Shirley Jaffe Foundation
The Shirley Jaffe Foundation is dedicated to the preservation, research, publication, and dissemination of the artistic work of Shirley Jaffe. We support and initiate projects that align with this purpose.
Unknown Photographer, Shirley Jaffe, 1950s.
Shirley Jaffe (1923–2016) was an American painter who found her artistic voice in France, where she lived and worked for most of her life. Known for her bold, rhythmic abstractions, she pushed beyond the gestural drama of Abstract Expressionism toward a language that was uniquely her own. Jaffe’s canvases weave order and spontaneity together, transforming the chaos of the modern world into compositions of luminous clarity. Today, she stands as one of the most original voices of postwar abstraction, a bridge between American and European art, and a testament to the restless reinvention of painting itself.
The Foundation has initiated a Catalogue Raisonné Project to honor and protect the work of Shirley Jaffe, ensuring that her remarkable contribution to modern art is studied, understood, and celebrated with the clarity and rigor it deserves.
Shirley Jaffe, The Red Diamond, 1964, Oil on Canvas,
195 x 135 cm, Private Collection.
A Catalogue Raisonné is the definitive record of an artist’s life’s work. For collectors, museums, and scholars, it provides the essential foundation: establishing authenticity, tracing provenance, and preserving knowledge for generations to come. By bringing together every known work, carefully researched and documented, a Catalogue Raisonné safeguards the artist’s legacy against loss, doubt, or distortion.
Shirley Jaffe, F's Picture, 1968, Oil on Canvas, 146 x 97cm, Collection Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris.