Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
One of the most lauded contemporary American sculptors, Martin Puryear (b. 1941) has had — and continues to have — an impressive career.
Born in Washington, D.C., where he earned a fine art degree from the Catholic University of America in 1963, Puryear started his journey not in fine art, but in craft. As a teen, he learned how to build everything from furniture to musical instruments to canoes. Later, following his undergraduate work, he joined the Peace Corps as a volunteer in Sierra Leone and learned traditional craft methods, including pottery, weaving and woodworking. He then studied printmaking in Sweden before returning to the United States and earning his MFA from Yale University’s School of Art and Architecture. There, he specialized in sculpture.
Blending minimalism with the craft arts, Puryear’s work is often abstract and large scale. His sculptures of hemp rope, wood, bronze and more are studies of both form and material. And beneath the surface, his works touch upon complicated topics, including religion and Black history: Several of his pieces acknowledge iconic Black figures such as Sally Hemings (Thomas Jefferson’s slave and mother to six of his children) and Booker T. Washington, a former slave who became a prominent leader in the Black community and founded what is now Tuskegee University.
Puryear represented the United States at the 1989 Bienal de São Paulo, where he won the festival’s Grand Prize, and at the 2019 Venice Biennale. He has also received the National Medal of Arts, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture. Puryear’s works can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields in Indiana and the Anderson Collection at Stanford University in California.
Find Martin Puryear’s art on 1stDibs.
1980s Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Parchment Paper, Lithograph, Offset
2010s Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Etching
2010s Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Etching
2010s Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Etching
2010s Abstract Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Drypoint, Etching, Aquatint
21st Century and Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Etching
21st Century and Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
21st Century and Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Etching
Early 2000s Other Art Style Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Paper, Mixed Media, Etching
1990s Other Art Style Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Paper, Etching
1980s Abstract Expressionist Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
1960s Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Offset, Lithograph
1980s Pop Art Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
1980s Pop Art Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Drypoint, Aquatint
1980s Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Mulberry Paper, Lithograph, Laid Paper
1970s Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Offset, Lithograph
Late 18th Century Old Masters Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Engraving, Etching
Late 18th Century Romantic Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Engraving, Etching
1790s Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Engraving, Etching
1980s Contemporary Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Woodcut
1990s Martin Puryear Prints and Multiples
Etching