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Duane Hanson: Real Life

Presented by South Bend Regional Museum of Art at South Bend Museum of Art

June 2-September 9, 2007

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The South Bend Regional Museum of Art is pleased to announce Duane Hanson: Real Life on view from June 2 through September 9, 2007. Hanson used ordinary people as his main subject and became one of the most important American sculptors of the twentieth century. This traveling exhibition, organized by Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA, is the first comprehensive exhibition of his work in Indiana. Upon encountering one of these extraordinarily realistic sculptures, the typical reaction of a museum visitor unfamiliar with Duane Hanson's work can be among the most interesting and amusing events one might witness in a museum or gallery. Hanson's sculptures could be often dismissed as people at rest--sitting or standing like any other visitor. Without close viewing, many visitors may never know that those people they passed were actually artworks. Hanson (1925-1996) became famous for his lifelike sculptures of common people that were cast from live models, then painted in great detail and finished with hair, clothing, and accessories. Hanson's work is often mistakenly thought of as simply a form of extreme realism, but in fact it grew out of a highly developed social conscience. Real Life features 15 sculptures, 43 of Hanson's photographic studies and two landscape paintings. The exhibition is organized with the cooperation of the artist's wife Wesla Hanson. The work is borrowed from the family's personal collection, and includes such classic works as Queenie II (1988), Cheerleader (1988), Housepainter (1988), and Man on Mower (1995). Hanson was born in Alexandria, Minnesota, on January 17, 1925, in the agrarian culture of rural America. He recognized and admired ordinary people, such as laborers and the elderly, whom he believed had been marginalized by society. He received his BA from Macalester College in 1946 and his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1951. One solo exhibition in particular, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (1978), was influential in establishing Hanson as one of the leading sculptors of the late twentieth century. The exhibition unexpectedly attracted more than 297,000 visitors, thereby setting an attendance record for the museum. Hanson creates sculptures with a message that portrayed victims of social misery, suicide, poverty, rape, murder, racism and violence. In 1967, he made his first casts from living models, which inspired him to create more realistic sculptures. In the same year Hanson created works that reflected the turbulent social time, including War, Gangland Victim and Motorcycle Accident. Gangland Victim and Motorcycle Accident were exhibited at the Bacardi Museum in Miami, which caused civic protests. He began to focus more on individual people with a satirical approach, which can be observed in Race Riot and Football Players in 1968. In 1969, Hanson moved to New York City and created more than 25 sculptures over the next four years. His "sculptures of life" emulate emptiness, boredom, and aloneness of everyday life. Hanson's work depicts the clichés of American lower and middle class-life. He transformed the reality of life into the realism of art. We all come across Hanson's people in everyday life—at the post office or gas station, or while walking in town. "I'm not duplicating life, I'm making a statement about human values," Hanson said. "I show the empty-headedness, the fatigue, the aging, the frustration. These people can't keep up with the competition. They're left out, psychologically handicapped." Hanson's family and friends were often models for his sculptures. His children Maja and Duane helped out with Children Playing Game (1979), Child with Puzzle (1978), Cheerleader (1988) and Surfer (1987). Museum Guard (1975) has the head of Wesla Hanson's uncle. In 1971, Hanson was diagnosed with cancer. In 1995, he had a relapse, and died on January 6, 1996 at the age of 70. "I'm mostly interested in the human form as subject matter and means of expression for my sculpture. What can generate more interest, fascination, beauty, ugliness, joy, shock or contempt than a human being? Most of my time involves concentrating on the sculpting aspect. Casting, repairing, assembling, painting, correcting it until it pleases me. That takes some doing as I'm rarely satisfied." --Duane Hanson, Nov. 26, 1981 On the first and third Friday of the months during the exhibition, Real Life Friday will be offered to community groups involved in youth programming. The children will have a chance to learn more about Duane Hanson’s working methods by creating their own “Real Life” works of art in sculpture and photography. Organizations interested in attending should call Jessi Lentych, curator of education, at (574) 235-9102 to R.S.V.P. The museum’s Community Gallery will feature an Education Resource Center. The center will be available to the public and will include related books and videos for their use as well as hands-on activities and self-guided tours. A public reception and preview will be held on June 1 during Meet Me on the Island, 5:00–9:00 p.m.

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  • Venue Info

    South Bend Museum of Art

    120 S. St. Joseph Street
    South Bend, IN 46601

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  • Admission Info

    Tickets: There is a special exhibition fee of $5.00 for nonmembers/$4.00 for museum members for this exhibition only. All other galleries are free.

  • Dates & Times

    Dates:
    June 2-September 9, 2007

    Times:
    The galleries are open Tuesday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m.

  • Accessibility Info

    Currently, no accessibility information is available for this event.

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    • Event Name: Duane Hanson: Real Life
      "*****"
      Review posted by: Sara Evans from Mishawaka, IN, Jul 02, 2007
      

      Fabulous! What a fun, exciting and intriguing exhibition by a nationally known artist. My family and I had a great time trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. Don't miss this!!

      Fabulous! What a fun, exciting and intriguing exhibition by a nationally known artist. My family and I had a great time trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. Don't miss this!!

    • Event Name: Duane Hanson: Real Life
      "Beyond Realism"
      Review posted by: Gary Nicholls from South Bend, In, Jun 18, 2007
      

      This is an excellent exhibit of a sculptor using real life, everyday people as models for his sculptures. Traditional sculptors have used the model to capture heroic characters of the past and to... Expand

      This is an excellent exhibit of a sculptor using real life, everyday people as models for his sculptures. Traditional sculptors have used the model to capture heroic characters of the past and to cast them as dieties or mythological figures. But Mr. Hanson has captured ordinary people in ordinary poses to achieve something beyond the mythological sculptures of the past. His sculptures are able to connect with the viewer when sculptures of the past haven't been able to. This exhibit is an important exhibit to our community in that it allows the viewer to see Mr. Hansons sculptures locally without travelling to some distant city. It allows the viewer to try to comprehend what it was that the artist was trying to get across to the viewer. Sculpture isn't just for the elite but for the masses. This is a top notch exhibit and a must see. Collapse

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    • Event Name: Duane Hanson: Real Life
      "*****"
      Review posted by: Sara Evans from Mishawaka, IN, Jul 02, 2007
      

      Fabulous! What a fun, exciting and intriguing exhibition by a nationally known artist. My family and I had a great time trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. Don't miss this!!

      Fabulous! What a fun, exciting and intriguing exhibition by a nationally known artist. My family and I had a great time trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. Don't miss this!!

    • Event Name: Duane Hanson: Real Life
      "Beyond Realism"
      Review posted by: Gary Nicholls from South Bend, In, Jun 18, 2007
      

      This is an excellent exhibit of a sculptor using real life, everyday people as models for his sculptures. Traditional sculptors have used the model to capture heroic characters of the past and to... Expand

      This is an excellent exhibit of a sculptor using real life, everyday people as models for his sculptures. Traditional sculptors have used the model to capture heroic characters of the past and to cast them as dieties or mythological figures. But Mr. Hanson has captured ordinary people in ordinary poses to achieve something beyond the mythological sculptures of the past. His sculptures are able to connect with the viewer when sculptures of the past haven't been able to. This exhibit is an important exhibit to our community in that it allows the viewer to see Mr. Hansons sculptures locally without travelling to some distant city. It allows the viewer to try to comprehend what it was that the artist was trying to get across to the viewer. Sculpture isn't just for the elite but for the masses. This is a top notch exhibit and a must see. Collapse

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