Post-War American Art

America emerged from World War II relatively unscathed, with an economy on the rise and an artist population inspired by the European avant-garde, many of whom had relocated to the U.S. While Europe began the process of dealing with immeasurable trauma, New York emerged as a center of artistic activity, challenging Paris as the center of the international art world. Abstract Expressionism would emerge in the 1950s, followed by the rise of Neo-Dada, Pop, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art, among many other movements over the next decade. Rather than a style or set of ideas, Post-war American Art merely defines a time period, and is most often by auction houses to refer to art created between 1945 and 1970 (differentiating from Modern and Impressionist before and Contemporary after.)