Table Of Content

&& Mr The Fate of the Avant-Garde Germany Nazi in 'Degenerate Art" The Fate ofthe Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany '..'.- .'••''..' 4 .••-'. NosoonerhadtheNazisseizedcontrolofGermanyin 1933 -.»„ thantheylaunchedtheirrelentlessattacksontheavant-garde andtheirdesecrationofmodernistart. Bythefallof1937theyhadstripped 16,000avant-garde worksfromthenation'smuseumsandsent650toMunichfor amassiveexhibition,EtttarteteKunst(degenerateart, asthey calledthiswork) Amongtheartiststhuscastigatedwere toweringfiguresoftheartworld: MaxBeckmann, Marc Chagall, OttoDix, George Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky Paul Klee, OskarKokoschka, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, andfounders ofGerman Expressionism: ErnstLudwigKirchner, Franz Marc, Emil Nolde, andKarl Schmidt-Rottluff Provocative installationtechniqueswereemployed, someevenreminis- centoffamousavant-gardeshowsofthepast. Visitorsjammedthegalleries Nearly3 millionviewers areestimatedtohaveseenEntarkteKumtduringitsfour-year tourofGermanyandAustria Bymeansofphotographicdocumentation, archival records, motion-picturefootage, therecollectionsofvisi- tors, andpublishedaccounts, thisinfamousexhibitionhas beenreconstructed(totheextentstillpossible)bytheLos AngelesCountyMuseumofArt. Inthisbook, preparedin conjunctionwiththeexhibition, StephanieBarron, curator oftwentieth-centuryartatthemuseum, hasassembledmore than 150survivingmasterworksfromtheoriginalshow Bar- ron'silluminatingintroductoryessayestablishesthecultural contextforthebrutalattackwagedbytheNazisagainstthe avant-garde In theiressays PeterGuenther, Mario-Andreas vonLiittichau,andChristophZuschlagdiscusstheprepara- tion, installation, andtravelofthe 1937show GeorgeMosse analyzestheNationalSocialistconceptionofbeautyinart. AnnegretJandarevealsaspectsofthelittle-knownresistance totheNazis'campaignbymuseumofficialsinBerlin,while AndreasHiinekeandBarrondocumenteventssurrounding theseizureandsubsequentsaleofmanyofthemostvaluable artworks. MichaelMeyerandWilliamMoritzexaminethe NationalSocialistattitudestowardmusicandfilm These vivid, exhaustivelyresearchedessayscannothelpbutsuggest aparallelwithourowntimes, inwhichartisticfreedomis underattackbyideologues Generouslyillustratedwithmanyphotosneverbefore published, thisvolumealsocontainsbiographical information oneachartistpertinenttotheNazipersecutionoftheavant- garde, aregisterofnamesandinstitutions,anillustrated (continuedonbackjlap) H mm yw rgr* S,SBP'8i&B:Pa•lSP•ai^-l^-££S$"yi3f.f§»W:sM&•S^Wsmk. ! SsM ' •"• i The Fate of the Avant-Cardc in Nazi Germany ,wl Up'"!!* l",, ho* ' //Degenerate Art// The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany Stephanie Barron withcontributions by PeterCueutber AndreasHiineke AnnegretJanda Mario-AndreasvonLiitticbau MichaelMeyer WilliamMoritz GeorgeL.Mosse ChristopbZuscblag LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART HARRY N ABRAMS, INC: PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK — — (upublishedbytheLosAngelesCountyMuseumof Art,5905WilshireBoulevard,LosAngeles,California 9Yo0r0k3,6,10a0ndFifHtahrArvyenNue,AbNreamws,YorIkn,c,NPeuwbliYsoherrks,10N01e!w Copyright©1991byMuseumAssociates,LosAngeles CountyMuseumofArt Allrightsreserved Nopartof thecontentsofthisbookmaybereproducedwithout thewrittenpermissionofthepublisher Thisbookwaspublishedinconjunctionwiththe exhibition"DtgmaaltArt" TheRiteoftheAoant-Gardlin NaziGermany,whichwasorganizedbytheLosAngeles CountyMuseumofArtandfundedinpartbygrants fromtheNationalEndowmentfortheHumanitiesand theNationalEndowmentfortheArts Itreceivedaddi- tionalassistancefromtheFederalRepublicofGermany andanindemnityfromtheFederalCouncilonthe ArtsandtheHumanities LufthansaGermanAirlines providedmajorsupportforthetransportationof theexhibition Exnifiilionitinerary LosAngelesCountyMuseumofArt FebruaryI7-May12 1991 TheArtInstituteofChicago June22-September8,1991 TheessaybyMario-AndreasvonLuttichauandthewall textsandexhibitionbrochureforEnlartrltKunstwere translatedbyDavidBritt TheessaysbyAndreas Huneke,Annegretlanda,GeorgeL Mosse,and ChristophZuschlagweretranslatedbyStewart Spencer EditedbySusanCaroselli DesignedbyJimDrobka ProductionassistancebyJeffreyCohenand EileenDelson TypesetinWeissbyAndresenTypographies,Tucson, Arizona,andinCityBoldbyMondoTypo,Inc,Culver CityCalifornia PrintedbyTypecraft,Inc,Pasadena,California BoundbyRoswellBookbinding,Phoenix,Arizona Cover ViewofasectionofthesouthwallofRoom3in theexhibitionEttUtrlttrKunst,Munich,1937 Titlepage SectionofthenorthwallofRoom5 RightViewofRoom3,thesculpturesareEugen Hoffmann'sAdammiEva(AdamandEve),atleft,and KarelNiestrathsDirHuni)rii)riThestarving Libraryo/Con^rrssGil.ilo<)in</-m-Pii(ilic<ilnmData DegenerateArt thefateoftheavant-gardeinNazi Germany/[editedby]StephanieBarron,with contributionsbyPeterGuenther [etalI 424pp Publishedinconjunctionwiththeexhibitionto beheldattheLosAngelesCountyMuseumofArt, Feb 17-May12,1991,andattheArtInstituteof Chicago,June22-Sept 8, 199! Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex ISBN0-8109-3653-4(Abrams) ISBN0-87587-15—8-5(LACMA pbk) I Art,Ger—man Exhib—itions 2 Art,Modern s2o0ctihalicsemntaunrdyar—tG—erEmxahinbyitionEsxhibi4tiGonesrman3yNational CIIulGtuuernatlhepro,licPyeterExWhibitIIiIonLsosAIngBealrreosn,CoSutnetphyanie MuseumofArt IVArtInstituteofChicago N6868D33881991 70943'074773lI—dc20 90-22147(Abrams) 90-22256(LACMA pbk) Contents e Foreword 9 1937 ModernArtand Politicsin PrewarGermany StephanieBarron 25 BeautywithoutSensuality/TheExhibitionEntarttttKunsi GeorgeL Mow 33 ThreeDaysinMunich, luly 1937 PeterGuetither 45 EntarttttKunst, Munich 1937 AReconstruction Mario-AndreasvonLiittichau 83 An"EducationalExhibition" ThePrecursorsof£«iurlflfKunstandItsIndividualVenues CbristopbZuschlag 105 TheFightforModernArt TheBerlinNationalgalerieafter 1933 AtmtgreiJanda 121 OntheTrailofMissingMasterpieces ModernArtfromGermanGalleries AndreasHunelte 135 TheGaleneFischerAuction StephanieBarron 171 AMusicalFacadefortheThirdReich MichaelMeyer 185 FilmCensorshipduringtheNaziEra WdhamMontz 193 TheWorksofArtinEntartttlKunst,Munich 1937 Artists'biographiesbyDaamarGrimm,PftcrGuenther.PamelaKort 356 FacsimileoftheEnt.irlcteKuhs!ExhibitionBrochure 391 Chronology 402 RegisterofFrequentlyCitedNamesandOrganizations 404 ExhibitionEphemera 405 EntarteteKunsi TheLiterature 406 SelectedBibliography 412 Acknowledgments 416 ListofLenders 419 Index Foreword Duringthe1910sand1920spublicandprivateenthusiasmfor contemporaryartflourishedinGermanyinanunprecedentedway AmuseumdevotedtomodernartwasfoundedinHalle,andother museumsin Berlin, Essen,andFrankfurtsetasidespecialsections devotedtocontemporaryart Inthe 1930s,however,withtheriseof NationalSocialismallthiscametoadevastatinghalt Museumdirec- torsandcuratorsweredismissed,andsixteenthousandpaintings, sculptures, prints,anddrawingswereremovedfrompubliccollec- tionsinaseriesofswiftactions Artistswhowereuntilthattime accordedrespect,onthefacultyofleadingacademiesanduniver- sities,andthesubjectsofimportantexhibitionsandmonographs wereforcedtofleetheirnativeGermany,radicallyaltertheirstyle, orceasecreatingartaltogetherThemostambitiousassaultbythe NationalSocialistsontheavant-gardeoccurredin 1937withthe openingoftheEntarteteKiwst(Degenerateart)exhibitioninMunich Ourexhibitionandcatalogue"DetlinerateArt" TheFateofthe Avant-GardemNaziGermanyexaminetheeventssurroundingthat condemnationofmodernart Althoughthisprojecthasbeeninthe planningstageforfiveyears,itstopichasrecentlyattainedgreater timeliness Museumsinthiscountryhavereliedforaquarterofa centuryongovernmentgrantsthroughtheagenciesoftheNational EndowmentfortheArts,theNationalEndowmentfortheHuman- ities,theFederalCouncilontheArtsandtheHumanities,andthe InstituteforMuseumServices Thisassistancehas,amongmany otherthings,enabledpublicinstitutionstocontinuetopresent importantexhibitionstoanever-growingpublicandtoattractpri- vateandcorporatefunding Asthe 1990sbegin,museumexhibitions areinaprecariousposition Ifgovernmentsupportfortheartsis jeopardized,theabilityofallmuseumstoorganizeexhibitionswill beaffectedandthemuseumasaneducationalinstitutionwillbe seriouslydiminished