Agata Pietrasik, Art in a Disrupted World: Poland, 1939-1949

Varsovie : Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw : Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2021, 289p. ill. en noir et en coul. 24 x 16cm, (New Histories of Art), eng
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ISBN : 9788364177750
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1Art in a Disrupted World. Poland 1939-1949 ambitiously spans both the wartime and the post-war periods, addressing a complex and challenging chain of events in Polish art history. The book’s structure is both chronological and thematic, exploring: portraiture in the concentration camps; the experience of the ruined cityscape; the landmark exhibition Warsaw Accuses; and, finally, debates on the revival of modernism in the post-war years. In addition to its poignant moments of focus and depth, the book offers a survey of key cultural developments of the period 1939-49, spanning the liberation of the camps, the impact of the communist takeover and debates about socially engaged- versus autonomous art, in relation to questions of national identity. The author’s focus, in methodological terms, is on art’s capacity to express the affective dimensions of each of the historical episodes addressed, taking the reader on a series of moving creative journeys. Drawings are, at times, referred to as ‘affective chronicles’, and the question of testimony becomes central at various points in the book. The writings of Jacques Rancière provide another anchor, and the book moves in interesting ways across theoretical and archival work, exploring long-standing critical debates in visual art through the writings of poets and critics. Agata Pietrasik’s publication is rich in scope, covering drawing and painting, photography, poetry and literature. The artists introduced were men and women working in cataclysmic times, and their extraordinary creative output deserves further international scholarly recognition. The powerful visual impact of their work is clearly demonstrated throughout the volume, which is richly illustrated with colour plates. Art in a Disrupted World will doubtless inspire others to reconsider the ephemeral practices of hitherto-marginalised artists and the wartime output of their more established peers, as well as to re-evaluate what transpired in the hiatus between the pre-war and the post-war moments in European art history. The publication includes an extensive bibliography and makes a far-reaching contribution to the twentieth-century European art history.
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Référence électronique
Klara Kemp-Welch, « Agata Pietrasik, Art in a Disrupted World: Poland, 1939-1949 », Critique d’art [En ligne], Toutes les notes de lecture en ligne, mis en ligne le 30 novembre 2022, consulté le 17 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/critiquedart/85600 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/critiquedart.85600
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