George Segal Street Crossing

Street Crossing (1992), a sculpture that George Segal (1924–2000, b. New York City, NY) made in 1992, shows a scattering of figures in the act of moving through a fictional crossroads. Caught in an ambiguous psychological terrain, the seven figures seem blind to one another and to their surroundings. Segal had a particular ability to elevate mundane day-to-day activities into a lyrical or elegiac display, depicting his subjects with their guard down and in a naturalistic stance. In the early 1960s, he became known for making works in plaster, which he created by covering his subjects entirely in dry plaster bandages. He began working in bronze in the 1970s; his works in this medium, including Street Crossing, retain the rough-hewn texture of his familiar plaster cast technique.

In addition to this temporary presentation of Street Crossing, there are two sculptures by George Segal in New York’s public spaces, both of which are on permanent view: Gay Liberation (1980) at Sheridan Square and The Commuters, Next Departure (1981) at Port Authority Terminal.