Department of Art & Design hosts book release reading and reception by Dr. Antje Gamble

MURRAY, Ky. – The Department of Art & Design at Murray State University will host a book release talk and reception in honor of Dr. Antje Gamble’s new book, “Cold War Exhibitions of Italian Art and Design”, on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at 5 p.m.  in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery on the Murray State main campus.  This event is free and open to the public.

Gamble is an art historian of Italian modernist sculpture and trans-Atlantic exhibition practices in the mid-1900s. An associate professor in Murray State’s Department of Art & Design, Gamble earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan, Master of Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught at Murray State since 2015. 

Her new book, “Cold War Exhibitions of Italian Art and Design” shows the dynamic role art played in constructing both Italian and American culture after the Second World War. Moving beyond previous studies, Gamble’s book focuses on a 1950-53 exhibition called “Italy at Work” that traveled to 12 American museums during the Cold War era and explores what that exhibit contained, how it was received by the public and how it shaped and was shaped by national and international socio-political dynamics. 

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event. 

An excerpt from “Cold War Exhibitions of Italian Art and Design” states, "From ceramic sculpture to traditional folk craft, from textiles to industrial design, the peculiarity of the wide variety of some 2,500 objects reflected both the multifaceted ideas about modern design in Italy that had roots in the interwar period and also the desire to legitimize modern design in the post-war United States." 

For more information about the event, please contact Murray State University’s Department of Art & Design at 270-809-3784.