Carl Einstein In Documents

The short-lived art magazine Documents (1929-30) has since the eighties become an object of increasing fascination to art historians and students of French intellectual culture. The light shed on Documents has not, however, dispelled the sense of mystery surrounding its two years of exuberant production, and sudden demise. What actually happened? The main figure associated with the magazine has been the writer Georges Bataille but a German novelist and art historian Carl Einstein was also centrally involved. What was he doing in Documents, and why has he disappeared from the picture? This book traces Einstein´s role, detailing his charged collaboration with the younger Bataille, which contributed to Documents´ collapse.