Art News today (3/25/2026) announced the passing of my dear artist friend Pat Steir (1938 – 2026). This amazing woman stood her man among many male artists for decades. When I was just appointed curator at the small-but-might Academy Art Museum (AAM) in Easton, MD, and suggested to visionary director at the time to do an exhibition on Pat Steir, he was game, and let me curate and produce the exhibition which took the entire first floor. It was an amazing experience to work with Pat in New York City who was most enthusiastic, even though we had a rather small budget. With the volunteer team passionate with me, we pulled it off.
Steir was born Iris Patricia Sukoneck in 1938 in Newark, New Jersey. Her father’s side were Russian Jews who immigrated to the US ahead of World War I, and her mother’s father was a Sephardic Jew from Egypt who came to the US via London.
Marc Payot, president of her gallery Hauser & Wirth, said “Working so closely with Pat Steir—spending so much time with her, immersed in her work together and enjoying such a close friendship—counts among the great privileges of my career,” and I could not agree more. “She emerged out of minimalism and conceptualism, but Pat created a visual language wholly her own—a new kind of abstraction that encompasses poetry and philosophy, in a practice that also involved writing, performance, and mentoring.”
Steir created one of her famous abstract waterfall paintings for the AAM exhibition, Valentine. It was an 11-foot high, square, all red painting, that just barely fit on the AAM’s Lederer Gallery walls. It did make it to the cover of the AAM Members Magazine, thanks to the keen eye of graphic designer Janet Hendricks.
I was able to convince Pat Steir and her Dutch husband to attend the opening and they were welcomed generously to stay at the Chairman of the Board’s Easton guest house. Other stories unfolded there. Thanks to generous support of the Friends of the Collection, the AAM now has a Pat Steir original work in the collection.
As an old master expert, I was mesmerized by this living artist, and I could not figure out exactly why until she said, “you know Anke, I have been a great admirer of Hercules Seghers (c. 1589 – c. 1638).” I was astonished! But then I saw it; this Dutch master of the Golden Age with his mysterious lines and Pat Steir’s waterfalls going nowhere. There it was, the link! We both commiserated about living in Holland for a while and laughed very hard most of the time. All in all it was a new adventure as well as an in-depth collaboration for a short time. I came to understand contemporary art through Pat Steir’s eyes. I can only say that it was an honor to have known this important artist.
