London Exile: Metropolis, Modernity, and Artistic Migration

A new approach to modern art shaped by exile and migration.

In the 1930s and 1940s, London was a metropolis of artistic exile and a place of refuge from Nazi persecution. London Exile is the first book to look at the British capital as a sanctuary for modern artists. The city presented its new arrivals with opportunities and challenges: exiles established galleries, founded publishing houses and magazines, collaborated with local artists, organised exhibitions, published their work, and built networks. Artistic and theoretical production flourished in close dialogue with urban space.

This volume sheds light on how the arrival of exiles transformed London’s art scene and, conversely, how the experience of displacement and the city shaped the work of émigrés in fields such as art, architecture, and photography. London Exile brings art history, urban studies, and exile studies into a vibrant dialogue and contributes to a new understanding of the history of modern art.