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Label Text Gary Hume's art is distinguished by bright, expressive colors, luscious surfaces, and simplified forms. While the human figure and face have often been the subject of his work, imagery from childhood such as bears, rabbits, and the snowmen that make up these two works are also common themes. Hume is a painter as well as a sculptor, a fact suggested by the glossy, smooth surface of these sculptures that is unlike any other work in the park. The title Back of a Snowman plays a clever joke on the viewer, in which no amount of circling will reveal the snowman's front.
Published References"John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park", Lea Rosson DeLong, ed., Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1923, pp. 81-83
DimensionsOverall: 120 × 88 × 88 in., 4000 lb. (304.8 × 223.5 × 223.5 cm, 1814.4 kg.)
Other (circumference body): 264 in. (670.6 cm)
Other (circumference head): 120 in. (304.8 cm)
Accession Number 2015.14
Classificationssculpture
Edition1/2
Provenance(Matthew Marks Gallery, New York); John and Mary Pappajohn [purchased from previous, 2004]; Des Moines Art Center [gift from previous, 2015]

Images (1)

Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines

Audio (2)

Back of Snowman (Black)
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: © Cameron Campbell 2009
Tony Smith
1962, fabricated 2005
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Tony Smith
1961, fabricated 1989
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Tucker
1985
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Judith Shea
1990
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Joel Shapiro
1985
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Barry Flanagan
1997
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Louise Bourgeois
1997
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Deborah Butterfield
2009
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Deborah Butterfield
1989