George Segal, a brief history ...
George Segal. Born New York, 26th November 1924. Died New
York, 9th June 2000
Born in 1924 in New York. In 1940 his family moved to South
Brunswick, New Jersey. He remained in New York, studied in 1941-42
at the Cooper Union of Art and Architecture in Manhattan, and
obtained his diploma in 1944. From 1942 to 1946 he studied
philosophy and literature part-time at Rutgers University, New
Brunswick. In 1946 he married Helen Steinberg. In 1947-48 he
studied at the Pratt Institute of Design, Brooklyn, and in 1948-49
at the Educational Faculty of the New York University, graduating
with a Bachelor of Science in art education. From 1955 he taught at
Highland Park Community Centre. In 1956 he had his first one-man
exhibition at the Hansa Gallery. In 1957 he was represented at the
exhibition The New York School: Second Generation at the Jewish
Museum, New York. In 1958 he turned his attention to sculpture,
experimenting with plaster, burlap and wire mesh. He taught
commercial art at Piscataway High School. He exhibited in Richard
Bellamy's new Green Gallery, New York. In 1961 he taught painting
at New Brunswick. He discovered the technique of using medical
bandages as material for his art and used himself as a model for
Man at a Table, his first plaster cast using bandaging. From 1961
to 1964 he taught at Roosevelt Junior High School. In 1963 he
received a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University and
travelled in Europe. In the same year he exhibited at the Galerie
Ileana Sonnabend. In 1968 he had his first one-man museum
exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and was
represented at the documenta "4", Kassel. In 1968 and 1969 he
taught visual art and sculpture at Princetown University. His work
tended increasingly towards the portrayal of autobiographical
scenes. In 1970 he was awarded the degree of honorary doctor at
Rutgers University. In 1971-72 he had a retrospective at Zurich,
Munich, Cologne, Rotterdam, Paris, Leverkusen and Tübingen. In 1972
he was Associate Guest Professor at City University, New York. In
1977 he worked on a sculpture for the Franklin D. Roosevelt
monument in Washington. In 1978 he was given a comprehensive
retrospective at Minneapolis, San Francisco and New York. In 1979
he published a pamphlet on plaster cast technique in Rome which was
brought out by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1982 a
retrospective of his work toured Japan. In 1983 he designed a cover
for Time magazine. He was the winner of a competition for the
design of a Holocaust memorial.
Segal links:
http://www.segalfoundation.org
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