Boom : art and design in the 1940s /

"'Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s' looks at the complex shifts in technology and the arts, including music, film, and fashion, that surged in a tumultuous decade. Despite restrictions and hardships, the visual arts flourished, with some artists addressing political concerns in their...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: McDonald, Alison (Art publishing director) (Editor), Smith, Jessica Todd (Editor, Contributor), Bock, Amanda N. (Contributor), Blum, Dilys, 1947- (Contributor), Agro, Elisabeth R. (Contributor), Suda, Alexandra (Contributor), Burns, Ken (Contributor), Palmer, Alexandra, 1957- (Contributor), De Waal, Edmund (Contributor), Rea, Steven (Contributor), McBride, Christian (Contributor)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Philadelphia, PA : Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2025.
Subjects:
Description
Summary:"'Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s' looks at the complex shifts in technology and the arts, including music, film, and fashion, that surged in a tumultuous decade. Despite restrictions and hardships, the visual arts flourished, with some artists addressing political concerns in their work and others moving into abstraction. War disrupted the fashion industry in Paris, allowing New York to become a competitive center. Furniture design made creative use of technological advances. The movement of artists during the war years and afterward catalyzed the exchange of ideas and created more diverse artistic communities. Essays by leading figures in their respective fields show how wartime restrictions impacted world economies and the innovative solutions found by creative communities, examine Hollywood of the 1940s and its ability to unite international audiences, explore the ways clothing and textiles were shaped by the rapid changes of the era, and discuss how musicians played a vital role at this moment in history and helped shape the sounds of today. Interviews with contemporary figures, such as jazz artist Christian McBride and filmmaker Ken Burns, reflect on the impact of the 1940s on their respective fields. Including paintings by Lee Krasner, Horace Pippin, and Jackson Pollock, photographs by Margaret Bourke-White and Weegee, furniture by George Nakashima, jewelry by Alexander Calder, poetry by Anna Akhmatova, and apparel by Elsa Schiaparelli, the book covers the transformational responses to a volatile time across the spectrum of artistic practice."--
Item Description:Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, April 12-September 1, 2025.
Physical Description:79 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 31 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (page 78).
ISBN:9780876333068
0876333064