A Transatlantic Avant-Garde

This landmark book is the first to capture the diversity of American artistic production of the interwar period in Paris. Assembling works from American and European collections to illustrate the presence of American artists at the heart of numerous avant-garde movements, including Purism, geometric abstraction, and surrealism, "A Transatlantic Avant-Garde" chronicles an uncertain time of transition when many American artists resisted the nationalist trends of Stieglitz and his circle and flooded the French capital seeking artistic exchange. Abundantly illustrated, this book includes over 200 color reproductions of artwork by both American artists and those European artists with whom they came in contact, including Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Albert Eugene Gallatin, Jean Helion, and Fernand Leger, as well as those from the surrealist circles, such as Joseph Cornell, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray. It also includes portraits of the illustrious characters by Berenice Abbott, Lee Miller, and Edward Steichen. This book reflects the transatlantic dialogue of the era by bringing together groundbreaking research in eight essays by both American and French authors.
It is further enriched by a detailed chronology, bibliography, and illustrated insets that trace the incessant travel, encounters and ensuing friendships, exhibitions and publications of the American avant-garde. "A Transatlantic Avant-Garde: American Artists in Paris, 1918-1939" accompanies a major traveling exhibition organized by the Musee d'Art Americain Giverny.