Smarthistory – Postwar European art

France

1945 - 1980

Vacillating between joyful and jarring, Jean Dubuffet's art looked to alternative sources like children's drawings for inspiration.

Jean Dubuffet, A View of Paris: The Life of Pleasure

Jean Dubuffet, Childbirth

Switzerland

1945 - 1980

Alberto Giacometti's elongated figures evoke the loneliness and existential trauma of the postwar period.

Alberto Giacometti, Walking Man II

Germany

1945 - 1980

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Artists in postwar Germany dealt with the legacy of Nazism and the Holocaust in different ways. Some sought solace in spirituality, others chose to directly picture the ruins of German culture.

Joseph Beuys, Fat Chair

Sigmar Polke, Bunnies

Gerhard Richter, Uncle Rudi

Gerhard Richter, Betty

Anselm Kiefer, Shulamite

Britain

1945 - 1980

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British artists reconceptualized figure painting to emphasize the abject features of the human body.

Dame Barbara Hepworth, Pelagos, 1946, elm and string on oak base, 43 x 46 x 38.5 cm (Tate Britain, London)

Poland

1945 - 1980

The work of Magdalena Abakanowicz is often understood as expressing dehumanization in the twentieth century.

Postwar European art

Regions in postwar European art

France

France

Jean Dubuffet, A View of Paris: The Life of Pleasure

Jean Dubuffet, Childbirth

Switzerland

Switzerland

Alberto Giacometti, Walking Man II

Germany

Germany

Joseph Beuys, Fat Chair

Sigmar Polke, Bunnies

Gerhard Richter, Uncle Rudi

Gerhard Richter, Betty

Anselm Kiefer, Shulamite

Britain

Britain

Barbara Hepworth, Pelagos

Describing Henry Moore's Reclining Figure

Francis Bacon, Triptych – August 1972

Lucian Freud, Standing by the Rags

Poland

Poland

Magdalena Abakanowicz, Androgyne III

All content | Postwar European art

Fahrelnissa Zeid, Towards a Sky

Step inside Magdalena Abakanowicz’s forest of woven sculptures

Richard Hamilton, Just What is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?

An interview with Anselm Kiefer

Sheltered by the sea, Barbara Hepworth’s Pelagos

Describing what you see: Sculpture, Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure

Alberto Giacometti, Walking Man II

Jean Dubuffet, Childbirth

Dubuffet, A View of Paris: The Life of Pleasure

Gerhard Richter, September

Gerhard Richter, The Cage Paintings (1-6)

Gerhard Richter, Betty

Selected Contributors