The 1930s

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The role of art in the rise of totalitarian ideologies is the focus of an international group of scholars and curators whose goal - unlike other publications on the period - is not to expose the ties between art and power, but to go to the heart of that power : biology. By focusing on the period s fascination with biology, they compare two impacted areas: the arts, where the idea of metamorphosis produced an aesthetic revival; and politics, where the struggle to bring about a eugenic and racist renewal had unprecedented consequences for society. Highlighting the enormous stylistic diversity and sociopolitical complexity of the times, this thematically-driven publication takes the form of a story in nine episodes. The complexity is reflected in the works of the artists who dealt with dramatic upheavals according to their personal convictions, fears, hopes or disappointments. Richly illustrated with works by, notably, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Max Ernst, August Sander, Alexander Rodchenko, Lisette Model, Jean Arp, Jackson Pollock, Walker Evans and Diego Rivera