Duane Hanson

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Realistic Representation

• Duane Hanson

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"I'm not duplicating life. I'm making a statement
about human values," - Duane Hanson
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Enduring Understanding

• Through the study of these artworks,
• students discover
• 1.Why naturalism is selected as a means of
  expression.
• 2.How artists use the mechanism of realistic
  representation to realise its purpose and
  function.

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Essential Questions

• Overarching Questions
• 1. What are the criteria for a realistic artwork?
  
• 2. How do artists use realistic representation to
  express their artistic intentions?
• 3. How do artists use realistic representation as
  a mechanism to express social issues?
• Topical Questions
• 1. How is the subject matter in the artwork being
  represented?
• 2. Which artist is more successful in using
  realistic representation to express social
  issues?
• 3. Which artist is more successful in depicting a
  high level of technical skill?

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5W1H
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Keywords/phrases

• Hyperrealism
• Social Realism
• Sculpture
• Life-like
• Blur boundary between art and life
• Mundane everyday life
• Life casting

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Key Dates

• 1925 Born in Minnesota, America Midwest.
• 1944 Enrolled into the University of Washington
  in Seattle but never graduated from there.
• 1946 B.F.A. from Macalester College in Saint
  Paul.
• 1951 M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art in
  Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
• 1952 First solo exhibition at Wilton Gallery.
• 1961 Returned to US and taught at Oglethorpe
  College.
• 1996 Died of cancer due to over-exposure to his
  media.

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When

• The social and cultural happenings which affects
  the artist and his works

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When

• 1939-45 World War II.
• 1950s Abstract Expressionism
• indicated a shift away from naturalism toward
  abstraction
• 1955-69s Civil Rights Movement
• Racial Riots
• made his sculptures in the spirit of
  contemporaneous social protest and political
  agitation movements
• 1960s Pop Art
• encouraged Hanson to yield to his naturalistic
  inclinations

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When

• 1957-73 Vietnam War.
• 1971 High Unemployment
• Social Discontent
• 1980 Ronald Reagan (surge of confidence in
  the society but US became the worlds
  greatest debtor in economy)

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Where

• America, Florida
• Germany

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Where

• Germany (1953 to 1960 )
• began to experiment with synthetic media, in
  particular polyester resin and fiberglass
• America, NY (1960s)
• Social and political unrest

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His artworks
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Abortion, 1965 Clay, fibreglass and polyester
resin, 60 cm long
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War, 1967
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Race Riot, 1967
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• Housewife, 1970
• Polyester and fiberglass, polychromed in
  oil,with accessories Life-size

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Young Shopper, 1973 Polyester resin and
fibreglass, polychromed in oil with accessories,
life size
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Queenie II,1988 Polychromed bronze, with
accessories, life size
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Tourists II, 1988 Autobody filler, fibreglass
and mixed media, with accessories life size
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Drug Addict, 1974
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• Museum Guard,
• mixed media,
• 1975

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Man on a bench, 1977 Polyvinyl polychromed in oil
and mixed media with accessories,
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Which

• Photorealism
• Social Realism

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Which

• Photorealism (late 1960s to early 1970s)
• America witnessed a return to figurative painting
  in the 1960s as a challenge against Abstract
  Expressionism.
• A reaction against Minimalism.
• Realistic, detailed paintings and sculptures.
• Naturalistic form and illusionistic space-
  presented like flat snapshots, colour slides with
  photographic excellence.
• - Hugh Honour
• Copied from photographs
• Appear photographic
• Started from the States and spread to Europe.
• - Artlex-

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Abstract Expressionism

• A Brief Overview
• Technique
• Paint is applied rapidly, and with force to the
  huge canvases to show feelings and emotions.
• Artists paint gesturally, applying paint with
  large brushes, dripping or even throwing it onto
  canvas
• Subject Matter
• Usually no effort to represent subject matter.

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Abstract Expressionism

• A Brief Overview
• Philosophy
• Works depend on supposed accident and chance, but
  which is actually highly planned
• The spontaneity of the artists' approach to their
  work draws from and release the creativity of
  their unconscious minds.
• The expressive method of painting was often
  considered as important as the painting itself.

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Social Realism

• Also Realism with a capital R.
• Denotes a mid-19th century art movement of the
  realist school.
• Concerned with social realities.
• Showed facts rather than ideals.
• Rejected Academic Art (see next slide) and
  Romanticism.
• Dealt with the harshness of life- poverty, human
  degradation.

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Academic Art

• Art based on academic principles.
• Art academies originated from late 16th century
  Italy.
• These academies raised the social status of
  artists from that of an apprentice under the
  medieval system.
• Examples are Royal Academy of Art in London, and
  Académie des Beaux-Arts.
• These institutions stressed a system of art
  training that is strictly confined to a hierarchy
  of subjects.
• They are classified in ranking order according to
  historic painting first, then portraits and
  landscapes, and finally still-life and scenes of
  everyday life (ideals).
• It is this system and the system of official
  support that led to its demise- rejected by the
  modern artists.

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What

• Subject matter
• working-class Americans
• Themes
• Socio-Political Criticism
• Comical Caricature
• The Downtrodden

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What

• Subject Matter
• People of the middle or lower class.
• "slice-of-life" figures in their ordinary
  activities
• Stereotypes.
• Everyday heroes (those that work the nuts and
  bolts of the economy).
• Victims (eg. of racism)
• .

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What

• Socio-Political Criticism
• Ruling against abortion like Abortion, 1965.
• The lack of welfare like Welfare, 1967.
• Discrimination like Race Riot, 1967.
• Organized crime like Gangland Victim, 1967.
• Americas intervention in Vietnam like War, 1967

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What

• Comical Caricatures
• Satirical pieces on the society.
• Some examples- Tourists, 1970. Supermarket
  Shopper, 1970. Housewife, 1970. Sunbather, 1971.
  Lady with Shopping Bags, 1972.
• The Downtrodden
• People who fall behind in a rapidly evolving
  society.
• The mundane and banal side of America.
• Working class- those who work with their hands.

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What

• Showing reality of life using art
• Confusion between reality and fiction.
• Creating non-verbal communication between viewer
  and sculpture.

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What

• Paradox
• His lifelike figures seem incapable of escaping
  their situations.
• Yet
• the courage they show in enduring this fate
  expresses the dignity and nobility that Hanson
  found in the common American.

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Why

• Artist Intention/Philosophy
• Influences

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Why

• His philosophy
• Art is life and life is realistic.
• Farming environment shaped his moral character-
  respected those earning a living doing manual
  labour.
• "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."
• - Duane Hanson

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Why

• His Intention
• To express his critical view of life/reality
  through art
• To create public awareness.
• To show the mundane everyday lives of Americans
  by capturing hidden sentiment such as emptiness.
• to represent a cross-section of American society
  by focusing on the singularities of individuals

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Why

• His Intention
• to evoke emotional responses from the audience by
  communicating the internal attitudes and
  experiences of his subjects
• audience forced to face challenging issues
  without the psychic distancing inherent to
  television and newspaper reports
• invade reality in an urgent and physical way
  as three-dimensional forms, usually life-size,
  sharing viewers' space and incorporating real
  objects

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Why

• Influences
• He met Alonzo Hauser and John Rood (sculptors) in
  Minnesota (see next slide).
• He was impressed with Roods figural works.
• He went to Munich to teach at schools affiliated
  with the American army for a period of four
  years.
• He met George Gryo, a sculptor who worked with
  polyester resin and fiberglass
• He returned to US in 1961 and taught at
  Oglethorpe College, and began experimenting with
  polyester resin. (No one at that time was using
  the medium).

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Samples by Hauser and Rood
Female Figure, 1939 by John Rood Wood , 43.2 x
30.5 cm
"Buckminster" Fuller, 1953 by Alonzo Hauser
Bronze, 14"
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Why

• Influences
• He moved to Miami in 1965 and began a new
  teaching career with Miami Dade College. This is
  where he became interested in George Segal and
  Jasper Johns.
• These artists viewed the banality and triviality
  of everyday life as iconographic material.
• He was later impressed by the two-dimensional
  works of the Photorealists.

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Influence from George Segal
Street Crossing, 1992Bronze with white patina,
Depression Bread Line, 1999cast bronze 2/7, 108"
x 148" x 36"
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How

• Techniques/Medium

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How

• He began to cast from live models in 1967.
• He had to exaggerate the light and shade,
  particularly around the eyes to achieve a
  realistic effect.
• Sculptures have blank look like robots,
  introspective, emotional indifference, depression
• He usually chose poses that are in a state of
  repose or static in between activities

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How

• Process of his sculpture
• Tried to determine pose (usually typical of
  character) by taking photos of live models until
  satisfied with figures position.
• Formed molds of each part of the subjects body.
• Dried molds were cut off from the model.
• Molds filled with flesh coloured polyester resin
  reinforced with fibreglass.

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How

• Process of his sculpture
• Working from feet up, body parts re-assembled to
  create figure that looks natural.
• Painted cast sculptures with acrylic first, then
  oil paint.
• Added materials- nail polish applied on
  fingernails, wigs for hair, aging clothes with
  dirt, bleach or paint.

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How (Summary)

• Medium
• polyester resin and fibreglass
• Acrylic
• Oil paint
• Readymades (eg. Nail polish, wig)

What are readymades? Go and research on it.
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How (Summary)

• Technique
• Take photos of model
• Form and fill molds
• Reassemble different parts of body
• Paint the sculpture
• Accessorise with readymades

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Reference

• Buchsteiner, T and Letze, O. (Ed). (2007)
• Duane Hanson Sculptures of the American
• Dream. Germany Hatje Cantz
• http//www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/hanson_duane.
  html
• http//www.designboom.com/eng/funclub/duanehanson.
  html
• Video links
• Hyper-Realist Sculpture (John De Andrea and Duane
  Hanson)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-vP_2NT8IJQ