Between Point Zero and the Iron Curtain: International Cooperation in Art at the Postwar Moment, 1945-1948

This volume, edited by Éva Forgács, with contributions from art historians from across Europe and the Americas, analyzes the artistic initiatives of the short time span between the end of World War II and the onset of the Cold War. In this moment, a new internationalism was anticipated by retrieving pre-war modernism, as well as creating the new era's new artistic lingua franca. The chapters include in-depth case studies that analyze the complex, often interconnected, projects throughout the world--South America and Eastern and Western Europe--that were soon ended by the Cold War. Front Cover Half Title Series Information Frontpiece Title Page Copyrights Page Contents Acknowledgments Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction Part 1: Local Developments 1 A New Beginning: The Dresden Artists’ Group Der Ruf, 1945–1948 1 Introduction 2 The Members of the Group 3 Dresden: A Center of the Arts, Past and Present 4 Three Facilitators of Preservation and Cultural Renewal 5 The General German Art Exhibition Dresden 1946 6 The Final Curtain: The Second Exhibition of Der Ruf Acknowledgement Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Literature Online Sources 2 The Struggle for Dominating the Discourse: the Conflict 1 Aurél Bernáth and the Szinyei Society 2 Bernáth’s Line of Reasoning 3 Modernized Traditionalism – National Traditionalism – Socialist Realism 4 Avant-Garde versus Traditionalism 5 The Consequences of Bernáth’s Speech 6 Conclusion Bibliography 3 Art in Poland Immediately after the War in Search of Social Context 1 Introduction 2 Towards Realism 3 Towards Modernity 4 Two Landmark Oeuvres 5 Art and Society 6 Conclusion Bibliography 4 In the Realm of Contradictions: Outlines of Czech Cultural Policy, 1945−1948 1 Introduction 2 Prerequisites 3 No Tabula Rasa 4 National Artists 5 Freedom Advocacy 6 Restrictions and Benefits 7 Attempts to Unite 8 Very Different Voices 9 Without Conspiracy 10 Disparity 11 Welcome to the Realm of Socialism 12 Tightening or Loosening? 13 The Intellectual under Socialism Bibliography Part 2: Reaching Out 5 The Bucharest Surrealist Group and the Networks of Post-war Surrealism 1 Introduction 2 The Changing Political Contexts of the Group’s Activity between 1940‒1947 3 The Group Members and Their Versions of Surrealism 4 Conflicts, Exhibitions, Publications 5 Infra-Noir in the Post-war Surrealist Networks 6 Concluding Remarks Acknowledgements Bibliograpy 6 ‘Democratic Art par excellence’? The 1947 Polish–Czechoslovak 1 Introduction 2 Graphic Art as Democratic Art 3 The Post-war Reality 4 Polish Graphic Art in Czechoslovakia 5 The Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists 6 Czechoslovak Graphic Art in Poland 7 The Role of Exhibitions of Graphic Art in Post-war Europe Bibliography Archives Publications 7 The European School in Budapest, 1945−1948 1 Introduction 2 Instant Initiatives 3 Visions of Cultural Renewal 4 Government Efforts to Organize, Support and Control Post-war Art in Hungary 5 Early Educational Exhibitions 6 Surrealism versus Abstraction 7 Educational Activities of the Gallery to the Four Directions 8 Political Forces Bibliography 8 Cobra: Vital Manifestation 1 Introduction 2 An Angry Youth in Search of Alternatives Lost 3 Launch and Early Activities of Cobra 4 The Cobra Exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum, and After Bibliography Part 3: Wide Networks 9 New Realities in Paris: Abstract Art and Internationalism, 1946−1950 1 Introduction 2 A New Art for a New Reality 3 National Sections and Internationalism 4 Alternative New Realities and Internationalisms 5 Seeking Universality Acknowledgements Bibliography 10 Resilient Modernism: the 1946 Visit of Polish Architects to the United States 1 Introduction 2 Favorable Conditions 3 Visit to the United States 4 From “Warsaw Accuses” to “Warsaw Lives Again” 5 Lectures, Presentations, and Interviews 6 CIAM’s Future 7 American Lessons Bibliography 11 Materiality and Migration in Latin American Modernism: Caracas to Buenos Aires, 1944−1950 1 Introduction 2 The Modern Project in the Río de la Plata Region: Universalismo Constructivo 3 The Modern Project in the Río de la Plata Region: Invencionismo 4 The Modern Project in Venezuela: From Paris to Universidad Central 5 The Modern Project in Venezuela: Hans Neumann and Pinturas Montana 6 The Modern Project in Venezuela: Alejandro Otero Bibliography 12 The Chicago Art That Wasn’t, 1945−1948 1 Introduction 2 Chicago’s ‘New Outlook,’ 1947 3 Before the New Bauhaus 4 Into the ‘Great Divide’ 5 Conclusion Bibliography 13 Turnabout Is Fair Play: Institution Building and the Idea 1 Introduction 2 Rockefeller’s Neighborly Gift to the Future Museum of Modern Art 3 Transatlantic and Hemispheric Negotiations 4 Exhibitions as Focus Bibliography 14 American Surrealism, Late Style: Horizontal Circulations in the 1940s 1 Introduction 2 Goodbye to All That 3 1947: the Return to Paris 4 Surrealist Circuits: New York, Mexico, San Francisco Bibliography Back Cover