Abstract
The book explores the art of the nineteen-fifties in Europe in very broad perspective. It takes account of the shared historical frame of European culture as a basis for the understanding of art in a new way that runs counter to existing stereotypes.
It considers many hitherto neglected themes that illuminate Czech art in international sociocultural context. The nineteen-fifties are a decade traditionally associated with the increasingly confrontational politics of the main power blocs, which used force to transform the geographically close into the infinitely distant. The book, by contrast, considers the common denominators of many truly remarkable achievements in the art of the period, but also investigates the contrasting conventional art production of the time, revealing a range of surprising connections in the as yet neglected relationships between the two. It takes issue with traditional art historical approaches in relation to three selected phenomena - abstraction, realism and international exhibitions - and looks with faith in the power of art across differing political regimes for layers of art that have until now been marginalised but are important for the understanding of the art of the time, forming a multiform, interconnected whole.
Its aim is not to offer yet another "definitive" account, but to open up the space for new questions and visual experiences. This is reflected in its structure.
The text is accompanied by four hundred and fifty reproductions, many of works that have lain forgotten in depositaries for years. Together they are intended to enable readers to enjoy a personal meeting with this art, and so a heightened awareness of the enduring resilience of the fundamental values of European culture.