Edited by Éric de Chassey, Harry N Abrams, 2002; ISBN 0810963639.

American Art, 1908-1947 offers fresh interpretations of diverse modern American artworks by a cast of mostly French art historians, an unusual perspective given the stupendous influence of French artists on American artists during that era, and the disconcerting fact that this essential period of American art has been little known in France. American readers will be piqued by the provocative title of editor de Chassey’s introductory essay, “Why Has There Been No Great American Art (Before the Triumph of Abstract Expressionism)?”