Richard Serra

One of the most significant artists of his generation, Richard Serra has produced large-scale, sitespecific sculptures for architectural, urban and landscape settings spanning the globe. Serra’s sculptures and drawings have been celebrated with two retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, twenty years apart: Richard Serra/Sculpture (1986) and Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years (2007).

Serra began showing with Leo Castelli in 1968, and his first solo exhibition in New York was held at the Leo Castelli Warehouse the following year. Over the following decades he participated in many of the world’s most prestigious international exhibitions, including Documenta (1972, 1977, 1982 and 1987); the 1980, 1984, 2001 and 2013 editions of the Venice Biennale; and numerous Annual and Biennial exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Serra presented major solo exhibitions at worldwide institutions including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1977–78); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (1980, 2014 and 2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (1983–84); Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk (1986); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1992); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (1992); Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1997); Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro (1997–98); Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis (2003); and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples (2004). In 2005, The Matter of Time (1994–2005), a series of eight large-scale works, was installed permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

In recognition of his profound international impact, Serra received many notable prizes and awards, including the Praemium Imperiale, Japan Art Association (1994); Leone d’Oro for lifetime achievement, Venice Biennale (2001); Orden pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste, Federal Republic of Germany (2002); and J. Paul Getty Medal (2018) awarded in honor of extraordinary contributions to the practice, understanding and support of the arts.