Above the Battlefield: Modernism and the Peace Movement in Britain, 1900-1918

by Grace Brockington

Overview

The early twentieth century is usually remembered as an era of rising nationalism and military hostility, culminating in the disaster of the First World War. Yet it was marked also by a vigorous campaign against war, a movement that called into question the authority of the nation-state. This book explores the role of artists and writers in the formation of a modern, secular peace movement in Britain, and the impact of ideas about "positive peace" on their artistic practice. From Grace Brockington's meticulous study emerges a rich and interconnected world of Hellenistic dance, symbolist stage design, marionettes, and book illustration, produced in conscious opposition to the values of an increasingly regimented and militaristic society, and radically different from existing narratives of British wartime culture.


Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300151954
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Series:	The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Grace Brockington is Lecturer in History of Art, University of Bristol.

Editorial Reviews

Lavishly illustrated . . . written in a lively style . . . Ms. Brockington deftly focuses on an important yet often neglected facet of Modernism.”—William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal - William Anthony Hay

“Lavishly illustrated . . . written in a lively style . . . Ms. Brockington deftly focuses on an important yet often neglected facet of Modernism.”—William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

— William Anthony Hay

Wall Street Journal

The Bloomsbury Group, roundly condemned by the status quo for outspoken pacifism, is paired with the lesser-known Margaret Morris Theatre circle in the Chelsea neighborhood of London in this fascinating examination of the continuity of prewar modernism abetted by associations with the peace movement. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Brockington (art history, Univ. of Bristol) maintains that pacifist artists, writers, and performers exerted credible influence before and during the war that was central to the development of British modernism. Painting, Hellenistic dance, symbolist stage designs and performances, book illustration, International Lyceum Clubs, and Vernon Lee's allegorical avant-garde The Ballet of the Nations are recognized as potent arts of peace. An early 20th-century secular, liberal pacifism from Christian roots and values unfolds, concluding with connections to international peace movements and an idealization of America's indigenous cultures. Photos, rarely reproduced art, and thorough documentation of sources demonstrate considerable archival sleuthing. VERDICT For scholars of the period interested in early 20th-century British and European modernism, pacifism, avant-garde theater, literature, and art.—Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL

Library Journal