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Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating exploration of wonderful, unknown artists
Review: I've just been handed a copy of this wonderful book, and although I haven't read it yet, just flipping through it and looking at the photographic plates is sufficient proof that this is an exceptional book. Every page shows reproductions of wonderful painters from Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia who are completely unknown here in the United States. It's hard to imagine that the story of modern art can be told without reference to these artists, and yet it has until now. Clearly a labor of love and many years in the making, this book is a must read for anyone who truly wants to learn something new about art and have their eyes opened both literally and figuratively.
Rating: 
Summary: detailed study of hidden treasure
Review: With the demise of Soviet Communism, the modern art from behind the Iron Curtain has finally been exposed. Even though this book tells only half the story - no doubt a further survey could be made of the period from World War Two until Perestroika - the pioneering art of the high modern period was of immense interest, especially given the connection between Paris and Moscow and the seminal position of the Russians in the development of new forms of art at the beginning of the 20th century.Many artists who fled the terror of Stalinist Communism ended up in the West and had significant impacts, but until this study Westerners knew little of the people who were mentors and influences on those artists. Mansbach has organised the book into six chapters that take into account the then shifting boundaries of Central Europe: The Czech Lands, Poland and Lithuania, The Baltic States, The Balkans, Romania and Hungary. Although not entirely comprehensive, the text is detailed and amazing in its breadth: and illustrated with numerous often large plates in colour and black and white. The evidence presented here shows that the modern cultures of all these regions were vital, and even though they were often suppressed by Soviet diktats of Social Realism (perhaps a creed that bit deeper in the ensuing years of the Cold War), and that European culture was amazingly integrated and a progressive force that was ultimately stalled by Stalin's anti-intellectualism and paranoia. It is clear that the cultures of these regions were just as interesting and complex as those of the main European centres: London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Munich. The presentation is laid out more like a text book than a coffee-table design, and the reproductions are not the best, but it is crammed with information and illuminates a dark corner of human cultural history. It is an important survey and detailed account of a hitherto overlooked cultural terrain, and should be taken seriously by all museum curators of European art. These comments refer to the paperback edition.
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