Artists under Vichy: A Case of Prejudice and Persecution

While France endured one of the darkest hours of its entire history, from the occupation of Paris in June 1940 to the liberation of the city four years later, the French art world displayed an astonishing burst of creativity, an atmosphere of laissez-faire and pluralism that seems at odds with the repressive nature of culture under authoritarian regimes. So reveals Michele Cone in this work on the art of Vichy and occupied France. But, as Cone also discloses, Vichy xenophobia and Nazi racism kept many artists from participating in this bonanza of artistic activity. In "Artists under Vichy", both narrative and illustrations demonstrate in detail the contrast between the "haves" and the "have-nots" during this period. The first section of the work analyzes the lavish attention paid to both academic and nonacademic art by the official French press, by Vichy, and by German observers. Cone hypothesizes that the German strategy in Vichy France was to allow the display of nonconformist art, outlawed as "degenerate" in Germany, in order to distract the public from the secret seizure of museum pieces and Jewish art collections - and from other, far greater Nazi crimes. Neither among the "haves" nor the "have-nots", Picasso, forbidden to exhibit, lived through this period in Paris, quietly but productively. The second section of this book considers his production and that of the true "have-nots" - persecuted artists, including Jews, in hiding or self-imposed exile from Paris in the free zone. Among the "have-nots" discussed here are Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Sonia Delaunay, Alberto Magnelli, Otto Freundlich, Victor Brauner and Hans Bellmer.

Table of Contents:
IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsPrefacePt. IAvengers of DecadenceCh. 1An Epoch Ends in Disarray3Ch. 2Middle-of-the-Road Romantic Realists Nab the LightProfile of a "Judenrein" Art World11Middle-of-the-Road Art15The Scapegoats of Lucien Rebatet20Avengers of Decadence25Ch. 3Converts to "Patriotic" AbstractionAwkward Auspices for Painting in the French Tradition35Opportune Conversions40German Leniency toward French "Decadent" Painting46Primitivism and Politics55Ch. 4No Victory for Salon ArtistsSalon Artists Court Vichy62Salon Images against Decadence65The Vichy Agenda: A Revival of Folk and Decorative Art72Pt. IIScapegoats of DecadenceCh. 5"Resistancialism" and the French Art World85Ch. 6An Uncanny "Return to the Soil"Nestling in the Free Zone89An Art of Exceptional Circumstance Emerges96Survival Networks in Action108Ch. 7Victims and SurvivorsInternments, Arrests, and Their Better-known Victims: Max Ernst, Walter Benjamin, Marc Chagall, and Andre Baton116Left Behind: Otto Freundlich, a victim of the Holocaust124Ch. 8Picasso's War in Occupied ParisPicasso's Gamble131The War in Picasso's Art137Navigating through Troubled Waters146Picasso and the Resistance151Epilogue: Collaboration, Resistance, Art, and ArtistsA Costly "Free" Trip154Pro-German Sentiment in Artists' Ranks158Manifestations of Anti-German Feeling among Artists169Conclusion: Art, Prejudice, and Persecution in France, 1940-44179Appendix 1: Report of the Propaganda-Abteilung on the Visual Arts, January 1944183Appendix 2: Gallery Guide, Paris, May 1941188Appendix 3: Gallery Guide, Paris, November 1943189Appendix 4: Artists in the Inaugural Exhibition of the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, August 1942190Appendix 5: State Acquisitions of Modern Art between 1941 and 1947194Appendix 6: Distribution of Sculpture Commissions between Salon Exhibitors (S) and Others in 1941195Notes197Bibliography241Index257