Modern Art in Eastern Europe: From the Baltic to the Balkans, ca. 1890–1939

In this award-winning study, Steven Mansbach provides the first coherent narrative of the modern art movements of Eastern Europe. Analyzing a vast range of works, many reproduced here for the first time, the author argues that our understanding of modernism is incomplete without consideration of this material. He shows how Cubism, Expressionism and Constructivism, among other modernist styles, were amalgamated with deeply rooted visual traditions in several vital centers, including Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest, in order to express the most pressing concerns of the day, particularly nationalism. Mansbach also considers the critical response of the Eastern European art public to these various avante-garde movements. A revisionist interpretation of modernism, Modern Art in Eastern Europe provides a much-needed reassessment of the art of this century, as well as its historiography.

• Pioneering overview of Eastern European modern art • Much of the art work will be published here for the first time anywhere

Introduction; 1. The Czech lands; 2. Poland and Lithuania; 3. The Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia; 4. The southern Balkans; 5. Romania; 6. Hungary.

‘With Mr Mansbach’s prize-winning book to hand … ignorance is rapidly banished as it reveals the currents of Modernism from the Baltic to the Balkans that accompanied the ‘national awakening’ that occurred with the post-World War I collapse of the Hapsburg and Romanov empires.’ Art Newspaper

‘Modern Art in Eastern Europe combines a skilful and original study of art and social history as well as making a major contribution to the interpretations of modernism and the avant-garde in the many countries that took part in their creation.’ The Art Book