Reconstructing Modernism

These essays reopen the case of postwar abstraction.

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 Franccedil;ois-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.

Review text:

'The best of these essays go well beyond the period in question to uncover the roots of art today. And they add up to a major story: Why formalism had to die for art to live.'

-- Herbert Muschamp, Artforum