Collection: Duane Hanson

Duane Hanson (1925–1996) was an American sculptor known for life-size figures cast from living models in polyester resin and fibreglass, painted, and dressed in real clothes; his work is closely associated with American hyperrealism and Pop. Born in Alexandria, Minnesota, he began casting figures in the mid-1960s with confrontational scenes of violence and social unrest, including Riot (1967), Vietnam Scene (1969) and Race Riot (1969–71). In 1969, at Ivan Karp's urging, he moved to New York, where he showed at O.K. Harris Gallery; from around 1970 he turned to ordinary Americans — housewives, shoppers, tourists, workers and museum guards — presented without a plinth in the same space as the viewer. He took part in documenta 5 in 1972 and had solo exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (1975) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (1979). He died in Florida in 1996.