Artists of World War II

Subjects:

• The Arts » Art
• History » World War II
• Multicultural Studies » Multicultural Studies (General)

Reviews:

• [A]n excellent, thought-provoking art history. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty researchers; general readers.
  —Choice January 2006
• [E]xplores the work of representative artists within the political and social contexts of their times....[t]he writing vividly demonstrates the impact of war on art. Additional aids to students include a brief timeline and selective bibliographies for art in each country. This survey makes a useful addition to art history collections.
  —Lawrence Looks At Books 2005
• [T]he first global survey of art during the war, and gathers biographies of such artists along with discussions of war-era art trends around the world. Of particular note are discussions which allow readers to compare not only artists' experiences of war in different countries, but their different responses to their experiences, from support of war efforts to criticism. Add discussions of the influence of artists' productions on war and you have an intriguing survey which goes beyond the art world.
  —MBR Bookwatch September 2005
• [P]resents a survey of WWII artists from most of the regions involved in combat.
  —Reference & Research Book News/Art Book News Annual August 2005

• Endorsement From Sabine Eckmann, Washington University, author and co-editor of Exiles+Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler: [This] concisely written and well-structured historical account of art before and during World War II fills an important gap within available histories of modern art. McCloskey not only convincingly demonstrates that the production of art during these violent times is inseparable from the agendas of political systems, dictatorships and the democracies alike, but also stresses the coexistence of traditional, often regionally informed artistic endeavors, and progressive styles.... Their biographies attest to the complexity of the politicization of aesthetics. Her book shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in the intersection of art and politics.
• Endorsement From David Wilkins, University of Pittsburgh, author and co-editor of Art Past/Art Present: In this systematic survey, Barbara McCloskey provides a panoramic overview of wartime artistic efforts in eight European and Asian countries and the United States and simultaneously offers more than thirty biographies of both famous and little-known artists who produced 'war art.' She includes both artists who resisted totalitarian regimes and those who collaborated with and exalted dictators and repressive military leaders as she explores the complex intersection between art and propaganda that determined artistic developments in many countries during this unique historical moment. By incorporating a summary of the avant-garde developments that characterized each nation's artistic history before the outbreak of war in 1939, she sets her story within the context of the history of modernism and highlights the conflict experienced by artists and governments as they tried to determine whether traditional, naturalistic modes or avant-garde developments could best serve a nation at war.
• Endorsement From Paul B. Jaskot, DePaul University, author of The Architecture of Oppression: The SS, Forced Labor and the Nazi Monumental Building Economy: Barbara McCloskey's Artists of World War II is the first book that attempts to provide a synthetic survey of the art in the countries of major combatants in World War II, both east and west. The book is rich in institutional detail and, unlike most comparative discussions of art in these countries for the interwar period, does not short change either the political history or the artistic debates. Each chapter is coherently organized and accessible, with useful artistic biographies of key players. Global in scope and ambitious in scale, this book functions as a strong primer for students new to the field but also, for the specialist, details compelling questions of the political function of art in democratic, communist, and fascist states during times of military conflict.
• Endorsement From Keith Holz, Western Illinois University, author of Modern German Art for Thirties Paris, Prague, and London: Resistance and Acquiescence in a Democratic Public Sphere: Never has the story of World War II's artists been told with such breathtaking scope and clarity. McCloskey's gripping narrative will captivate students encountering this overlooked area of art history for the first time as well as historians and art historians well versed in the period. The unprecedented international reach of Artists and World War II provides a much needed synthesis of the scholarship on art production and politics under the extreme conditions of modern warfare.

Table of Contents:

• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Art and World War II
• Artists in China: Between War and Civil War
• Artists in France: Between Collaboration and Resistance
• Artists in Germany: Constructing the "Thousand-Year Reich"
• Artists in Great Britain: Creating Art as Propaganda during "The Blitz"
• Artists of Italy: Shaping a Fascist Culture of Consensus
• Artists in Japan: Relating Tradition and Modernity to the Art of "Holy War"
• Artists in the Soviet Union: Defending Communist Utopia
• Artists in Spain: Waging a Media War
• Artists in the United States: Selling War and Peace in the "American Century"
• Conclusion: Remembering World War II
• Timeline
• Bibliography
• Index