Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Stempost, 1979

James Lee Hansen
(American, born 1925)

Location: Washington State University, Pullman

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Northwest artist James Lee Hansen created this large-scale steel sculpture for the Washington State University campus in Pullman. In his own words: " Stempost implies a life force (stem) and at the same time an immutable stability (post)." There is a tension between the sculpture’s soft organic shape and its hard materials and large size.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Washington State University.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Celebrated artist James Lee Hansen creates figurative and abstract sculptures. He has lived and worked in the Battle Ground area of Southwestern Washington since the 1950s.

Hansen was born in Tacoma, Western Washington in 1925. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II (1939-45) in the South Pacific. He used the GI Bill to study art at the Portland Art Museum School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon) and graduated in 1950. Bronze sculptures quickly became his main focus, and he built his own foundry and developed a hands-on approach to bronze casting.

Hansen’s sculptures are included in many museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and the Portland Art Museum (Oregon). He also taught at Portland State University for 26 years, among other universities, and was an influential teacher and mentor.