WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Martin Puryear

Martin Puryear

1941

WA-00000622

Washington, D.C., USA

Sculpture

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

160

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

70%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ6776418

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Contemporary Works from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1985–1986

No image

Reinstallation of the Contemporary Galleries

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1985

No image

An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1984

Field Verification (6 fields)

4 cross-verified · 2 single-source

Birth yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Primary mediumWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
BiographyWikipedia + Unknown· 88%✓
LocationArtsy + Gallery· 85%✓
NationalityWikidata + Artsy+1· 92%
DeceasedUnknown· 20%

Source Registry (2)

Matthew-Markshttps://matthewmarks.com/artists
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/4758
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Martin Puryear works primarily in wood, shaping large-scale sculpture through a reductive technique grounded in traditional craft. His forms are spare and quietly monumental, combining hand-tool precision with an attention to the inherent properties of each material. The work occupies a space between abstraction and organic reference, resisting easy categorization while remaining rigorously physical. Puryear has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and represented the United States at the Venice Biennale, where he received the Golden Lion.

Source: Matthew Marks · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Sculpture

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Cleveland Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (90)

WattsOS

Lookout

2025 · Etching and aquatint

28 5/8 × 29 1/2" (72.7 × 74.9 cm)

29 × 29 5/8" (73.7 × 75.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Lookout

2025 · Lithograph with chine-collé on black paper

28 1/2 × 29 9/16" (72.4 × 75.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

2022 · Aquatint

plate: 22 7/16 × 23 5/8" (57 × 60 cm); sheet: 28 3/4 × 29 1/2" (73 × 74.9 cm)

28 1/8 × 29 1/8 in. (71.4 × 74 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Untitled

2020 · Lithograph

composition: 23 3/4 × 15 7/8" (60.3 × 40.4 cm); sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 3/8" (33.6 × 26.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

2017 · Lithograph

plate: 11 5/8 × 11 3/4" (29.6 × 29.8 cm); sheet: 16 1/4 × 15 11/16" (41.2 × 39.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Métissage / Camouflage

2016 · Woodcut

Sheet: 38 3/4 × 47 13/16 in. (98.4 × 121.4 cm) Image: 38 3/4 × 47 13/16 in. (98.4 × 121.4 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Untitled (State I)

2016 · Intaglio

plate: 35 5/8 × 35 5/8" (90.5 × 90.5 cm); sheet: 41 × 40" (104.2 × 101.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (State 2)

2016 · Intaglio

plate: 35 5/8 × 35 5/8" (90.5 × 90.5 cm); sheet: 41 × 39 15/16" (104.2 × 101.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Métissage / Camouflage

2016 · Woodcut

composition (irreg.): 32 3/4 × 42 11/16" (83.2 × 108.5 cm); sheet: 38 9/16 × 47 11/16" (97.9 × 121.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (State 2)

2014 · Color soft ground etching, with drypoint, on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate/primary support: 60.6 × 45.4 cm (23 7/8 × 17 7/8 in.); Secondary support: 88.2 × 69.8 cm (34 3/4 × 27 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Diallo

2013 · Soft ground etching, flatbite and aquatint, with drypoint on white wove paper

Image/plate: 60.4 × 45 cm (23 13/16 × 17 3/4 in.); Sheet: 88.4 × 70.5 cm (34 13/16 × 27 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Phrygian

2012 · Soft ground etching, spit-bite, drypoint and aquatint in black and gray on cream wove paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate: 60.5 × 45.2 cm (23 7/8 × 17 13/16 in.); Sheet: 88.5 × 70.6 cm (34 7/8 × 27 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled VI (State 2)

2012 · Soft ground etching, drypoint and spitbite in light brown and black on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate: 80.3 × 80.5 cm (31 5/8 × 31 3/4 in.); Sheet: 109 × 103.8 cm (42 15/16 × 40 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled VI

2012 · Soft ground etching, drypoint and spit-bite in light brown and black on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate: 80.4 × 80.3 cm (31 11/16 × 31 5/8 in.); Sheet: 109.1 × 103.8 cm (43 × 40 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

2011 · Woodcut in black on white wove paper

Image/block: 27.7 × 21 cm (10 15/16 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 41.8 × 33.8 cm (16 1/2 × 13 5/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Black Cart

2008 · Color aquatint and etching from two plates on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate/primary support: 60.3 × 45 cm (23 3/4 × 17 3/4 in.); Secondary support: 88.5 × 70.2 cm (34 7/8 × 27 11/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

C.F.A.O.

2006 · Painted and unpainted pine and found wheelbarrow

8' 4 3/4" x 6' 5 1/2" x 61" (255.9 x 196.9 x 154.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled V

2005 · Color spit-bite aquatint on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate: 45 × 60 cm (17 3/4 × 23 5/8 in.); Sheet: 74 × 86 cm (29 3/16 × 33 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Shoulders (State 2)

2005 · Drypoint, with soft ground etching on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate: 45.5 × 60.5 cm (17 15/16 × 23 7/8 in.); Sheet: 73.5 × 86 cm (28 15/16 × 33 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

2003 · Charcoal and conté crayon on paper

50 x 46" (127 x 116.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Three Holes

2002 · Color etching and spit-bite aquatint on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper (chine collé)

Image/plate: 45 × 59.7 cm (17 3/4 × 23 9/16 in.); Sheet: 72.8 × 85 cm (28 11/16 × 33 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Beggar's Bowl

2002 · Woodcut from two blocks on cream Japanese paper

Image: 20.3 × 21.8 cm (8 × 8 5/8 in.); Sheet: 24.1 × 31.6 cm (9 1/2 × 12 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 90 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

90 published of 129 catalogued · 112 with image

Art Institute Chicago
44 published44 img
MoMA
39 publishedof 78 catalogued68 img
The Met
4 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
2 published
Whitney
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 1)

1 entries · 1 sources

Alien Huddle
1993 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

25 assets

Artsy

The Blade Tribune, Martin Puryear 1984 (cropped)

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

View all 25 media items →

Relationships

Collections9

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Art Institute of Chicago Cleveland Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Christie's

Institutional

Representation & Collections

Represented by

Matthew Marks Gallery

Current

In collection

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Background

Education

The Catholic University of America

Visual Arts

Yale School of Art

Visual Arts

Archbishop Carroll High School

Visual Arts

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Contemporary Works from the Collection

New York · 1985

Group Exhibition Reinstallation of the Contemporary Galleries

New York · 1985

Group Exhibition An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture

New York · 1984