New York Times Panel Names 25 Most Important Sculptures Since 1945
The Facts
On August 4, 2026, T: The New York Times Style Magazine published a feature naming the 25 most important sculptures made since 1945. A panel of experts including artists Firelei Báez, Charles Gaines, Adam Pendleton, and Arlene Shechet, along with MoMA PS1 chief curator Ruba Katrib, gathered at the New York Times building in March 2026 to debate and select the list. The group considered works from any country but acknowledged a Western and New York-centric bias, and defined sculpture broadly to include performance and land art. Heated debates centered on whether Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial qualified as sculpture and which Kara Walker piece to include.
The Signal
The list underscores sculpture's paradoxical position: often sidelined in the market due to difficulties in showing and selling, yet deeply embedded in public life. The panel's wide-ranging definition and inevitable disagreements reflect the medium's resistance to easy categorization. For collectors, the selection offers a curated touchstone for postwar sculptural significance, while the exclusion of figures like Simone Leigh and Michael Heizer signals the subjective nature of canon formation in a field where institutional and market forces are still negotiating sculpture's value relative to painting.
- Artists: Firelei Báez, Charles Gaines, Adam Pendleton, Arlene Shechet, Simone Leigh, Niki de Saint Phalle, Michael Heizer, Kara Walker, Maya Lin, Richard Serra, Pope.L
- People: Ruba Katrib, M.H. Miller
- Museums: MoMA PS1
- Locations: New York
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