional activities of women, to connect myself with
the unknown women artists who had made quilts, who had done the invisible ‘women’s work’ of civilization. I wanted to acknowledge them, to honor them.”