Creating a Legacy with Love: Phong Bui’s Tribute to Meyer Schapiro

<img decoding="async" class="size-full-width wp-image-1608082" Sr.=”https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/image2.png?w=970″ alt=”A black-and-white photograph shows an elderly man seated and smiling with his eyes closed while a woman and a younger person stand closely behind him, their arms resting on his shoulders in an intimate domestic setting.” width=”970″ height=”667″ data-caption=’Phong Bui with Meyer and Lillian Schapiro. c. 1994. <span class=”media-credit”>Photo by Eyal Danieli</span>’>

Connection was and is of vital importance to both art historian Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996) and Phong Bui (born 1964), a writer, curator and critic, and their influence in the art world is far-reaching. They have integrated art with history, politics, psychology, sociology and social criticism. The two first met in 1986 and quickly became close friends, along with Schapiro’s wife, Lillian. Schapiro, until his death 10 years later, was also Bui’s mentor, including him in his circle of friends and colleagues (a convergence that gave birth to the Brooklyn Rail in 2000). To celebrate that relationship and as a testament to Schapiro, Bui has curated an exhibition featuring works by a number of well-known artists with whom Schapiro had a close bond throughout his life.

“Singing in Unison, Part 13,” now on in the Brattleboro Museum’s two main galleries, showcases brilliantly the scope of the pair’s expansive minds. On one of the large walls of the museum is Bui’s “Shrine to Meyer,” which is usually mounted on Bui’s bedroom wall in Brooklyn. A large full-length mirror is surrounded by works that Schapiro collected over the years and gave to Bui, as well as Schapiro’s own art. Bui said Meyer made art so he could understand art and the speed of execution, building a sensitivity to the making of art. The Meyer Shrine acknowledges Meyer’s enduring intellectual curiosity and clearly demonstrates Bui’s love for his mentor and friend.

Beyond that, the show is a veritable Who’s Who of American art, with paintings by Philip Guston, Arshile Gorky, Grace Hartigan, Roberto Matta, Mercedes Matter, Pat Passlof, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Janice Biala, Stuart Davis, Hans Hofmann, Larry Rivers, Robert De Niro Sr., Wolf Kahn, Emily Mason and others. They may not be well-known works from the artists’ oeuvres due to insurance costs, but each piece is a testament to Schapiro’s reach in the New York art world. The gathering of these works is also a testament to Phong Bui’s commitment to reaching across time and bringing together a community of craftsmen. Each artist was devoted to their craft, pushing themselves throughout a lifetime of discipline. The show sparkles with excitement.

Meyer Schapiro was born in Lithuania in 1904 and moved with his family to the United States when he was three years old. Bui was born in Vietnam in 1964 and came to the United States at the age of 16. The exhibition features artists who also emigrated, including Gorky, Guston, Rothko, Hofmann, Samaras, Hélion, Kahn, Vicente, Müller and Seligmann—all in pursuit of greater freedom. Emigration is not easy: assimilating into a foreign culture, learning a new language, making friends and understanding how people think. Artists find one another, just as Bui found Schapiro, and communities are formed, something crucial for foreigners. New York City was a haven for the artists whose works you’ll see here.

What is striking about both Schapiro and Bui is their profound knowledge of history, politics, poetry, literature, psychology and art. Bui continues to this day to be a proud connector of communities, bringing together people from all walks of life. His enduring commitment to the Brooklyn Rail—not only as co-founder but also as artistic director for 25 years—is a testament to his wide-ranging drive to cross-pollinate the arts with history. “How do we keep it alive?” he asks, seeking to unify a divided world. He learned so much from Schapiro, and his passing “left an impossible void. Every day, images derived from his stories would appear and haunt me. What I realized, later, was that the only way I could pay homage to him while relieving my nostalgia for his past was to create my own. When I thought of the more exciting periods of American intellectual life, especially in the 1930s and ’40s as being coincident with the rise of bohemia, the very idea of bringing artists and writers together in their struggle with and for the world became identical to my own longing for an extended family, one that would include individuals who shared the same aspiration.”

In 2022, Bui curated the first “Singing in Unison” in that spirit, showcasing seasoned artists as well as new ones, and then tailoring each subsequent exhibition to its environment. He gathers together musicians, dancers, performers, innovators and artists to celebrate community, optimism and love. An important and necessary dictum for Bui is, “Artists need to create on the same scale that society has the capacity to destroy.” A fitting dictate for an exhibition that features the works of so many immigrants forging their way through history.

“Singing in Unison, Part 13: Homage to Meyer Schapiro” through February 15, 2026, at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, Brattleboro, Vermont.

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