Photos By Gail

Since antiquity, nation states have used monumental figurative sculpture to convey authority, stability, glory, and heroism, thereby conferring status to ruling parties – whether dictators, monarchs, or democratically elected leaders.

In Vater Staat (Father State, 2010) German artist Thomas Schütte (b. 1954) critiques both authoritarian state power and the role that art has played in reinforcing it. The towering demagogue is severe, but also vulnerably frail – he is bound by his garments in a way that suggests he may have no body at all.

Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as Part of the 2025 Exhibit, All In Order.