The Philadelphia Museum of Art has opened "Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s," a major survey featuring over 250 works including painting, photography, jewelry, ceramics, fashion, and furniture. The exhibition draws entirely from the museum's own collection, with around 40 percent of the works never exhibited before. It includes early pieces by celebrated figures like Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, as well as works by queer artists such as Paul Cadmus, Beauford Delaney, and Romaine Brooks, alongside self-taught artist Horace Pippin. Chief curator Jessica Smith emphasizes that the show aims to present a more complex, multivalent narrative of the decade beyond the dominant story of Abstract Expressionism.
This exhibition matters because it challenges the conventional art-historical focus on Abstract Expressionism as the defining movement of the 1940s, instead highlighting the rich diversity of visual languages—from figurative studies and wartime propaganda to innovative design and queer artistic networks. By showcasing lesser-known gems from its own collection, the museum offers a more nuanced understanding of a transformative decade, revealing how different media and perspectives interacted to shape midcentury culture. The show also underscores the Philadelphia Museum of Art's role in reexamining its holdings to tell broader, more inclusive stories about modern art.