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George Segal — The Dancers
George Segal

The Dancers

1971

Frozen mid-movement yet utterly still, George Segal's "The Dancers" (1971) presents two life-sized plaster figures caught in the intimate grammar of dance, their ghostly white surfaces preserving every crease of fabric and contour of flesh in Segal's signature direct-cast technique. At 179 by 274 by 183 centimeters, the work commands physical space with quiet authority, drawing the viewer into close proximity with forms that feel simultaneously anonymous and deeply human. The rough, chalky texture of the plaster amplifies this paradox, conjuring figures that are recognizable in gesture yet stripped of individual identity, suspended between presence and absence. Segal developed his casting process in the early 1960s by wrapping living subjects in plaster-soaked bandages, a method that made the body itself the primary instrument of artistic production. By 1971, when "The Dancers" was completed, he had refined this approach into a mature and philosophically resonant practice, one that consistently returned to the rituals of everyday American life, including labor, leisure, and social ceremony. Dance, as subject matter, allowed Segal to explore the charged space between two people, the weight of touch, the tension of balance, and the momentary trust that physical partnership requires. Works of this scale and period represent Segal at the height of his powers, and "The Dancers" carries both the documentary intimacy of his method and the broader existential register that distinguished his output from the cooler ironies of Pop Art contemporaries. Offered through Galerie Templon, this is a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial sculptural statement from one of postwar America's most quietly compelling figurative artists.

Medium
Plâtre / Plaster
Overall
Signed
Yes
Location
Templon, Paris

For Sale — $1000000

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About this work

George Segal, The Dancers, 1971

Frozen mid-movement yet utterly still, George Segal's "The Dancers" (1971) presents two life-sized plaster figures caught in the intimate grammar of dance, their ghostly white surfaces preserving every crease of fabric and contour of flesh in Segal's signature direct-cast technique. At 179 by 274 by 183 centimeters, the work commands physical space with quiet authority, drawing the viewer into close proximity with forms that feel simultaneously anonymous and deeply human. The rough, chalky texture of the plaster amplifies this paradox, conjuring figures that are recognizable in gesture yet stripped of individual identity, suspended between presence and absence. Segal developed his casting process in the early 1960s by wrapping living subjects in plaster-soaked bandages, a method that made the body itself the primary instrument of artistic production. By 1971, when "The Dancers" was completed, he had refined this approach into a mature and philosophically resonant practice, one that consistently returned to the rituals of everyday American life, including labor, leisure, and social ceremony. Dance, as subject matter, allowed Segal to explore the charged space between two people, the weight of touch, the tension of balance, and the momentary trust that physical partnership requires. Works of this scale and period represent Segal at the height of his powers, and "The Dancers" carries both the documentary intimacy of his method and the broader existential register that distinguished his output from the cooler ironies of Pop Art contemporaries. Offered through Galerie Templon, this is a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial sculptural statement from one of postwar America's most quietly compelling figurative artists.

Medium
Plâtre / Plaster
Dimensions
overall: 179 x 274 x 183 cm
Year
1971
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Templon, Paris

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Collected by

Sharrissa Iqbal