The twenty-first century has seen a surge of interest in English art of the interwar years. High-profile exhibitions have attracted record-breaking visitor numbers and challenged received opinion. In The Real and the Romantic, Frances Spalding takes a fresh and timely look at this rich period in English art.

The devastation of World War I left the art world decentered and directionless. This book is about its recovery. Spalding explores how exciting new ideas coexisted with a desire for continuity and a renewed interest in the past. We see the challenge to English artists represented by Paul C