Saigon Shell Station

Anthony Hernandez

born 1947

Saigon Shell Station, 1974

Where object was made: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 19.7 x 30.1 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 7 3/4 x 11 7/8 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 x 19 in

Credit line: Gift of Connie and Jack Glenn

Accession number: 1986.0239

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Teaching Gallery Label:
“Changing the World: Images of Revolution,” Feb-2009, Kate Meyer
Vietnam veteran Anthony Hernandez captures a scene of austerity and stillness in this image of a gas station in Saigon. Serving a tour of duty with the U.S. Army in 1968, Hernandez returned to Vietnam and photographed the changing city in a year when tens of thousands of U.S. troops were withdrawn from the conflict. The tension between a surreal, unpopulated cityscape in the midst of a busy, war-torn city juxtaposed with an image of the astronauts on the moon elucidates questions about the future of the city and the reasons for the ghostly, vacated scene. Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City in 1975, when the city entered North Vietnamese control.

Exhibition Label:
"Views of Vietnam," Oct-2006, Steve Goddard
Vietnam veteran Anthony Hernandez captures a scene of austerity and stillness in this 1972 image of a gas station in Saigon. Serving a tour of duty with the U.S. Army in 1968, Hernandez returned to Vietnam and photographed the changing city in a year when tens of thousands of U.S. troops were withdrawn from the conflict. The tension between a surreal, unpopulated cityscape in the midst of a busy, war-torn city juxtaposed with an image of the astronauts on the moon elucidates questions about the future of the city and the reasons for the ghostly, vacated scene. Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City in 1975, when the city entered North Vietnamese control.

Archive Label 2003:
Hernandez makes pictures of signs that examine how American culture is represented. In this photograph a mural depicting the first moonwalk, a symbol of American pride, is used to advertise Shell oil. Hernandez suggests that perhaps Americans value their economic power more than their cultural or political ideals.