French Literature Reviews - 2026
Y. Chevrefils Desbiolles, Les Revues d'art à Paris (1905-1940)
Art and Visual Culture
Review published in Acta Fabula (August-September 2016, vol. 17, no. 4): "Art magazines in Paris dissected" by Marc Décimo.
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Yves Chevrefils Desbiolles, Les Revues d'art à Paris (1905-1940)
Aix-en-Provence: Presses de l'université de Provence, coll. "Théorie et pratique des arts", 2014.
EAN 9782853999007.
364 p.
Price: 26 EUR
Publisher's overview:
The 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s were to the art magazines of the last century what the 1880s were to literary reviews: a period of exceptional editorial creativity during which publications of every aesthetic and ideological stripe played a vital role. Accompanying and sometimes spearheading artistic upheavals, many of these magazines helped establish the most innovative and creative artistic movements. The Paris of this era witnessed the birth of every model and variant of art periodical: from the most ephemeral to the most institutional, from avant-garde to conventional, from Les Soirées de Paris to Minotaure, from Arts à Paris to L'Art vivant, from Dadaist and Surrealist journals to academic reviews, and from gallery bulletins to the earliest precursors of today's art magazines. Based primarily on a meticulous study of what these reviews said about themselves and their peers—through editorials and manifestos—as well as on portraits of key figures in the art publishing world such as Georges Wildenstein, Waldemar-George, Michel Seuphor, Christian Zervos, Paul Guillaume, Guillaume Apollinaire, and René Huyghe, this volume paints a vivid, well-documented portrait of an editorial activity essential to the development and debate of aesthetic theories.
The early twentieth century in Paris represents a significant era for periodical culture, characterized by a proliferation of journals that functioned as both records and catalysts for artistic change. This period saw the emergence of diverse editorial models, ranging from short-lived avant-garde manifestos to more established, institutional publications. These magazines served as platforms for the dissemination of aesthetic theories and the documentation of shifting artistic values. Readers interested in the history of modern art and editorial practices may find this exploration of the Parisian landscape relevant.
Les Revues d'art à Paris (1905-1940) examines the self-representation of these publications, drawing from their own editorials and manifestos. By examining the contributions of figures such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Michel Seuphor, and Christian Zervos, the work situates these magazines within the context of the art world. It covers a spectrum of editorial activity, including Dadaist and Surrealist journals, gallery bulletins, and academic reviews, documenting the role of these periodicals in the development and debate of aesthetic theories throughout the interwar period.
You can consult the table of contents for this book.