Modern Times

Ralph Fasanella, Modern Times, 1966, oil on canvas, 49 ³⁄₄ x 104 in. (126.4 x 264.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Maurice and Margo Cohen, Birmingham, MI, 2002.10, © 1966, Estate of Ralph Fasanella

Artwork Details

Title: Modern Times
Artist: Ralph Fasanella
Date: 1966
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 49 ³⁄₄ x 104 in. (126.4 x 264.1 cm)
Copyright: © 1966, Estate of Ralph Fasanella
Credit Line: Gift of Maurice and Margo Cohen, Birmingham, MI
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Figure group
Cityscape — imaginary
Object Number: 2002.10
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2002.10

Artwork Description

By the mid-1960s, Fasanella was disheartened by the arrogance and self-centeredness that, to him, defined the counterculture movement. Modern Times proposes a futuristic urban scene in which an impersonal and technological society has displaced one of humanity and unity.

Fasanella completed this work following Pope Paul VI’s 1965 visit to Yankee Stadium. In it he contrasts humanistic subjects such as the papal visit, images of workers, protesters, strikers, and returning soldiers with the detached, intellectual side of society—the worlds of science, technology, and fine arts. Fasanella felt the elitist art world had pigeonholed him as “primitive and stupid.” He ardently believed that art didn’t have to be aloof or conceptual; it was a tool to be wielded like a hammer.