Table Of Content&&
Mr
The
Fate
of the Avant-Garde
Germany
Nazi
in
'Degenerate Art"
The Fate ofthe Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany
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4
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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)
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The Fate of the Avant-Cardc in Nazi Germany
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//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
