Martin Puryear

(American, born 1941)

Martin Puryear is a contemporary African-American artist best known for his large hand-crafted sculptures and intricate prints. Melding abstraction with traditional woodworking, the artist creates works which act as metaphors that explore the subtleties of culture and identity. For his seminal piece Ladder for Booker T. Washington (1996), Puryear created a crooked wooden ladder which dwindles in scale as it climbs from floor to ceiling, giving an exaggerated perspective to the work and obliquely referencing Booker T. Washington’s controversial advice to work hard as an African American in white society. “There remains this belief that the work itself can have an identity that can speak, whether it's through beauty, or through ugliness, or whatever quality you put into the work,” the artist has said. “The work doesn't have to be a transparent vehicle for you to say things about life today.” Born on May 23, 1941 in Washington, D.C., Puryear began his interest in traditional crafts starting from a young age. In 1963, after studying art at the Catholic University of America, he joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Sierra Leone, where he learned the local woodworking and craft techniques. The artist went on to study at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm where he was immersed in the austere aesthetics of modern furniture design. Receiving his MFA in sculpture from the Yale School of Art in 1971, Puryear has gone on to be included in the Whitney Biennial and documenta. In 2015, the Art Institute of Chicago organized the exhibition “Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions,” which opened at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York the same year. The artist currently lives and works in Accord, New York. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas, among others.

Martin Puryear Artworks

Martin Puryear (146 results)
Black Cart, 2008

Martin Puryear

Black Cart, 2008

Sale Date: July 20, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2011, 2011

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2011, 2011

Sale Date: May 26, 2021

Auction Closed

[ARION PRESS]. TOOMER, Jean (1894-1967). Cane....

Martin Puryear

[ARION PRESS]. TOOMER, Jean (1894-1967). Cane....

Sale Date: May 12, 2021

Auction Closed

Empire's Lurch, 1987

Martin Puryear

Empire's Lurch, 1987

Sale Date: May 13, 2021

Auction Closed

Cane, 2000

Martin Puryear

Cane, 2000

Sale Date: April 23, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2011

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2011

Sale Date: April 28, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1999

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 1999

Sale Date: April 22, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1974

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 1974

Sale Date: March 3, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2011

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2011

Sale Date: March 10, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled (from the MoCA Portfolio), 1999

Martin Puryear

Untitled (from the MoCA Portfolio), 1999

Sale Date: February 17, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled VI (State 1), 2012

Martin Puryear

Untitled VI (State 1), 2012

Sale Date: December 3, 2020

Auction Closed

Cane, 2000

Martin Puryear

Cane, 2000

Sale Date: November 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1999

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 1999

Sale Date: November 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled

Martin Puryear

Untitled

Sale Date: November 19, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2001

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2001

Sale Date: October 23, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2011

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2011

Sale Date: July 30, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2017

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2017

Sale Date: July 30, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1999

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 1999

Sale Date: July 9, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled (from the MoCA Portfolio), 1999

Martin Puryear

Untitled (from the MoCA Portfolio), 1999

Sale Date: May 14, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2017

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2017

Sale Date: March 4, 2020

Auction Closed

Navy Pier, 1985

Martin Puryear

Navy Pier, 1985

Sale Date: December 16, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2008

Martin Puryear

Untitled, 2008

Sale Date: November 14, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled

Martin Puryear

Untitled

Sale Date: November 21, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, from MoCA portfolio, 1999

Martin Puryear

Untitled, from MoCA portfolio, 1999

Sale Date: October 25, 2019

Auction Closed