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Joel Shapiro emerged as an artist when abstraction prevailed. However, he felt the need to introduce a strong suggestion of a recognizable image in order to communicate. While his sculptures at first may look abstract, one soon sees the human body in a variety of activities such as running and dancing, or in the Art Center's sculpture, falling.

Source" DMAC Gallery Guide, From Body to Being, February 1 - May 4, 1997


This playful floor piece represents the ongoing investigation of the human figure which occupied Shapiro beginning the the mid-1970s. Untitled represents this continued investigation into the figure in mortion.

Source: News, January February March 1988.


Exhibition History"From Body to Being: Reflections On the Human Image," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 1 - May 4, 1997

"The Abstract Tradition in American Art," Des Moines Art Center, Dec. 7, 1991 - Feb. 23, 1992
Published ReferencesDMAC News, Nov./Dec. 1990, p.2

AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. & b/w ill. p.255, color ill. p.254
DimensionsOverall: 26 × 49 × 38 in. (66 × 124.5 × 96.5 cm)
Accession Number 1987.8
Classificationssculpture
Copyright©Joel Shapiro/Artists Right Society (ARS), New York
ProvenanceArtist; (Paula Cooper Gallery, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1987]
Untitled
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Joel Shapiro
2001-2003
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Joel Shapiro
2005
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Joel Shapiro
1985
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Joel Shapiro
1973
Photo Credit: Paul Crosby
Phyllida Barlow
2012
Photo Credit: Paul Crosby
Phyllida Barlow
2013
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Dona Nelson
2023
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Paa Joe
2016
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Paul Thek
1964
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Matt Phillips
1977
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Matt Phillips
1977