George Segal has enlivened contemporary sculpture with his evocative plaster figures, cast directly from the model and often left a ghostly white. He is best known for his down-to-earth scenes of humble characters in urban environments--a butcher shop, a diner, a local cinema. The familiarity of such mundane surroundings makes Segal's work, at first glance, look deceptively simple. However, as Phyllis Tuchman persuasively explains in her lively and enlightening text, the apparent simplicity of Segal's sculpture masks a rich complexity of meaning. More recent and more colorful work--including the bronze monuments, fragments, and pastels--are also thoroughly represented in the book.

About Abbeville's Modern Masters series: