Abstract

 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. 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.

"Telling a comprehensive narrative of the visual arts in post-World War II Eastern Europe is an enormous challenge that makes Piotrowski's undertaking nothing short of heroic. . . . Piotrowski's book is a major contribution to scholarship on Eastern Europe and is a treasure trove of facts, organized and sorted out in a way that has not been done before. It is a groundbreaking work that many later publications will build on."--ArtMargins.com — Eva Forgacs, Art Margins

"Piotrowski’s book is a truly ground breaking publication, both in its scope and in its critical approach, in its engagement with theory and with artistic practice as well as with the wider geopolitical framework of the Cold War. It provides plenty of illuminating insights into the pages of post-1945 avant-gardes and their discourses . . . Piotrowski contextualizes the shifting kaleidoscope of artworlds in the Other Europe within a wider realm of debates at the heart of contemporary art criticism. Remarkably, the book is not addressed solely to the ‘ignorant’ western audience, but equally so to the contemporary Eastern European reader, whose knowledge about the art of other ‘brotherly countries’ is also likely to be minimal."–Reviews in History

— Reviews in History

"Piotrowski's achievement is to disinter the histories of various forms of modernism, post-modernism and the neo-avant-garde that flourished in Eastern Europe, to disentangle the fruitful misunderstandings on which some of them were based and to explain the originality that lay behind many of the apparent inconsistencies . . . Piotrowski writes clearly and readably, even in translation, and his groundbreaking study is augmented with numerous illustrations."–Burlington Magazine

— Burlington Magazine (UK)

“A significant book that builds on a focal theme of Piotrowski’s previous publications—the perceived need to ‘map’ art practices from the Soviet and post-Soviet eras in relation to both western and specifically local historical and cultural contexts . . . an important source in this topic area” —Slavic Review

— Slavic Review
Piotr Piotrowskiis professor ordinarius of art history at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznán, Poland. He is the author or editor of many books, including Meanings of Modernism: Towards a History of Polish Art after 1945.