George Segal: Themes and Variations

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of artist George Segal’s birth in 1924 through his expansive and varied works.

George Segal is one of the most popular and important American artists of the twentieth century. His ghostly figures are immediately recognizable, even by those who don’t know the artist’s name. His inimitable works are displayed in museums and public areas around the world, and he has been the subject of four major retrospectives. Charles Ray, a preeminent figure in contemporary art and the subject of a recent retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, eloquently describes Segal’s impact on his art and life in an interview with the author. While the artist’s significance as a sculptor has long been acknowledged, his work in painting, pastel, and photography is less well known. George Segal: Themes and Variations examines the artist’s work in all media as a series of variations on themes that he mined throughout his long career: figural groups, the nude, still life, and portraits. Including more than seventy-five illustrations, the book, along with its companion text presents Segal as a radical experimenter, a traditionalist, and a restless innovator.

Donna Gustafson is chief curator and curator for the at of the Americas at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.