Cold War Art Worlds (Paperback)

Simone Wille

ISBN 10: 9462704708 / ISBN 13: 9789462704701

Published by Leuven University Press, Leuven, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. Prague as a vital Cold War hub for South Asian artists.During the Cold War, the Central-European capital city Prague, along with other previously less noticed locations in the polarised post-war world, emerged as a key site where an art world of particular importance for artists from South Asia developed. By emphasising cultural mobility as a catalyst for exchange and network building, this book challenges and complicates assumptions about Cold War binaries of East and West and the polarisation between so-called totalitarian regimes and free cultures. Positioning Prague as a nexus where South-Asian modernisms intersected with multiple peoples, histories, and ideologies in the post-World War II era, it offers a narrative of decolonisation that rejected rigid systemic alignment in favour of participation across blocs by prioritising migratory aesthetics over nationalist parochialism. Well-researched and rich in archival materials, this book proposes new ways of writing art histories and makes a significant contribution to both Cold War studies and critical global modernism studies. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9789462704701

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cold War Art Worlds (Paperback)
• Publisher: Leuven University Press, Leuven
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9462704708
• ISBN 13: 9789462704701
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Prague as a vital Cold War hub for South Asian artists

During the Cold War, the Central-European capital of Prague, alongside other locations in the polarized post-war world, emerged as a key site where an art world of particular importance for artists from South Asia developed. By emphasizing cultural mobility as a catalyst for exchange and network building, this book challenges and complicates assumptions about Cold War binaries of East and West and the polarization between so-called totalitarian regimes and free cultures. Positioning Prague as a nexus where South-Asian modernisms intersected with multiple peoples, histories, and ideologies in the post-World War II era, it offers a narrative of decolonization that rejected rigid systemic alignment in favor of participation across blocs by prioritizing migratory aesthetics over nationalist parochialism. Well-researched and rich in archival materials, this book proposes new ways of writing art histories and makes a significant contribution to both Cold War studies and critical global modernism studies.

Ebook available in Open Access.

About the Author

Simone Wille is Elise Richter Fellow at the University of Innsbruck, Institute of Art History.