Duane
Hanson
Duane
Hanson
Hanson
American, 1925 — 1996
The leader of hyperrealism, Duane Hanson seeks to create narrative sculptures that call the American way of life into question. His confoundingly realistic resin and fibreglass figures are cast from living models ("lifecasting"), resulting in genuine psychological and social portraits.
Far from glorifying the American social model, Hanson aims to reveal its dark side. He also finds "a kind of beauty" in "human attitudes such as fatigue, frustration and rejection". In the 1960s, War and Race Riot, featuring a policeman hitting a black man on the ground, brought viewers face-to-face with a violent reality. In Supermarket Lady and the Tourists series, Hanson meticulously and ironically depicts the archetypes of consumer society.
Born in 1925 on a farm in Alexandria, Minnesota, Hanson graduated from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. After spending time in Europe, he had his first solo show in New York in 1968, which sparked an outcry. He is now considered a leading proponent of American hyperrealism. His works in the Pinault Collection were exhibited for the first time during the "Debout !” (“Stand Up!”) show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes in 2018.
Far from glorifying the American social model, Hanson aims to reveal its dark side. He also finds "a kind of beauty" in "human attitudes such as fatigue, frustration and rejection". In the 1960s, War and Race Riot, featuring a policeman hitting a black man on the ground, brought viewers face-to-face with a violent reality. In Supermarket Lady and the Tourists series, Hanson meticulously and ironically depicts the archetypes of consumer society.
Born in 1925 on a farm in Alexandria, Minnesota, Hanson graduated from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. After spending time in Europe, he had his first solo show in New York in 1968, which sparked an outcry. He is now considered a leading proponent of American hyperrealism. His works in the Pinault Collection were exhibited for the first time during the "Debout !” (“Stand Up!”) show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes in 2018.
