Miriam Schapiro's Feminist Essay 'Femmage' Revisited Following Her Death at 91

Miriam Schapiro, an influential artist born in Canada and a prominent figure in the Pattern & Decoration movement, died on June 20 at the age of 91. In 1978, she co-wrote the significant essay 'Femmage' with Melissa Meyer, published in Heresies: Women’s Traditional Arts: The Politics of Aesthetics. This work, now available in facsimile, examines the reasons behind women's creation of collages, a subject Meyer introduced at a 1977 meeting in Joyce Kozloff's loft. Following that event, Schapiro began their collaboration, during which she and critic Grace Glueck coined the term 'Femmage.' Meyer remembers Schapiro as a dynamic collaborator whose strong work ethic inspired others, highlighting the personal and professional growth from their partnership. Schapiro initially gained fame in the late 1950s and 1960s through her hard-edge abstract geometric paintings, and the essay's relevance today underscores her enduring influence on feminist art.