Synopsis
The decade between the 1929 stock market crash and the outbreak of World War II was profoundly defined by political tensions and contradictions in both Europe and North America. In Italy, Germany and Soviet Russia leaders appeared whose agendas were skillfully disseminated by ideological propaganda about the New Man. This troubling and complex period is reflected in its art, where tradition and modernity clashed.By focusing on the period s fascination with science and biology, the authors compare two impacted areas: the arts, where the idea of metamorphosis produced an aesthetic revival; and politics, where the struggle to bring about a eugenic and racist renewal had unprecedented consequences for society.Organized thematically, this profusely illustrated publication takes the form of a story in nine episodes, thereby highlighting the period s enormous stylistic diversity and sociopolitical complexity. This complexity is reflected in the works of the artists who dealt with its dramatic upheavals according to their personal convictions, fears, hopes or disappointments.The international scope is reflected in the artists featured. They are from both Europe: (Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Max Ernst, August Sander, Alexander Rodchenko, Otto Dix, Lisette Model and Jean Arp) and from North America (Grant Wood, Jackson Pollock, Walker Evans, Alex Colville and Diego Rivera).
About the Author
Contributors include: Eric Michaud, author of The Cult of Art in Nazi Germany (Stanford University Press) ; Sander L. Gilman, author of Freud, Race and Gender (Princeton University Press) ; Didier Ottinger of the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Jean Clair, former director of the Musée Picasso, Paris.
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