"From the TWA Terminal to Cadillac tail fins to paintings by Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, 1940 to 1960 was a groundbreaking period for the arts in America. World War II ushered in an era of unprecedented destruction and the frightening promise of atomic power, and artists and designers responded with creations that emphasized the human body and living forms - reconfiguring what was now imperiled.".

"This illustrated volume, published on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, presents the work of artists, architects, and designers alongside historical photographs and period advertisements. The essays in Vital Forms: American Art and Design in the Atomic Age, 1940-1960 examine fine art and commercial design of the 1940s and 1950s from an interdisciplinary perspective."--BOOK JACKET.