 (1938–2024) was born in San Francisco and lived and worked in New York, the North Fork of Long Island, and Nova Scotia. His first significant solo exhibition was held at the Leo Castelli Warehouse, New York, in 1969. His first solo museum exhibition took place at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1970. Serra subsequently participated in numerous international exhibitions, including Documenta (1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987) in Kassel, Germany; the 1980, 1984, 2001, and 2013 editions of the Venice Biennale; and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Annual and Biennial exhibitions of 1968, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1995, and 2006.

Solo exhibitions of Serra’s work have been held at numerous public institutions worldwide, including, among others, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (1980); Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (1984); Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany (1985); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1986); Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, Germany (1987); Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1987); Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (1988); Kunsthaus Zürich (1990); CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (1990); 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 (1997–1998); Trajan’s Market, Rome (2000); Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis (2003); and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples (2004).

, a series of eight large-scale works by Serra from 1994 to 2005, was installed permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and in 2007, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, presented the retrospective 

, a major site-specific installation, was shown at the Grand Palais, Paris, for Monumenta 2008. In 2011, the artist’s large-scale, site-specific sculpture 

was permanently installed opposite the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. In 2014, the Qatar Museum Authority presented a two-venue retrospective survey of Serra’s work at the QMA Gallery and the Al Riwaq exhibition space, Doha, and 

 (2014) was permanently installed in the Brouq Nature Reserve in the Zekreet Desert, Qatar. In June 2020, a new major sculpture by Serra was installed on the West Quad of Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio. In 2022, Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland, opened a new building designed by Thomas Phifer in collaboration with the artist to house 

Four Rounds: Equal Weight, Unequal Measure

, the monumental sculpture that Serra debuted at David Zwirner in 2017.

Museum exhibitions that have focused on the artist’s drawings include 

, Kunsthalle Tübingen, West Germany (1978); 

, Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark (1986); 

, Bonnefantemuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands (1990); 

, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (1994); 

, Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro (1997–1998); and 

Richard Serra: Drawings: Work Comes Out of Work

, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2008). A major traveling retrospective dedicated to the artist’s drawings was presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and The Menil Collection, Houston (which was the organizing venue), in 2011–2012. The Courtauld Gallery, London, presented 

Richard Serra: Drawings for The Courtauld

Richard Serra: desenhos na casa da Gávea 

was on view at Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro, in 2014. 

, a significant overview of the artist’s recent works on paper, was on view at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2017. In 2022, the Guggenheim Bilbao presented 

, an exhibition pairing a selection of Serra’s recent drawings alongside those by Georges Seurat.

Serra was the recipient of many notable prizes and awards, including a J. Paul Getty Medal (2018) awarded in honor of extraordinary contributions to the practice, understanding, and support of the arts; the Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur, Republic of France (2015); Orden de las Artes y las Letras de España, Spain (2008); Orden pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste, Federal Republic of Germany (2002); Leone d’Oro for lifetime achievement, Venice Biennale (2001); Praemium Imperiale, Japan Art Association (1994); Carnegie Prize (1985); a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1974); and a Fulbright Grant (1965).

In 2013 in New York, David Zwirner presented 

, a critically acclaimed exhibition that brought together significant works from 1966 to 1971. The accompanying catalogue extensively covers this period of the artist’s career with a compendium of archival texts and photographs and an essay by Hal Foster. In 2014, the gallery presented an exhibition of new drawings, 

Richard Serra: Vertical and Horizontal Reversals

; a catalogue accompanied the exhibition and included an essay by Gordon Hughes. 

, an installation in forged weathering steel, was presented at David Zwirner, New York, in 2015. That work is now in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2016, David Zwirner Books/Steidl published

, which surveys the artist’s work in forged steel since 1977 and features scholarship by Richard Shiff and texts by the artist. In 2017, the gallery presented an exhibition of new sculpture and drawings by the artist at its New York location. In 2018, David Zwirner presented a series of new drawings by Serra in Hong Kong. In 2022, a forged steel work titled 

 was presented at David Zwirner, New York, alongside a series of drawings by the artist; these two presentations were accompanied by the publication 

 at David Zwirner’s London location. A major 2015 installation by the artist, 

, is currently on view at David Zwirner, New York.

Work by Serra is held in important public and private collections worldwide.

A scholar and critical theorist, Richard Shiff is the Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art at The University of Texas at Austin. His interests range broadly across the field of modern and contemporary art. His publications include 

Ellsworth Kelly: New York Drawings 1954–1962

Joel Shapiro: Sculpture and Works on Paper 1969–2019

Sensuous Thoughts: Essays on the Work of Donald Judd

 (2020). He is currently completing a comprehensive study of the art of Jack Whitten.

Richard Shiff

Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists working today, Richard Serra is known in particular for his large steel sculptural forms, which deal primarily with investigations of weight, balance, density, and scale, as well as their effect on the viewer and his/her sense of space. Serra’s relentless pursuit of these questions over the course of his celebrated career has deepened our understanding of the effects of sculpture on space and perception, and broadened the scope of what we allow the genre to address.

Published on the occasion of Serra’s exhibition 

 at David Zwirner, New York called one of “the year’s best shows” by 

this catalogue is the first in-depth overview of the artist’s works in forged steel. While he had already become known for his works in vulcanized rubber, lead, and steel, Serra first began using forged steel after encountering a large-scale forge at a steel mill in Germany in 1977. Unlike casting, wherein steel is heated until molten and poured into a mold, forging is the process of changing metal’s shape while in a solid state, through extreme heat and pressure. Serra’s first forged sculpture was 

 (1977), installed outside of the Mies van der Rohe–designed Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Since then, he has continued to use this material in different configurations and formats to create works that use forged blocks, rounds, or lintels. Designed by McCall Associates in close collaboration with the artist, 

 presents a survey of Serra’s forged sculpture since 1977, featuring new scholarship by Richard Shiff and two texts by Serra, along with dramatic photographs of the forging process. Bringing together over sixty detailed plates of forged sculptures, this unique publication not only introduces readers to an important aspect of Serra’s work, but uses these works to return to the eternal questions of weight, balance, and perception in his practice.

Richard Serra: Forged Steel

Richard Serra: Forged Steel | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.