Postwar Dialogue PMA(7s)
Postwar Dialogues:
Europe and the United States
The cataclysm of World War II brought in its wake the obligation of profound reflection as well as an intense desire for a new beginning. The nations of Europe were starting to recover from physical and economic devastation and to recognize that the horrors of war had irrevocably damaged former ways of life, social bonds, and cultural assumptions. Having avoided home-front hostilities, the United States emerged from the war a geopolitical superpower, optimistic about the future but also bearing the scars of wartime sacrifice. The artistic cultures on both sides of the Atlantic remained deeply interconnected, but the perceived balance of authority began to shift toward the Americans.
The Brutally reactionary Nazi regime decimated the progressive cultural communities of Europe, and many of its leading talents—among them Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, Piet Modrian, and Arshile Gorky—fled to the United States, infusing new ambition into the country’s artistic life. Abstract Expressionism (in New York), Art Informel (in Paris), and CoBrA (in Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) developed as parallel efforts to delve beneath the compromised façade of Western civilization to seek sources of cultural rebirth in archaic eras and the art of children and the insane. Meanwhile, individualists such as Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and Balthus explored universal aspects of the human condition: desire, alienation, and dream.
From the Placard: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Postwar Dialogue PMA(7s)
Postwar Dialogues:
Europe and the United States
The cataclysm of World War II brought in its wake the obligation of profound reflection as well as an intense desire for a new beginning. The nations of Europe were starting to recover from physical and economic devastation and to recognize that the horrors of war had irrevocably damaged former ways of life, social bonds, and cultural assumptions. Having avoided home-front hostilities, the United States emerged from the war a geopolitical superpower, optimistic about the future but also bearing the scars of wartime sacrifice. The artistic cultures on both sides of the Atlantic remained deeply interconnected, but the perceived balance of authority began to shift toward the Americans.
The Brutally reactionary Nazi regime decimated the progressive cultural communities of Europe, and many of its leading talents—among them Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, Piet Modrian, and Arshile Gorky—fled to the United States, infusing new ambition into the country’s artistic life. Abstract Expressionism (in New York), Art Informel (in Paris), and CoBrA (in Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) developed as parallel efforts to delve beneath the compromised façade of Western civilization to seek sources of cultural rebirth in archaic eras and the art of children and the insane. Meanwhile, individualists such as Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and Balthus explored universal aspects of the human condition: desire, alienation, and dream.
From the Placard: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA