In this comprehensive study of the artistic culture of the region between the Iron Curtain and the former Soviet Union, Piotr Piotrowski chronicles the relationship between avant-garde art production and post-World War II politics in such Iron Curtain nations as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the former Yugoslavia.
Beginning with an analysis of surrealism in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, Piotrowski then examines the evolution of modernist art against the decline of Stalinism. He later chronicles the neo-avant-garde art movement during the height of socialism in the 1970s. In the Shadow of Yalta concludes with the rise of commercial art development at the end of the communist era.
Featuring more than 200 images, most by artists largely unfamiliar to an English-speaking audience, In the Shadow of Yalta is a fascinating portrait of the inspiring art made in a region—and at a time—of critical importance in modern Europe. This comprehensive study will introduce historians, art critics, and scholars to significant artists from Central and Eastern Europe and will illuminate an influential period in art history.
