Don’t Miss – Paris: Duane Hanson ‘Illusions Perdues’ at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin Through July 11, 2009

June 30th, 2009


A look at the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

Through July 11, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin is showing works by the late sculptor Duane Hanson.  The exhibition, titled “Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions),” is comprised of hyper-realistic depictions of lost souls, and loneliness, or taken literally, illusions of the lost.

Related links:
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin
Duane Hanson Biography [Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin]
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin – Duane Hanson [ArtSlant]


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

In this series, Hanson depicts the everyday, in both a scathing and lamenting indictment of the “American way of life.”  Present is the obesity on which contemporary artists often comment, and an air of discontent.  Fiberglass and resin allowed the artist to expose the particulars of his models, “people, workers, the elderly, all these people I [Hanson] see with sympathy and affection… the people who… now and then show the hard work and the frustration.”


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. via Culture Kings.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

Born in Alexandria, Minnesota in 1925, Hanson attended both Luther College and the University of Washington, before graduating from Macalaster College in 1946.  He left a career teaching high school art to enroll in Cranbrook Academy’s MFA program, and upon obtaining the degree worked as a sculptor until his death from cancer in 1996.  His sculptural scenes are often controversial, and violent: Race Riot featured African American rioters and white policemen attacking each other, and corpses of American soldiers comprise Vietnam Scene. This exhibition is a relatively mild Hanson series.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


A look at the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. via Parish Nation.

Duane Hanson has had solo shows at the Saatchi Gallery, London; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; O’Hara Gallery, New York; Daimaru Museum of Art, Tokyo; Neue Galerie des Stadt Linz, Wolfgang-Gurlitt-Museum, Linz, Austira; Pennsylvania Academy of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and more.  Since his death, both the Columbus Museum of Art and the Michener Museum of Art have hosted retrospectives of his work, and the series “Sculptures of the American Dream” has been hosted by galleries across Europe.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.


From the Duane Hanson exhibition at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.

– Rivka Fogel