ABSTRACT AND SURREALIST ART IN AMERICA. by JANIS, Sidney - 1944

Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1944. First Edition. Hardback. Dust Jacket. 4to. pp 146. Illustrated in black & white and some color throughout. Light green grey cloth with red and blue lettering on the cover and spine. The book is in very good condition, the jacket is good but worn, unclipped, with chips out of the top and bottom of the spine.

About the Author, Sidney Janis -

Sidney Janis (1896 – 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited the work of most of the emerging leaders of Abstract Expressionism, but also that of such important European artists as Pierre Bonnard, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Piet Mondrian. As the critic Clement Greenberg explained in a 1958 tribute to the dealer, Janis' exhibition practices had helped to establish the legitimacy of the Americans, for his policy "not only implied, it declared, that Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Phillip Guston, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell were to be judged by the same standards as Matisse and Picasso, without condescension, without making allowances."
During his lifetime, Janis continually sought to support art and creativity and create exposure for artists of his day even if they had not yet garnered the attention and adoration of the public. For example, he had several accomplishments in the American art scene, including the first exhibition of Futurism, an exhibition of Analytical Cubism, and the "Less is More" show.