After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918-1948 Wide-Ranging Exhibition Traces Evolution of 20th Century Modern Art Post-World War I On View August 18, 2023 – January 7, 2024
Updated Aug 28, 2023
DETROIT – August 3, 2023 – The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) presents After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918-1948, a wide-ranging exhibition that explores the changing landscape of modern art in Paris in the years after World War I, as seen through ambitious works from leading figures of the 20th century, using competing styles, including cubism, a revived classicism, surrealism and more.
On view August 18, 2023, through January 7, 2024, the exhibition features 120 paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs, all from the DIA’s permanent collection. The show’s title comes directly from the artistic declaration Après le cubism (After Cubism), published in 1918 and written by Amédée Ozenfant and Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier). The DIA’s exhibition explores the artistic community from the end of World War I through the rebuilding after World War II, tracing the expansion and development of new styles by artists who traveled to Paris from around the globe.
During these years, a new sense of possibility followed the devastation caused by World War I. The French capital was the center of the art world, drawing in artists from North and South America and throughout Europe. These artists gathered and exchanged avant-garde ideas in the city’s cafes, studios, and galleries, and often inspired each other. Most of the works featured in the DIA’s After Cubism exhibition were created in Paris or nearby, or during travels to the French Riviera.
“It is just over a century since the manifesto, After Cubism, was published,” said DIA Director Salvador Salort-Pons. “Our new exhibition not only celebrates Paris as a central figure, but more so the artists who explored fresh avenues, resulting in works that continue to inspire today.”
“It is an honor to present this exceptional collection of works of modern art from such an influential period, a time when so many forward-looking ideas took shape and charted new directions,” said Clare Rogan, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Detroit Institute of Arts. “The artists of Paris responded to the changes of modern life, including rapid electrification, innovations in science and technology, and new ideas about vision and psychology. Their approaches to artwork in the modern age still echo for us today.”
For more exhibition information about After Cubism, visit DIA.
Public Lecture Event
September 12, 2023, 6:00 pm
DIA Lecture Hall
“Energizing Paris After Cubism”
Jennifer M. Friess, Associate Curator of Photography, University of Michigan Museum of Art
In Paris between the World Wars, photographers began avidly producing photographs made possible by electric lights. Although painters and printmakers had been representing scenes illuminated by electric light as early as the 1870s, photographers—using a medium uniquely dependent upon light-sensitive materials—only started to do so in earnest after World War I, at a time when electric light became more widespread. Featuring photographs, prints, and drawings from the exhibition After Cubism, this talk will explore the role electric light played in energizing a new and deeply experimental era of image making.
Free and open to the public
Sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Arts Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs
After Cubism is free with museum admission, which is always free for residents of Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties.
After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918-1948 is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts.
DETROIT – August 3, 2023 – The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) presents After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918-1948, a wide-ranging exhibition that explores the changing landscape of modern art in Paris in the years after World War I, as seen through ambitious works from leading figures of the 20th century, using competing styles, including cubism, a revived classicism, surrealism and more.
On view August 18, 2023, through January 7, 2024, the exhibition features 120 paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs, all from the DIA’s permanent collection. The show’s title comes directly from the artistic declaration Après le cubism (After Cubism), published in 1918 and written by Amédée Ozenfant and Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier). The DIA’s exhibition explores the artistic community from the end of World War I through the rebuilding after World War II, tracing the expansion and development of new styles by artists who traveled to Paris from around the globe.
During these years, a new sense of possibility followed the devastation caused by World War I. The French capital was the center of the art world, drawing in artists from North and South America and throughout Europe. These artists gathered and exchanged avant-garde ideas in the city’s cafes, studios, and galleries, and often inspired each other. Most of the works featured in the DIA’s After Cubism exhibition were created in Paris or nearby, or during travels to the French Riviera.
“It is just over a century since the manifesto, After Cubism, was published,” said DIA Director Salvador Salort-Pons. “Our new exhibition not only celebrates Paris as a central figure, but more so the artists who explored fresh avenues, resulting in works that continue to inspire today.”
“It is an honor to present this exceptional collection of works of modern art from such an influential period, a time when so many forward-looking ideas took shape and charted new directions,” said Clare Rogan, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Detroit Institute of Arts. “The artists of Paris responded to the changes of modern life, including rapid electrification, innovations in science and technology, and new ideas about vision and psychology. Their approaches to artwork in the modern age still echo for us today.”
For more exhibition information about After Cubism, visit DIA.
Public Lecture Event
September 12, 2023, 6:00 pm
DIA Lecture Hall
“Energizing Paris After Cubism”
Jennifer M. Friess, Associate Curator of Photography, University of Michigan Museum of Art
In Paris between the World Wars, photographers began avidly producing photographs made possible by electric lights. Although painters and printmakers had been representing scenes illuminated by electric light as early as the 1870s, photographers—using a medium uniquely dependent upon light-sensitive materials—only started to do so in earnest after World War I, at a time when electric light became more widespread. Featuring photographs, prints, and drawings from the exhibition After Cubism, this talk will explore the role electric light played in energizing a new and deeply experimental era of image making.
Free and open to the public
Sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Arts Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs
After Cubism is free with museum admission, which is always free for residents of Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties.
After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918-1948 is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts.
