Art that degenerates (German: Entartete Kunst ) is a term adopted in 1920 by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art and works of internationally renowned artists were removed from state-owned museums and banned in Nazi Germany on the grounds that it was "an affront to German feeling", not German, Jewish or Communist. in nature, and those identified as slumping artists are subjected to sanctions. This includes being dismissed from teaching positions, forbidden to exhibit or sell their art, and in some cases prohibited from producing artwork.
Degenerate Art is also the title of the exhibition, held by the Nazis in Munich in 1937, consisting of 650 modernist artworks hanged in chaos and accompanied by text labels that derided art. Designed to inflame public opinion against modernism, the exhibition then travels to several other cities in Germany and Austria.
While the style of modern art was forbidden, the Nazis promoted traditional paintings and sculptures in a way and which extolled the value of "blood and soil" from racial purity, militarism, and obedience. Similar restrictions are placed on music, which is expected to be tonal and free from the influence of jazz; Unapproved music is called music degenerate. Movies and dramas are also censored.
Video Degenerate art
Reaction to modernism
The early 20th century was a heartbreaking period of change in art. In the visual arts, innovations such as Fauvism, Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism - follow Symbolism and Post-Impressionism - are not universally appreciated. The majority of people in Germany, like elsewhere, do not care about new art, which many hate as elitists, are morally suspect, and too often incomprehensible. Wilhelm II, who has an active interest in organizing art in Germany, criticized Impressionism as a "gutter of paintings" ( Gossenmalerei ) and banned KÃÆ'¤the Kollwitz from being awarded a medal for his print series A Weavers' Revolt when it was shown at the Berlin Grand Exhibition of the Arts in 1898. In 1913, the representative house of Prussia passed a resolution "against deep degeneration art".
Under the Weimar government of the 1920s, Germany emerged as the main center of avant-garde. It was the birthplace of Expressionism in paintings and sculptures, of the atonal music composition of Arnold Schoenberg, and the work of jazz-influenced Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill. Movies like Robert Wiene's Cabinet. Caligari (1920) and F.Ã, W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) brought Expressionism to the cinema.
The Nazis view the Weimar period culture in disgust. Their response stems in part from a conservative aesthetic sense and part of their resolve to use culture as a propaganda tool. On both counts, a painting like Otto Dix War Cripples (1920) is anathema to them. It's not complicated to describe four veterans of the first seriously damaged World War, then the usual sights on the streets of Berlin, made in a caricature style. (In 1937, it will be featured in the Degenerate Art exhibit next to a label accusing Dix - himself a volunteer in World War I - "an insult to German heroes of the Great War".)
In 1930 Wilhelm Frick, a Nazi, became Minister of Culture and Education, and announced a campaign "against the Negro culture - for the German national tradition". On his orders, 70 Expressionist paintings were largely removed from the permanent exhibition of Weimar Schlossmuseum in 1930, and the director of the KÃÆ'¶nig Albert Museum in Zwickau, Hildebrand Gurlitt, was dismissed for displaying modern art.
As a dictator, Hitler gave his personal taste in the art of legal force to a level never seen before. Only in Stalin's Soviet Union, where Socialist Realism is a compulsory style, has a modern state showing such attention with artistic arrangements. In the case of Germany, the model was classical Greek and Roman art, which Hitler regarded as an art whose outward form embodies deep racial ideals.
The art historian, Henry Grosshans, said that Hitler "saw the art of Greek and Roman not contaminated by Jewish influence." Modern art is regarded as an aesthetic act of violence by the Jews against the German spirit.It is true for Hitler though only Liebermann, Meidner, Freundlich, and Marc Chagall, among those who made a significant contribution to the modernist German movement, were Jews, but Hitler... took responsibility for deciding who, in cultural matters, thought and acted like a Jew. "
The supposed "Jewish" nature of all unreadable, distorted, or representing "depraved" material is explained by the concept of degeneration, which assumes that distorted and corrupted art is a symptom of an inferior race. By spreading the degeneration theory, the Nazis combine their anti-Semitism with their drive to control the culture, thus consolidating public support for both campaigns.
Maps Degenerate art
Degeneration
The term "German language"> Entartung (or "degeneration") has earned the currency in Germany at the end of the 19th century when critics and writers Max Nordau compiled the theory presented in his book in 1892 Entartung . Nordau used the criminal writings of Cesare Lombroso, the Criminal Man, published in 1876, attempting to prove that there were "born criminals" whose atavistic personality traits could be detected by scientifically measuring physical characteristics abnormal.. Nordau developed from this premise a critique of modern art, described as the work of those so corrupted and shackled by modern life that they lost the necessary self-control to produce a coherent work. He attacked Aestheticism in English literature and described the mysticism of the Symbolic movement in French literature as a product of mental pathology. Describing the impressionism of Impressionism as a sign of the ailing visual cortex, he denounces modern degeneration while praising traditional German culture. Despite the fact that Nordau is a Jew and a key figure in the Zionist movement (Lombroso as well as Jewish), his theory of artistic degeneration will be captured by the German National Socialists during the Weimar Republic as a gathering point for their anti-Semites and racists. the demand for Aryan sanctity in art.
Belief in the spirit of Germany - defined as mystical, rural, moral, contains ancient wisdom, and noble in the face of a tragic fate - existed long before the rise of the Nazis; composer Richard Wagner celebrates such ideas in his work. Beginning before World War I, the famous German architect and famous painter Paul Schultze-Naumburg, who called for racial theory to condemn modern art and architecture, laid the groundwork for Adolf Hitler's conviction that classical Greek and Medieval is the true source of Aryan art. Schultze-Naumburg later wrote books such as Die Kunst der Deutschen's (German art, properties and work) and Kunst und Rasse (Art and Race), last published in 1928, where he argues that only pure racial artists can produce healthy art that upholds the ideals of lasting classical beauty, while modern artists of different races produce works irregular art and terrible depictions of human form. By reproducing examples of modern art alongside photographs of people with disabilities and illness, it graphically reinforces the notion of modernism as a disease. Alfred Rosenberg developed this theory in Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts (Myth Twentieth Mythos), published in 1933, who became a best-seller in Germany and made Rosenberg the spokesperson for the Party's leading ideology.
Clean
Hitler's rise to power on January 31, 1933, was quickly followed by actions intended to purge the culture of degeneration: the burning of organized books, artists and musicians dismissed from teaching positions, and curators who had shown their allegiance to modern art replaced by Party members. In September 1933 the German Reich Culture Chamber was established, with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler Reich Culture Chamber = "de" title = "German text"> Reichminister fÃÆ'¼r VolksaufklÃÆ'¤rung und Propaganda (Reich Ministers for Enlightenment and Propaganda) are responsible. The sub-rooms of the Chamber of Culture, which represent individual art (music, film, literature, architecture, and art) were created; this is a membership group consisting of "pure racial" artists who support the Party, or are willing to obey. Goebbels explains: "In the future only those who become members of a room are allowed to be productive in our cultural life.The membership is open only to those who meet the conditions of the entrance.This way all unwanted and destructive elements have been excluded." In 1935 , Reich Culture Room has 100,000 members.
Nevertheless, during the period 1933-1934, there was confusion within the Party about the problem of Expressionism. Goebbels and others believe that the powerful works of artists such as Emil Nolde, Ernst Barlach and Erich Heckel exemplify the Nordic spirit; as Goebbels explains, "We National Socialists are not uncommon; we are carriers of new modernity, not only in politics and in social matters, but also in terms of art and intellect." However, a faction led by Alfred Rosenberg hated the Expressionists, and the result was a bitter ideological dispute, settled only in September 1934, when Hitler declared that there would be no place for modernist experiments in the Reich. This decree made many artists initially unsure of their status. The work of the Expressionist painter Emil Nolde, a committed member of the Nazi party, continued to be debated even after he was ordered to stop artistic activity in 1936. For many modernist artists such as Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Schlemmer, it was not until June 1937 that they handed over hope that their work will be tolerated by the authorities.
Although Franz Kafka's books could no longer be bought in 1939, the works of ideologically suspected writers like Hermann Hesse and Hans Fallada were widely read. The mass culture is less strictly regulated than the high culture, probably because authorities are concerned about the consequences of too heavy interference in popular entertainment. Thus, until the outbreak of war, most Hollywood films can be filtered, including Tonight Happened , San Francisco , and Lost by the Wind . While atonal music performance is prohibited, jazz ban is less strictly enforced. Benny Goodman and Django Reinhardt were very popular, and leading British and American jazz bands continued to perform in big cities until the war; afterwards, dance bands officially play "swing" instead of jazz being banned.
Entartete Kunst exhibit
In 1937, the concept of degeneration was firmly entrenched in Nazi policy. On June 30 of that year Goebbels placed Adolf Ziegler, head of the German Reichskammer der Bildenden KÃÆ'¼nste (Room of the Visual Art Reich), who was responsible for replied to a commission of six people authorized to seize from museums and art collections throughout the Reich, any remaining art that is considered modern, degenerate, or subversive. These works will then be presented to the public in an exhibition intended to incite more hatred against the "evil Jewish spirit" that penetrates German culture.
Over 5,000 works were confiscated, including 1052 by Nolde, 759 by Heckel, 639 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and 508 by Max Beckmann, as well as a small number of works by artists such as Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall, James Ensor, Albert Gleizes, Henri Matisse, Jean Metzinger , Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. The exhibition of Entowete Kunst , features more than 650 paintings, sculptures, prints and books from a collection of 32 German museums, aired in Munich on July 19, 1937, and remained on display until November 30, before traveling to 11 other cities in Germany and Austria.
The exhibition was held on the second floor of a building formerly occupied by the Institute of Archeology. Viewers must reach the exhibition through a narrow staircase. The first statue is a portrait of a large theater of Jesus, intentionally intimidating viewers because they actually bumped into it to enter. The rooms are made of temporary partitions and are deliberately chaotic and overcrowded. The pictures are crowded, sometimes not framed, usually hung with rope.
The first three rooms are grouped thematically. The first room contains works that are considered to be demeaning; the second work featured by the Jewish artists in particular; the third contains works considered offensive to German women, soldiers and peasants. The rest of the exhibit does not have a special theme.
There are slogans painted on the wall. As an example:
- Insolence against the Divine under the centric government
- The revelation of Jewish racial soul
- Insult against German women
- Ideal - cretin and whore
- Conventional sabotage for national defense
- German farmer - Yiddish view
- The Jewish longing for the wilderness reveals itself - in German the Negro becomes the racial ideal of the degenerate art
- Madness becomes a method
- Nature as seen by the sick mind
- Even museum officials call this "German folk art"
The speech of Nazi party leaders contrasts with the artist's manifesto of various art movements, such as Dada and Surrealism. In addition to many paintings is a label that shows how much money a museum is spending on obtaining artwork. In the case of the paintings obtained during Weimar's post-war hypninology in the early 1920s, when the cost of one kilogram of bread reached 233 billion German marks, the price of the painting was of course greatly exaggerated. The exhibition is designed to promote the idea that modernism is a conspiracy by people who hate German decency, often identified as Jewish-Bolshevist, although only 6 of the 112 artists included in the exhibition are in fact Jews.
The exhibition program contains photographs of modern artwork accompanied by libelous texts. The cover shows the title of the exhibition - with the word "Kunst" , which means art, in a superimposed exclamation on the picture statue of Otto Freundlich Der Neue Mensch .
A few weeks after the opening of the exhibition, Goebbels ordered a second and more thorough search of German art collections; the inventory list shows that the artwork confiscated in this second round, combined with the work collected before the exhibition, amounted to 16,558 works.
Coinciding with German language Entartete Kunst , Grosse deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German art exhibition) made its premiere in the midst of many parades. The exhibition, held at the German House of German Alpine Haus der deutschen Kunst House of German Art, features official artwork-approved artworks such as the "House of German Art" (Haus der deutschen Kunst ) Arno Breker and Adolf Wissel. At the end of four months
The fate of the artist and their work
The avant-garde German artist is now branded both state enemies and threats to German culture. Many went into exile. Max Beckmann escaped to Amsterdam on the opening day of the exhibition Entartete Kunst . Max Ernst emigrated to America with the help of Peggy Guggenheim. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner committed suicide in Switzerland in 1938. Paul Klee spent his lifetime in exile in Switzerland, but was unable to obtain Swiss citizenship because of his status as a degenerate artist. The leading German dealer, Alfred Flechtheim, died without money in exile in London in 1937.
Other artists remain in internal seclusion. Otto Dix retreated to the countryside to paint an improper landscape in a meticulous style that would not provoke authorities. The artists forbade Reichskulturkammer such as Edgar Ende and Emil Nolde from purchasing painting materials. Those who remained in Germany were barred from university work and were subjected to a surprise attack by the Gestapo to ensure that they did not violate the prohibition of producing artwork; Nolde silently continues to paint, but uses only watercolor (to avoid being betrayed by the smell of oil paint). Although officially no artists were killed because of their work, the Jewish descendants who did not flee from Germany in time were sent to the concentration camp. Others were killed in the T4 of Action (see, for example, Elfriede Lohse-WÃÆ'¤chtler).
After the exhibition, the paintings are sorted for sale and sold in Switzerland at auction; some parts bought by museum, others by private collectors. Nazi officials took much for their personal use: for example, Hermann GÃÆ'¶ring took 14 valuable pieces, including Van Gogh and CÃÆ' Â © zanne. In March 1939, the Berlin Fire Brigade burned about 4,000 paintings, drawings and prints that seemed to have little value in the international market. This was an unprecedented act of vandalism, although the Nazis were also used to burning books on a large scale.
A large number of "art degenerates" by Picasso, DalÃÆ', Ernst, Klee, LÃÆ' Â © ger and MirÃÆ'³ were destroyed in a bonfire on the night of July 27, 1942, in the Galerie du Jeu de Paume state parks in Paris. While it is forbidden to export "art degenerate" into Germany, it is still possible to buy and sell the artwork of "degenerate artists" in occupied France. The Nazis thought that they should not care about the mental health of the French. As a result, many of the works made by these artists were sold in the main French auction house during the occupation.
After the collapse of Nazi Germany and the Berlin invasion by the Red Army, several artworks from the exhibits were found buried underground. It is not clear how many later reappeared at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, where they still exist.
In 2010, as work began to extend the underground line from Alexanderplatz through the historic city center to the Brandenburg Gate, sculptures of art exhibitions slumped dug in the basement of a private home close to the "Rote Rathaus". These include, for example, a bronze statue cubism-shaped by a female dancer by artist Marg Moll, and now on display at the Neues Museum.
Artist in the Munich event of 1937
Artistic movement is condemned for degenerating
- Bauhaus
- Cubism
- Chest
- Expressionism
- Fauvism
- Impressionism
- New Objectives
- Surrealism
Listing
The German Reichsministerium fÃÆ'¼r VolksaufklÃÆ'¤rung und Propaganda (Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) compiled 479 pages, two-letter lists of works confiscated as "degenerated" from German public institutions in 1937-1938. In 1996, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London earned the only complete copy of a list known to be alive. The document was donated to the National Art Library V & amp; A by Elfriede Fischer, widow of Heinrich Robert ("Harry") art dealer Fischer. Copies were made available to other libraries and research organizations at the time, and much of the information was later incorporated into the database managed by Freie UniversitÃÆ'¤t Berlin. A digital reproduction of all inventory was published on the Museum's Victoria and Albert website in January 2014.
Version V & amp; A of the inventory is deemed to have been compiled in 1941 or 1942, after the sale and discharge are completed. Two copies of the previous version of Volume 1 (A-G) also survive in the Federal Archives of Germany in Berlin, and one of them is annotated to show the fate of each piece of art. Up to V & amp; A acquired a full inventory in 1996, all versions of Volume 2 (G-Z) are thought to have been destroyed. The list is organized alphabetically by city, museum, and artist. Details include the artist's family name, inventory number, title and media, followed by a code indicating the fate of the artwork, then the buyer's name or art dealer (if any) and any price paid. The entries also include abbreviations to indicate whether they belong to any of the exhibition (see Art Degenerate Exhibition) or Der ewige Jude (see The Eternal Jew (art exhibit)).
The main dealers mentioned are Bernhard A. BÃÆ'¶hmer (or Boehmer), Karl Buchholz, Hildebrand Gurlitt, and Ferdinand MÃÆ'¶ller (or Moeller). The text also contains entries for many works of art obtained by artist Emanuel Fohn, in exchange for other works.
21st century reaction
Neil Levi, writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, suggests that art branding as "degenerate" is only part of the aesthetic aims of the Nazis. Others are confiscation of valuable artwork, a deliberate means to enrich the regime.
In popular culture
A Picasso , a game by Jeffrey Hatcher and based on loosely inspired by real events, arranged in Paris 1941 and saw Picasso being asked to authenticate three works to be included in the upcoming Degenerate art exhibition.
In the 1954 film The Train , a German Army colonel tried to steal hundreds of paintings "degenerated" from Paris before being released during World War II.
See also
- The discovery of the 2012 Nazi loot
- Third Reich Art
- Negermusic
- Low culture
- Reichsmusikkammer
- Reich's Music Inspection Office
- Nazi Robbery
- Swing Kids
References
Note
Bibliography
- Adam, Peter (1992). Third Reich Art . New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBNÃ, 0-8109-1912-5
- Barron, Stephanie, ed. (1991). ' Degenerate Art': The fate of Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany . New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBNÃ, 0-8109-3653-4
- Bradley, W. S. (1986). Emil Nolde and German Expressionism: A Prophet in His Own Land . Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press. ISBNÃ, 0-8357-1700-3
- Evans, R. J. (2004). Third Reich's Coming . New York: The Penguin Press. ISBNÃ, 1-59420-004-1
- Grosshans, Henry (1983). Hitler and Artist . New York: Holmes & amp; Meyer. ISBNÃ, 0-8419-0746-3
- Grosshans, Henry (1993). Hitler and Artist . New York: Holmes & amp; Meyer. ISBNÃ, 0-8109-3653-4
- Karcher, Eva (1988). Otto Dix 1891-1969: His Life and Work . Cologne: Benedikt Taschen. OCLCÃ, 21265198
- Laqueur, Walter (1996). Fascism: The Past, Now, The Future . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0-19-509245-7
- Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut (1973). Art Under Dictatorship . New York: Oxford University Press.
- Minnion, John (2nd edition 2005). Hitler List: Illustrated Guide to 'Slump ' . Liverpool: Checkmate Book. ISBNÃ, 0-9544499-2-4
- Nordau, Max (1998). Degeneration , introduction by George L. Mosse. New York: Howard Fertig. ISBNÃ, 0-8032-8367-9/(1895) London: William Heinemann
- O'Brien, Jeff (2015). "'Taste of the Sand in the Mouth': 1939 and 'Degenerate' Egyptian Art". Critical Interventions 9, Issue 1: 22-34.
- Oosterlinck Kim (2009). "The Price of Degenerate Art", CEB Working Paper 09-031.RS, ULB - Universite Libre de Bruxelles,
- Petropoulos, Jonathan (2000). The Faustian Bargain: World of Art in Nazi Germany . New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. ISBNÃ, 0-19-512964-4
- Rose, Carol Washton Long (1995). Document from the End of the Wilhemine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism . San Francisco: University of California Press. ISBN: 0-520-20264-3
- Schulz-Hoffmann, Carla; Weiss, Judith C. (1984). Max Beckmann: Retrospective . Munich: Prestel. ISBNÃ, 0-393-01937-3
- Suslav, Vitaly (1994). The State Hermitage: The Work of the Museum Collection . vol. 2 Western European Art . New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBNÃ, 1-873968-03-5
- The Victoria and Albert Museum (2014). "Entartete" Kunst: digital reproduction of manuscript inventory prepared by Reichsministerium fÃÆ'¼r VolksaufklÃÆ'¤rung und Propaganda, ca. 1941/1942 . London: The Victoria and Albert Museum. (V & amp; A NAL MSL/1996/7)]
External links
- "Degenerate Art", article from Teacher Guide to Holocaust
- The Nazis plundered the Great Art of Europe
- The Museum of Victoria and Albert Entartete Kunst , Volumes 1 and 2 The complete inventory of artwork confiscated by the Nazi regime from public institutions in Germany, 1937-1938
- Degeneration art show video clip
- Sensational Findings in a Bombed Cellar - slideshow by Der Spiegel
- "Entartete Kunst: Degenerate Art", notes and supplements for movies
- Video on a research project on Degenerate Art
- Exhibit "Degenerate Art", 1937
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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