Objects in Exile: Modern Art and Design across Borders, 1930–1960

Robin Schuldenfrei's book Objects in Exile explores how emigration and resettlement shaped modernism, revealing how modern art and architecture were shaped by the need to constantly face and transcend the materiality of things. She argues that modernism could only coalesce with the abandonment of national borders and shows how artists and designers, forced into exile, changed in unexpected ways to meet the needs and contexts of an uncertain world.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 23 January 2024
Publisher: Princeton University Press

In the tumultuous years preceding World War II, a significant number of modern artists and architects fled from continental Europe to the United States and Britain. The experience of exile infused their modernist ideas with a renewed sense of urgency, compelling them to explore alternative materials, modify existing works, and reevaluate their approach to design. Robin Schuldenfrei's book, Objects in Exile, delves into the profound impact of migration on the development of modernism, tracing how modern art and architecture were shaped by the constant challenge of confronting and transcending the materiality of objects. Spanning from the prewar era to the 1960s, Schuldenfrei takes readers on a journey through the objects these émigrés carried with them, the memories they left behind, and the new works they created in exile. She argues that modernism could only fully emerge through the process of emigration and resettlement, bringing to life the vibrant postwar period when avant-garde ideas converged and solidified as mainstream modernism. Through a meticulous examination of works by influential figures such as Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy, Lucia Moholy, Herbert Bayer, and Anni and Josef Albers, Schuldenfrei showcases the social significance of art objects produced in exile. By shedding critical light on the profound effects of displacement on the course of modernism, Objects in Exile reveals how artists and designers, compelled into exile by unforeseen circumstances, adapted and transformed in unexpected ways to meet the needs and contexts of a rapidly changing world.

Dimension: 267 x 191 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691232669