Contemporary art is incresingly concerned with swaying the opinions of its viewier. To do so, the art employs various strategies to convey a political message. This book provides readers with the tools to decode and appreciate political art, a crucial and understudied direction in post-war art.

Introduction: A Prehistory of Political Modernist Art Chapter 1: State-Sponsored Art, 1949-present -Zhadnovian socialist realism and 1945: Alexander Deineka - Postwar Western socialist realisms: Andre Fougeron; Renato Guttuso; Pablo Picasso; Diego Rivera - African socialist realisms: Tshibumba kanda Matulu, Congo; Monument to Agostinho Neto, Angola - American art and the Cold War: Jackson Pollock - Political Cold War Painting in the west: Sigmar Polke; Eugen Schoenebeck; Erro; Bernard Rancillac; Tseng Kwong Chi - Wric Bulatov and late-Soviet political painting Chapter 2: Civil Rights/Postcolonial Movements,1960- - Art of the Civil Rights movement and its legacies: Romare Bearden; Betye Saar; David Hammons; Lorna Simpson - Postcolonialist art: Yinka Shonibare; Chris Ofili; Steve McQueen; Bodys Isek Kingelez; Meschac Gaba Chapter 3: The Anti-War Movement, 1965- - Vietnam: Leon Golub; Nanacy Spero; Ed Kienholz; Peter Saul; George Segal; Erro ( Gundmundur Gundmundsson); the Guerilla Art Action Group; Mark di Suvero' Groupe Cronica; Wolf Vostell; Martha Rosler - Afghanistan, the Gulf Wars, and Middle East conflict: Jeff Wall; Harun Farocki; Walid Ra'ad - Torture: Luis Camnitzer; Doris Salcedo; Francisco Botero Chapter 4: Feminisim.,1970- -US feminisims: Womanhouse ( Miriam Shapiro and Judy Chicago); Betye Saar; Carolee Schneeman; Eva Hesse; Ana Mendieta; Barbara Kruger; Cindy Sherman - European femininisms: Mona Hatoum; Shirin Neshat; Le Groupe Amos (Congo); Wangechi Mutu Chapter 5: Gay Rights, 1969- - Gay rights and AIDS activism inside and outside of the artworld: ACTUP; Gran Fury; Group Material; Ross Bleckner; David Wojnarowicz; Martin Wong; Oliviero Toscani ( for Benetton) - Lesbian identity: Catherine Opie Chapter 6: Environmentalist Art, 1972- - Origins of a "land ethic" in art reclamation: Robert Smithson; Hans Haacke; Betty Beaumont; Alan Sonfist; Agnew Denes; Helen Mayer-Harrison and Newton Harrison: Joseph Beuys - New environmentalism: Mel Chin; kathryn Miller; Ines Doujak; Sokari Douglas-Camp and Platform London; Beatriz da Costa Chapter 7: Anti-Globalization, 1999- - In real time and space: Thomas Hirshhorn; Alfredo Jaar; Alighiero Boetti - Migrants' and Workers' rights: mierle Laderman Ukeles; Yolanda Lopez; Chantal Akermann; Multiplicity; Minerva Cuevas; Huit Facettes ( Senegal); Corie Cole; the Border Film Project - Informatics Activism: 0100101110101101.ORG; Radical Software Group; Mongrel; Raqs Media Collective Epilogue: Art and Politics to Come - Bioethics: Eduardo Kac; Critical Art Ensemble: Tissue Culture & Art

'Whosoever wants to get a great overview and detailed information about art and politics should read Claudia Mesch's book. It gives sound information on the art of the twentieth century and the major artists that contributed to this important aspect of art, in a time when most artists today only produce pleasing art.' Salome (W. Cihlarz) painter, sculptor, and punk singer 'Art and Politics' is a succinct history of political art that recovers important, marginalized artists. But more, it conveys the continuing need for art that reconfigures, regroups, and redirects the collective, and as such is a great resource for practicing artists.' Delinda Collier, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Contemporary art is incresingly concerned with swaying the opinions of its viewier. To do so, the art employs various strategies to convey a political message. This book provides readers with the tools to decode and appreciate political art, a crucial and understudied direction in post-war art.