A Boatload of Madmen: Surrealism and the American Avant-Garde, 1920-1950

Rating:
Summary: with the owl and the pussycat ...
Review: Surrealism arrived in America in 1932, hardly a minute too late. According to Tashjian, it fled from Europe in the midst of the Depression and the rise of Nazism and Fascism.During the war the amazing efforts of Varian Fry's Emergency Rescue Committee enabled a number of the principle figures to slip away from the Nazi net.

Tashjian's story accounts for the amazing transformation of American fine art and popular culture under the influence of these European emigres, ending with the beginning of McCarthyism, under which regime most of them, being left-of-centre, rowed back to Europe. Perhaps Dali remained and reigned supreme.

The hardcover book has plenty of photographs, unfortunately all in black and white, and a slightly whacky presentation that makes it a fun read. It's academically researched with extensive endnotes and extremely informative. Highly recommended and now available in paperback.