The Artist in His Loft
George Segal
(American, 1924–2000)
1969
Medium/TechniquePlaster, wood, glass, porcelain, and metal
DimensionsOverall: 228.6 x 175.3 x 152.4 cm (90 x 69 x 60 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds donated by the Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Fund and the Linde Family Foundation
Accession number2004.246
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
In 1961 Segal started making sculptures with the same plaster-impregnated strips of gauze used to set broken bones. First he wrapped parts of his friends’ bodies in the bandages, then assembled the dry pieces. This scene of an everyday ritual depicts painter Miles Forst shaving. The whiteness hints at the artists’ shared Minimalist sensibility, echoed in the stark, white environment and simple geometry of the studio.
ProvenanceThe artist; with Sidney Janis Gallery, New York; 1973, purchased by Reinhard Onnasch, Berlin, Germany; May 12, 2004, sold by Sotheby's, New York, lot 44 to MFA, Boston; purchased June 23, 2004-Reinhard Onnasch (born in 1939, Görlitz, Germany) is a Berlin real estate developer, dealer, and collector. Onnasch opened a gallery in Berlin in 1969 and in Cologne in 1970. In 1971, he opened a gallery in New York (the first German to have a gallery in New York, according to Onnasch). Onnasch was the first to represent a number of American artists in Europe. Also, Gerhard Richter's first exhibition in the United States was at Onnasch's gallery in 1973. Onnasch also owned George Segal's The Farm Worker (1962-63), Laundromat (1966-67), Artist in His Studio (1968), and Man Installing Pepsi-Sign (1973).
Copyright© VAGA, New York, NY
