George Segal, awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1999, was an American sculptor best known for his life-sized plaster figures. Working within the Pop Art movement, he developed a casting technique using plaster bandages on live models. His public works include The Holocaust Memorial in San Francisco and Gay Liberation in New York, one of the earliest U.S. monuments to LGBTQ+ rights. Segal’s figures, often placed in everyday settings like diners or bus stops, are held in major museums and public collections worldwide.