center image, a man pushing his head against a solid wall represents
the thesis central to much of modernist formalism—that the paint-
ing should be acknowledged as an object in its own right. In the im-
age on the right, Tansey summarizes the postmodern approach to
art with a chicken pondering its reflection in the mirror. The
chicken’s action reveals postmodern artists’ reflections on their place
in the art historical continuum.
HANS HAACKE Along with a conscious reappraisal of the pro-
cesses of art historical validation, postmodern artists have turned to
assessing art institutions, such as museums and galleries, and their role
in validating art. Many artists have also scrutinized the discriminatory
policies and politics of these cultural institutions. German artist Hans
Haacke(b. 1936) has focused his attention on the politics of art mu-
seums and how acquisition and exhibition policies affect the public’s
understanding of art history. The specificity of his works, based on
substantial research, makes them stinging indictments of the institu-
tions whose practices he critiques. In MetroMobiltan (FIG. 36-54),
Haacke illustrated the connection between the realm of art (more
specifically, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) and the
“real” world of political and economic interests.MetroMobiltan is a
large sculptural work that includes a photomural of a funeral for
South African black people. This photomural serves as the backdrop
for a banner for the 1980 Mobil Oil–sponsored Metropolitan Mu-
seum show Treasures of Ancient Nigeria.In 1980, Mobil was a princi-
pal U.S. investor in South Africa, and Haacke’s work suggests that
one of the driving forces behind Mobil’s sponsorship of this exhibi-
tion was the fact that Nigeria was one of the richest oil-producing
countries in Africa. In 1981 the public pressured Mobil’s board of di-
rectors to stop providing oil to the white South African military and
police. Printed on the blue banners hanging on either side ofMetro-
Mobiltan is the official corporate response refusing to comply with
this demand. Haacke set the entire tableau in a fiberglass replica of
the Metropolitan Museum’s entablature. By bringing together these
disparate visual and textual elements that make reference to the mu-
seum, Mobil Oil, and Africa, the artist forced viewers to think about
the connections among multinational corporations, political and
economic conditions in South Africa, and the conflicted politics of
corporate patronage of art exhibitions, thereby undermining the
public’s view that cultural institutions are exempt from political and
economic concerns.Architecture and Site-Specific Art
Some of the leading architects of the first half of the 20th century,
most notably Frank Lloyd Wright (FIGS. 35-77to 35-79), Le Cor-
busier (FIG. 35-75), and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (FIG. 35-74), con-
cluded their long and productive careers in the postwar period. At
the same time, younger architects rose to international prominence,
some working in the modernist idiom but others taking architec-
tural design in new directions, including postmodernism and De-
constructivism. Still, one common denominator exists in the diver-
sity of contemporary architectural design: the breaking down of
national boundaries, with major architects pursuing projects on sev-
eral continents (MAP36-1), often simultaneously.Modernism
In parallel with the progressive movement toward formal abstrac-
tion in painting and sculpture in the decades following World War
II, modernist architects became increasingly concerned with a for-
malism that stressed simplicity. They articulated this in buildings
that retained intriguing organic sculptural qualities, as well as in
buildings that adhered to a more rigid geometry.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHTThe last great building Frank Lloyd
Wright designed was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (FIG.
36-55), built in New York City between 1943 and 1959. Using rein-36-54Hans Haacke,
MetroMobiltan,1985.
Fiberglass construction,
three banners, and
photomural, 11 8 20
5 . Musée National
d’Art Moderne, Centre
Georges Pompidou,
Paris.
MetroMobiltanfocuses
attention on the
connections between
political and economic
conditions in South
Africa and the conflicted
politics of corporate
patronage of art
exhibitions.
1002 Chapter 36 EUROPE AND AMERICA AFTER 19451 ft.