Post War Objects — A1241: Finds under 5,000
Joseph Cornell was an American visual artist and film-maker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmmaker. He was largely self-taught in his artistic efforts, and improvised his own original style incorporating cast-off and discarded artifacts. He lived most of his life in relative physical isolation, caring for his mother and his disabled brother at home, but remained aware of and in contact with other contemporary artists.
Ernst Fuchs was an Austrian painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. In 1972, he acquired the derelict Otto Wagner Villa in Hütteldorf, which he restored and transformed. The villa was inaugurated as the Ernst Fuchs Museum in 1988.
Wolf Vostell was a German artist who is considered a pioneer of video and installation art, and a key figure in the Fluxus movement. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wuppertal and later at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Vostell's art was heavily influenced by the horrors of World War II, and he often incorporated themes of violence and destruction in his work. He was interested in exploring the relationship between art and technology, and he experimented with new media such as television, video, and sound.
One of Vostell's most famous works is "Concrete Traffic," a 1970 installation in which he placed a Cadillac in a block of concrete. The piece was intended to comment on the impact of automobile culture on society and the environment.
Another notable work is "TV-Burying," a performance piece in which Vostell buried a television set in the ground, with only the screen visible. The work was a commentary on the pervasive influence of television on modern life.
Vostell's work has been exhibited extensively around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Biennale, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
