Les machines de Salons de Francis Picabia

Francis Picabia’ s « Salon » Paintings Following the First World War (in which he didn’t take part), subversive artist Francis Picabia made his comeback on the Parisian art scene with contributions to the Salon d’Automne. This major artistic venue had become a refuge of war veterans. It encapsulated the tensions of the period of demobilization, torn between the cult of heros and the impossible mourning of the dead. Picabia’s compositions openly criticized the systematic calls to tradition and the stifling moralistic climate of the times, and they were badly received. They also created a controversy at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants : Surprisingly, as this event was known for its embrace of freeedom in the arts. The rejection of Picabia’s work in the years 1919-1922 led to the publication of several pamphlets in the magazine 391, to calls to reintegrate German artists, and generally sparked a major debate, whose study is fundamental to the writing of a social history of contemporary art in the first years of the post-World War I period.