Paris Between the Wars, 1919–1939: Art, Life & Culture

Teeming with nearly three million people from all walks of life, Paris between the two great wars experienced an artistic and intellectual golden age, detailed and illustrated here. During these years, writers explored unconventional subjects and styles, from Colette's exploration of the struggle between the sexes to Céline's unconventional language and a darkly absurd vision of humanity. In music and dance, Stravinsky composed two emblematic works of modern neoclassicism, Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms; American jazz flowed in Montmartre clubs; Josephine Baker's topless dancing caused a sensation; and the Ballets Russes recruited the greatest practitioners of the dance, musical, and visual arts for revolutionary new ballets. Radical modernist architects grouped around Le Corbusier. Matisse's sensual odalisques, Duchamp's Mona Lisa with Mustache, Picasso's war-inspired Guernica, Chagall's dreamy flying lovers, and Dalí's and Magritte's disturbing images all defined the era. The essays by the art historian authors are competent although dry and lacking a unifying introduction. The real treats are abundant illustrations that evoke a singular era that is indelibly impressed upon our collective cultural consciousness. (Dec.)