Virtual Art Tour

George Lundeen, American, born 1948

The Classics

Born in Holdrege, NE, painter and sculptor George Lundeen now resides in Loveland, CO. Drawing came easy for Lundeen and, even as a child, he knew he was going to be an artist. Lundeen earned his BA from Hastings College, NE, in 1971; his MFA from the University of Illinois in 1973; and studied at the Academia de Belle Arte in Florence, Italy in 1973 and 1974.

After teaching for one year, he knew he had to sculpt full-time. Lundeen has been honored by many during his career including the National Sculptural Society, Allied Artists of America, the National Academy of Design, the North American Sculptural Exhibition and the Central Academy of Art in Peking, China.

“The Classics” was originally created as a commission for a hospital. The 14-year-old boy that is depicted as reading to the two younger children in this sculpture has Downe’s Syndrome. In a 1996 interview in Art of the West magazine, Lundeen talked about creating emotion in bronze. He explained that at a recent dedication of “The Classics” at the University of Nebraska two youngsters scurried up to the sculpture and started climbing on it. While the children’s mother was appalled, Lundeen was pleased. He said, “It’s really nice when people get involved in sculpture and want to touch it. It’s a compliment when someone touches it. Wouldn’t it be terrible if someone didn’t want to touch it? It would be like having a baby that no one wanted to touch and thinking ‘boy do I have an ugly baby.’”

Lundeen’s subject matter is people. His love for people shows through in the emotions that he creates in his figurative sculptures. He always carries a piece of clay or a pencil and a sketchpad or a camera to capture a human moment. Lundeen once said that he has so many ideas for figurative sculptures that it will take a lifetime or two to complete them all.