Degenerate art is not bad art; it was just labeled that by the German government. In 1937, an exhibition of over six hundred works labeled Degenerate Art opened in Munich, Germany, right next door to an exhibit of its opposite, Great German Art. The purpose of Degenerate Art was to showcase art with subjects and styles that disobeyed Adolf Hitler’s standards of art, which targeted most modern, avant-garde art that seemingly attacked the purity of the German people. Hitler understood that art was going to play a large role in building his ideal nation, as culture is a major cornerstone in any lasting society. That being said, modern movements, such as Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Dadaism, made up most of the Degenerate Art exhibit because it was a perceived as a threat to German morality. In addition to artistic movements, iconic figures, such as Christ, are found in Degenerate Art. Research has failed to provide an exact reason why images of Christ had been put on display to be ridiculed, but one could assume that the power that Christ had on people threatened Adolf Hitler’s power. Some of the subjects that Hitler saw as Great German Art were works that displayed peasants engaged in their labors, women as mothers, landscapes of Germany, soldiers, workers, and not to forget, images of Germany’s beloved leader. The Degenerate Art exhibition was constructed to parallel an exhibition of Great German Art, which opened at the same time. However, with over two million visitors, the Degenerate Art exhibition nearly quadrupled the number of attendance of its opposite. Due to the outstanding numbers in attendance, the exhibits then became mobile and traveled to various locations throughout Germany. Once the ex...
... middle of paper ...
...Ludwig-¬Kirchner&id=2600037
Levi, Neil. “’Judge for Yourself!’ –The ‘Degenerate Art’ Exhibition as Political Spectacle,”
The MIT Press 85 (1998): 41-64.
"Marc Chagall." The Fiddler, 1913 by Marc Chagall. http://www.marcchagall.net/the- fiddler.jsp (accessed March 30, 2014).
"Nolde, Emil (Hansen) (1867 - 1956)." In The Bloomsbury Guide to Art. London:
Bloomsbury, 1996. http://0- search.credoreference.com.patris.apu.edu/content/entry/bga/nolde_emil_hansen _1867_1956/0 (accessed March 31, 2014.)
Nolde, Emil. The Crucifixion (detail of panel from the Life of Christ polyptych), oil on canvas, 1911/1912. Art History Survey Collection.
"The Fiddler by Marc Chagall – Facts & History of the Painting." Totally History . http://totallyhistory.com/the-fiddler/ (accessed March 30, 2014).
Werckmeister, O.K. “Hitler the Artist,” Critical Inquiry 23, no. 2 (1997): 270-297.
History plays a very important role in the development of art and architecture. Over time people, events, and religion, have contributed to the evolution of art. Christianity has become a very common and well established religion, however, in the past it was hidden and a few people would worship this religion secretly. Gradually, Christianity became a growing religion and it attracted many converts from different social statuses. Christian art was highly influenced by the Greco-Romans, but it was immensely impacted by the establishment of the Edict of Milan in the year 313 AD. The Edict of Milan was so significant that scholars divide Christian art into two time periods, time before and after the Edict of Milan of 313.
Through out the duration of the war the looting and destroying of artworks continued. One might even say it was an obsession. Hitler at the time wanted to create a museum of the best art.
Art for Art's Sake: Its Fallacy and Viciousness. The Art World, Vol.2. May 1917. 98-102
The Crucifixion artist is unknown. The time of the painting is circa 1170. In this painting it involved a main person of interest who is said to be Jesus Christ being crucified on a cross. There are two people on the side of him. The person on the left is said to be stabbing him with a lance while the person on the right is offering a sponge soaked in vinegar. The person on the far left is Mary and on the opposite side of her is Saint John and those two are said to be mourning Jesus’ death. The semi circles rights besides the arms of the cross are Life; the one on the left personified as a young woman and the right is death appearing as a demon. It isn’t certain what the bottom and the top of the painting represents, maybe heaven and hell?
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
As I walked into the first gallery, I saw a wood sculpture that stood in the center of the room. This carving depicted “the crucified Christ, flanked by the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist with Angels holding instruments of the Passion”. It was painted oak and very appealing to the eye. It stood approximately 15 feet in the air. The origin of this sculpture is unknown, but it was found in a Belgium church. This kind of sculpture usually stood at the entrance or at the center of the alter in the church facing the congregation. This image of the suffering Christ relates to the Christian ideas of suffering and Christ’s salvation of all mankind.
Throughout the years there have been frequent cultural movements in the arts, one of them being postmodernism. This term is well-known as a description of an era, broad and multifaceted movement, postmodernism represents the departure from Modernism, Postmodernism describes a recognized use of the earlier time styles alongside the strong notion in the arts, architecture, literary criticisms, literature, cultures, and recognized use of the earlier time styles, that emerged later in the 19th and
The article Artists Mythologies and Media Genius, Madness and Art History (1980) by Griselda Pollock is a forty page essay where Pollock (1980), argues and explains her views on the crucial question, "how art history works" (Pollock, 1980, p.57). She emphasizes that there should be changes to the practice of art history and uses Van Gogh as a major example in her study. Her thesis is to prove that the meaning behind artworks should not be restricted only to the artist who creates it, but also to realize what kind of economical, financial, social situation the artist may have been in to influence the subject that is used. (Pollock, 1980, pg. 57) She explains her views through this thesis and further develops this idea by engaging in scholarly debates with art historians and researcher, and objecting to how they claim there is a general state of how art is read. She structures her paragraphs in ways that allows her to present different kinds of evidences from a variety sources while using a formal yet persuasive tone of voice to get her point across to the reader.
Faggin, Giorgio T and Hughes, Robert. The Complete Paintings of the Van Eycks. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1976. Print.
We walked and walked looking at each art piece, which were all well displayed. Then as I looked at the back wall, a large oil canvas painting looked right back at me. I could feel its pain and so then, I decided to do my paper on this piece. The painting was The Ragpicker by Manet. (The Ragpicker. Edouard Manet.1865.Oil on canvas.) The painting was so enormous that it was hard to miss. Such a huge painting for one man, it almost looked life-like. The dimensions of this work is 76.75” x 51.25”. This scene seems to take place of a lower-class man late in his age, probably near his seventies, appears to be looking out of the corner of his eye. The ...
The first painting analyzed was North Country Idyll by Arthur Bowen Davis. The focal point was the white naked woman. The white was used to bring her out and focus on the four actual colored males surrounding her. The woman appears to be blowing a kiss. There is use of stumato along with atmospheric perspective. There is excellent use of color for the setting. It is almost a life like painting. This painting has smooth brush strokes. The sailing ship is the focal point because of the bright blue with extravagant large sails. The painting is a dry textured flat paint. The painting is evenly balanced. When I look at this painting, it reminds me of settlers coming to a new world that is be founded by its beauty. It seems as if they swam from the ship.
The history of Art has continuously changed over time, and will continue to do so as long as humanity continues to evolve and time continues to go on. The author of Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, eases the reader into this mindset very early on. She explains that slight changes in the economy, climate, what is expected socially or cultural differences can shift the way Art is viewed and created forever. Early African Art and Gothic Art, both of which Stokstad clearly and concisely summarizes within two enthralling chapters, are both two unique genres, so different from one another that it seems nearly impossible to relate the two at a first glance. The way they structured architecture and artwork are vastly different, and are from incredibly different times yet somehow it is still incredibly to link the two together - whether it be through similar aspects of art or their subtle differences, these two styles are connected in more ways than one.
The pop art movement is an artistic movement that began in the mid 1950s to early 1970s, reaching its peak in the 1960s. Pop art began in New York by artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg.
Due to the Bauhaus modern influence Adolf Hitler portrayed this idea and had labelled the Bauhaus as “UN German” changing the German public’s view on the Bauhaus. Hitler had then criticised that the Bauhaus was just a cover and a front for the communists and the social liberals. Hitler having this opinion he had converted the minds of Mie’s and his loyal students to the Soviet Union after he got
Artistic movements are often categorized by a specific aesthetic. These visual choices are usually a deliberate differentiating reaction to the current culture of art. Though most movements can be categorized by an aesthetic set of rules, such as Cubism, Romanticism, Impressionism, Fauvism, etc… Not all art movements can be defined solely within their visual associations. Nearly all major stylistic shifts in art were based on an ideology as well as a visual language. In the Arts and Crafts movement, the ideas behind the movement were more prevalent than a specific visual style. The Arts and Crafts movement not only changed the way people made objects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it also set into motion an ideological stance that persists today.