French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Michaud, Un art de l'éternité. L'image et le temps du national-socialisme
History, Politics and Society

Un art de l'éternité - L'image et le temps du national-socialisme
Eric Michaud

Publication date: 03/01/2017 Publisher: Gallimard Series: Folio Histoire ISBN: 978-2-07-270119-1 EAN: 9782072701191 Format: Paperback Binding: Paperback No. of pages: 424 p.

Under the Third Reich, art was not merely a propaganda tool serving a political agenda. Because National Socialism grounded its worldview in the myth of the superior race as the sole creator of culture, art was instead the very raison d'être and ultimate goal of a regime that presented itself as "the dictatorship of genius." The awakening of the German people to the art of their past took on the form of a religious revival; art became the object of a national cult, and all labor was equated with artistic activity.
Guided by an artist-Führer, the "Aryan" people sculpted their own image, tracing its contours and eliminating its "parasitic" elements to attain the promised eternity.

Eric Michaud is Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. In the NRF Essais series, he recently published The Barbarian Invasions: A Genealogy of Art History (2015).

Contents:

ARTIST AND DICTATOR
THE ARTIST-FÜHRER: A SAVIOR
THE EXHIBITION OF GENIUS
THE REPRODUCTION OF GENIUS
IMAGES OF NAZI TIME: ACCELERATIONS AND IMMOBILIZATIONS

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An article on this book can be read on nonfiction.fr:

The relationship between aesthetics and totalitarianism has long been a subject of scholarly inquiry within the history of political ideas. This perspective aligns with broader academic discussions regarding the sacralization of politics, where artistic production is subsumed into the mechanisms of state power. Readers interested in the intersection of cultural history and the ideological construction of national identity may find this examination of the regime's self-representation relevant to their research.

Under the Third Reich, art was not merely a propaganda tool but the raison d'être of a regime that presented itself as the dictatorship of genius. The regime equated labor with artistic creation and elevated the leader to the status of an artist-Führer. The German people were encouraged to sculpt their own image, tracing its contours and eliminating perceived parasitic elements to attain a promised eternity.

"Images and Narrative for the Redemption of the People", by C. Ruby.