Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on early

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, and

Modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

, Schapiro explored art historical periods and movements with a keen eye towards the social, political, and the material construction of art works. Credited with fundamentally changing the course of the art historical discipline, Schapiro's scholarly approach was dynamic and it engaged other scholars, philosophers, and artists. An active professor, lecturer, writer, and humanist, Schapiro maintained a long professional association with

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York as a student, lecturer, and professor.

Background

Meir Schapiro was born in

Šiauliai Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different la ...

, Lithuania (then Governorate of Kaunas of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

) on September 23, 1904. His ancestors were

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

ic scholars. His parents, Nathan Menachem Schapiro and Fanny Adelman Schapiro, were Lithuanian Jews. In 1906, his father came to New York City and found a job as a Hebrew teacher at the Yitzcak Elchanan Yeshiva on the Lower East Side. Once secure, he sent for his family, who emigrated in 1907. Schapiro's first name was changed from "Meir" to "Meyer." He grew up in the Brownsville section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where he was first exposed to art in evening classes taught by John Sloan at the Hebrew Educational Society. He attended Public School 84 and then Boys High School in Brooklyn. He attended lectures on anthropology and economics at the Young People's Socialist League. During summers, he worked as a

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

delivery boy, a warehouse packer, an electrical-supply assembler, and an adjustment clerk at

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Education

In 1920, Meyer Schapiro, age 16, entered

as both a Pulitzer and Regents scholar. His professors included

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thi ...

and

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

. Undergraduate classmates included

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Workers Party of America, Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet Union, Soviet spy (1932–1938), defe ...

Clifton Fadiman Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality. He began his work with the radio, and switched to television later in his career. Background Born in Br ...

, Herbert Solow,

Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...

Henry Zolinsky Henry Saul Zolinsky (1901–2001) was an American Objectivist poet and friend of Whittaker Chambers, Meyer Schapiro, Louis Zukofsky, and Samuel Roth. Background Henry Saul Zolinsky was born in 1901. His parents were Nathan Edward Zolinsky a ...

, and

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

, with many of whom he contributed to '' The Morningside'' literary magazine. In 1923, he traveled to Europe with Chambers and Zolinsky. During his undergraduate days, he became known for his "Schapiric victory," by allegedly reducing an instructor to tears by means of dialectic logic. In 1924, he received his bachelor's degree with honors in art history and philosophy.

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

denied him admission for his doctorate, so he continued at Columbia and earned his doctoral degree in art history in 1929. His professors at that time included

Ernest DeWald Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...

. His dissertation, five years in the making, examined the cloister and portal of

Moissac Abbey Moissac Abbey was a Benedictine and Cluniac monastery in Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne in south-western France. A number of its medieval buildings survive including the abbey church, which has a famous and important Romanesque sculpture around th ...

, built about A.D. 1100:

Dr. Schapiro's research went far beyond the implications of Moissac itself. Medieval church history, liturgy, theology, social history, illuminated manuscripts, folklore, epigraphy, the analysis of ornament and national characteristics (real or imagined) all were pressed into service and synthesized. As a result, what had been thought of as antiquarian artifacts were seen to have a completely different character. "A new sphere of artistic creation," Dr. Schapiro called it, "without religious content and imbued with values of spontaneity, individual fantasy, delight in color and movement, and the expression of feelings that anticipate modern art. This new art, on the margins of religious work, was accompanied by a conscious taste of the spectators for the beauty of workmanship, materials and artistic devices, apart from religious meanings."

(In 1975, he received his third degree from Columbia, an honorary doctor of letters.)

Career

Academics

Schapiro spent his entire working career at Columbia. In 1928, he began teaching as a lecturer, before completing his dissertation. In 1936, he became assistant professor. In 1946, he became associate professor. In 1952, he became a full professor. In 1965, he was named University Professor. He became University Professor Emeritus in 1973. His final, weekly class at Columbia was "Theory and Methods of Investigation in Art." He lectured at New York University (1932-1936), the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

(1936-1952),

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

as the Charles Norton Lecturer (1966-1967), and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

as Slade Professor of Art (1968). He was a visiting lecturer at the

College de France A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

in Paris in May 1974.

Society

Schapiro partook in the First

American Artists' Congress The American Artists' Congress (AAC) was an organization founded in February 1936 as part of the popular front of the Communist Party USA as a vehicle for uniting graphic artists in projects helping to combat the spread of fascism. During World W ...

Against War and Fascism in 1935, which produced a petition signed by more than 300 artists including co-founders Stuart Davis, Adolph Dehn, William Gropper, Hugo Gellert,

Saul Schary Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tr ...

, and Moses Soyer as well as fellow artists

Milton Avery Milton Clark Avery (March 7, 1885 – January 3, 1965Haskell, B. (2003). "Avery, Milton". Grove Art Online.) was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City. He was the husba ...

, Ilya Bolotowsky,

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

, Adolph Gottlieb,

Jack Kufeld Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, J. B. Neumann, Isamu Noguchi,

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Biography Shahn was bor ...

Raphael Soyer Raphael Zalman Soyer (December 25, 1899 – November 4, 1987) was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Soyer was referred to as an American scene painter. He is identified as a Social Realist because of his interest in men ...

James Johnson Sweeney James Johnson Sweeney (1900–1986) was an American curator, and writer about modern art. Sweeney graduated from Georgetown University in 1922. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art. He was the second director of the Solo ...

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas p ...

George Biddle George Biddle (January 24, 1885 – November 6, 1973) was an American painter, muralist and lithographer, best known for his social realism and combat art. A childhood friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he played a major role in establi ...

Paul Cadmus Paul Cadmus (December 17, 1904 – December 12, 1999) was an American artist widely known for his egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male figures ...

Philip Evergood Philip Howard Francis Dixon Evergood (born Howard Blashki; 1901–1973) was an American painter, etcher, lithographer, sculptor, illustrator and writer. He was particularly active during the Depression and World War II era. Life Philip Evergo ...

, Lorser Feitelson, and

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

. Schapiro and Gottlieb publicly resigned within the month when the congress failed to condemn the Soviet invasion of Finland. Schapiro and other dissenters including

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

, Gottlieb, Harris, and Bolotowsky condemned dictatorships in Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain and Japan and founded a Cultural Committee which became the

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...

. Schapiro was a proponent of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

, and published books on

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

and Cézanne and various essays on modern art. He was a founder of ''

Dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

'', along with

Irving Howe Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early years Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son of ...

and

Michael Harrington Edward Michael Harrington Jr. (February 24, 1928 – July 31, 1989) was an American democratic socialist. As a writer, he was perhaps best known as the author of '' The Other America''. Harrington was also a political activist, theorist, profess ...

. From 1966–1967 Schapiro was the Norton professor at

. Schapiro's discourse on

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

is often considered his greatest contribution to the study of art history. According to Schapiro, style refers to the formal qualities and visual characteristics of a piece of art. Schapiro demonstrated that style could be used not only as an identifier of a particular period but also as a diagnostic tool. Style is indicative of the artist and the culture at large. It reflects the economic and social circumstances in which an artist works and breathes and reveals underlying cultural assumptions and normative values. On the other hand, our own descriptions of form and style indicate our period, our concerns, and our biases; the way art historians of a particular age talk about style is also indicative of their cultural context.

Personal life and death

Schapiro's brother was financier

Morris Schapiro Morris Abraham Schapiro (1903 – December 26, 1996) was an American investment banker and chess master; in the 1950s, he negotiated the mergers of Chase Bank and the Bank of Manhattan and of Chemical Bank and New York Trust Company. His brot ...

. His grand-nephew is artist Jacob Collins. In 1931, Schapiro married pediatrician Lillian Milgram. They had two children, Miriam Schapiro Grosof and Ernest Schapiro. He died in 1996 in New York at the age of 91 in the Greenwich Village house where he had lived since 1933.

Impact

Artists

In the 1940s, when the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

looked at purchasing Jackson Pollock's ''The She-Wolf'' (1943), Schapiro, as an acquisitions committee member, supported its acquisition. In the 1950s, Schapiro urged

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

to finish painting ''Woman I'' (1950-1952).

Marxist art history

Schapiro was, at points in his career, criticized for his approach to style because of its politically radical connotations. Schapiro himself wrote scholarly articles for a variety of socialist publications and endeavored to apply a novel

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

method to the study of art history. In his most famous essay on

Spanish art Spanish art has been an important contributor to Western art and Spain has produced many famous and influential artists including Velázquez, Goya and Picasso. Spanish art was particularly influenced by France and Italy during the Baroque and ...

, "From

Mozarabic Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

to Romanesque in Silos," Schapiro demonstrated how the concurrent existence of two historical styles in one monastery was indicative of economic upheaval and

class conflict Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

Students

Schapiro's students include: * Sigmund Abeles *

Jonathan Crary Jonathan Crary is an art critic and essayist, and is Meyer Schapiro Professor of Modern Art and Theory at Columbia University. His first notable works were ''Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the 19th Century'' (1990), an ...

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

Peter Golfinopoulos Peter Golfinopoulos is an American artist. His paintings are marked by a variety of highly individualistic modes. Life and education Served for three years in the U.S. Air Force. Art Students League of New York, 1950–1951. Studied with Ed ...

* Michael Hafftka *

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and " Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well ...

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; ...

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also inc ...

* Dorothy Miner *

David Rosand David Rosand (September 6, 1938 – August 8, 2014) was an American art historian, university professor and writer. He died on August 8, 2014 from cardiac amyloidosis.Columbia UniversityRosand, faculty bio notes/ref> Rosand specialized in Italian ...

Lucas Samaras Lucas Samaras (born 1936) is a Greek-American artist. Early life and education Samaras was born in Kastoria, Greece. He studied at Rutgers University on a scholarship, where he met Allan Kaprow and George Segal. Career Samaras participated in ...

* Virginia Wright

Portraits

Alice Neel Alice Neel (January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American visual artist, who was known for her portraits depicting friends, family, lovers, poets, artists, and strangers. Her paintings have an expressionistic use of line and color, psyc ...

painted his portrait in 1947 and 1983. (Schapiro portrayed himself many times, including this young image.)

Awards

Schapiro was a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, the

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In 1973, Schapiro received an award by the Art Dealers Association of America. In 1974, for Schapiro's 70th birthday, a dozen leading artists made original lithographs, etchings and silk-screens, sold in an edition of 100, whose proceeds endowed the Meyer Schapiro Professorship of Art History in art history and archeology at Columbia. The contributors were:

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...

, Alexander Liberman, Stanley William Hayter,

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. ...

André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussel ...

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for '' The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws". Biography S ...

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in Ma ...

, and

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

. The artworks were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1975, Schapiro received the Alexander Hamilton Medal for distinguished service and accomplishment by the alumni of Columbia University. The same year, he received an honorary doctor of letters degree from the university. In 1976, he was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1987, he was named a

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

fellow. In 1995, his brother Morris donated $1 million to establish the Meyer Schapiro Professorship of Modern Art and Theory. In 1995, he also received a special award for lifetime achievement from the

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their unders ...

at its 83rd annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. Schapiro had been a member since 1926: he was cited for seven decades of scholarship and teaching in the field of art history. "Meyer Schapiro, we honor you for 70 years of unique scholarship and perception, for showing us the way in which art history enhances our understanding of human accomplishment."

Bibliography

During the 1930s, Schapiro contributed to leftist publications including '' The Marxist Quarterly'', ''The New Masses'', ''The

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated Joh ...

'', and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

''.

Books

* ''Vincent van Gogh''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1950 and reprints. * ''Paul Cézanne''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1952 and reprints. * ''The Parma Ildefonsus: A Romanesque Illuminated Manuscript from Cluny, and Related Works''. New York: College Art Association of America, 1964. * ''Words and Pictures. On the Literal and the Symbolic in the Illustration of a Text''. Approaches to Semiotics series 11, ed. Thomas A Sebeok. The Hague and Paris: Mouton, 1973. * ''Selected Papers I: Romanesque Art''. New York: George Braziller, 1977. **Translations: ***Italian, ''Romanica'' (Turin: Giulio Einaudi, 1982). ***Spanish, ''Estudios sobre el Romanica'' (Madrid: Aliana Editorial, 1984). ***German, ''Romanische Kunst Ausgewahlte Schriften'' (Cologne: Dumont Verlag, 1987). * ''Selected Papers II: Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries''. New York: George Braziller, 1978, 1982. **Translations: ***Swedish, ''Modern Konst-1800-talet och 1900-talet - Valda Studier'', 1981 ***German, ''Moderne Kunst-19.und 20. Jahrhundert-Ausgewahlte Aufsatze'' (Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag, 1982). ***Italian, ''L'Arte Moderna'' (Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, n.d.). ***Spanish, ''El Arte Moderno'' (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, S.A., 1988). * ''Selected Papers III: Late Antique, Early Christian, and Medieval Art''. New York: George Braziller, 1979. **Translations: ***Spanish, ''Estudios sobre el arte de la Antiguedad Tardia, el Cristianismo Primitivo y la Edad Media'' (Madrid: Aliana Editorial, 1987). * ''Style, Artiste et Societe'', trans. Blaise Allan et. a. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1982. * ''The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac''. New York: George Braziller, 1985.(Reprint of Schapiro's dissertation originally published in Art Bulletin. Includes photographs by David Finn) * ''Selected Papers IV: Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist, and Society''. George Brailler, 1994. * ''Mondrian: On the Humanity of Abstract Painting''. New York; George Braziller, 1995. * ''Meyer Schapiro : the bibliography'' / compiled by Lillian Milgram Schapiro. New York : G. Braziller, 1995. * ''Words, Script, and Pictures: The Semiotics of Visual Language''. New York: George Braziller, 1996. * ''Impressionism: Reflections and Perceptions''. New York George Braziller, 1997. * ''A kind of rapture'' / Robert Bergman ; introduction by Toni Morrison ; afterword by Meyer Schapiro. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. * ''Worldview in Painting—Art and Society: Selected Papers, Vol. 5''. New York: George Braziller, 1999. * ''The Unity of Picasso's Art''. New York: George Braziller, 2000. * ''Meyer Schapiro : his painting, drawing, and sculpture''. New York : Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 2000. * ''Language of Forms: Lectures on Insular Manuscript Art''. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 2005. * ''Romanesque architectural sculpture: The Charles Eliot Norton lectures''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. * ''Meyer Schapiro abroad : letters to Lillian and travel notebooks''. Los Angeles, Calif. : Getty Research Institute, c2009.

Articles

Schapiro wrote some articles under assumed names. * "The Nerve of

Sidney Hook Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his you ...

" (as "David Merian") ''

'' (1943)

Critical studies and reviews of Schapiro's work

;Romanesque architectural sculpture *

Artworks

In 1987, Schapiro exhibited 65 drawings and paintings from 1919 to 1979 in the Wallach Art Gallery in Schermerhorn Hall at Columbia. Subjects ranged from portraiture, landscapes, family, war horrors, and abstraction. Included were a self-portrait at age 16 and two portraits of friend Whittaker Chambers.

Literature

C. Oliver O'Donnell: Meyer Schapiro's Critical Debates. Art Through a Modern American Mind, The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Pennsylvania, 2019,

References

External links

On Archiving Schapiro: An informal forum that communicates and shares milestones during the course of processing the Meyer Schapiro Collection at Columbia University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML)Jonathan D. Fineberg, "Meyer Schapiro," The Harvard Crimson, Feb. 6, 1967
(Page not found on 1-08-2021)
Schapiro article archive
from ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

''
Columbia 250Cindy Persinger, ‘Reconsidering Meyer Schapiro and the New Vienna School’
''The Journal of Art Historiography Number 3 December 2010''
Meyer Schapiro Papers
at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:Schapiro, Meyer 1904 births 1996 deaths American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American art historians Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard University people The New School faculty Lithuanian Jews MacArthur Fellows Marxist theorists Jewish American writers Jewish socialists People from Šiauliai 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Slade Professors of Fine Art (University of Oxford) Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America People from Brownsville, Brooklyn Historians from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States

Background

Education

Career

Academics

Society

Personal life and death

Impact

Artists

Marxist art history

Students

Portraits

Awards

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Critical studies and reviews of Schapiro's work

Artworks

See also

Literature

References

External links