Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Girl Resting

Artist/Maker George Segal (United States, 1924-2000)

Date1970

Mediumplaster and gauze

DimensionsOverall: 14 7/8 x 14 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (37.8 x 36.8 x 26.7 cm)

ClassificationsVisual Works

Credit LineGift of Carroll Janis

Object number81.0135

On View

Not on view

Collections

Art of North America

DescriptionIn 1958, after a decade of painting, George Segal began to sculpt. At first he modeled figures out of wire and plaster-coated burlap, and his models were mannequins. In 1961 he developed his direct-casting technique - wrapping a human figure in bandages (later he would use cheesecloth and rags) that he covered with white plaster. Segal was his own first subject, and his wife applied the plaster. Soon, friends and family became the models for the anonymous, abstractly white figures with their frozen, matter-of-fact gestures. After the 1960s Segal changed his technique, pouring liquid plaster into the plaster casts, thereby achieving more detailed figures, which he would sometimes paint or cast in bronze.