War, Tradition and Modernism

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War, Tradition and Modernism

• History of Germany
• Lecture 7

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Schedule

1. Introduction
2. The soldiers return from the war
3. The meaning of the Great War
4. War and modernism
5. New objectivity
6. Conclusion

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Schedule

1. Introduction
2. The soldiers return from the war
3. The meaning of the Great War
4. War and modernism
5. New objectivity
6. Conclusion

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Freikorps (free corps)

• Paramilitary organizations of demobilised
  soldiers and officers 1918-1920
• Many soldiers felt disconnected from civilian
  life and joined Freikorps in search of stability
  provided by a military structure
• Fought in the Baltics against Red Army, in
  Silesia against Polish insurgents
• Helped to put down communist uprisings
• Participated in Kapp putsch 1920
• Some Freikorps members committed political
  assassinations (Erzberger, Rathenau seen as
  November traitors)
• Some joined Nazi party

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Organisations of front line soldiers

• Roter Frontkämpferbund (Red Fighter League, 1924)
  communist (1927 111,000 members)
• Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (1923)
  democratic, social-democratic (1932 ca 3 million
  members)
• Stahlhelm. Bund der Frontsoldaten (steel helmet.
  League of Frontline Soldiers) founded 1918 by
  Franz Seldte antidemocratic, nationalistic,
  close to DNVP (1930 500,000 members)

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Stahlhelm decoration 1925
Was will der Stahlhelm?Propaganda poster of the
Stahlhelm
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Schedule

1. Introduction
2. The soldiers return from the war
3. The meaning of the Great War
4. War and modernism
5. New objectivity
6. Conclusion

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Different opinions

• Moderate left and democrats old elites and
  authoritarian politicians of the old empire
  responsible for war and defeat more democracy
  necessary
• Communists capitalism and ruling class
  responsible socialist revolution
• Right wing nationalists November revolution,
  social-democrats, communists, pacifists, Jews to
  blame for defeat authoritarian government based
  on support of Volksgemeinschaft (national
  community) is necessary to make Germany strong
  again

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Hindenburgs coffin is carried into the central
courtyard of the monument
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War memorials
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Schedule

1. Introduction
2. The soldiers return from the war
3. The meaning of the Great War
4. War and modernism
5. New objectivity
6. Conclusion

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Modernism A break from the past and a search
for new expression. A faith in new technology and
aesthetics to solve problems of society.
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Expressionism

• Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to
  distort reality for an emotional effect it is a
  subjective art form
• Art movement very influential in Germany since
  the turn of the century (Die Brücke, der Blaue
  Reiter)

Vassily Kandinsky, Der blaue Reiter
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Otto Dix, Flanders (illustration for the novel
The Fire" by Henri Barbusse), 1934-36
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Otto Dix, Gesehen am Steilhang von
Cléry-sur-Somme (As seen on the steep slope of
Cléry-sur-Somme) 1924
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Otto Dix, Triptychon The War, 1929-32
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Armament is necessary John Heartfield 1932
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Käthe Kollwitz, Pietà, 1937
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Dada

• Dada was first and foremost a response to the
  madness of war.
• To the Dadaists, progress (including reason and
  logic) had led to the disaster of world war.
• They believed that the only way forward was
  through political anarchy, the natural emotions,
  the intuitive and the irrational.

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• The Futurists believed that mechanization,
  revolution, and war were rational and logical
  means to the solution of human problems.
• The Dada movement was the exact opposite in
  philosophy from the Futurists.

Gino Severini. (Italian, 1883-1966). Visual
Synthesis of the Idea "War". 1914. Oil on
canvas,
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• The origins of the term Dada are not knownit can
  mean a childs rocking horsedada means in German
  in baby language to go out, in French it means
  an event or obsession.
• Whatever its origin, it is the central mocking
  symbol of the attack on established movements
  that characterized early 20th century art.

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• Dada was a search for new vision and content that
  went beyond any frivolous desire to outrage the
  bourgeoisie
• It affected art, literature, music and theatre
  it was the voice of the fantastic and absurd!
• Dadas serious purpose the critical
  reexamination of traditions, premises, rules,
  logical basic concepts, even of the concepts of
  order, coherence and beauty.

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George Grosz. Germany a Winter's Tale. 1917/19.
Oil on canvas. Whereabouts unknown.
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What a b what a b what a beauty
What a b what a b what a beautyWhat a b what a b
what a aWhat a beauty beauty beWhat a beauty
beauty beWhat a beauty beauty beauty be be
beWhat a be what a b what a beautyWhat a b what
a b what a aWhat a be be be be beWhat a be be
be be beWhat a be be be be be be be a beauty be
be beWhat a beauty. Kurt Schwitters
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Kurt Schwitters, Ursonate, 3rd part Scherzo
(extract)
Lanke trr gll    pe pe pe pe pe             Ooka
ooka ooka ooka Lanke trr gll        pii pii pii
pii pii             züüka züüka züüka züükaIII 
Lanke trr gll        Rrmm        RrnnfIII 
Lanke trr gll         Ziiuu lenn trll?        
Lümpff tümpff trllIII  Lanke trr gll        
Rrumpff tilff tooIII  Lanke trr gll       
Ziiuu lenn trll?        Lümpff tümpff trllIII 
  Lanke trr gll 
                                                
                 KS by El Lissitsky 1924
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Oskar Maria Graf
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Russian influence before the revolution
Vassily Kandinsky
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Kasimir Malevich, The Black Square
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Soviet Influence
Vladimir Tatlin Model of the Monument to the
Third International
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Wedding dish 1924
1923 Kasimir Malevich
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Schedule

1. Introduction
2. The soldiers return from the war
3. The meaning of the Great War
4. War and modernism
5. New objectivity
6. Conclusion

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Die neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity)

• Outgrowth of and in opposition to expressionism
• Art movement in Germany in the 1920s
  (architecture, visual arts, music)
• What we are displaying here is distinguished by
  the in itself purely external characteristics
  of the objectivity with which the artists express
  themselves (Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, 1923)
• Rejection of sentimentality and emotional
  agitation of expressionism
• Functional, matter-of-fact approach to
  construction Neues Bauen (New Building)

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Ornament is a waste of the energy of labour,
and therefore a waste of healthToday it
also means squandered material and
squandered capitalThe modern person, the person
with modern nerves, does not need ornament, on
the contrary, he detests it. - Adolf Loos
Ornament and Crime 1908
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Form follows function The American sculptor
Horatio Greenough, popularised by the American
architect Louis Henri Sullivan
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Less is more. - Mies van der Rohe Architects and
designers approached design by methods that
reduced all unnecessary elements.
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It is agreed, we refuse to duplicate
handmade works, historical style forms, and other
materials for production. - Peter Behrens,
1907 Rejection of historical and handmade
artefacts they are to be replaced by new
technologies and materials.
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• The Bauhaus
• very influential concept of art in the 20th c.
• Established standards of excellence and
  workmanship
• Created products for mass production
• Chief aesthetic principle was to simplify the
  design of all objects
• The modernist palette tended to emphasize white
  and grey accented with black or primary colours
• Ornamentation had to be integral to the
  materials of construction
• Made use of the latest technologies
• Stressed lightness and transparency
• Art and technology were fused in an effort to
  improve overall quality of design

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The Famous Designers Walter Gropius
Architect and founder of the architectural
program Mies van der Rohe Architect and
furniture designer Marcel Breuer Designer of
machine-age furniture
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Walter Gropius 1919 - 1928 director of the
Bauhaus His aim was to bring together all
creative efforts into one whole, to reunify all
the disciplines of practical art painting,
sculpture, handicrafts and the crafts. There
should be no distinction between monumental and
decorative art. He believed that the student
must know the crafts each student had to work
in the workshop to familiarise themselves with
materials and construction in order to learn how
to design properly.
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Marcel Breuer Designed tubular steel Wassily
chair inspired by bicycle handles The chair was
designed for his artist friend Wassily Kandinsky
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Mies van der Rohe Designed the German Pavilion
for the 1929 International Exposition in
Barcelona, Spain Used the open plan inspired by
Wright Ornamentation was only through the
textures of natural materials Combines marble
floors, polished steel columns, screen walls of
glass and polished marble
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The Weissenhof Estate, Stuttgart 1927
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Schedule

1. Introduction
2. The soldiers return from the war
3. The meaning of the Great War
4. War and modernism
5. New objectivity
6. Conclusion

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Conclusion

• German society split over discussion about
  meaning of war
• Traditional forms were very important in
  memorialisation of war
• Traditional forms could be understood by masses
• Many artists looked for modernist forms to
  express their war experience
• Dada as anti-art expression of senselessness
  of war
• Bauhaus and new objectivity modern art in era
  of mass production social drive