Western culture after World War II  

Western culture after World War II

There was a great diversity of different styles and cultural movements after the Second World War. The story gives an overview of the developments in the culture after the war.

8 comments | 1945 - August 1969

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Western culture after World War II

12 events | 8 comments | 1945 - August 1969

1945

Existentialism, Structuralism, and Post-Structuralism in France

One of the most prominent postwar French intellectual was Jean-Paul Sartre. After the liberation of France he wrote plays, philosophical essays, novels, and cultural criticism. However, he increasingly devoted himself to politics...

1945

3 comments

1953

Abstract Expressionism in New York

The roots of Abstract Expressionism go back to Surrealism. One issue that the Abstract Expressionists were preoccupied with was uncovering the higher universal truths. The war had shattered traditional values and faith...

1953

0 comments

1957

Beat

The Beat literary movement had its beginnings in the New York City in the 1940s. It grew in the 1950s and included writers from other cities. Some of the most famous writers of the Beat movement are Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs..

1957

0 comments

1960

The Beatles

John Winston Lennon was the founding member of the Beatles. In March 1957 he founded a band named the Quarry. Later Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete best joined. The band took the name the Silver Beetles and later the Beatles...

1960 - 1970

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1961

Pop art

Roy Lichtenstein had arrived at Rutgers University in 1960. He had been an unknown Abstract Expressionist but transformed into a famous artist. Together with Andy Warhol they pioneered a new style named Pop Art...

1961

0 comments

1969-08

The Hippie Movement

The hippie movement was a youth movement that began in the United States in the early 1960s. Hippie movement spread around the world. It was a counter-culture that challenged the prevailing culture and argued that America needed a new ethics...

August 1969

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1970

Television

The postwar years were a period of the spread of television. In the 1970s the television was already taken for granted in the richer countries. However, the spread of television was not equally fast in all countries...

1970

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1971

Musical theater

With Europe’s reconstruction also the opera houses were reconstructed. The repertoire remained traditional and opera houses are often seen as museums were old works were constantly staged. Great changes in stagecraft took place in Bayreuth, Germany...

1971

0 comments

1975

Comics

Comics was originally an American genre. American comics dominated also after the Second World War. Cultural elites did not appreciate the comics. It was seen as an expression of lower and non-sophisticated culture. However, the genre was never banned...

1975

0 comments

1977

Hollywood

After the Second World War, by the 1960s, the classical Hollywood studio system was gone. An important influence was the Paramount decree. It was a decision of an antitrust case and changed the ways how films could be shown and produced...

1977

1 comment

1978

Pop music

The importance of the music industry increased after the Second World War. Between the years 1950 to 1978 the sale of music recordings increased 23 times. The boom of pop music took place at the same time as the emergence of rock music...

1978

4 comments

1980

Architecture since 1945

The artists who were condemned by Hitler came to the United States and developed American architecture. Walter Gropius was appointed chairman of the architecture department at Harvard University. Mies van der Rohe settled in Chicago...

1980

1 comment

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