Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945

This text features a grand survey of the historical, social, and aesthetic issues relevant to the development of contemporary art since 1945.

Jones (history of art, U. of Manchester) has gathered cultural critics and scholars from art history and related fields to comment on the historical and theoretical debates central to contemporary arts. The contributors discuss such topics as culture wars, public space, diaspora, new technologies, formalism, the avant-garde and the society of the spectacle. The volume as a whole allows readers to engage with multiple perspectives on current art movements and to consider future directions in the field. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A Companion to Contemporary Art is a major survey covering the major works and movements, the most important theoretical developments, and the historical, social, political, and aesthetic issues in contemporary art since 1945, primarily in the Euro-American context.

• Collects 27 original essays by expert scholars describing the current state of scholarship in art history and visual studies, and pointing to future directions in the field.
• Contains dual chronological and thematic coverage of the major themes in the art of our time: politics, culture wars, public space, diaspora, the artist, identity politics, the body, and visual culture.
• Offers synthetic analysis, as well as new approaches to, debates central to the visual arts since 1945 such as those addressing formalism, the avant-garde, the role of the artist, technology and art, and the society of the spectacle.