The Art of War: MoMA Acquisitions 1940-1949

Portrait of the Artists

Gender

Below you will see our first visualized bit of data, that of art acquired by the MoMA as it pertains to gender each year between 1940 and 1949. This line graph visualization was generated with three lines that signify “male,” “female,” or “null.” The last of these are called as such because of data points where gender was not included in the column of the dataset. The graphs themselves depict date acquired, number of records, as well as gender. Interestingly, there was a spike in 1943 of “null” acquisitions, the height of World War II. Overall, the “male” and “female” lines significantly mirror one another, although it is clear that the MoMA was much more interested in artwork created by men and not women during the second world war.

 

Nationality

Below you will see our second and third visualized bit of data, that of art acquired by the MoMA as it pertains to nationality each year between 1940 and 1949. We have chosen to represent this information through bar graphs as well as large maps. The bar graphs show the date acquired, number of records, as well as nationality. The first three years of this decade depict American art being the most highly acquired, as well as 1944 and 1947. Interestingly, 1943 shows that the largest amount of art acquired by the MoMA during that fateful year was from artists with “Nationality unknown.” Further: in 1945 and 1946 as well as 1948 and 1949, the MoMA acquired the most art from French artists. American art was always prioritized it seems throughout this decade, but it was not most highly-valued each and every year during this time. Lastly, one can see this information represented over time during 1940, 1945, and 1949 on a global scale.


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