Milton Hebald
Family Group, 1954
Cast bronze
Gift of Saul Rosen
Milton Hebald’s career got off to a very promising start. At the age of 8, one of his drawings was published in a department-store magazine, and at age 10 he became the youngest-ever student at the prestigious Art Students League in New York. He continued making sculptures up until his death at age 97, because as he stated, “They make me happy. That's what they're for. I wake up each morning and want to get to work.”
Hebald began this work, called Family Group, in 1952. The first version was placed on the exterior of the hospital attached to Albert Einstein University in the Bronx. The work consists of a mother, father, and their four children, placed parallel to the wall and off the ground, rather than standing in front of it on a pedestal. Think about the work’s original function, as well as its current placement. Why do you think Hebald chose this subject matter for a hospital? What effect does the figures’ placement on the wall have on the mood or tone of the work?