Reconstructing Modernism: Art in New York, Paris, and Montreal 1945-1964

by Serge Guilbaut (Editor), Serge Guilbault

These essays reopen the case of postwar abstraction. They constitute a dialogue among historians, critics, painters, and art historians that allows not only new readings of specific art works but also a new understanding of the reception of art in the postwar Western world.

Timothy J. Clark, Thierry de Duve, Constance Naubert-Riser, and Thomas Crow focus on specific works of major artists of the period. Laurie J. Monahan, Serge Guilbaut, and Benjamin H. D. Buchloh look at art production in relation to particular aspects of the Cold War. Jean Baudrillard and Francois-Marc Gagnon discuss the effects of the international situation on the arts in general. John Franklin Koenig describes the experience of an American artist working in Paris after the war. John O'Brian relates the impact and the reception of Matisse's work in New York, and Lary May discusses the transformation of Hollywood during the McCarthy era.

Serge Guilbaut is Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia.

437 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Michael Braithwaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been great for evening out the various contexts of Modernism in the early/mid 20th century.