In The Conspiracy of Modern Art the Brazilian critic and art-historian Luiz Renato Martins presents an engaging new account of modern art from David to Abstract Expressionism. Seen from the megalopolis of Sao Paulo, this art of Paris and New York—which were once seen as touchstones of modernism that embodied Revolution, Thermidor, Bonapartism, and Bourgeois ‘Triump’—now pulsates in a tragic, stale, key.
Equally attentive to form and politics, Martins invites us to look again at familiar pictures. In the process, modern art appears in a new light. These essays, largely unknown to an English-speaking audience, may be the most important contribution to the account of modern painting since the important debates of the 1980s
Publication date: October 30, 2018
Acknowledgements
Credits
Painting, Between Gewalt and Labour: introduction to The Conspiracy of Modern Art by Steve Edwards
1 The Conspiracy of Modern Art
2 The Hemicycle: The Image of the Nation Form
3 Marat by David: Photojournalism
4 18th Brumaire, the Fabrication of a Totem: Freud, David and Bonapartism
5 Remains of Voluptuousness
6 The Returns of Regicide
7 Parisian Scenes
8 Two Scenes on the Commodity
9 Painting as Labour-Form
10 Transition from Constructivism to Productivism, According to Tarabukin
11 Argan Seminar: Art, Value and Work
12 Political Economy of Modern Art I: Entries for Combat
13: Political Economy of Modern Art II: Lessons and Modes of Use
Index of Artworks Cited
Bibliography
