Ostblick 1/2011 - 1 Art Histories, Cultural Studies and the Cold War / Cold War Cities Conference and stud da , &nstitute of 'er!anic and (o!ance Studies, .on- don, 29th-2>th Se/te!ber 2010 (evie- b Andreas +uth The conference Art Histories, Cultural Studies and the aim of a//roaching the /heno!enon of the Cold War Cold War, organised b acade!ics based at the fro! a cultural /oint of vie- -hilst o-ning up to the Schools of Arts and English of the Universit of Kent !ethodologically relevant fact that !ost of the resear- at Canterbury and the &nstitute of 'ermanic and (o- chers present e7/erienced it at least /artially the!sel- !ance Studies )&'(S* and KAT&A +&,,& -ithin the ves. +rincipal to/ics raised )not necessarily in a syste- School of Advanced Studies at the Universit of Lon- !atic -a * were< the mutual perce/tion and re/resen- don, took /lace in the I'(S roo!s in one of the -ings tation of East and West during the 1910s-80s, the of Senate House, the building to-ering over the Uni- ideological and /ro/agandist objectives sha/ing the versit of London’s colleges and institutions in /ublic sphere -ithin -hich these /rocesses took 1loo!sbury. Erected b Charles Holden in 1932-37, /lace, and the function fulfilled b images and art dis- the building re!ains controversial for its alleged se!- /lays in this conte7t@ the ideological constraints im/o- blance -ith totalitarian architecture else-here in sed on the /erce/tion of, and research on, cultural 1930s Euro/e, associations doubtlessly enhanced b /heno!ena and artefacts of the /ast@ the im/act of its function as 1ritain’s 6inistry of &nformation during /olitical and ideological allegiances on the intellectual the Second World War and the inspiration it is said to out/ut and careers of acade!ics and critics. &n /re- have e7erted upon 'eorge Orwell in conceiving his /aring this revie- for /ublication several !onths after fictional 6inistry of Truth in 1984 )-hich it e!bodied the conference, the striking to/icalit of several the- on screen)2 A//ro/riately, a tour of the building for- !es and i!ages especially of the ‘Cold War Cities’ !ed /art of the ‘Cold War Cities’ stud da held on da ? -hether of the nuclear e7clusion Aone surroun- the follo-ing day, a follo--on event initiated b the ding Chernobyl or the vie- over Tahrir SFuare in Cairo ne- Centre for Cultural 6e!ory Studies at the &'(S – is unsettling2 and addressing similar issues, though -ith a decided =ro! a 1ritish /oint of vie-, a :/erfect cold -ar fi- e!/hasis on i!ages, conce/ts and !anifestations of gure0 still arousing passionate debates is the art histo- urbanit in its various sha/es. rian Anthony 1lunt )1907-83), a//ro/riately the sub- The idea to hold the conference -as chiefly infor- ject of the keynote address delivered b his biogra- !ed b the historiogra/hical research undertaken b /her 6&(A;BA CA(T"(2 She gave an overvie- of his its convenors '(ANT +OO%" and 1"; THO6AS of unintegrated ‘lives’ as authorit on =rench and &talian the Universit of Kent< the former in -riting an ac- 16th/17th-century art and architecture, establishment count of the Marxist art historian, econo!ist and cine- figure, and Soviet sp during World War I&, noting ho- aste =rancis Klingender )1907-55) ? also a !e!ber of his /ublic e7/osure and disgrace in 1979 -as in itself the British Co!!unist Part –; the latter in his involve- related to the hardening /olitical and social climate of !ent -ith the estate of the /hiloso/her and Warburgi- the beginning Thatcher era2 She traced 1lunt’s en- an art historian Edgar Wind )1900-71) -ho, /rior to counter -ith !ethodologically so/histicated art histo- being a//ointed as first /rofessor in the history of art ry /ractised b 'erman H!igré scholars at a time at O7ford University )1955), had taught in the U.S. and -hen the discipline hardly e7isted in 1ritain, and en- beco!e an A!erican citizen. The o/ening co!!ents gaged -ith his introduction to 6arxism and 6arxist b BAC&B AD"(S )Kent* stressed the conference’s art theory )not least b =rederick Antal), analysing his Conference (evie- Art Histories, Cultural Studies and the Cold War / Cold War Cities kunstte7te2de 1/2011 - 2 1930s art criticism as evidence of his !ove to-ards children, a ‘saccharine sentimentalit in tune -ith fully-fledged Stalinism at the time2 1lunt’s attitudes Adenauer’s =ederal (e/ublic02 'erman biogra/hical to-ards +icasso’s :'uernica0 e/ito!ize his shifting and ideological continuities fro! the 1930s to the /ositions as critic and art historian: da!ned in 1937 1960s -ere e7e!/lified b the case of the /hotogra- as defying art’s sole /urpose of /ro/aganda, hailed /her Karl +a-ek and the three Weltausstellungen der as ‘!odern Calvary’ fro! 1952 onwards. +hotogra/hie he conceived bet-een 1964 and 1977, The conference’s !orning session -as dedicated similarly advancing a sentimental vie- of !ankind2 to /ro/aganda and /hotogra/hy2 &(&NA 1DST(OVA CA(O.&;" 1.&;B"( )London) focused on the antho- )6osco-* /rovided a historical chronolog )fro! log Time in Ne- England )1950) b the /hotogra/her 1945/6 to the 1980s) of the !utual /erce/tion of the +aul Strand and the -riter Nanc Ne-hall. The ju7ta- !ilitary threat /osed b the ‘Anglo-A!ericans’ on the /osition of 17th-20th-century historical and fictional one hand and the Soviet Union on the other and the accounts of Ne- England -ith Strand’s ‘rede!/tive0 strategies of ‘guessing, bluff, and black!ail’ de/loyed images of Ne- England landsca/es, vernacular archi- b either side, touching upon the use of caricatures as tecture and /eo/le e!erged as a conscious, timeless !eans of /ro/aganda and /resenting striking 1960s evocation of A!erican values and de!ocratic ideals images taken b the U.S2 reconnaissance satellite in the face both of /ost-war Euro/ean traumas and syste! ‘Corona02 6A(THA LA;'=O(B )6ontreal) the onset of 6cCarthyism in the U.S2 -hich targeted and IOHN LA;'=O(B )Victoria/British Colu!bia* both authors and /ro!/ted Strand to leave the coun- /resented /hotogra/hic sna/shots of the Cold War try. IA;" +OW".. )Kent* /resented findings of her -orld of 1962/3 ? such as the not yet co!/leted 1er- research on Soviet /olitical /osters held in the collec- lin Wall or the Soviet 6e!orial at Tre/to- ? taken b tion of the 6arx 6e!orial Library in .ondon, conside- their late father during his world tour organized as part ring their changing aesthetics as -ell as /ro/agandist of Canada’s National Befence College curriculum2 contents fro! 1917 to the 1980s. "!/hasising the ar- The de!onstrated the !ethodological issues arising tistic Fualit of the early Soviet era /osters ? displa - in the assessment of this specific e7a!/le of ‘Cold ing gra/hic artistry and increasingly informed b Con- War tourism0 -ithin the -ider conte7t of :/hotogra- structivism ? and tracing the ado/tion of Socialist /hic history fro! belo-02 SA(AH IA6ES )O7ford* dis- (ealism fro! 1932 in the service of Stalin’s /ersonali- cussed the 1955 1erlin stage of Ed-ard Steichen’s t cult, the fight against =ascism and the early Cold e7hibition :The =a!ily of 6an’, its relationship to the War, she observed a decline both in qualit and clarit Cold War -orld of divided 'ermany, and its legac in of !essages fro! the 1960s onwards. C&CTO(&A the West 'erman conte7t2 Co!/rising !ore than 500 ZHU(AVLEVA )6osco-* follo-ed long-term stereot - /hotogra/hs arranged according to universal human /es and symbols de/loyed b A!erican /olitical cari- the!es such as birth, love, and death, the e7hibition caturists and cartoonists in constructing and de!oni- toured the -orld under the auspices of the United sing (ussia and, respectively, the Soviet Union as States &nformation Agenc fro! 1955 until 1963, at- :other’, as ene!y, as ‘kingdo! of darkness’ since c2 tracting 3 !illion vie-ers in its course2 &n spite of its 1900, right until the present of Putin’s Russia. Structu- close association -ith U.S2 /olic of the Eisenho-er ring the !aterial according to the the!es slavery ver- era ? -hich fe- revie-ers /icked up on ? the 1erlin sus freedo!, Co!!unism versus Christianity, and sho- attracted sup/ort and 44,000 visitors fro! both 1olshevism as anarchy/destruction/menace, the West and East, -ith 1recht considering its visit a speaker aimed to de!onstrate ho- certain !otifs ? :!ust’. Ja!es linked general criticism of the e7hibition such as the figure of &van the Terrible or the ‘Statue of ? notably for its universalising and hence levelling hu- Tyranny’ ? have been used continuously to /ortra !anism, but also for the absence of the Holocaust ? Stalin as -ell as +utin. Zhuravleva’s take -as challen- to its /articular, 'erman dimension: The c2 20 images ged in the discussion -here it -as /ointed out that -ith 'erman subjects hardly de/ict -ar and destruc- there has also been a notable critical and nuanced tion yet freFuently sho- ha// cro-ds or dancing strand in U.S2 cartoons and caricatures. The genre’s Conference (evie- Art Histories, Cultural Studies and the Cold War / Cold War Cities kunstte7te2de 1/2011 - 4 strong set of traditions and rules ? -hich should /re- countries such as +oland and Czechoslovakia on the vent the! fro! being taken at face value and used as other.