George Segal

"The one hundred and thirty-two illustrations in this volume convey the impact of Segal's works and chart his course as one of America's most influential sculptors. Segal gained fame in the days of Pop with his true-to-life plaster figures of lower-and middle-class Americans engaged in everyday activities. In pieces like The Red Light and Walk, Don't Walk, his glum waitresses, bored gas-station attendants and aimless pedestrians trapped in utilitarian environments have been mirrors held up to the face of postwar American life with its aridity and loneliness. The political undercurrent in Segal's works emerges forcefully in his Kent State: Abraham and Isaac and Gay Liberation. As the book makes clear, Segal has employed his groundbreaking techniques to explore more intimate themes as well. Embracing Couple and Nude on Redwood Chaise are tender celebrations of erotic love; Girl Drying Her Knee reveals a surprisingly classical grace and purity of line. These and many other works pictured attest to the many dimensions of an artist who has been called "a poet of the mundane." --