WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Shirazeh Houshiary

Shirazeh Houshiary

1955

WA-00000878

SculptureInstallation Art

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ517651

MoMA

Field Verification (7 fields)

4 cross-verified · 3 single-source

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

Source Registry (3)

Lehmann-Maupinhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/shirazeh-houshiary
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Lisson-Galleryhttps://www.lissongallery.com/artists
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/22724
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Shirazeh Houshiary makes sculpture, painting, and video that move between biomorphic form and near-invisible geometric pattern drawn from 13th-century Arabic poetry. Her monochromatic canvases and monumental anodized aluminum towers hold Islamic calligraphy, Sufi cosmology, and Western abstraction in sustained tension. She emerged in the early 1980s alongside British sculptors Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, and Anish Kapoor.

Source: Lehmann Maupin · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Installation Art

Medium

Sculpture

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art Tate

Canonical record

Artworks (20)

WattsOS

String

2012 · Pencil, pigments, and acrylic on canvas and aluminum

Overall: H. 27 9/16 in. (70 cm) W. 27 9/16 in. (70 cm) Framed: H. 30 1/4 in. (76.8 cm) W. 30 1/4 in. (76.8 cm) D. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Breath

2003 · Four-channel video (color, sound), four LCD monitors and surrounding sound

Breath I, 3:51 min.

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (I)

2003 · Pigment, colored ink, colored pencil, and synthetic polymer paint on paper

15 3/4 x 15 3/4" (40 x 40 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (XI)

2003 · Pigment, colored ink, colored pencil, and synthetic polymer paint on paper

11 3/4 x 11 3/4" (29.8 x 29.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Untitled XII

2002 · Pigment, colored ink, colored pencil, and synthetic polymer paint on paper

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled XIII

2002 · Pigment, colored ink, colored pencil, and synthetic polymer paint on paper

11 3/4 x 11 3/4" (29.8 x 29.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Shroud

2000 · Acrylic paint and graphite on canvas

support: 1905 x 1903 x 35 mm

Tate

Presence

2000 · Aquacryl with silverpoint and graphite on canvas

6' 3" x 6' 3" (190.5 x 190.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Veil

1999 · Acrylic paint and graphite on canvas

support: 1902 x 1902 x 36 mm

Tate

[no title]

1992 · Etching on paper

image: 605 x 605 mm

Tate

[no title]

1992 · Etching on paper

image: 605 x 605 mm

Tate

[no title]

1992 · Etching on paper

image: 605 x 605 mm

Tate

[no title]

1992 · Etching on paper

image: 605 x 605 mm

Tate

[no title]

1992 · Etching on paper

image: 605 x 605 mm

Tate

The Earth is an Angel

1987 · Brass, zinc and plywood

object: 1900 x 2000 x 2000 mm

Tate

Beating of her Wings III

1987 · Chalk, graphite, paper and acrylic paint on paper

support: 379 x 576 mm

Tate

Beating of her Wings IV

1987 · Acrylic paint, paper and graphite on paper

support: 379 x 576 mm

Tate

The Earth is an Angel

1987 · Ink, chalk, metallic paint and graphite on paper

support: 509 x 634 mm

Tate

Beating of her Wings II

1987 · Acrylic paint, paper and graphite on paper

support: 575 x 760 mm

Tate

The Angel of Thought

1987 · Ink, gouache, metallic paint, chalk and wax crayon on paper

support: 498 x 699 mm frame: 564 x 766 x 27 mm

Tate

View all 20 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

20 published of 27 catalogued · 24 with image

Tate
13 published13 img
MoMA
6 publishedof 12 catalogued10 img
The Met
1 published
+ 1 more source · 1 catalogued, not yet published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 10)

10 entries · 1 sources

[no title]
1992 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1992 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Beating of her Wings IV
1987 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
The Earth is an Angel
1987 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Beating of her Wings II
1987 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
[no title]
1992 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
The Angel of Thought
1987 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
The Earth is an Angel
1987 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Beating of her Wings III
1987 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Shroud
2000 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

46 assets

Artsy

Wayne McGregor. Infinite Bodies, Exhibition, Somerset House, London 38

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

View all 46 media items →

Relationships

Movements1

Installation Art

Collections3

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art Tate

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Tate

Background

Education

Chelsea College of Art and Design

Visual Arts

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

No exhibitions or timeline entries yet