PREFACE 
The visit to Vienna of the Paris “SALON D’AUTOMNE” con- 
stitutes a new landmark in the path of those cultural relations 
which, at all times, have been profitable to both Austria and 
France, two countries of ancienf civilization. 
Today particularly, it shows the comprehension and the Sup 
port offered to the new Austria by a cöuntry which, having also 
been crushed by superior numbers, devastated by war, occupied 
by the enemy, was nevertheless able to take up arms and, in a 
gallant surge, to reconquer its liberty. 
This exhibition is moreover, in my opinion, the living symbol 
of the supremacy of spiritual values which, disdainful of all 
material contingencies, and purified and strengthened by ineffable 
hardship, showed themselves in even greater splendour as soon 
as the long night was over. 
This exhibition reflects the unbreakable resolve of a nation 
which, threatened in its innermost existence, refused to disap- 
pear from the stage of history. It is, therefore, a friendly mes- 
sage of the French Republic to the young Republic of Austria. 
As a glowing testimonial of France’s believe in the future of 
a civilization that draws the reasons for its faith and its hopes 
from the deep sources of its past, this exhibition, in my opinion, 
constitutes an additional guarantee of my country’s confidenee 
in the fate of the new Austrian Republic. 
I invited the “SALON D’AUTOMNE” to exhibit in this Capital 
the works of the greatest possible number of their members. The 
response was immediate and enthusiastic. It had indeed appeared 
to me that this bubbling crucible, which since the beginning of 
our Century has played an ever growing part in the artistic life 
of France, which has done so much for its expansion all over 
the world and given so many young artists of talent the oppor- 
tunity to tread their own way and to reveal themselves, would