One need only remember the role of Jacques Louis David in the French Revolution of 1789 and the quasi-official status of art in French national history to understand the prominence of art and artists in the Federation des Artistes of the Paris Commune of 1871. Focusing on artists' political activities rather than their artistic efforts, Gonzalo J. Sanchez Jr. examines the artists assembly formed in the Commune, recounts the program and activities of the group and its members, and charts their fate after the fall of the Commune and during the ensuing repression of the Communards.