French Modernisms

This book examines the history of modern art in France from 1935 to 1970, demonstrating the close link between art and politics in this period. In essays focusing on key events in the exhibition and criticism of modern art, Michèle Cone provides a broader context for the racism and xenophobia that characterize Vichy-era France. Her analyses demonstrate that art critics, artists, and even the state attempted to exclude the Other - Jewish artists in the years leading up to and including World War II, American artists in the postwar period - in an effort to safeguard the integrity of indigenous traditions. Cone argues that the decline of French art in the second half of the century was caused, not by the invasion of the Abstract Expressionists and other foreign artists, but by the Parisian art establishment itself, which continued to promote national identity and tradition, the dominant values of the Vichy period.