Segal’s admiration for the renowned art historian Meyer Schapiro (1904–1996) is evident in this sensitive bas-relief portrait, in which the subject seems to actively emerge from the plaster, eyes closed in meditative contemplation. This otherwise sober portrait is transformed through color: the background and the body are painted in a brilliant blue, and even the face and hands, while painted naturalistically, are glazed with a light wash of the same azure tint. Segal was drawn to the chromatic and historically symbolic possibilities of blue: he considered it a subtle and sensitive color whose transparency could reveal layers of form and meaning, and thus a particularly apt hue for his intellectual mentor.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Meyer Schapiro
Artist:George Segal (American, Bronx, New York 1924–2000 South Brunswick, New Jersey)
Date:1977
Medium:Painted plaster
Dimensions:38 1/4 × 26 1/2 × 13 in., 55.3 lb. (97.2 × 67.3 × 33 cm, 25.1 kg)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Gift of Paul Jenkins, 1981
Object Number:1981.146
the artist (from 1977; sold to Jenkins); Paul Jenkins, New York (by 1978–81; his gift to MMA)
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "George Segal: Sculptures," May 16–July 8, 1979, unnumbered cat. (p. 23; lent by Paul Jenkins).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sculpture: New Acquisitions," April 6–September 5, 1982, no catalogue.
Mountainville, N. Y. Storm King Art Center. "20th Century Sculpture: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 18–October 31, 1984, unnum. brochure.
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. "L'Empreinte," February 19–May 19, 1997, fig. 169.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "George Segal Retrospective: Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings," September 25, 1997–January 11, 1998, colorpl. 45.
Washington D.C. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. "George Segal Retrospective: Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings," February 19–May 17, 1998, colorpl. 45.
Jewish Museum, New York. "George Segal Retrospective: Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings," June 14–October 4, 1998, colorpl. 45.
Miami Art Museum. "George Segal Retrospective: Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings," December 17, 1998–March 7, 1999, colorpl. 45.
Montclair State University. "George Segal: Modern Humanist," September 9–December 11, 2008, no. 2.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Facing the Figure: Selected Works from the Collection, 1962–2007," May 28–September 6, 2010, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body," March 21–July 22, 2018, no. 29.
George Segal in Constance W. Glenn. George Segal: Pastels 1957–1965. Exh. cat., Art Galleries, California State University. Long Beach, [1977], p. 11.
Maudette Ball in Constance W. Glenn. George Segal: Pastels 1957–1965. Exh. cat., Art Galleries, California State University. Long Beach, [1977], pp. 15–18, fig. 4 (color), calls it "Portrait of Meyer Schapiro".
Martin Friedman inGeorge Segal: Sculptures. Exh. cat., Walker Art Center. Minneapolis, 1978, pp. 22–23, ill. (color).
Lisa M. Messinger. "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1981–1982. New York, [1982], p. 61, ill.
Vivien Raynor. "Art: From Jay Coogan, Sculptural Personalities." New York Times (April 16, 1982), p. C22.
Phyllis Tuchman. George Segal. New York, 1983, p. 81, fig. 85 (color), calls it "Portrait of Meyer Schapiro".
Sam Hunter and Don Hawthorne. George Segal. New York, 1984, pp. 70, 72, 347, 375, no. 267, fig. 78 (color).
Michael Brenson. "Art: 100 Modern Sculptures at Storm King Center." New York Times (August 3, 1984), p. C20.
Georges Didi-Huberman. L'empreinte. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris, 1997, p. 14, pl. 5.
Hillel Schwartz inLike Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2018, p. 59.
Brinda Kumar inLike Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2018, pp. 105–6, 277 n. 45, 282, no. 29, ill. p. 125 (color).
George Segal (American, Bronx, New York 1924–2000 South Brunswick, New Jersey)
1970
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