Meyer Schapiro
Encyclopedia
Meyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on early Christian
Christian art
Christian art is sacred art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity, though other definitions are possible. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, although some have had strong objections to some forms of...

, Medieval
Medieval art
The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa...

, and Modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...

, 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
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in New York as a student, lecturer, and professor. He died in 1996 in New York at the age of 91.

Biography

In 1907 his family immigrated to the United States, where he received his bachelors' and doctorate degrees from Columbia University. He began teaching in 1928 and became a full professor at Columbia in 1952. Schapiro was a proponent of modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...

, and published books on Van Gogh and Cézanne and various essays on modern art. He was a founder of Dissent
Dissent (magazine)
Dissent is a quarterly magazine focusing on politics and culture edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. The magazine is published for the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas, Inc by the University of Pennsylvania Press....

, along with Irving Howe
Irving Howe
Irving Howe was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Life and career:...

 and Michael Harrington
Michael Harrington
Edward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...

. From 1966–1967 Schapiro was the Norton professor at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

.

Schapiro's discourse on style is often considered his greatest contribution to the study of art history. According to Schapiro, style refers to the formal qualities
Formalism (art)
In art theory, formalism is the concept that a work's artistic value is entirely determined by its form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects, and its medium. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content...

 and visual characteristics of a piece of art. Schapiro demonstrated that style could be used not only as an identifier of a particular period
Art periods
Art period n. A phase in the development of the work of an artist, groups of artists or art movement.-Renaissance:Renaissance c. 1300 - c. 1602...

 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.

Classmate and friend Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...

 mentions him in his 1952 autobiography, Witness.

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
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 method to the study of art history. In his most famous essay on Medieval Spanish art
Spanish art
Spanish art is the visual art of Spain, and that of Spanish artists worldwide. Whilst an important contributor to Western art and producing many famous and influential artists Spanish art has often had distinctive characteristics and been assessed...

, 'From Mozarabic
Mozarabic art and architecture
Mozarabic Art refers to art of Mozarabs , Iberian Christians living in Al-Andalus, the Muslim conquered territories in the period that comprises from the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula to the end of the 11th century, adopted some Arab customs without converting to Islam, preserving their...

 to Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 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
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....

.

Published 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-taket-Vakda 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.


Books published posthumously
  • 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.

See also

Subjects and objects Schapiro wrote about at length include:
  • Joshua Roll
    Joshua Roll
    The Joshua Roll is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript of highly unusual format, probably of the 10th century Macedonian Renaissance, believed to have been created by artists of the Imperial workshops in Constantinople, and now in the Vatican Library....

  • Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos
    Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos
    Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in the southern part of Burgos Province in northern Spain...

  • Castelseprio
    Castelseprio
    Castelseprio was the site of a Roman fort in antiquity, and a significant Lombard town in the early Middle Ages, before being destroyed and abandoned in 1287. It is today preserved as an archaeological park in the modern comune of Castelseprio, near the modern village of the same name...

  • Ruthwell Cross
    Ruthwell Cross
    The Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century, when Ruthwell was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; it is now in Scotland. Anglo-Saxon crosses are closely related to the contemporary Irish high crosses, and both are part of the Insular art tradition...

  • The sculptures at Moissac
    Moissac
    Moissac is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is famous world-wide mostly for the artistic heritage handed down by the ancient Saint-Pierre Abbey.-History:...



Columbia classmates include:
  • Lionel Trilling
    Lionel Trilling
    Lionel Trilling was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. With wife Diana Trilling, he was a member of the New York Intellectuals and contributor to the Partisan Review. Although he did not establish a school of literary criticism, he is one of the leading U.S...

  • Whittaker Chambers
    Whittaker Chambers
    Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...

  • Herbert Solow

External links

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