The relationship of the anarchist movement to American art during the World War I era is most often described as a "tenuous affinity" between two distinct spheres: political and artistic. In Anarchist Modernism—the first in-depth exploration of the role of anarchism in the formation of early American modernism—Allan Antliff reveals that modernists participated in a wide-ranging movement that encompassed lifestyles, literature, and art, as well as politics. Drawing on a wealth of hitherto unknown information, including interviews and reproductions of lost works, he examines anarchism's influence on a telling cross-section of artists such as Robert Henri, Elie Nadelman, Man Ray, and Rockwell Kent. He also traces the interactions between cultural figures and thinkers including Emma Goldman, Alfred Stieglitz, Ezra Pound, and Ananda Coomaraswamy. By situating American art's evolution in the progressive politics of the time, Antliff offers a richly illustrated chronicle of the anarchist movement and also revives the creative agency of those who shaped and implemented modernism for radical ends.

Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the First American Avant-Garde

Arts & Photography

Antliff, Allan

History & Criticism

University of Chicago Press

The Phaidon Focus series presents engaging, up–to–date introductions to art’s modern masters. Compact, affordable, and beautifully produced, the books in this growing series are written by top experts in their field. Each features a complete chronological survey of an artist’s life and career, interspersed throughout with one–page "Focus" essays examining specific bodies of work.
Joseph Beuys ranks amongst the most radical and influential artists to emerge during the second half of the twentieth century. An enigmatic figure who was never one to shun controversy, Beuys strove to establish a truly democratic approach towards making and presenting art. Here, Allan Antliff, the Canada Research Chair in Modern Art at the University of Victoria and a founding member of the Toronto Anarchist Free School, explores the origins, development, style, and themes of Beuys’ provocative and prophetic work.

Joseph Beuys: Phaidon Focus

Phaidon Press

Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York, the catalogue for the landmark exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1996, proposes that Dada was not only important to the growth of American modernism, but that the ferment of New York played a critical role in the continuing photographs, and related documentary material records the achievements of the French emigres Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia, the American expatriate Man Ray, as well as American artists Charles Demuth, Katherine Dreier, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella, Florine Stettheimer, Clara Tice, and Beatrice Wood.

Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York

Watson, Steven

Krauss, Rosalind E.

Jones, Amelia

Whitney Museum of American Art

Tashjian, Dickran

Venn, Beth

Nesbit, Molly

Rosenblum, Robert

Zabel, Barbara

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple

Alden, Todd

Naumann, Francis M.

Bochner, Jay

Davidson, Abraham

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF ART.

One of the powers of art is its ability to convey the human aspects of political events, ranging from war to revolution to sexual liberation. Art also has the power to transform society, a theme that pervades this fascinating survey on art, artists, and anarchism since the nineteenth century.   In numerous essays, Allan Antliff interrogates moments of engagement when anarchist artists, poets, philosophers, and critics have confronted pivotal events over the past 135 years. The survey begins with Gustave Courbet's activism during the 1871 Paris Commune (which established the modern-day French republic), and ends with an examination of anarchist art during the fall of the Soviet empire. Other subjects include the Dada movement, the Russian avant-garde of the 1930s, 1960s activism, and the West Coast Beats.   Throughout, Antliff vividly explores art's potential as a vehicle for social change, and how it can shape the very nature of political events, both historic and present-day. Well-informed and approachable, Anarchy and Art is a book for political junkies and art aficionados alike.

Anarchy And Art: From the Paris Commune to the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Arsenal Pulp Pr Ltd

One of the powers of art is its ability to convey the human aspects of political events. In this fascinating survey on art, artists, and anarchism, Allan Antliff interrogates critical moments when anarchist artists have confronted pivotal events over the past 140 years. The survey begins with Gustave Courbet’s activism during the 1871 Paris Commune (which established the French republic) and ends with anarchist art during the fall of the Soviet empire. Other subjects include the French neoimpressionists, the Dada movement in New York, anarchist art during the Russian Revolution, political art of the 1960s, and gay art and politics post-World War II. Throughout, Antliff vividly explores art’s potential as a vehicle for social change and how it can also shape the course of political events, both historic and present-day; it is a book for the politically engaged and art aficionados alike. Allan Antliff is the author of Anarchist Modernism.

Anarchy and Art: From the Paris Commune to the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Arsenal Pulp Press

Anarchie und Kunst: Von der Pariser Kommune bis zum Fall der Berliner Mauer

Edition AV, Verlag

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Books by Antliff, Allan