Art et dictature au XXe siècle

The train station in Milano, in the “Assyro-Milanese style” according to the word chosen by its critics) and the EUR district in Rome; the manly busts by Arno Breker and the muscled disc throwers shot by Leni Riefenstahl; the Moscow metro and Stalin walking around boastingly as “General Winter”; or on he walls of the Kremlin. All these images of XXth century art all have a point in common: they are the product of totalitarian regimes that exalt strength, promote a new man and condemn all dissidence to silence. The book lists for the three “iconic” countries - Italy, Germany and the USSR - the different artistic expressions. While architecture, sculpture and painting are rather well known, we discover with interest a part that was neglected but was surprisingly creative, graphics. To seduce the crowds on the heroism of their masters or the reliability of national industry, certain front row artists – Sironi, Depero, El Lissitzki – summarized in a very efficient manner the ideals of speed, strength and hardness for the Pirelli tires, the cruiser Patria, the railroad trains or the tireless steel workers.

• Art et dictature au XXe siècle, by Marie-Adriana Giusti and Philippe Sers, Place des Victoires, 2014, 256 p., €39.95