Today—art notes & IA conferences, IA worktime or groups for Paper 1 Tomorrow & Thursday—”Cabaret” Essay DUE and AP Review Enlightenment & French Revolution Friday—AP Quiz Next Wednesday—Paper 1 Projects DUE

Art in the pre-WWII & Weimar Era The pre-WWII era through the Weimar Republic was extremely productive for German modern artists. –Bleau Riders-Otto Dix-Wassily Kandinsky –Franz Marc-Paul Klee-Max Beckmann During the Weimar Era (the interwar period between 1919 and 1933), Germany was filled with the living half-dead. –Many soldiers returned from war scarred, crippled and missing limbs. –Many men were irreparably damaged, and their widows were left to fend for themselves and their children. –For some war widows, prostitution--and the emotional numbness that made that profession bearable--was the only option.

Art in the Hitler Era The years 1927 to 1937 were critical for artists in Germany. In 1927, the National Socialist Society for German Culture was formed. –The aim of this organization was to halt the "corruption of art" and inform the people about the relationship between race and art. –By 1933, the terms "Jewish," "Degenerate," and "Bolshevik" were commonly used to describe almost all modern art. In 1937, Nazi officials purged German museums of works the Party considered to be degenerate. –From the thousands of works removed, 650 were chosen for a special exhibit of Entartete Kunst. –The exhibit opened in Munich and then traveled to eleven other cities in Germany and Austria. –In each installation, the works were poorly hung and surrounded by graffiti and hand written labels mocking the artists and their creations. –Over three million visitors attended making it the first "blockbuster" exhibition.

Hitler viewing art/speech

Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Music in the Third Reich Art was considered to be one of the most important elements to strengthening the Third Reich and purifying the nation. –Political aims and artistic expression became one. –The task of art in the Third Reich was to shape the population's attitudes by carrying political messages with stereotyped concepts and art forms. –True art as defined by Hitler was linked with the country life, with health, and with the Aryan race. "We shall discover and encourage the artists who are able to impress upon the State of the German people the cultural stamp of the Germanic race... in their origin and in the picture which they present they are the expressions of the soul and the ideals of the community.“ (Hitler, Party Day speech, 1935)

Hitler,Goebbels and Ziegler Entartete Kunst Exhibit-Munich, 1937

Otto Dix: Horrors of War “The war was a horrible thing, but there was something tremendous about it too. I didn't want to miss it at any price. You have to have seen human beings in this unleashed state to know what human nature is... I need to experience all the depths of life for myself, that's why I go out, and that's why I volunteered.” (1).

Otto Dix Flanders, 1934

Sunrise

Self-portrait

Self-portrait POW

Hand to hand fighting

Trenches

Skull

Dance of Death

A Dead Sapper (aka sentry)

Meal Time in the Trenches

Langemark

Machine Gun Advancing

The Bombing of Lens

A Dead Horse

Soldier and Nun

Retreating from the Battle of the Somme

Storm troopers during a gas attack

Transplantation

Otto Dix

Kathe Kollwitz She was considered a degenerate artist because of her anti-war stance. “Where do all the women who have watched so carefully over their loved ones get the heroism to send them to face the cannon? I toy with the thought (of)... mothers standing in a circle defending their children, as a sculpture in the round.” Kollwitz Kollwitz believed that art should reflect social conditions in one's time. –The Nazis forbade her work to be displayed, and banished her work to the cellar of the Crown Prince Palace, declaring "In the Third Reich mothers have no need to defend their children. The State does that."

Mother Protecting Her Child

Widows and Orphans

Woman and Death

Max Beckmann: Self Portrait and Carnival

Night

Departure