Postwar: Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945–1965

This unprecedented global survey of the art of the postwar era represents a comprehensive examination of the production of art across all continents, under the conditions engendered by World War II. Accompanying the exhibition Postwar: Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945–1965, this extensive catalogue presents the work of more than 200 artists from over 50 countries. Uniquely, it understands the term “postwar” as a truly global condition, focusing on the increasingly interdependent nature of the world as the result of new geopolitical affinities and technological realities. The catalogue illuminates how these epochal social changes manifested worldwide across the practices of painting, sculpture, installation, performance, cinema, and music, through eight thematic sections: Aftermath: Zero Hour and the Atomic Era; Form Matters; New Images of Man; Realisms; Concrete Visions; Cosmopolitan Modernisms; Nations Seeking Form; and Networks, Media, and Communication. Key historical texts, visual essays, color illustrations, and over 35 original contributions by leading international art historians, curators, and scholars offer new insights into the complex legacies of artistic practice and art historical discourses that emerged in the aftermath of World War II’s devastation. Artists’ biographies, a comprehensive bibliography, and chronologies of the postwar period further supplement what will become an indispensable resource for future research.