New York in 1917 Duchamp presented a white porcelain urinal signed R. Mutt as work of art, becoming the father of the "readymade". The killing fields of the war (nearly one-tenth of the French adult male population had been killed or wounded) had made many see the absurdity of existence. This was also the period when the Lost Generation took hold: rich Americans enjoying the liberties of Prohibition-free France in the 1920s and poor G.I.'s going abroad for the first time. Paris was also, for African-Americans, amazingly free of the racial restrictions found in America (James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Josephine Baker). When Dada reached Paris, it was avidly embraced by a group of young artists and writers who were fascinated with the writings of Sigmund Freud, and particularly by the notion of the unconscious mind. The provocative spirit of Dada became linked to the exploration of the unconscious mind through the use of automatic writing, chance operations and, in some cases, altered states. The surrealists quickly turned to painting and sculpture. The shock of unexpected elements, the use of Frottage, collage and decalcomania, the rendering of mysterious landscapes and dreamscapes were to become the key techniques through the rest of the 1930s. World War II ended the feast. Many surrealists like Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, André Breton and André Masson fled occupied France for New York and the States (Duchamp had already been in the U.S. since 1936), but the cohesion and vibrancy were lost in the American city. For a chronological list of artists from the period, go here. Post World War II The French art scene immediately after the war went in several directions. Some continued the artistic experiments of the 1930s and 1940s, especially Surrealism and Geometric abstraction, and others associated with Lyrical abstraction, Tachisme, Nuagisme, Art Informel and (modes of expression along similar lines as Abstract Expressionism or action painting from New York). These artists included Wols, Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jean Degottex, Gérard Ernest Schneider, Pierre Soulages, Jean Messagier and Georges Mathieu. At the same time, Jean Dubuffet dominated the early post-war years while exploring childlike drawings, graffiti and cartoons in a variety of media in what he called "Art Brut" (see Outsider art). Meanwhile, François Fiedler went searching for the perfect combination of color and texture amongst the multitudinous layers of paint that found its way onto his canvas. In 1960, Pierre