About
My art is not about fooling people. It’s the human attitudes I’m after—fatigue, a bit of frustration, rejection. To me, there is a kind of beauty in all this.
—Duane Hanson
With a sculptural practice centered on hyperrealistic depictions of ordinary working-class subjects, Duane Hanson (1925–1996) created a distinctive body of work that tests the boundaries between reality and its representation. Eschewing the abstract art of the 1950s and ’60s, Hanson pursued a figurative approach in line with Pop art’s return to representation. His directness and unflinching eye for contemporary American life resulted in socially conscious sculptures that are at once familiar and poignant.
Born in 1925 in Alexandria, Minnesota, Hanson received a BA from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He later completed an MFA in sculpture at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he studied with Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. After finishing graduate school, Hanson took a position teaching art in Germany; it was there that he was introduced to the fiberglass and polyester resin sculptures of George Grygo, which would become an important material influence for him. After returning to the United States in the early 1960s, Hanson moved between Atlanta, Miami, and New York, finally settling in Davie, Florida, in 1973.
In 1967, after briefly experimenting with abstraction, Hanson began working with live models and produced his first life-size figurative sculpture. The earliest examples of his mature style depict multiple subjects frozen in mid-motion (such as football players during a game-winning catch), often set within a dramatic vignette. The sculptures frequently focus on timely—and sometimes violent—sociopolitical themes. Abortion (1965), made in response to the restrictive abortion laws of the era, shows a dead pregnant woman; Race Riot (1968) portrays a scene of racial conflict and police brutality; and War (1969), a protest against the Vietnam War, presents a group of dead and dying soldiers. Around 1970, Hanson arrived at what would become his signature style, in which subjects assume a relaxed, lifelike posture, often as if caught in a moment of passive self-absorption. Rather than being physically set apart, these sculptures inhabit the same space as the viewer, their exacting and unidealized realism often prompting unnerving or momentarily perplexing experiences. Hanson’s figures are tourists, consumers, security guards, construction workers, and cowboys—working- and middle-class subjects who are both underrepresented in art and distinctly American.
Photo: courtesy Estate of Duane Hanson
#DuaneHanson
Exhibitions
Duane Hanson at Fondation Beyeler
To celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, staged an exhibition entitled Jubiläumsausstellung—Special Guest Duane Hanson. The presentation featured several sculptures by Duane Hanson alongside more than one hundred works from the foundation’s collection. Alice Godwin considers the fertile dialogues produced by these juxtapositions.
Unreal Americans
Benjamin Nugent reflects on questions of verisimilitude and American life in the group exhibition I Don’t Like Fiction, I Like History at Gagosian, Beverly Hills.
Fairs, Events & Announcements
Art Fair
Felix Art Fair 2021
July 29–August 1, 2021
Hollywood Roosevelt, Los Angeles
felixfair.com
Gagosian is pleased to participate, for the first time, in the Felix Art Fair at the Hollywood Roosevelt, with a presentation of contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, and works on paper.
Duane Hanson, High School Student, 1990–92, 1 of 2 unique versions © 2021 Estate of Duane Hanson/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Talk
In Focus
Duane Hanson, Taryn Simon, Jeff Wall
Thursday, August 20, 2020, 5pm EDT
Join Gagosian for a trio of online presentations to learn about the ways Duane Hanson, Taryn Simon, and Jeff Wall approach photography as a generative practice and notions of truth and reality. Andy Avini will explain how Hanson’s figures take on new meaning in a photographic context, Louise Neri will speak about the intersection of photography in Simon’s multidisciplinary practice, and Graham Dalik will discuss how Wall changes photography’s relationship to truth through influence from other art forms. To join, register at zoom.us.
Jeff Wall, Pawnshop, 2009 © Jeff Wall
Tour
American Pastoral
Thursday, March 5, 2020, 6:30pm
Gagosian, Britannia Street, London
Join Gagosian for a tour of the group exhibition American Pastoral. The show juxtaposes modern and contemporary works with historical American landscapes ranging from Albert Bierstadt’s depiction of the sublime in Sunset over the River (1877) to Edward Hopper’s tranquil seaside scene, Gloucester Harbor (1926). Gagosian’s Alice Godwin will focus on a select grouping of exhibited works that seek to challenge the idealized vision of the American Dream that has long been a rich topic of inquiry for artists in the United States. To attend the free event, RSVP to londontours@gagosian.com. Space is limited.
Installation view, American Pastoral, Gagosian, Britannia Street, London, January 23–March 14, 2020. Artwork, left to right: © Theaster Gates, © Adam McEwen, Thomas Moran, © Richard Prince, © Banks Violette, © Ed Ruscha. Photo: Lucy Dawkins
Museum Exhibitions
Just Opened
Effetto Notte
Nuovo Realismo Americano
Through July 14, 2024
Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome
barberinicorsini.org
This exhibition’s title was borrowed from a work by Lorna Simpson, Day for Night (2018), which translates to Effetto Notte in Italian. Curated by Massimiliano Gioni and Flaminia Gennari Santori in collaboration with the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, the exhibition features more than 150 artworks from the collection of Tony and Elham Salamé that interrogate the meanings and functions of figuration in contemporary art and address questions around the notion of realism and the representation of truth in painting. Work by Derrick Adams, Louise Bonnet, Maurizio Cattelan, Urs Fischer, Theaster Gates, Duane Hanson, Rick Lowe, Richard Prince, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Sterling Ruby, Anna Weyant, Stanley Whitney, and Christopher Wool is included.
Richard Prince, Untitled, 2015, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut © Richard Prince
Closed
Duane Hanson in
Hyperréalisme: Ceci n’est pas un corps
September 8, 2022–March 5, 2023
Musée Maillol, Paris
www.museemaillol.com
This exhibition, whose title translates to Hyperrealism: This Is Not a Body, traces this artistic current from the 1960s to the present through more than forty sculptures by international artists. Some works strive to portray the human body in the most faithful and lifelike representation possible, while others question the notion of reality. Work by Duane Hanson is included.
Duane Hanson, Two Workers, 1993, Siftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland © 2022 Estate of Duane Hanson/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Axel Thünker
Closed
To Begin Again
Artists and Childhood
October 6, 2022–February 26, 2023
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
www.icaboston.org
To Begin Again investigates the influence of childhood and children on visual artists from the early twentieth century to today. Through painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and video by a group of forty international and intergenerational artists, this exhibition illustrates the diverse experiences of this phase of life and engages childhood as an intellectual query into language and learning. Work by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Duane Hanson is included.
Duane Hanson, Child with Puzzle, 1978 © 2023 Estate of Duane Hanson/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Closed
Jubiläumsausstellung—Special Guest Duane Hanson
October 30, 2022–January 8, 2023
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel
www.fondationbeyeler.ch
This exhibition, whose title translates to Anniversary Exhibition—Special Guest Duane Hanson, features more than one hundred works from the foundation’s collection, from modern to contemporary art, to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the institution. Several hyperrealist sculptures by Duane Hanson enrich the presentation, opening up surprising perspectives on the exhibited artworks, architecture, staff, and visitors. Work by Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Alberto Giacometti, Anselm Kiefer, Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Rachel Whiteread is included.
Installation view, Jubiläumsausstellung—Special Guest Duane Hanson, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, October 30, 2022–January 8, 2023. Artwork, front to back: © 2022 Estate of Duane Hanson/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein