The Mysticism of Money

Precisionist Painting and Machine Age America
In this much-anticipated book, acclaimed art historian Andrew Hemingway overturns orthodox views of Precisionist art and, more generally, of American Modernism. A trio of neglected artists--Stefan Hirsch, Louis Lozowick, and George C. Ault--are finally accorded in-depth analysis; and, drawing on an unrivaled knowledge of left-leaning politics, Hemingway connects Precisionism to a milieu in which experimental theater, a wave of "little magazines," and engagement with communist politics stirred debate and conflict.
Andrew Hemingway is a Professor of the History of Art at University College, London and the author of numerous publications, including 'Artists on the Left: American Artists and the Communist Movement, 1926- 1956' and the contributing editor of 'Marx and the History of Art."
George Ault? Stefan Hirsch? Louis Lozowick? Names of little significance except to specialists in American art of the 1920s and 1930s. But neither Ault nor Hirsch nor Lozowick is a marginal artist if the scope of Modernist culture in America is broadened to include proponents of leftist politics. Then, Andrew Hemingway demonstrates, their paintings acquire great importance as critical representations of the capitalist system. Hemingway is a masterful guide to the discussions and publications that fed some artist" based on the opposition of the natural to the artificial or reified. No prior book offers such a provocative (and timely) account of the development of Precisionist painting. it is made all the more valuable by its consideration of the writings of John Dos Passos, Sinclair Lewis, and Theodore Dreiser.