George Segal (artist)

George Segal (November 26, 1924 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. He was presented with the United States National Medal of Arts in 1999.

This article is about the sculptor and painter. For the actor and musician, see George Segal.

George Segal
Born(1924-11-26)November 26, 1924
New York City, New York, United States
DiedJune 9, 2000(2000-06-09) (aged 75)
South Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
NationalityAmerican
Known forSculpture, Pop art
AwardsPraemium Imperiale (1997)

Works
Segal's work in Amsterdam (1964)
Segal's Street Crossing (1992), located at Montclair State University, is typical of the look of his sculptures
Text accompaniment to The Holocaust Memorial at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, dedicated 1984.

Although Segal started his art career as a painter, his best known works are cast life-size figures and the tableaux the figures inhabited. In place of traditional casting techniques, Segal pioneered the use of plaster bandages (plaster-impregnated gauze strips designed for making orthopedic casts) as a sculptural medium. In this process, he first wrapped a model with bandages in sections, then removed the hardened forms and put them back together with more plaster to form a hollow shell. These forms were not used as molds; the shell itself became the final sculpture, including the rough texture of the bandages. Initially, Segal kept the sculptures stark white, but a few years later he began painting them, usually in bright monochrome colors. Eventually he started having the final forms cast in bronze, sometimes patinated white to resemble the original plaster.

Segal's figures have minimal color and detail, which give them a ghostly, melancholic appearance. In larger works, one or more figures are placed in anonymous, typically urban environments such as a street corner, bus, or diner. In contrast to the figures, the environments were built using found objects.

Life

Segal was born in New York; his Jewish parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe. His parents ran a butcher shop in the Bronx, then moved to a poultry farm in New Jersey where Segal grew up. He attended Stuyvesant High School, as well as the Pratt Institute, the Cooper Union, and New York University, from which he graduated in 1949 with a teaching degree.[1] In 1946, he married Helen Steinberg and they bought another chicken farm in South Brunswick, New Jersey, where he lived for the rest of his life.[2]

During the few years he ran the chicken farm, Segal held annual picnics at the site to which he invited his friends from the New York art world. His proximity to central New Jersey fostered friendships with professors from the Rutgers University art department. Segal introduced several Rutgers professors to John Cage, and took part in Cage's legendary experimental composition classes. Allan Kaprow coined the term happening to describe the art performances that took place on Segal's farm in the Spring of 1957. Events for Yam Festival also took place there. His widow, Helen Segal, kept his memory and works alive, until her death in 2014, through the George and Helen Segal Foundation. The foundation continues this mission. George and Helen had three children.[3]

Notable works

Recognition

Honors and awards

Films
  • Segal's legs appeared in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 film Up Your Legs Forever.[13]
  • George Segal (1979). Directed by Michael Blackwood. Documentary about Segal, who discusses and is shown creating his bronze sculpture Abraham and Isaac, which was originally intended as a memorial for the Kent State shootings of 1970.
  • George Segal: American Still Life (2001). Directed by Amber Edwards. Television documentary about his life and work.[14]

See also

References
Notes
  1. "George Segal: Biography". The George and Helen Segal Foundation. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  2. Turner, Elisa (December 20, 1998). "Segal Exhibit Evokes Quiet Dignity of Humdrum Lives". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 31, 2007. "That compassion is also evident in the work ethic and personality of this artist, who's called himself a Depression baby and who speaks fondly of South Brunswick, N.J., where he's lived since the 1940s, as a working man's town."
  3. "Helen Steinberg Segal obituary". Legacy.com.
  4. "Empire State Plaza Art Collection".
  5. "Guggenheim Acquires Sculptural Work by George Segal". Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. August 8, 2012. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  6. "Abraham and Isaac: In Memory of May 4, 1970, Kent State University, 1978–79". Campus Art Princeton. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  7. "George Segal's Gay Liberation". GLBTQ Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on November 24, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  8. "Sculptor George Segal's Model Commuters Are a Study in Terminal Patience". People. June 7, 1982. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  9. Honolulu Museum of Art, wall label, Japanese Couple against a Brick Wall by George Segal, 1982, plaster, wood, paint and faux brick, accession January 28, 2013.
  10. Staff (December 2, 2010). "George Segal Sculptures Walk to New Location at Montclair State". Montclair State University. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  11. "George Segal Papers". Firestone Library, Princeton University. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  12. International Sculpture Center website. 'Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award' webpage. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  13. Jonathan Cott (July 16, 2013). Days That I'll Remember: Spending Time With John Lennon & Yoko Ono. Omnibus Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-78323-048-8.
  14. "George Segal: American Still Life". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
Bibliography
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