Duane Hanson’s sculpture is so life-like, it’s hard to discern viewers from the art on display at the Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pa.
By: Jillian Kalonick
At the bottom of the steps leading down to the exhibition Duane Hanson: Real Life in the Michener Museum’s Wachovia Gallery, there were two men standing watch. Since Mr. Hanson’s works are extremely life-like, and he made several "Security Guard" sculptures, I assumed both were artworks, and jumped when one came forward to ask for my admission sticker.
Later, while standing among the works in the exhibition, I was the one who surprised a viewer when I began taking notes. Apparently after a long period of being still, I was mistaken for a Hanson piece. This happened twice. The gallery began to feel very crowded. I wondered: Which was more disconcerting the haunting feeling that a Hanson piece was going to come alive any second, or knowing I could easily be mistaken for a 1970s-era sculpture?
"Some people have an uncomfortable feeling with my work, especially those who haven’t seen it before," Mr. Hanson said in an interview by Kirk Varnedoe for his 1985 book Duane Hanson. "It troubled me for a long time until I figured it out, why it troubled them. I think that since it isn’t alive, they feel somehow it must be dead, and then there’s an uncomfortable psychological feeling."
In fact, the 14 life-size pieces in Real Life, on view at the museum through Jan. 14, are strikingly realistic. They have moles, back fat, sunburn, varicose veins and comb-overs. They have accessories, often donated by the person who modeled for the sculpture. They are life-size, cast from the artist’s family, friends and acquaintances. They have acrylic eyes, and though they never make eye contact with you, they definitely seem to be looking at your feet.
Mr. Hanson was born in Alexandria, Minn., in 1925, the son of Dewey O. Hanson, a dairy farmer and a milkman, and Agnes Nelson Hanson. After graduating from Macalester College and earning a master’s degree in fine arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, he lived in Germany and was an art teacher for the U.S. Army school. After moving back to the States, he taught at the University of Atlanta and then Dade Community College in Miami, Fla., where he was banned from producing sculpture on campus after creating a piece titled "Abortion," which depicted a young, pregnant girl on a table covered by a white sheet. Mr. Hanson created several more political sculptures until he moved to New York City in 1969, and began focusing more on individual people. Mr. Hanson died of cancer in 1996.
During a lecture at the Michener, Mr. Hanson’s widow, Wesla Hanson, discussed his process of making sculptures, the family members, friends and acquaintances who modeled for him, and the artists who were inspired by his work. Ms. Hanson stepped in for her daughter, Maja Hanson Currier, who is pregnant with twins.
While the family was living in Davie, Fla., where Ms. Hanson still resides, her husband generally worked from mid-morning to midnight, taking breaks for meals and family activities. "Since we were living in south Florida, shopping was a popular source of inspiration for Duane," Ms. Hanson says. Many of his sculptures are weighed down with bags, such as one of his most famous, "The Shoppers" (1976), and several pieces from Real Life, like "Flea Market Lady" (1990), "Man with Camera" (1991) and "Sunbather" (1995), look as if they were plucked directly from Palm Beach or Miami.
Ms. Hanson modeled for her husband twice one piece is "Bunny," which looks like one of Hugh Hefner’s girls. Maja and Duane Jr. were models for their father as well; in Real Life, they both helped out with "Children Playing Game" (1979) and Maja was the model for "Child with Puzzle" (1978) and "Cheerleader" (1988). "Old Man Playing Solitaire" is Mr. Hanson’s father, and Mr. Hanson himself modeled for "Self Portrait with Model" (1979) in Real Life, and a self-portrait from 1976, "in a leisure suit from 1976," notes Ms. Hanson. "Beagle in a Basket" (1979) was cast from the family dog after it passed away.
In addition to the 14 sculptures, Real Life also exhibits the Polaroid and Kodak Instant Prints that Mr. Hanson took as the first part of the process of creating a sculpture, which have never been exhibited before. A sculpture usually took Mr. Hanson six months, Ms. Hanson says, from the time he began photographing a model to the point at which he was satisfied with the work.
Following a photography session, a cast was made from the model, who shaved his or her body hair and was greased with petroleum jelly to make sure the casting material, a fast-setting silicone rubber, could easily be removed. The leg, torso, arm and head molds were done separately. Mr. Hanson made a positive mold by pouring flesh-colored liquid polyester resin reinforced with fiberglass into the mold. After making each part, he occasionally swapped body parts from different molds, and reworked the surface.
After painting the sculpture, hair was added with a needle, incorporating gray, black and yellow hair for a realistic effect (though in some sculptures, wigs were used). Then accessories were added, donated from the model, or often bought at thrift shops or clothing stores, and sometimes aged with mud, bleach or paint. "Process was truly a means to an end for Duane," says Ms. Hanson, though those who see the sculptures are often intensely curious about how they were made.
Most works in Real Life are made of bondo (auto body filler), though three are polyvinyl, and one version of "Man on Mower" is bronze, which Mr. Hanson began working with in the ’90s. It’s impossible to tell the difference between the bronze and bondo sculptures unless you tap on them, says Ms. Hanson.
Mr. Hanson’s sculptures are often "put to work" in other areas of the museum during an exhibition of his work at the Michener, "Queenie II" (1988) is cleaning an upstairs gallery and "Housepainter" (1988) has smeared pink paint over a sign for the "Visual Heritage of Bucks County" exhibition.
Though it never interferes with the realism or the meaning in Mr. Hanson’s work, humor is present in a few pieces. "Flea Market Lady" is reading a magazine article about the artist titled "Is it Live or is it Hanson?" The round woman in "Self Portrait with Model," who is wearing a housecoat and appears to have just polished off an ice cream sundae, is studying a story called "Relax and Lose Weight." When the Miami Dolphins football team objected to the sculpture "Football Player," which sported accessories bearing the team’s logo, the Hansons responded by offering to change the piece to a New York Jets player, Ms. Hanson says. The Dolphins rescinded, and offered Hanson use of authentic, used Miami gear.
Several artists working today count Hanson among their influences, says Ms. Hanson, including Gavin Turk, Ron Mueck, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Charles Ray. Hanson and Andy Warhol were going to do portraits of each other, but Warhol died before the project began.
Most of Mr. Hanson’s sculptures are based on people who might be otherwise unremarkable, but in a gallery setting they’re impossible to dismiss. "Sometimes artists open our eyes to the world as it is, simply by showing us things that we pass by every day but have never truly seen or understood," writes exhibition curator and Michener CEO Bruce Katsiff. "Duane Hanson’s sculptures help us to see to know and value the forgotten souls who toil quietly around us in a culture that offers little recognition of their work and dignity."
In a room with Duane Hanson’s sculptures, when it can be difficult to tell who is real, people become the objects of a viewer’s gaze as well. When is it OK to look directly at people, and by examining their facial expressions, clothing and accessories, try to determine what kind of person they are?
"I’m not duplicating life, I’m making a statement about human values," Mr. Hanson says in quote included in the exhibition. "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."
Though Real Life includes much information about how Mr. Hanson made his art, he might have wanted viewers just to look at it. "I believe the making of art should remain a mystery, just like the magician who makes objects appear out of nowhere," he says. "To dwell on theories is not only boring and self-serving, but also helps to erode the magic."
Duane Hanson: Real Life is on view at the Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, Pa., through Jan. 14. Hours: Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m. Admission costs $6.50, $6 seniors, $4 students/children, under 6 free. $6 special exhibition fee. For information, call (215) 340-9800. On the Web: www.michenermuseum.org

