Contagious Joy: Anarchism, Censorship and the Reception of Jacob Epstein’s Tomb of Oscar Wilde, C. 1913

In 1913 a cross section of the London- and Paris-based avant-garde signed a public petition protesting the Paris Municipal government’s censorship of Jacob Epstein’s Tomb of Oscar Wilde. Published as a broadside in mid-March 1913 by the journal Action d’art, the petition was forgotten until Epstein highlighted it in his 1940 autobiography. The Action d’art group’s defense of Epstein’s tomb was premised on a theory of anarchist-individualism espoused by the journal’s founder, André Colomer, and his “art action.” The movement itself proved a success, which resulted in the forging of strong ties between anarchist writers, artists, and the avant-garde community.