Paris Post War: Art and Existentialism 1945-55
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In all justice, French painting must be credited with two great achievements in recent years. One is its remarkable proof of vitality during the war (which was not a way of escaping nor forgetting reality but rather of transcending it), when exhibitions of 'young painters', like a secret talisman, aroused the enthusiasm of the younger generation. The other, moving miraculously in the same direction, is the work produced in their old age by
the 'old masters' - Ronault, Bonnard, Matisse and Picasso - who seem to be carrving out a sublime and timeless dialogue.
From an article on painting in Paris by Andre Chastel, Magazine of Art (Washington) May 1950, Vol. 43 No. 5
Paris Post War: Art and Existentialism 1945-55 at the Tate Gallery until 5 September.
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