André Chastel on Play and the Sacred in Modern Art

André Chastel's essay 'Le jeu et le sacré dans l'art moderne', originally published in 1955 in the journal Critique and later collected in his 1978 book 'Fables, formes, figures' (Flammarion), is excerpted by art press. In it, Chastel defends modern art against reactionary attacks, comments on writings by theologian Father Régamey, and analyzes art's role in society. He argues that modern art possesses a unity modeled on primitive societies, identifies themes of play in modern iconography, and contrasts Dadaism and Surrealism.