Degenerate Art

1
Degenerate Art

• Sheridan
• HUM 2250

2
Hitlers Views On Art

• No place for modern art in Germany
• Return to classical/ Greco-Roman style
• Romantic Realism
• Heroism, unity, order, volkish

3
It is not the function of art to wallow in dirt
for dirts sake, never its task to paint the
state of decomposition, to draw cretins as the
symbol of motherhood, to picture hunchbacked
idiots as representatives of manly strength.
Adolf Hitler, 1935
4
Reich Chamber of Culture

• Created by Joseph Goebbels in 1933
• Art criticism was prohibited
• Mandatory membership with the Chamber required
  for all artists (42,000 members by 1938)
  
• Non-Aryans excluded
• Bauhaus closed
• Modern art galleries closed

5
Groups of Degenerate Art included

• Distortions of form and misuse of color
• Religious mockery
• Political anarchy
• Ridicule of military virtue
• Immorality and pornography
• Art that advanced races other than the Aryan
  race
  
• Interest in idiots and cretins
• Jewish works
• A generic category named Utter Madness

6
Entartete Kunst Exhibition, 1937

• Coincided with the opening of the House of German
  Art (across the street)
  
• Free admission
• Minors forbidden
• Attracted two million visitors in four months

7
Zieglers Opening Address

• Our patience with all those who have not been
  able to fall in line with National Socialist
  reconstruction during the last four years is at
  an endWhat you are seeing here are the crippled
  products of madness, impertinence, and lack of
  talent I would need several freight trains to
  clear our galleries of this rubbish This will
  happen soon.
• Adolf Ziegler
• July 19, 1937

8
Use of Propaganda
Stupidity or Impertinence or Both
Pushed to the limit!

• -- Page 32, Exhibition Catalog

9

• Graffiti around the works further allowed the
  Nazis use of derogatory marks and visual
  propaganda
  
• Chaotic displays, cramped spaces, and poor
  lighting disorient viewers

10

• Over 600 works shown
• The exhibition traveled throughout Germany and
  Austria
  
• After the exhibition, the works were either
  auctioned, stolen, or destroyed

Dr. Joseph Goebbels touring the exhibition
11
Classical Influences

• Prim, pseudo - classical, waxwork nudes
• Depicts ideal Aryan types

Ziegler, The Muse of the Dance, 1937.
Oil on canvas.
12
Ziegler, The Elements,1936. Oil on canvas.

• Perfect surface
• The four elements sit on an altar-like bench
  waiting to be sacrificed
  
• Willingness to be sacrificed for the nation

13
Romantic Realism

• Work represented Nazi aesthetic philosophy
• Bodies are celebrated sleek, perfect surfaces
• Nudes are often shown in passive poses
• Expressionless, static
• Dubbed Master of the German Pubic Hair

Ziegler, Nude, 1940. Oil on canvas.
14
Emil Nolde

• 1867-1956
• Modern artist
• National Socialist party member since 1920
• Known for his religious paintings and racist
  political views
  

15
Nolde

• Began painting at age twenty-nine
• Joined Die Brücke in 1906
• Last Supper was the first Expressionist picture
  ever bought for a German museum

Nolde, Last Supper, 1909. Oil on canvas, 86 x 10
7 cm.
16
Dichotomy of an Artist

• Member of National Socialist party
• Conservative politics
• Attacked paintings of half-breeds, bastards, and
  mulattoes
  
• Signed a call for loyalty to the Führer

• Member of Die Brücke
• Daring artistic talent
• Fascinated by South Seas peoples and frequently
  seen in his works
  
• Ridiculed by Nazis and forbidden to paint again

17
Forbidden

• 1,052 works withdrawn from museums
• Forbidden to engage in art-related activities in
  1936
  
• Deemed culturally irresponsible

Nolde, Young Horses, 1916. Oil on canvas, 29 x 4
0 1/8 in.
18

• Twenty-seven works included in Entartete Kunst
• Ironically, he was considered one of the most
  contemptible degenerate artists by the Nazis
  

Nolde, Nudes and Eunuch, 1912 Oil on canvas
19
Unpainted Pictures

• Painted watercolor sketches on scraps of rice
  paper he called unpainted pictures
  
• Served as sketches for the large oils he would
  paint when he was free
  
• Outlived the Nazi regime, marrying a
  twenty-eight-year-old woman in 1948
  
• Painted up until the year before he died

Nolde, Oriental Poppies, date unknown.
Watercolor, 13 1/4 by 18 1/2 inches.
20
Max Beckmann

• 1884-1950
• Modern artist
• Changed style after WWI experiences
• Most celebrated modern artist in Germany

21
Beckmann

• Trained at the Weimar Academy of Art when he was
  sixteen
  
• Starts as a neo-impressionist
• Achieves notoriety at age twenty with Young Men
  by the Sea in 1905.

Beckmann, Young Men by the Sea,1905.
Oil on canvas.
22
The Great War

• Enlisted as a volunteer medic and was sent to the
  East Prussian front
  
• Suffers a nervous breakdown and discharge from
  the army

23
Transformation

• Grisly, distorted images soon appear in his
  works
  
• Poses a problem to the viewer in which there is
  no real solution

Beckmann, The Night, 1918/1919. Oil on canvas.
24
Art in the Exhibition

• The topic of Christ forgiving an adulteress was
  deemed an unfit topic by the Nazis
  
• Emaciated, elongated, distorted figures
• Expressive to artists, degenerate to Nazis

Beckmann, Christ with a Woman Taken in Adultery,
1917
Oil on canvas.