Description
Book SynopsisIn
Art and Politics, Segal explores the collision of politics and art in seven enticing essays. The book explores the position of art and artists under a number of different political regimes of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, traveling around the world to consider how art and politics have interacted and influenced each other in different conditions.
Joes Segal takes you on a journey to the Third Reich, where Emil Nolde supported the regime while being called degenerate; shows us Diego Rivera creating Marxist murals in Mexico and the United States for anti-Marxist governments and clients; ties Jackson Pollock's drip paintings in their Cold War context to both the FBI and the CIA; and considers the countless images of Mao Zedong in China as unlikely witnesses of radical political change.
Trade Review- "[Segal's] command of ideas and sources is nothing short of magnificent, and nearly every page bursts with important, elegantly written and nuanced observations. If you're ready to de-reify your brain, read this." - Eric A. Gordon,
People's World, 2016
- Radio interview with KCRW Radio . Read the accompanying blog post here
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Positive and Negative Integration - The First World War in France and Germany 2. Between Nationalism and Communism - Diego Rivera and Mexican Muralism 3. National and Degenerate Art - The Third Reich 4. Internal and External Enemies - The Cold War 5. From Maoism to Capitalist Communism - The People's Republic of China 6. The In-Between Space - Kara Walker's Shadow Murals 7. A Heavy Heritage - Monuments in the former Soviet Bloc Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index of Names
