Montclair State University

MONTCLAIR, NJ - Sculptor George Segal created his art out of life's ordinary moments - waiting for a bus, drinking coffee in a diner, listening to the radio. According to Segal, daily life was "baffling, mysterious, and unfathomable." Segal's ghostly plaster-cast human replicas are cognitively complex, modernist, and formally intricate, while at the same time, humanly profound. Montclair State University's George Segal Gallery, named for the artist in 2006, will open its fall season on September 9 with a retrospective of the artist's work: George Segal: Modernist Humanist. This exhibit includes works from the collections of the George and Helen Segal Foundation, Carroll Janis, Inc., the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibit will run through December 11.

Curated by internationally renowned art critic and leading psychoanalyst Donald Kuspit, the exhibition will feature rarely seen sculptures from the 1960s onward, and later drawings that were pivotal to the development of Segal's work. Two significant examples are "Dancers," created in 1971, on loan from the Segal Foundation and Carroll Janis, and "Picasso's Chair," created in 1973, loaned by the Guggenheim Museum.

Kuspit examines Segal's work from a psychoanalytical perspective dividing Segal's career in to three phases: the early years as a painter, the pioneering sculptor, and the years of future mastery. His message is that George Segal was an artist who made a difference in 20th century art, with his sculpture serving as the quintessential link between abstraction and realism, and modernism and humanism.

A symposium celebrating the exhibit will take place on September 20 at 2:30 p.m. in Montclair State's University Hall, Phyllis and Gerald Leboff Auditorium, with a reception following at the Segal Gallery from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Moderated by Segal Gallery Director M. Teresa Lapid Rodriguez, the symposium will feature Exhibit Curator Donald Kuspit; Matthew Baigell, Ph.D., Rutgers University; and Carroll Janis, George Segal's agent. These events are being presented as part of Montclair State's centennial festival taking place on the campus throughout that same day.

George Segal: Modernist Humanist at the George Segal Gallery,
September 9 - December 11, 2008.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.,
Thursday. 12:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Free to the public.

Symposium fee: $30, (20% discount is offered to senior citizens)
Free with Montclair State and/or student ID.
Pre-registration is encouraged.

For tours and educational programs call (973) 655- 6941.

The George Segal Gallery is located behind the Alexander Kasser Theater on the 4th level of the Red Hawk Parking Deck.

For further information and directions please call (973) 655-3382.

Released: July 8, 2008

Article Entered Into News System: Tuesday, July 8 2008
Article Last Edited: Wednesday, July 1 2009