Martin Burgess Green (1927–2010)

From Publishers Weekly
The celebrated New York Armory Show in early 1913 introduced Picasso, Matisse, Cubism and Dada to the American scene. Three months later, 1,200 striking textile workers from Paterson, N.J. staged a pageant in Madison Square Garden to dramatize their demands. Green, who is fond of cultural juxtapositions ( Children of the Sun, etc.), links these two events with the lame argument that modern art and revolutionary politics share a spiritual, transcendental goal. He takes us inside the salon of Mabel Dodge, the wealthy art patron and labor pageant organizer, who was ensconced in respectability yet actively subverted it. He also takes us into the Wobblies' union halls where people of any race or nationality were welcome and workers' poems were composed on the spot. The pageant saw hostilities flare up between leaders Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn; Green believes the event marked the beginning of the International Workers of the World's slow decline. His atmospheric study limns a brief moment when art and politics came together. Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This study of Greenwich Village culture, from its prewar high point to the interwar declension, seeks to make serendipitous connections between the Paterson textile strike, led by the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Armory Show that shattered traditional art tastes and paved the way for modernism. Green offers a sophisticated account of the art worlds of New York and Paris, accurately renders the working conditions of a multi-ethnic labor force, and offers illuminating vignettes. But he is unconvincing in his overview attempt to find an "imaginative convergence" between antinomiese.g., Mabel Dodge and Bill Haywood, modern art and Paterson and to attribute "spirituality or transcendence" to each. One may challenge Green's conceptual scheme, but his command of the material is solid. For students of cultural life. Milton Cantor, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.… (mais)

This is a superb book, which opened my eyes to the importance of the Commedia dell'Arte to twentieth century art. The early Surrealist works are often redolent with images, very obviously borrowed from the Commedia and the authors of this tome, are persuasive in their attempts to link Stravinsky, Chaplin and other artists from varying artistic walks of life to the same influences.
If I were to have a complaint, it is that they appear to over egg the cake on occasions. Martin Green and John Swan have probably forgotten more than I have ever known about this subject so, I have to criticize with extreme care but, it does sometimes feel that they are arguing that, as a mouse has four legs, a tail and a head at the front end so, it must be a close relative to the elephant. What I cannot say with certainty, is whether this is down to taking their argument too far, or to their editing their evidence to fit the available space. The mark of a good book is that it has given me sufficient interest to wish to find related works and to see if I can answer that question for myself.… (mais)