Synopses & Reviews
In its day it was, quite simply, the worldandrsquo;s largest painting.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The
Panthandeacute;on de la Guerre was a cyclorama the size of a football field, featuring 5,000 full-length portraits of prominent figures from World War Iandmdash;a painting that blatantly sought to arouse patriotic fervor in its viewers. This book traces that workandrsquo;s shifting fortunes during its unlikely journey from Great War Paris to cold war Kansas City and examines the continuing journeys of its fragments in the worldandrsquo;s art markets.
Mark Levitch has written the first history and analysis of the Panthandeacute;on, capturing its social life in a story full of surprising twists and turns and as epic as the painting itself. Created in Paris as an artist-generated propaganda project while the war raged, the Panthandeacute;onwas celebrated there as a solemn and nostalgic work after the war, then was promoted as a circuslike spectacle on a postwar tour of the United States when it was andldquo;updatedandrdquo; to appeal to Americansandrsquo; more celebratory view of the conflict. Consigned to storage and all but forgotten after World War II, the Panthandeacute;on was eventually procured for Kansas Cityandrsquo;s Liberty Memorial in 1956, where less than 7 percent of the work was reconfigured into a smaller U.S.-centric muralandmdash;some of the unused fragments eventually surfacing in Paris flea markets and on eBay.Levitch looks at the Panthandeacute;on as both painting and artifact, combining cultural history, art history, and material culture studies to trace the changing reception of traditional art in the new age of mechanical media.and#160;He assesses the changing values attached to the Panthandeacute;on and argues that the panoramaandrsquo;s status and frequent reshaping have both informed and been informed by the experience and memory of the First World War in France and the United Statesandmdash;and also reflects on how it has promoted a politically and culturally conservative agenda.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Brimming with facts and insights that will amaze anyone who has known the painting in any of its incarnations, Levitchandrsquo;s handsomely illustrated book provides a unique lens through which to view a conflict and its commemoration. And as people continue to place importance on commemorative projects, it is a powerful reminder of how ephemeral such grand undertakings can be.
Review
andldquo;Panthandeacute;on de la Guerre is a fascinating and original account of a neglected chapter in the cultural history of the First World War. . . . An intriguing and engaging piece of scholarship.andrdquo; andmdash;Jay Winter, author of The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century
Synopsis
In its day it was, quite simply, the world s largest painting. The Pantheon de la Guerre was a cyclorama the size of a football field, featuring 5,000 full-length portraits of prominent figures from World War I a painting that blatantly sought to arouse patriotic fervor in its viewers. This book traces that work s shifting fortunes during its unlikely journey from Great War Paris to cold war Kansas City and examines the continuing journeys of its fragments in the world s art markets.
Mark Levitch has written the first history and analysis of the Pantheon, capturing its social life in a story full of surprising twists and turns and as epic as the painting itself. Created in Paris as an artist-generated propaganda project while the war raged, the Pantheonwas celebrated there as a solemn and nostalgic work after the war, then was promoted as a circuslike spectacle on a postwar tour of the United States when it was updated to appeal to Americans more celebratory view of the conflict. Consigned to storage and all but forgotten after World War II, the Pantheon was eventually procured for Kansas City s Liberty Memorial in 1956, where less than 7 percent of the work was reconfigured into a smaller U.S.-centric mural some of the unused fragments eventually surfacing in Paris flea markets and on eBay.Levitch looks at the Pantheon as both painting and artifact, combining cultural history, art history, and material culture studies to trace the changing reception of traditional art in the new age of mechanical media.He assesses the changing values attached to the Pantheon and argues that the panorama s status and frequent reshaping have both informed and been informed by the experience and memory of the First World War in France and the United States and also reflects on how it has promoted a politically and culturally conservative agenda. Brimming with facts and insights that will amaze anyone who has known the painting in any of its incarnations, Levitch s handsomely illustrated book provides a unique lens through which to view a conflict and its commemoration. And as people continue to place importance on commemorative projects, it is a powerful reminder of how ephemeral such grand undertakings can be."
About the Author
Mark Levitch, a Ph.D. candidate in art history at the University of Pennsylvania, was previously an intelligence analyst at the State Department and a graduate curatorial fellow at the National Gallery of Art.and#160;He lives in Washington, D.C.