Aragon's Writings on Modern Art Reissued in Expanded Edition

Flammarion has published a new, expanded edition of Louis Aragon's "Écrits sur l'art moderne," nearly doubling the original 1981 anthology compiled by Jean Ristat with a preface by Jacques Leenhardt. The new volume includes previously omitted articles deemed minor, redundant, or too explicitly communist and Stalinist, as well as texts on literature and cinema, such as those on Tel Quel and Jean-Luc Godard's "Pierrot le Fou." Notably, it features a tribute to Maurice Thorez under the title "Pour une image vraie." The collection covers Aragon's writings on artists like Picasso, Chagall, and Masson, but excludes his book "Henri Matisse, roman." The edition offers a panoramic yet partial view of modern art, championing a broad realism that encompasses both Soviet socialist realism and the works of Max Ernst and Paul Klee, while ignoring abstract painting and pop art. Aragon's consistent thesis—that authentic art must engage with life and aim to change the world—remains polemically potent despite his acknowledged errors in judgment.