About the artist:

Babe Shapiro was born, in 1927 in Newark, New Jersey. He received his MFA from Hunter College where he studied under Robert Motherwell. His work was first recognized in 1958 by James Johnson Sweeney, director of the Guggenheim Museum at the time, who brought it to the attention of the Stable Gallery in New York City, where he was included in a group show, and where he had his first major solo show in 1962. His work has been exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, and is included in private collections, as well as in over 50 public and museum collections. Shapiro’s work is in the permanent collections of The Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, NY, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at MSU, MI, The Newark Museum, NJ, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, among others. In 1974, Shapiro founded the Mount Royal Graduate School of Art, at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and served as the Director for 25 years. As an educator, Shapiro guided, encouraged, and influenced the careers of over 200 artists. In 2000 MICA awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts and appointed him Director Emeritus of the Mount Royal School. Babe Shapiro died March 6th, 2016 at his home in Tribeca, NYC. He was 88.