Art for Art's Sake

Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company, Boston MA, 1936. 1st edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The author divides his work into four parts. The first traces the history of 'art for art's sake' from antiquity to the present. Albert Guerard's depth of learning and his ability to make discriminatory selections of facts give to this monumental task a lightness of touch and ease of style that make it delightful reading. The second section... goes on to discuss Art for Money, for Prestige and for Information, Art and Morality, and Art for Propaganda. Here the author advances his proposition that Art which exists for any of these reasons is not Art. His, however, is a robust art in touch with life, obeying and serving but only its own laws and its own ends... Here is a book, controversial, profound and readable." [Dust Jacket] There is a protective mylar cover. 1ST EDITION.