For 50 years following the Second World War, New York was the centre of world art, influencing artists well beyond the USA. And, as Katy Siegel argues, since America lacked the European traditions underlying art, American art instead responded to extreme social conditions native to the country. Artists' preoccupations ranged across a broad spectrum that encompassed issues of race, mass culture, the individual, suburbia, apocalypse and nuclear destruction. From Rothko's planes of colour to Warhol's serial silkscreens, from Richard Prince's cowboys to Faith Ringgold's Black Light series, Since '45 examines artists and artworks within the broader spectrum of American society.
