Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914-1925

Analyzing the all-encompassing changes in modern art between the outbreak of World War I and the Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs of 1925, Kenneth Silver’s study demonstrates how deeply involved the members of the Parisian avant-garde were in French society and its dominant values and relationships. The book examines a crucial episode in the story of modern art, and delineates the many ways in which art is interwoven with politics and propaganda, with fashion and cultural mythology, and with public policy and personal ambition. The author reinterprets some of the masterpieces of modern art, from Matisse and Picasso to Léger and Le Corbusier, and shows how their creators refer, consciously or not, to the cataclysms of the Great War and its aftermath.

Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Date Published: 1989
Book Condition: Very good hardcover with minor surface rubbing and edge wear to boards. In a dust jacket with a closed tear at top near spine that has been repaired with paper repair tape. There is a small moisture stain on the bottom front dust jacket, near the spine and there is some surface wear and a few marks to the front and back. Some minor marks to text block and soiling to the text block corners. Otherwise, a near fine, clean and unmarked copy internally.