Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970

While political tension defined one front of the Cold War, a creative conflict was waged on another.

The first book to offer an international perspective on the Cold War across the arts, this groundbreaking study examines how art and design played a central role in representing and sometimes challenging the dominant political and social ideas of the age. From everyday products to the highest arenas of human achievement in science and culture, this period of exceptional creativity resonated in every corner of the globe.

This ambitious book—published to accompany a major exhibition—includes work from the Socialist Bloc and Western Europe, the United States, Cuba, and Japan. Featuring remarkable images by artists and designers from Picasso to Kubrick, Cold War Modern also offers a landmark collection of fascinating essays on subjects as diverse as political strategy, domesticity, and high-tech design developments.

While political tension defined one front of the Cold War, a creative conflict was waged on another.

The first book to offer an international perspective on the Cold War across the arts, this groundbreaking study examines how art and design played a central role in representing and sometimes challenging the dominant political and social ideas of the age. From everyday products to the highest arenas of human achievement in science and culture, this period of exceptional creativity resonated in every corner of the globe.

This ambitious book—published to accompany a major exhibition—includes work from the Socialist Bloc and Western Europe, the United States, Cuba, and Japan. Featuring remarkable images by artists and designers from Picasso to Kubrick, Cold War Modern also offers a landmark collection of fascinating essays on subjects as diverse as political strategy, domesticity, and high-tech design developments.

David Crowley teaches history at the Royal College of Art in London and is the consultant curator of Cold War Modern at the V&A. Jane Pavitt is the University of Brighton Senior Research Fellow in Product Design at the V&A. She is lead curator of the exhibition Cold War Modern and has curated several major exhibitions at the V&A including Brilliant (2004) and Brand.New (2004) and edited the accompanying books.