Cultural Offensive

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A01=John A. Walker
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Allen Jones
Americanism
Anti-Americanism
Art and politics
Art History
Author_John A. Walker
Book on Abstract Expressionism
Books on British Art
British Post-World War Two Art
Category=AGA
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CIA and art
Clement Greenberg
commercialism and art
commodification and art
consumerism and culture
Cultural imperialism
David Hockney
eq_art-fashion-photography
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Francis Bacon
ICA
Jackson Pollock
Los Angeles art
MOMA
New York art
Patrick Heron
Pop art
Sam Francis art
The Beatles

Product details

  • ISBN 9780745313115
  • Weight: 389g
  • Dimensions: 135 x 215mm
  • Publication Date: 20 Aug 1998
  • Publisher: Pluto Press
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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The vibrant fine arts and mass culture that the United Stated exported to Britain in the postwar period had a powerful and far-reaching impact on many British artists, art students and critics. In a fascinating social and cultural history covering the period from the 1940s to the 1990s, but with emphasis on the 1950s and 1960s, John A. Walker offers a scholarly but accessible account of America's Cold War cultural offensive and the role played by American artists living in Britain.

This is the first text to document in detail the variegated responses of British artists to postwar America and its art, criticism and mass media. Their reactions that ranged from Americanism – enthusiasm and compliance – to Anti-Americanism – criticism and resistance. Covering significant art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, the Independent Group and Pop Art, Walker synthesises information from hundreds of published sources and interviews to paint a vivid picture of a crucial period in British culture.

Many of the critics, painters and sculptors featured – Lawrence Alloway, Peter Blake, Reyner Banham, Anthony Caro, Clement Greenberg, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, R.B. Kitaj, John Latham, Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi, Herbert Read, Bridget Riley, Larry Rivers – are now internationally famous. The study is brought up to date with an overview of the decline in American influence during in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of Brit Art.
John A. Walker (1938–2023) wrote over 15 books on modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on mass media. He was Reader in Art and Design History at Middlesex University. He authored Art and Celebrity, Art in the Age of Mass Media, and Cultural Offensive: America's Impact on British Art Since 1945.

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