LINKS: DEGENERATE ART

 


Once again, there is no slide list for this week. Instead, after viewing the film on the Degenerate Art Exhibit, "collect" three of the artists whose work interests you for one reason or another, and locate representative images of their work for your own self-generated "exhibit." On the exam you will be asked to provide examples of artists whose work was condemned by the Nazis, and to indicate why each artist or his/her works were included in the exhibit.

Since this page is still under construction, you might want to look at my slide lecture for Art and Design Since 1945, "Whatever Happened to Those Degenerate Artists."

Several resources are available that deal with the situation in Germany between World Wars I and II, in which modern art was seen as a threat by Hitler and his emerging National Socialist Party. The film seen in class is available in the Kelley Library; for further study, however, consult the following.

Degenerate Art: This is the page, from the online Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust is also linked on the Schedule under "assignment." It contains links to further materials, movie clips, and a list of the artists whose works were featured. The

Entartete Kunst: Degenerate Art. This page containes images and notes as a supplement to the film.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's page on Entartete Kunst with works by Chagall, Mondrian, and El Lissitsky.

Art for Change: An Alle Kunstler! ("To All Artists," an essay by Mark Vallen on German Expressionism)

Modernism and the Nazis. A Nightmare: an essay by Neal Ascherson that considers why the Nazis reacted so vehemently to modern art.

Another essay of philosophical interest is Tobin Sieber's article from the journal, Philosophy and Literature (2000), "Hitler and the Tyranny of the Aesthetic" (PDF)

Trail of Paint: The Nazi Art Obsession, a long essay by Phyllis Farber (Penn State); here's her bibliography on 20th century art that was "pillaged, censored, destroyed, and hidden in Europe and in Russia."

Max Beckmann

Departure. This page from Mark Harden's Artchive features one of Beckmann's triptychs, with an essay by Charles S. Kessler.

More artists to come, anon.

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01.07.10