A comprehensive exploration of the evolutions, innovations, and legacies of French art from the late eighteenth-century to the present

Charting the artistic eras from the transformative upheavals of the French Revolution to the dynamic global intersections of contemporary art in the 21st century, A Companion to French Art, provides an unparalleled analysis of French art. Edited by Richard Taws and Natalie Adamson, this authoritative volume offers new ways to consider the broad history of French art through critical attention to diverse objects, mediums, and practices that have shaped French art across centuries.

Shedding new light on how art has interacted with and challenged established narratives, this volume features 30 essays by leading and emerging scholars, offering insights into a wide range of topics, including revolutionary iconography, modernist movements, colonial legacies, and contemporary art's engagement with global issues. Going beyond traditional frameworks, these chapters present new methodologies and innovative interpretations that reflect the evolving questions and challenges in art history. Addressing essential themes while expanding the boundaries of how French art is understood today, A Companion to French Art:

• Offers comprehensive coverage of French art with a uniquely wide topical and temporal scope
• Examines diverse media and materials including painting, sculpture, photography, film, ceramics, industrial design, and fashion
• Engages with cutting-edge methodologies such as post-colonial critique and feminist theory
• Draws on in-depth archival research and previously unexplored materials for fresh insights

Essential for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in French art history, A Companion to French Art, is also an invaluable resource for academics, museum professionals, and researchers worldwide.

NATALIE ADAMSON is Professor in the School of Art History, University of St Andrews, Scotland. She specialises in the art, politics and cultural history of twentieth-century France. Her publications include Painting, Politics and the Struggle for the École de Paris, 1944-1964 and the co-edited volumes Academics, Pompiers, Official Artists and the Arrière-Garde: Defining Modern and Traditional in France, 1900-1960 and Material Imagination: Postwar European Art, 1946-1971.

RICHARD TAWS is Professor in the History of Art Department at University College London. His work focuses on the intersections of art, media, and politics in modern France. His publications include Time Machines: Telegraphic Images in Nineteenth-Century France and The Politics of the Provisional: Art and Ephemera in Revolutionary France. He has also co-edited volumes on art, technology, and media in early modern and modern Europe.