Luiz Renato Martins teaches art history and aesthetics at the Visual Arts Department of the School of Arts and Communications of the University of São Paulo. He has taught in several universities in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Spain, France and the USA, and has published many books and articles on issues such as modern art, fi lm and the contemporary global crisis.Steve Edwards is Professor in the Department of Art History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of several books on art and photography; an editor of the Oxford Art Journal and of the Historical Materialism Book Series.

• AcknowledgementsCreditsPainting, Between Gewalt and Labour: introduction to The Conspiracy of Modern Art by Steve Edwards1 The Conspiracy of Modern Art 2 The Hemicycle: The Image of the Nation Form3 Marat by David: Photojournalism4 18th Brumaire, the Fabrication of a Totem: Freud, David and Bonapartism5 Remains of Voluptuousness6 The Returns of Regicide7 Parisian Scenes8 Two Scenes on the Commodity9 Painting as Labour-Form10 Transition from Constructivism to Productivism, According to Tarabukin11 Argan Seminar: Art, Value and Work12 Political Economy of Modern Art I: Entries for Combat13: Political Economy of Modern Art II: Lessons and Modes of UseIndex of Artworks CitedBibliography