The correspondence of the arts in a Fin de Siècle Magazine The “Livre d’Art” at the crossroads of Modernism

he main topic of this article is the history of a rare and precious French magazine of the late Nineteenth century, in which a vivid and crucial discussion about arts and their inter-relation grew more and more intense in the short space of four years (1892-1896). The “Livre d’Art” was first conceived as a simple booklet to be distributed to the spectators of the experimental plays of the ”Théâtre d’Art”, but it soon became a sophisticated art object, which merged figurative and poetic art in order to create a mutual relation of authentic correspondence among them, thus overcoming the wagnerian idea of Gesamtkumstwerk. We are then going to focus on the second series of the Livre d’Art (1896), that exhibits a new tendency towards Modernism and Internationalism, opening towards Belgian, German and English artistic and literary movements, such as Jugendstil and Arts and Crafts, but opening also to contemporary theatre aesthetics, publishing i.e. Jarry’s Ubu Roi.Cet article vise à reconstruire l'histoire d'une revue symboliste française, qui à la fin du XIXe siècle représenta un lieu de rencontre et d'élaboration de nouvelles théories artistiques et théâtrale, et dont les conséquences furent très relevantes pour la formation de la nouvelle culture européenne du Modernisme. Le "Livre d'Art", avec sa promotion d'une intense inter-relation parmi les arts, contribua en effet à l'ouverture du Symbolisme vers le Modernisme européen et vers l'internationalisme des premières décennies du XXe siècle