American art of the 20th and 21st centuries
And Polish-American artistic relations

In keeping with its title, the volume consisted of two sections, integrated with one another: The first section is devoted to Polish research into American art of the 20th and the early 21st centuries, and is divided into two periods. The first of these covers the years from 1913 to the Second World War, and extends from the Armory Show, associated with the reception in America of the European avant-garde, through the era of New York Dadaism and Surrealism and of the work of American artists active within the milieux of the European avant-garde, to the emigration to America of European artists in the 1930s The second period dates from 1945 to the present day, and covers Abstract Expressionism and the Neo-expressionism of the 1970s and 1980s, Modernism and Postmodernism, Conceptualism and Post-conceptualism, and art making use of new media, together with the influence of these currents upon European art. Questions regarding art theory, art criticism and the lives of artists became fundamental – a re-evaluation of exhibitions, art education, art museums, art institutions and the art press. The second section comprises the work of Polish artists, and artists with Polish origins, the activities of Polish institutions in the USA, the exchange of artists and exhibitions, and the relationship between American and Polish art, including their mutual influences. The present publication serves as an outline of the history of the Polish artistic milieu (updated to cover the last few years) and of the work of Polish artists, including those now belonging to the older and the middle generations The conference and the publication of its materials in English facilitates Polish participation in research undertaken in the context of international pan-Atlantic cooperation regarding the development and individuality of new groupings created by émigrés from Europe, expressed by means of their artistic creativity, which in turn can influence the art of their own countries of origin. The volume enriches the documentation of Polish art and artistic life abroad, including that of émigrés, which for many years have been the subject of research by the Polish Institute of World Art Studies and other Polish institutions.