Robert M. Wilson

This pairing combines a Windsor chair—a design associated with colonial America—with a two-part sculpture inspired by Wilson’s 12-hour opera The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin (1973). Together, these works suggest how the past, present, and future history of the United States has been affected by its relationship with Russia, from the Cold War to controversies surrounding the most recent presidential election. The placement here echoes the seating arrangements at meetings between heads of the two states.

[see also: 2003.138.1]