Modernising the V&A: From War to Reconstruction 1918-51

In the aftermath of two world wars, the V&A struggled to reconstruct a national view of contemporary art and design in which Britain’s industrial past and contemporary developments could be reconciled. Contemporary design was the main catalyst against which a new ‘romantic nationalism’ was reconstructed; to use Maurice Halbwach’s term, in creating a ‘collective memory’ of the past.