Though 21st century art history majors might not realize it, the entire second half of the 20th century was covered by the shadow of WWII. “The war, Nazi crimes, and their legacy inevitably prejudiced Americans against German art and prompted curators and museum directors to reject proposals for exhibitions. In 1950, the director of the Art Institute of Chicago suggested that were his museum to show an exhibition of contemporary German work, it ‘would run against great objections.'”