For the USA, 1945 was a victory not only over the Axis powers, but also over the hegemony of European power and culture. This book explores how, since that time, American social and artistic history has shaped what we know as contemporary art, and how American art has responded to the unique cultural conditions of the time.
For fifty years following World War II, New York was the centre of world art, influencing artists well beyond the USA. And, as Katy Siegel argues, since America lacked the European traditions underlying art, American art instead responded to extreme social conditions native to the country. Artists’ preoccupations ranged across a broad spectrum that encompassed issues of race, mass culture, the individual, suburbia, apocalypse and nuclear destruction, and "Since ’45" discusses how these themes came to find their place in artworks. From Rothko’s planes of colour to Warhol’s serial silkscreens, from Richard Prince’s cowboys to Faith Ringgold’s Black Light series, "Since ’45" examines artists and artworks within the broader spectrum of American society. Siegel’s narrative moves fluidly from discussion of artists’ works, art museums and galleries over the decades, to cultural influences and momentous historical events. In addition, rather than arguing on nationalist grounds, or viewing American culture as representative of a now-devalued nation, she explores how US culture dominated not only America’s artists, but created conditions that now, after the full globalization of the art world, affect artists worldwide.
Lucidly argued and readable, combining aesthetic and social concerns, "Since ’45" sheds light on the complexities of American art over half a century and more. It will interest all readers engaged in post-war and contemporary art in the USA and beyond.
About author
Katy Siegel is Associate Professor of Art History at Hunter College, New York, editor in chief of the College Art Association's Art Journal and contributing editor at Artforum. She is co-author of "Art Works: Money" (2004).
Reviews
"Katy Siegel's newest addition to art criticism, Since ’45, continues to view the contemporary art world in a way that opens readers up to new ideas without casting judgement. An incisive and fascinating inside-out critique of American contemporary art" – Jeff Koons
"Katy Siegel has discovered the next great art historical subject: The American Moment, now long faded for reasons that are far from clear. In 'Since '45', Siegel lays bare the fragile, historical co-existence of European ideas about avant-garde and the American predisposition for designed obsolescence. For fifty years, this schism has demanded both a cool American reason and an ironic European reason for loving the art we love. Katy sorts them out, rediscovers America, and opens a new field of cultural speculation" – Dave Hickey
"Katy Siegel may well be our most insightful critic of contemporary art. It helps that she is also an art historian who puts the contemporary and the modern in perspective, identifying the larger issues that pertain to both. By the same token, the more historical moments in her writing profit from her critical engagement with the present. To read along as she moves through the past six or seven decades of art is to witness the two sides of her expertise enter into harmony. 'Since '45' reflects Siegel's deep understanding of the course of American culture, presented with remarkable acuity, economy, and wit. This most unusual book, a brilliant critical history, ends up revealing what's crucial right now. Add its utter timeliness to the many reasons why it will last" – Richard Shiff, Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Austin
