Art of the Defeat
Résumé
Art of the Defeat offers an unflinching look at the pivotal role art played in France during the German occupation. It begins with Adolf Hitler's staging of the armistice at Rethondes and moves across the dark years - analyzing the official junket by French artists to Germany, the exhibition of Arno Breker's colossi in Paris, the looting of state museums and Jewish collections, the glorification of Philipe Pétain and a pure national identity, the demonization of modernists and foreigners, ans the range of responses by artists and artisans. The sum is a pioneering exposé of the deployment of art and ideology to hold the heart of darkness at bay.