VVV, [Poetry, Plastic Arts, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology]
[New York, s.n.]
BH301 .S75 V.1-4 ARTLCKS

With the emigration of several noted European artists to the United States in the years preceding and including World War II, the avant-garde spirit passed from Europe to the United States. In January, 1938, the Exposition International du Surréalisme was held in Paris. By 1942, André Breton, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp, and many other noted Surrealists, were living in New York City. Breton, who realized the value of a publication for holding the group together, spearheaded the formation of VVV, a journal devoted to poetry, art, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. The first issue, with a cover design by Max Ernst, included contributions by Claude Lévi-Strauss, William Carlos Williams, André Masson, and Robert Motherwell. The inclusion of Williams and Motherwell signaled that an American presence was not only welcome, but critical to the publication's success. VVV not only gave Breton a platform from which to publish his "Prolegomena to a Third Manifesto of Surrealism--or else," but also provided an outlet for younger American writers, including Harold Rosenberg, who became one of the leading critical voices for the New York School of painting, and the photographers Frederick Sommer and Clarence John Laughlin. Although limited to four numbers, VVV's linking of the European Avant-Garde with American artists had a profound impact on the post-war American art scene, especially regarding the formation of the New York School.