George Segal, Sculptor, Pratt '47

"Although my mother an father said I'd never make a living at it, I always loved art and found it magical.  But it was Pratt that really inspired my earliest interest in fine art.

I actually felt guilty at Pratt because I enjoyed every class so much...the painting, the model drawing, especially the art education classes.  And like every other art student at the time, I was exposed to the forces of abstract expressionism.  It took a lot of nerve, but I found myself rebelling and refusing to give up my interest in the human body.  I drummed up the idea of taking ordinary people and placing them in very specific locations, which became known as 'environmental sculpture.'  It became accepted as one of the driving forces of the Pop Art movement.

When I was commissioned to create part of the FDR Memorial in Washington, I felt the Depression Bread Line seemed like the perfect image.  Funny enough, the figure at the head of the line is based on an old friend, the only person I know who actually stood on a real bread line."