Hans Haacke has scrutinized and challenged the social and political dynamics of the museum as an institution. His Cowboy with Cigarette (1990) takes issue with corporate sponsorship of museums by transforming Picasso's collage Man with a Hat (1912-13, from The Museum of Modern Art's collection) into a cigarette advertisement. He critiques Philip Morris's support of the Museum's exhibition Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Recreating the Picasso work using contemporary tobacco-related press clippings as well as Philip Morris company documents as collage elements, Haacke suggests that corporate patronage is not solely disinterested benevolence.
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Hans Haacke.
Cowboy with Cigarette. 1990.
Pasted paper, charcoal, ink, and frame, 37 x 31 x 2 3/8" (94 x 80 x 6 cm). Collection Joseph Lebon. Photo: courtesy John Weber Gallery, New York
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