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Pat Steir, 1990. Photo: Bert Nienhuis.

Artists Rights Society is proud to announce our representation of the Estate of Pat Steir (1938-2026), one of the most
influential American painters of her generation. ARS will work closely with the Estate to support the continued stewardship of
Steir’s work and legacy, connecting her expansive body of work with new opportunities across publishing, editorial, cultural,
commercial, and other visual media.
Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, Steir challenged conventional approaches to painting by
maintaining a conceptual condition of non-intention which was fundamental to her process. She is widely recognized for her
groundbreaking Waterfall paintings, in which she allows poured paint to cascade freely down the canvas, deliberately
surrendering control of the painting’s formal outcome to natural forces. Steir’s approach was radical, for her pursuit was not
an abstract expression of something personal, or known to the artist, but rather what could be revealed by the painting.

Pat Steir, Dragon Tooth Waterfall, 1990, Oil on Canvas, 92 x 132 1/2 in.

About Pat Steir

Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1938, Steir studied at the Pratt Institute and received her BFA in 1962. Her early practice
moved between painting, drawing, illustration, and conceptual approaches to image-making. By the 1970s, she had
established herself as an important voice in American painting, and her work was increasingly exhibited by major museums
and institutions.
Steir’s practice developed significantly throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Her Waterfall paintings transformed the act of
painting into a physical and almost performative process, with gravity determining the movement of paint across the canvas. The resulting works balance control and unpredictability, creating compositions that are simultaneously deliberate and open-ended.

From Left to Right: Drawing, 1975, dimensions unspecified; August Waterfall for Berlin, 1991, Oil on Canvas, 107 x 89 in; Line Lima, 1973, Oil, oil stick, and graphite pencil on canvas, 84 1/8 × 84 in, collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Beyond painting, Steir maintained a significant practice as a printmaker. Her work has been published by Crown Point Press since the late 1970s, and prints and works on paper remained an important part of her artistic output. She also produced
installations and site-specific works, including projects for the Whitney Museum of American Art and PS1. Steir’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions and major institutional presentations in the United States and internationally.
Her work is held in the permanent collections of leading institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, Tate, and the Louvre, among others.

Steir’s influence extends beyond her own work. She was an important presence within the New York art world for decades, engaging deeply with generations of artists and contributing to the broader conversation around abstraction, conceptualism,
and the possibilities of painting. Steir’s work continues to receive significant institutional attention, underscoring the enduring
relevance of her contribution to contemporary art. Her legacy encompasses not only her distinctive body of paintings and prints, but also her role in expanding how artists and audiences understand the relationship between intention, process, and chance.

From Left to Right: The Breughel Series (A Vanitas of Style), 1982 – 1984, Oil on canvas, 64 panels, each 28 1/2 x 22 1/2 in, collection of Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland; La Ligne du Coeur / The Heart Line, 1992, installation at Le Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain de Grenoble, France; Painted Rain #2, 2022-23, Oil and Chalk on Canvas, 108 x 84 in.

ARS is honored to represent the Estate of Pat Steir and to support the responsible licensing and continued visibility of her work worldwide.

Pat Steir’s work is available for licensing through ARS. To inquire about licensing artwork by Pat Steir for publishing, editorial, commercial projects, exhibitions, products, or other uses, please submit a licensing request or contact ARS directly.

Images courtesy of the Estate of Pat Steir © 2026 Estate of Pat Steir / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

About Artists Rights Society

Artists Rights Society (ARS) is the premier licensing agency for visual artists in the United States, representing over 122,000 artists and estates. ARS functions as a nexus between the vast and active network of artists, museums, scholars, galleries, journalists, and commercial collaborators.

Our unique role in the cultural community, harnessed by nearly 40 years of experience in intellectual property matters,
enables us to serve as a platform for artists and their estates to manage and protect their intellectual property. ARS provides licensing expertise, legal support, advocacy, educational outreach, relationship building, and product development.

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