Pat Steir
Pat Steir: A Cartographer of Chance and Emotion Pat Steir, born Iris Patricia Sukoneck in Newark, New Jersey, in 1940, is an American painter and printmaker whose work has profoundly shaped the landscape of contemporary art. Her journey from early conceptual influences to her now-iconic “Waterfall” paintings—dynamic explorations of gravity, gesture, and chance—is a testament to her relentless curiosity and profound engagement with both artistic tradition and the unpredictable nature of creative process. Steir’s career, spanning over five decades, is marked by a consistent refusal to adhere t…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Pat Steir's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.
