Histoire de l'art: L'art moderne 1

Histoire de l'art #4

by Élie Faure

L'Histoire de l'art est une vaste fresque qui va de la préhistoire jusqu'aux premières années du XXᵉ siècle. Commencée en 1909, terminée en 1927, plusieurs fois remaniée, la totale nouveauté de l'entreprise d'Élie Faure a été d'introduire un genre nouveau devenu populaire et indispensable aujourd'hui : le livre d'art où chaque commentaire peut être comparé aux oeuvres elles-mêmes, la juxtaposition et la confrontation des images justifiant l'audace des rapprochements qui parfois paraissent insolites. Entreprise tout à fait nouvelle à l'époque, elle n'a été, Malraux mis à part, ni égalée, ni dépassée aujourd'hui. Cette édition du cinquantenaire comporte des éléments inédits : - une présentation de l'homme et de l'oeuvre, en tête de L'art antique ;- un dossier constitué de lettres, d'articles, de variantes, de textes divers, à la fin de chaque volume.Ces éléments établis par Martine Chatelain-Courtois, responsable des Cahiers Élie Faure et grande spécialiste de son oeuvre, sont d'un immense intérêt. Ils permettent une lecture entièrement nouvelle, nous aident à saisir l'évolution de l'auteur, le font revivre au fil des ans et des itinéraires de ses voyages.

Genres: Art, Art History

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Jacques Élie Faure (4 April 1873 – 29 October 1937) was a French medical doctor, art historian and essayist.

Faure was called "the greatest art critic of the 1920s and 30s". He is the author of the History of Art, considered a historiographical pillar in the discipline.

Dr. Faure was drafted as a military doctor at the front line during the First World War. He was quickly traumatized by the fighting and moved to the rear of the battlefield.

His book, La Sainte Face (The Holy Face), published in 1917 retraces his time as a frontline doctor from August 1914 to August 1915. The second part, "Far from the Fire", describes his convalescence in Paris and Côte d'Azur.

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very curious about art history when I arrived in France 20 years ago and as I was learning French, I discovered the various art history books by Frenchman Elie Faure. You can look in my bookshelves and see the various titles and I won't review them all individually, so here are my thoughts on them as a group. Elie Faure was writing with a pretty orientalist / eurocentric view of art as he started out and put the typical focus on greek and etruscan art. However, as you read his later books, you may find as I did, that this somewhat racist and bigoted view as mitigated by his further research into Chinese, Indian and African art and his opinions become far less euro-exclusive and far more inclusive. As for the text, it is beautifully written in French and the insights into each period are absolutely fascinating (albeit with the caveats I mentioned above). He clearly loved modern art and saw it as an inevitable continuation and a rupture (isn't everything contradictory in this life?) from all that preceded it. I truly enjoyed the books and perhaps you can give one or two a shot (they are relatively quick to read and have lots of reproductions of the works he discusses).

[Dilek · Rating 3 out of 5]

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