Masters Of Modern Design The Art Of The Japanese American Experience

The first chapter in our Masters of Modern Sculpture series looks at groundbreaking work from the brilliant minds that reshaped sculptural art and inspired generations to come. Narrated by George Segal, The Pioneers explores famed pieces from sculptors such as Rodin, Maillol and Picasso.

Centered around the emergence of Constructivism, Futurism, Surrealism and Dada, Beyond Cubism takes a closer look at the artists who ignited the new movements and the alterations of artistic culture brought forth by World War II. Creating out of their philosophy and ideology, artists such as Vladimir Tatlin, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore pushed sculpture to new limits of abstraction and possibility, feverently building on their predecessors.

The Masters of Modern Sculpture series concludes with a look at post- World War II America, where sculpture became a deeply innovative art form. Using the objects at their disposal and the inspiration surrounding them, artists such as George Rickey, Claes Oldenburg, and Louise Nevelson cast sculptor in a new light. The New World observes the sculptors creatively utilizing wood, metals, and junkyard finds, bringing forth lively and shocking work. America's remote spaces, discarded objects and abundant materials enabled them to add to the concepts of European modernism in daringly unique ways.

From the hand-drawn typeface on the book cover of The Godfather to Herman Miller’s biomorphic coffee table, the work of Japanese American artists/designers including Ruth Asawa, George Nakashima, Isamu Noguchi, S. Neil Fujita, and Gyo Obata permeated American postwar culture. While these second generation Japanese American artists have been celebrated, less-discussed is the powerful effect their World War II incarceration—a period of intense hardship and discrimination—had on their lives and art.

Tradition is a Temple explores New Orleans' unique musical culture and the fragility of tradition in the modern world.