On View
On viewObject number1973/4.82
People
Artist
Kirk Newman
(American, 1926-2017)
Date1974
Mediumcast bronze
DimensionsOverall: 6 ft. 5 1/2 in. × 20 ft. 1 1/2 in. × 32 3/4 in. (196.9 × 613.4 × 83.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dorothy Upjohn Dalton
Exhibition History"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).Label TextLongtime director of the KIA school, Kirk Newman has also had an active career as a sculptor. In the early 1960s, he began using the lost-wax technique of bronze casting to create small sculptures of anonymous businessmen. In subsequent works, Newman expanded his subject matter to include satirical depictions of contemporary life.
People represents the artist’s first large-scale, public sculpture. It depicts a row of figures engaged in animated cocktail conversation. With loosened inhibitions, the participant’s true personalities start to emerge—note the man with a paper bag on his head. Newman humorously presented personality types, though some Kalamazoo residents found the figures bore more than a passing resemblance to local individuals. The original figures were created in plaster, a medium that the artist found ideal for developing both form and texture. He would later do similar pieces for locations in Toronto and Hong Kong.
