Presence and Reception of English Artists in Paris During the Interwar Period

Après la Première Guerre mondiale, des artistes affluent du monde entier vers la France, en particulier vers Paris, qui devient le principal foyer artistique européen durant l'entre-deux-guerres et qui voit se développer des courants mêlant tradition et avant-garde. C'est à cette période qu'immigrent de nombreux artistes originaires des pays du sud et de l'est de l'Europe (surtout pour des raisons sociales, religieuses et politiques, conséquences, notamment, des pogroms juifs et de la révolution russe). Paris, phare culturel du monde à l'époque, attire de plus en plus d'artistes qui rejoignent ceux déjà présents depuis le début du XXème siècle, tels Picasso, Braque ou Matisse. Entre temps, le centre artistique de la ville a migré du quartier de Montmartre vers celui de Montparnasse, qui compte parmi les artistes les plus représentatifs l'italien Modigliani, le suisse Giacometti, l'espagnol Dali, le russe Soutine, le biélorusse Chagall, ou encore le roumain Brancusi.Certains sont plus attirés par le Nouveau Monde et rejoignent Duchamp à New York, tandis que peu d'artistes américains émigrent vers Paris : ce sont plutôt des écrivains américains qui font le voyage inverse et s'installent dans la Ville Lumière (on pense à Ernest Hemingway ou Ezra Pound). Mais qu’en est-il des artistes anglais à Paris ? C’est le sujet de notre travail de recherche : qui sont, précisément, les artistes qui migrent ? Quelles sont leurs motivations ? Quel type d'œuvres ont-ils produit ? Quelles ont été leurs relations avec le milieu artistique et le public parisiens ? Quels échanges franco-anglais sont issus de cette présence anglaise en France ?There were many English artists in France between 1919 and 1939. Yet this has been neglected. This project will do explore the English presence on the Parisian artistic scene and the reception of English artists by their French counterparts.After the First World War, artists came from the entire world to Paris. It became the main European artistic centre during the interwar period, where several artistic movements developed. Some of these artists came from Southern and Eastern Europe, often for social, religious and political issues.Paris attracted more and more artists who joined those who had been there since the beginning of the 20th Century – Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque or Henri Matisse, among others. At the same time, the artistic centre of Paris moved from Montmartre to Montparnasse, which gathered the Italian Amedeo Modigliani, the Swiss Alberto Giacometti, the Spanish Salvador Dali, the Russian Chaïm Soutine, the Belarusian Marc Chagall or even the Romanian Constantin Brancusi. Some artists preferred the appeal of the New World and joined Marcel Duchamp in New York, although relatively few American artists moved to Paris. French scholars have taken an interest in the period: the Franco-Russian artistic cooperation in Paris has been recently analysed by Tatiana Trankvillitskaia, while the Belgian presence is being studied by Céline De Potter.However, English artists in Paris have yet to be studied. Their contribution to artistic life or the impact of Paris on the English art at that time have been neglected by French historians.This current project traces the details of that English presence in France during the interwar years: who were the artists that came over? What was their subject matter? What kind of works did they produce? What were their relationships both with the artistic milieu and the Parisian public? What was the impact of French works on English art? The goal is to define the place of English artists within the “École de Paris.” Who were they and what were they attracted to