Radical Art and the Formation of the Avant-Garde

David Cottington is Emeritus Professor of Art History at Kingston University, London.

“If you haven’t any space on your shelves, we suggest making some - and sharpish…Radical Art and the Formation of the Avant-Garde…focuses on a group of people looking forward rather than back. Taking the artistic vanguard as his starting point, author David Cottington looks to two cities - Paris and London - in his exploration of the meaning of modernity and 20th-century European culture.”—Inigo.com  ‘There is no more sophisticated and compelling historian of the avant-garde now at work than David Cottington. This is a sustained, elegant, and erudite account of its subjects, wide-ranging, unfailingly insightful, and certain to be the standard work.’ – David Peters Corbett, The Courtauld Institute of Art‘A subtle and multifaceted exploration of how early twentieth-century avant-gardes coalesced in the distinctive cultural and political circumstances of pre-World War I London and Paris, Cottington’s wide-ranging book makes a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of critically important episodes in the history of art.' – Nancy J. Troy, Stanford University‘Cottington’s new and unparalleled study lays bare the social conditions that led to the rise of the radical artistic avant-garde. A formidable book indispensable to all readers interested in the social history of modern art.’ – Sascha Bru, University of Leuven