Milton Hebald
Harvest, 1957
Cast bronze
Gift of Saul Rosen
Currently off site for conservation.
The English novelist Anthony Burgess wrote that Milton Hebald was, “without doubt the most important living figure sculptor,” in 1971, yet also predicted that few would remember his name. At roughly the same time, however, art critic Henry Seldes concluded that, “Hebald, though greatly gifted, is simply inconsequential.” What led to such contradictory views of the same artist, and what can Harvest tell us about these opinions?
Hebald’s Harvest depicts a woman with a cocked hip stretching up to grasp a fruit. A child dangles from the branch holding the fruit. This sculpture can be used as a fountain, in which case water showers over the figures from holes in the branch. When you look at Harvest, does it seem like a typical figural sculpture, or does Hebald show bodies in a different and interesting way? Who or what is the harvest, here?