Philadelphia Museum of Art to Debut New Exhibition

The Philadelphia Museum of Art will debut "Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s" on Saturday, April 12. More than 250 works of fashion, furniture, painting, photography, sculpture, and more, all taken from the museum's extensive collections, will present a perspective on the 1940s that celebrates the spirit of innovation amid adversity. The exhibition will be on display through Sept. 1.

"This exhibition sets out to challenge the perception that creative pursuits ground to a halt during the first half of the decade and, instead, will shine a spotlight on the remarkable creativity of 1940s America," said Sasha Suda, the George D. Widener Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in a media release. "I am particularly proud that we will be drawing entirely from the museum's extensive collections to tell stories of a decade that was both tumultuous and transformative.” 

As visitors make their way through the exhibition, they'll encounter creative expressions ranging from wartime fashion and jewelry to drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints documenting the activities, people, and places of the era.

Guests will encounter works from noted names of the era such as Georgia O'Keefee, Horace Pippin, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Ben Shahn.

The subject of art and World War II will highlight a diverse group of objects that represent global conflict. Highlights of these pieces include items made for use during the war, including Mainbocher's American WAVES uniform designed for the women's branch of the U.S. Navy.

The exhibition will also include works from the late 1940s and into the Atomic Age. These items include Harold Edgerton's photograph of an atomic bomb detonation. Other images include Pablo Picasso's "The Dove" (1949), an image used by the World Congress of Partisans for Peace to convey shared hope for global unity.