<DIV>Contemporary art is increasingly concerned with swaying the opinions of its viewer. 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.<BR><BR>From the postwar works of Pablo Picasso and Alexander Deineka to the Border Film Project and web-based works of Beatriz da Costa, Art and Politics: a Small History of Art for Social Change since 1945 considers how artists visual or otherwise have engaged with major political and grassroots movements, particularly after 1960.<BR><BR>With its broad definition of the political, this book features chapters on post colonialism, feminism, the anti-war movement, environmentalism, gay rights and anti-globalization. It charts how individual artworks reverberated with enormous ideological shifts. While emphasizing the West, <I>Art and Politics</I> takes global developments into account as well - looking at art production practiced by postcolonial African, Latin American and Middle Eastern artists. Its case-study approach to the subject provides the reader with an overview of a most complex subject. This book will also challenge its readers to consider often devalued and marginalized political artworks as properly part of the history of modern and contemporary art.</div>