Nothing but the Clouds Unchanged

Artists in World War I

Hughes Gordon, Blom Philipp

This is a fascinating and superbly illustrated look at how the First World War influenced an entire generation of visual artists. Much of how WWI is understood today is rooted in the artistic depictions of the brutal violence and extensive destruction that marked the conflict".Nothing but the Clouds Unchanged" examines how the physical and psychological devastation of the war altered the course of 20th-century artistic Modernism. Following the lives and works of fourteen artists before, during, and after the war, this book demonstrates how the conflict and the resulting trauma actively shaped artistic production. Materials from the Getty Research Institute's special collections, including letters, popular journals, posters, sketches, books, propaganda, and photographs – situate the works of the artists within the historical context, both personal and cultural, in which they were created.

About the Author

Dr. Gordon Hughes is the Mellon Assistant Professor of Art History at Rice University, Houston, Texas. He specializes in early 20th-Century European Modernism.

Philipp Blom is an historian, novelist, journalist, translator, and independent scholar. He studied in Vienna and Oxford and, after living and working in London, Paris, and Vienna, now lives in Los Angeles. He specializes in intellectual and cultural history.

Reviews

"The book's many portraits can be pieced together into a larger picture, one that shows artists struggling to balance the new reality of mechanized destruction with the personal necessity of creation" – New York Times

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