Group Dynamics: Collectives of the Modernist Period maps the proliferation of artist collectives across six continents from 1900 to 1980, tracing how modernisation, decolonisation, and nation-building shaped radically different aesthetic and political programmes.
About This Book
From Buenos Aires to Beijing, Casablanca to Khartoum, the twentieth century was defined not only by individual artistic genius but by the collective impulse — artists binding together around shared manifestos, schools, and journals to reshape culture from within. This catalogue surveys that global phenomenon across eight decades, resisting the Eurocentric tendency to treat modernism as a single, unified movement. Instead, it foregrounds the divergent political goals, utopian aspirations, and aesthetic methodologies that distinguished collectives by geography and historical moment. Published in conjunction with the Museum Global initiative, it is an essential reference for anyone thinking seriously about modernism as a worldwide, contested, and plural condition.
Key Features
- 448 pages of exhibition catalogue scholarship, including programmatic texts, journal reproductions, and works documentation
- Published by Hatje Cantz, 1980
What You'll Discover
- How the formation of artist collectives intersected with decolonisation movements and the founding of new nations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America
- The role of art schools, programmatic manifestos, and journals as organisational infrastructure for modernist collectives worldwide
- The fundamental differences in political goals and utopian aspirations that separated collectives operating in different historical and geographic contexts
- How this exhibition situates the period 1900–1980 as one of overlapping international modernisation movements rather than a single dominant narrative
About the Author
[Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 448
- Dimensions: 276 x 206 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783775750400
- Publisher: Hatje Cantz
- Publication Date: 1980
Perfect For: Art historians, design researchers, and cultural theorists interested in global modernism, postcolonial art history, and the politics of collective practice.