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.

Product Description: Drawing on a wide range of anarchist publications, Only a Beginning is the first comprehensive overview of anarchist theory and practice in North America from 1976 to the present. Compiled and edited by Allan Antliff, it documents over a quarter-century of grassroots activism, including protests and gatherings, art exhibitions, street theatre, Internet sites and squats, as well as specific movements such as environmentalism, anti--globalization, feminism, queer rights, indigenous struggles, prisoners’ rights and terrorism...read more

Product Description: 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...read more