Degenerate art : the fate of the avant-garde in Nazi Germany

The Fate

of the Avant- Garde

in Nazi Germany

Mr

&&

'Degenerate Art"

The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany

No sooner had the Nazis seized control of Germany in 1933
than they launched their relentless attacks on the avant-garde
and their desecration of modernist art.

By the fall of 1937 they had stripped 16,000 avant-garde
works from the nation's museums and sent 650 to Munich for
a massive exhibition, Etttartete Kunst (degenerate art, as they
called this work) Among the artists thus castigated were
towering figures of the art world: Max Beckmann, Marc
Chagall, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky Paul
Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and founders
of German Expressionism: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz
Marc, Emil Nolde, and Karl Schmidt- Rottluff Provocative
installation techniques were employed, some even reminis-
cent of famous avant-garde shows of the past.

Visitors jammed the galleries Nearly 3 million viewers
are estimated to have seen Entarkte Kumt during its four-year
tour of Germany and Austria

By means of photographic documentation, archival
records, motion-picture footage, the recollections of visi-
tors, and published accounts, this infamous exhibition has
been reconstructed (to the extent still possible) by the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art. In this book, prepared in
conjunction with the exhibition, Stephanie Barron, curator
of twentieth-century art at the museum, has assembled more
than 150 surviving masterworks from the original show Bar-
ron's illuminating introductory essay establishes the cultural
context for the brutal attack waged by the Nazis against the
avant-garde In their essays Peter Guenther, Mario-Andreas
von Liittichau, and Christoph Zuschlag discuss the prepara-
tion, installation, and travel of the 1937 show George Mosse
analyzes the National Socialist conception of beauty in art.
Annegret Janda reveals aspects of the little-known resistance
to the Nazis' campaign by museum officials in Berlin, while
Andreas Hiineke and Barron document events surrounding
the seizure and subsequent sale of many of the most valuable
artworks. Michael Meyer and William Moritz examine the
National Socialist attitudes toward music and film These
vivid, exhaustively researched essays cannot help but suggest
a parallel with our own times, in which artistic freedom is
under attack by ideologues

Generously illustrated with many photos never before
published, this volume also contains biographical information
on each artist pertinent to the Nazi persecution of the avant-
garde, a register of names and institutions, an illustrated

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The Fate of the Avant-Cardc in Nazi Germany

Up'"!!* l",, ho* ,wl'

//

Degenerate Art

//

The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany

Stephanie Barron with contributions

by

Peter Cueutber
Andreas Hiineke
Annegret Janda

Mario-Andreas von Liitticbau
Michael Meyer
William Moritz
George L. Mosse
Christopb Zuscblag

LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART ■ HARRY N ABRAMS, INC: PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK

( upublished by the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
90036, and Harry N Abrams, Inc , Publishers, New
York, 100 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 1001!

Copyright © 1991 by Museum Associates, Los Angeles
County Museum of Art All rights reserved No part of
the contents of this book may be reproduced without
the written permission of the publisher

This book was published in conjunction with the
exhibition "Dtgmaalt Art" The Rite of the Aoant-Gardl in
Nazi Germany, which was organized by the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art and funded in part by grants
from the National Endowment for the Humanities and
the National Endowment for the Arts It received addi-
tional assistance from the Federal Republic of Germany
and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the
Arts and the Humanities Lufthansa German Airlines
provided major support for the transportation of
the exhibition

Exnifiilion itinerary

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
February I7-May 12 1991

The Art Institute of Chicago
June 22-September 8, 1991

The essay by Mario-Andreas von Luttichau and the wall
texts and exhibition brochure for Enlartrlt Kunst were
translated by David Britt The essays by Andreas
Huneke, Annegret landa, George L Mosse, and
Christoph Zuschlag were translated by Stewart
Spencer

Edited by Susan Caroselli

Designed by Jim Drobka

Production assistance by Jeffrey Cohen and

Eileen Delson

Typeset in Weiss by Andresen Typographies, Tucson,

Arizona, and in City Bold by Mondo Typo, Inc , Culver

City California

Printed by Typecraft, Inc , Pasadena, California

Bound by Roswell Bookbinding, Phoenix, Arizona

Cover View of a section of the south wall of Room 3 in
the exhibition EttUtrlttr Kunst, Munich, 1937

Title page Section of the north wall of Room 5

Right View of Room 3, the sculptures are Eugen
Hoffmann's Adam mi Eva (Adam and Eve), at left, and
Karel Niestraths Dir Huni)rii)r iThe starving

Library o/ Con^rrss Gil.ilo<)in</-m-Pii(ilic<ilnm Data

Degenerate Art the fate of the avant-garde in Nazi

Germany / [edited by] Stephanie Barron , with

contributions by Peter Guenther [et al I

424 pp

Published in conjunction with the exhibition to
be held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Feb 17-May 12, 1991, and at the Art Institute of
Chicago, June 22-Sept 8, 199!

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 0-8109-3653-4 (Abrams)

ISBN 0-87587-158-5 (LACMA pbk )

I Art, German — Exhibitions 2 Art, Modern —
20th century — Germany — Exhibitions 3 National
socialism and art — Exhibitions 4 Germany —
Cultural policy — Exhibitions I Barron, Stephanie
II Guenther, Peter W III Los Angeles County
Museum of Art IV Art Institute of Chicago
N6868D3388 1991
70943'074773l I— dc20 90-22147 (Abrams)

90-22256 (LACMA pbk)

Contents

e Foreword

9 1937 Modern Art and Politics in Prewar Germany

Stephanie Barron

25 Beauty without Sensuality/ The Exhibition Entartttt Kunsi

George L Mow

33 Three Days in Munich, luly 1937

Peter Guetither

45 Entartttt Kunst, Munich 1937 A Reconstruction

Mario-Andreas von Liittichau

83 An "Educational Exhibition" The Precursors of £«iurlflf Kunst and Its Individual Venues

Cbristopb Zuschlag

105 The Fight for Modern Art The Berlin Nationalgalerie after 1933

Atmtgrei Janda

121 On the Trail of Missing Masterpieces Modern Art from German Galleries

Andreas Hunelte

135 The Galene Fischer Auction

Stephanie Barron

171 A Musical Facade for the Third Reich

Michael Meyer

185 Film Censorship during the Nazi Era

Wdham Montz

193 The Works of Art in Entartttl Kunst, Munich 1937

Artists' biographies by Daamar Grimm, Pftcr Guenther. Pamela Kort

356 Facsimile of the Ent.irlcte Kuhs! Exhibition Brochure

391 Chronology

402 Register of Frequently Cited Names and Organizations

404 Exhibition Ephemera

405 Entartete Kunsi The Literature

406 Selected Bibliography
412 Acknowledgments
416 List of Lenders

419 Index

Foreword

During the 1910s and 1920s public and private enthusiasm for
contemporary art flourished in Germany in an unprecedented way
A museum devoted to modern art was founded in Halle, and other
museums in Berlin, Essen, and Frankfurt set aside special sections
devoted to contemporary art In the 1930s, however, with the rise of
National Socialism all this came to a devastating halt Museum direc-
tors and curators were dismissed, and sixteen thousand paintings,
sculptures, prints, and drawings were removed from public collec-
tions in a series of swift actions Artists who were until that time
accorded respect, on the faculty of leading academies and univer-
sities, and the subjects of important exhibitions and monographs
were forced to flee their native Germany, radically alter their style,
or cease creating art altogether The most ambitious assault by the
National Socialists on the avant-garde occurred in 1937 with the
opening of the Entartete Kiwst (Degenerate art) exhibition in Munich

Our exhibition and catalogue "Detlinerate Art" The Fate of the
Avant-Garde m Nazi Germany examine the events surrounding that
condemnation of modern art Although this project has been in the
planning stage for five years, its topic has recently attained greater
timeliness Museums in this country have relied for a quarter of a
century on government grants through the agencies of the National
Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Human-
ities, the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and the
Institute for Museum Services This assistance has, among many
other things, enabled public institutions to continue to present
important exhibitions to an ever-growing public and to attract pri-
vate and corporate funding As the 1990s begin, museum exhibitions
are in a precarious position If government support for the arts is
jeopardized, the ability of all museums to organize exhibitions will
be affected and the museum as an educational institution will be
seriously diminished

( ink with two very generous subventions Irom the National
Endowment tor the Arts and the National Endowment tor the
Humanities have we been able to mount this exhibition organize its
related events and produce this catalogue I his exhibition focuses
on events that are powerful disturbing, and sometimes difficult to

understand It is especially gratifying to us that the Endowments

recognized the importance oi the issues and made it possible tor us
to pursue the projec i

Degenerate Art" Tin Fate oj the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany was

connived and organized In Stephanie Barron, curator ol twentieth
century ait at the I os Angeles I ounty Museum ot Art It represents

Ms Barron's thud majoi undertaking in the history of modern

German art following the acclaimed Gcrmin Ex/irrssioiml Sculpture in
1983 84 ->n^{ German Expressionism I9i5-i925 T)>r Second Generation in

fJKK-H^ I hese accomplishments have contributed substantially to
the museums reputation as an important centei lor the study of

German art We are grateful to Ms Barron tor her outstanding
work on this ambitious project

In the i muse ol preparing the exhibition the museum and
Ms Barron have been fortunate in receiving excellent cooperation
from museums and private collections in North and South America
and Europe We are indebted to our lenders, who are listed on
page 4lo lor without their generosity this project would have
remained a dream

Most foreign loans have been covered by an indemnity from the
Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities Additional assis-
tance was received from the cultural authorities of the government of
the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Leopold Siefker, former Con-
sul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Los Angeles, was
most gracious in securing this funding The Goethe-lnstitut Los
Angeles and the Nathan Cummings Foundation each provided
special funding for the extensive educational programs — including
films, lectures, concerts, symposia, and a cabaret — that accompany
the exhibition Without this significant help an exhibition and pub-
lication of this magnitude would have truly been impossible to
realize Lufthansa German Airlines graciously provided major assis-
tance for the transportation of the works of art, Joe Zucker, Public
Relations Manager — USA West for Lufthansa, has once again proved
most responsive to our request for funding

\ newly reunified < lermany faces extraordinary challenges
inevitably among them is a reexamination ol the events ol the Third

Reich We profoundly hope that tin i (hibil ind catalogue we are

proud to present at OUI tWO institutions will contribute tO the COn

tinning reevaluation "I the cultural heritage ol < iermany and the
vigilance and reaffirmation that are an essential component ol the

health ol oui own nations intellectual and artistn traditions

1 he interest and enthusiasm on both sides ot the Atlantic that
have greeted this project since its inception have been enormously
gratifying "Degenerate Art" The Fatt of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany
documents one of the most appalling moments in out < entury's
cultural history but it is also a reminder that art and creativity
will survive censorship and oppression

Earl A Powell III

Director

Los Angeles County Museum oj Art

James N Wood

Dirfctor

The Art Institute oj Chicago

Figure !

Cover of the exhibition guide for Enlarlett Kuiisl, 1937, image Otto Freundlich, Dfr

mut Menscb (The new man), 1912, plaster cast, height 139 cm (54 V, in ), location unkn

S T E P H A N I I H A k K < > N

1937

Modern Art and Politics in Prewar Germany

In 1937 the National Socialists staged the
most virulent attack ever mounted against
modern art with the opening on Inly 19 in
Munich tit the- Enlartett Kunst (Degenerate
lit exhibition, in which were brought
together more than 650 important paintings, sculptures, prints, and
books that had until a tew weeks earlier been in the possession of
thirty-two German public museum collections The works were
assembled for the purpose of clarifying for the German public by
defamation and derision exactly what type of modern art was unac-
ceptable to the keich and thus "un-German " During the four
months Enlartett Kunst was on view in Munich it attracted more than
two million visitors over the next three years it traveled through-
out Germany and Austria and was seen by nearly one million more
On most days twenty thousand visitors passed through the exhibi-
tion which was free of charge, records state that on one Sunday —
August 2 1937 — thirty-six thousand people saw it ' The popularity
of f iiliirlftr Kunst has never been matched by any other exhibition
of modern art According to newspaper accounts, five times as many
people visited Etiltirldr Kunst as saw the Cross? Deutsche Kunstausstelluna
(Great German art exhibition I, an equally large presentation of
Nazi-approved art that had opened on the preceding day to inaugu-
rate Munich's Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German arti,
the hrst olhcial building erected by the National Socialists

The thoroughness of the National Socialists' politicization of
aesthetic issues remains unparalleled in modern history as does the
remarkable set of circumstances that led to the complete revocation
of Germany's previous identification of its cultural heroes, not only
in the visual arts but also in literature, music, and film When the
National Socialists assumed power in 1933, one of their first acts
was an attack on contemporary authors, widespread book-burnings
in which thousands of volumes were destroyed in public view
announced the new policy toward the arts The Entartett Kunst exhi-
bition was only the tip of the iceberg in 1937 more than sixteen
thousand examples of modern art were confiscated as "degenerate"
by a committee empowered by Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's
second-in-command and since March of 1933 Reichsminister
fur Volksaufklarung und Propaganda (Reich minister for public
enlightenment and propaganda While some of the impounded art

w.is earmarked for Entartett Kunst in Munich hundreds ol works were
sold lot haul currency to foreign buyers Many ol the dregs, as
Goebbels called them, were probably destroyed in a spectacular
blaze in front of the central tire department in ficrlin in 1939

The National Socialists reiected and censured virtually every-
thing that had existed on the German modern art scene prior to
1933 Whether abstract or representational, the innocuously beautiful
landscapes and portraits by August Macke, the impressionistic -
ally colored paintings by the popular Brucke artists Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, Emil Nolde, and Karl Schmidt-Rottlutl, the biting social
criticism of Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and George Grosz, or
the efforts of the Bauhaus artists to forge a new link between art
and industry — all were equally condemned The Gesetz zur
Wiederherstellung des Berutsbeamtentums I Professional civil service
restoration act) of April 7, 1933, enabled Nazi officials to dismiss
non-Aryan government employees from their jobs In that year
alone more than twenty museum directors and curators, all of
whom worked for state institutions, were fired

Artists were forced to join official groups, and any "undesir
ables" were dismissed from teaching posts in the academies and
artistic organizations No matter what their political attitudes, artists
who worked in abstract, Cubist, Expressionist, Surrealist, or other
modern styles came under attack Nolde, who was actually an early
member of the National Socialist party saw his own work declared
"degenerate " Willi Baumeister and Beckmann were dismissed from
their positions at the Frankfurt Stadelschule (Municipal school),
Dix, Paul Klee, and Max Pechstein were fired from the academies
in Dresden, Dusseldorf, and Berlin, respectively The Preussische
Akademie I Prussian academy in Berlin lost many important artists,
including Ernst Barlach, Rudolf Belling, Dix, Ludwig Gies, Karl
Hofer, Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, Kathe Kollwitz, Max Lieber-
mann, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Pechstein, and Bruno Taut Most
of the artists who were persecuted were not Jewish, on the contrary,
of those mentioned above only Liebermann was Jewish, and of the
112 artists included in Entartete Kunst only 6 were lews Any artists
who were mentioned or whose work was illustrated in any of the
well-publicized books on contemporary art by Ludwig lusti or C arl
Einstein or in avant-garde periodicals such as Dus KunstWiill The
art paper i, Dir Aktion (Action), or Drr Sturm (The storm) were easy

targets for the National Socialists In 1979 Berthold Hinz produced
evidence that Einstein's Die Kunsl ties 20 Jahrbunderts (The art of the
twentieth century) was in fact used as a guide by many of the
National Socialists in denning who and what was modern, and
consequently "un-German" and to be vilified ' With the swift
imprint of the censor's stamp they outlawed an entire generation
of modernism

While the focus of "Degenerate Art" The Fate of the Avant-Garde
in Nazi Germany is on events in the visual arts, these can be seen as
indicative of prohibitions in the wider spectrum of the cultural arena
It is worthwhile to look at the various areas that came under the
jurisdiction of the Reichsministerium fur Volksaufklarung und Propa-
ganda In November 1933 Coebbels established Reichskammern (Reich
chambers) of film, music, radio broadcasting, press, theater, and
writers, in addition to the fine arts (fig 2) Each of the heads of
these chambers had under him (there were no women) seven depart-
ments incorporating further subdivisions The Reichskammer der
bildenden Kunste (Reich chamber of visual arts), for example, was
divided into departments of I ) administration, 2) press and propa-
ganda, 3) architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design,
4) painting, sculpture, and graphic arts, 5) commercial illustration
and design, 6) art promotion, artists' associations, and craft associa-
tions, and 7) art publishing, sales, and auctioneering

What becomes apparent is the microscopic attention the Nazi
hierarchy accorded the observation and regulation of all aspects of
cultural life in the Reich The government established procedures
whereby it decided what and who was acceptable or undesirable
Exclusion was tantamount to permanent disbarment One can only
wonder at the disproportionate amount of bureaucratic organiza-
tion, paperwork, rules, and regulations that was aimed at an area
of society that was economically politically and militaristically
unthreatening Obviously the National Socialists perceived the cul-
tural life of the citizens of the Reich to be extremely important and
worthy of such intensive concern This elevation of art to such a
major role in a totalitarian society was without historical precedent,
other than in the Soviet Union Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt wrote in
the early 1950s, "Such complete monopolization of the entire creative
potential of a people, of every aesthetic instinct, such subjugation of
every current of its productivity and its capacity for artistic experi-
ence to the purposes of the leaders of collective society does not
exist before the present century"4 Although Hitler had a personal
interest and involvement with art, due to his unsuccessful career as
a painter in Vienna, Lehmann-Haupt argues convincingly that the
preoccupation of the National Socialists with culture far transcended
Hitler's own frustrated flirtation with art s

Die Reichskulturkammei

^>1 Landeiiiuitufwairer
( LandOTfellenleitei'desCeicrHminfVuP ")
mitdenlandeileitunqen und landesieitem
derEinzelkammeKn

Figure 2

Organizational chart of the Reichskulturkammer (Reich cha

ing its division into chambers of radio broadcasting, film, rr

nber of c

ult
ale

literature, and journalism

Degeneracy and Nazi ideology in Ihe 1920s and 1930s
["he Grosst Deutsche Kunstausstelluni) and EntarteU Kunsl did not
occui as isolated incidents [Tie issues raised, the Fusion ol political
and aesthetic themes, and the use ol the term mlarltl to designate
supposedly inferioi racial sexual and moral types had been in the
air tor several years (Ewtortrt, which lias traditionally been translated
as degenerate 01 decadent is essentially a biological term defin
ing a plant or animal that has so changed that it no longer belongs
to its spe« ies By extension it teters to art that is unclasstliablc or
so far bevond the confines of what is accepted that it is in essence
"non-art ")

I lie events leading up to 1937 had their roots in German cul-
tural history long before the National Socialist party was formed
The year 187*1 marked both the emergence ol the German empire
and the publication ol ( harles Darwin's The Descent of Man, a book
later used to justify German racism As a unified country C.ermany
became prone to an intense nationalism that manifested itself quite
often as a belief in the natural superiority of the Aryan people The
myth of the blond, blue-eyed Nordic hero as the embodiment of
the Future of Western civilization was promoted in the writings of
several European authors of the early twentieth century including
Count Gobineau, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Hans Cunther,
and Alfred Rosenberg In the decade between 1910 and 1920 the
concept of racism had achieved popularity in the middle class By
the 1920s certain authors argued that racial characteristics and art
were linked and attempted to "prove" that the style of a work of art
was determined by the race of the artist ''

This period in German history also saw the efflorescence of
modern art, literature, film, and music created by individuals who
would be labeled "degenerate" in the 1930s German art virtually
exploded in a series of events in Berlin, Dresden, and Munich The
emergence of the artists' groups Die Brucke (The bridge) and Der
Blaue Reiter (The blue rider), the publication of important radical
periodicals to which artists contributed, and the intense response by
artists and writers to the cataclysmic events of the First World War
characterized the first phase of German Expressionism These artists
and writers were also drawn to the exotic the carvings and wall
hangings of African and Oceanic peoples that the Brucke artists saw
in the Dresden Volkerkunde-Museum (Ethnographic museum), for
example, or the art of the insane that served as inspiration for the
poetry and prose of such esteemed authors as Hugo Ball, Alfred
Dublin, and Wieland Herzfelde In the wake of the war avant-garde
German art came increasingly into conflict with the nationalistic
realism that was more easily understood by the average German
The country had experienced a humiliating defeat and had been
assessed for huge war reparations that grievously taxed its already
shaky economy Movements such as Expressionism, Cubism, and
Dada were often viewed as intellectual, elitist, and foreign by the
demoralized nation and linked to the economic collapse, which was
blamed on a supposed international conspiracy of Communists and

lews Many avani garde .mists continued then involvement in Soi ial

ism during the turbulent Weimar era and made their sentiments

known through their art I Ins identification ol tin mon abstract art
movements with internationalism and progressive politii

highly visible targets for the aggressive nationalism that gave bulb in
the National Socialist party even as institutions sui li a thi Bauhaus
;< I I moved into the cultural mainstream and German museums

exhibited more ami nunc- avant garde work

Concurrent with important artistic developments, pseud
tifit treatises such as Max Nordau's Enlartuitt) I Regeneration ol IK92
were enioving renewed popularity7 Nordau, himself a lew wrote a
ponderous tcxl vilifying the Pre Raphaclitcs Symbolism Henrik
Ibsen, and Emile Zola, among others as he sought to prove the
superiority ol traditional German culture In IH9S George Bernard
Shaw had written a brilliant and scathing review of Nordau's book,'
one of several responses provoked internationally Unfortunately
the criticism had little impact on the architects of Nazi ideology
Enliirhmil and other racist works took the widely accepted view that
nineteenth-century realistic genre painting represented the culmina-
tion of a long tradition of true Aryan art Even before they obtained
a majority in the Reichstag I Parliament i, disgruntled theorists and
polemicists had written and spoken of how "good German art" was
being overrun by "degenerates, lews, and other insidious influences
The avant-garde artist was equated to the insane, who in turn was
synonymous with the lew the nineteenth-century founders ol
German psychiatry felt that the lew was inherently degenerate and
more susceptible than the non-lew to insanityg As Sander Gilman
has pointed out, the classifications of "degenerate" and "healthy"
appeared for the first time in the late nineteenth century, by the late
1930s they were fairly standard in discussions about the avant-garde
and the traditional '"

Opposition to the wave of avant-garde activities in German
museums had begun in the 1920s with the founding of the Deutsche
Kunstgesellschaft (German art association), which had as its goals a
"common action against the corruption of art" and the promotion of
an "art that was pure German, with the German soul reflecting art "
They attacked exhibitions of the works of Beckmann, Grosz, and
other proponents of "Kulturbolschewismus" I art-Bolshevism) In 1927
Rosenberg, the chief architect of Nazi cultural policy founded the
Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur (Combat league for German cul-
ture), which had the same goals as the Deutsche Kunstgesellschaft
It was at first an underground organization, but with the rise of
National Socialism it worked openly with the party leadership In
1930 Rosenberg wrote Der Mythus lies 20 ]ahrhunieris Erne Wertung der
secliscb-geistigen Gestaltatkampfe (The myth of the twentieth century
An evaluation of the spiritual-intellectual confrontations of our age),
in which he denounced Expressionism and other modern art forms
"Creativity was broken because it had oriented itself, ideologically
and artistically toward a foreign standard and thus was no longer
attuned to the demands of life""

In 1929 the state of Thuringia elected Wilhelm Frick, a mem-
ber of the Nazi party as representative to the Reichstag Frick was
named Innenminister (Minister of the interior) for Thuringia His
actions gave a foretaste of what the Nazi seizure of power would
mean he began by replacing most department heads, issuing new
cultural policies, and even encouraging the dismissal of Walter
Gropius and the entire twenty-nine-member faculty of the Bauhaus
in Weimar, which was located within his jurisdiction

Frick appointed Paul Schultze-Naumburg, an architect and
racial theorist, to replace Gropius In 1925 Schultze-Naumburg had
published an attack on the Bauhaus, Das ABC des Bauens (The ABCs of
building), and in 1928 he wrote Kunst und Russe (Art and race), which
would have a far-reaching influence in the Nazi scheme against mod-
ernism Exploiting the popularity of Nordau's treatise, Schultze-
Naumburg attacked modern art as "entartet" He juxtaposed exam-
ples of modern art and photographs of deformed or diseased people
to suggest that they were the models for the elongated faces of
Amedeo Modigliani, the angular physiognomies of Schmidt-Rottluff,
and the florid faces of Dix (figs 3-4) He railed particularly against
the Expressionists, who he felt represented the inferior aspect of
modern German culture

Heidelberg had become a center for the study of art produced
by schizophrenics as a means of access to the central problems of
mental illness In 1922 psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn had published his
study Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (Image-making by the mentally ill),
which was based on material he had assembled he examined more
than 5,000 works by 450 patients to demonstrate that the art of the
insane exhibited certain specific qualities n The study received
serious attention far beyond the medical profession Although we
have no evidence that Hitler, the failed artist, read or even knew of
Prinzhorn's book, the attention devoted to it was so widespread that
it is more likely than not to have reached him Thus, it is not surpris-
ing that Schultze-Naumburg's methodology of comparing the works
of insane artists to avant-garde art was seized upon as a further
way to "prove" the "degeneracy" of modern art The technique of
comparison for the purpose of denigration and condemnation thus
became a basic tool of the Nazi campaign In 1933 in Erlangen one of
the many precursors of Entartete Kunst included thirty-two paintings
by contemporary artists shown with works by children and the
mentally ill " The same technique was used on several pages in
the illustrated brochure published to accompany Entartete Kunst
as it traveled around Germany (pp 383, 385, 387, 389)

There emerged in 1934 some confusion about the "official" atti-
tude toward the Expressionists, artists such as Barlach and Nolde in
particular Some factions saw this art as truly German and Nordic,
with roots in the Gothic era Goebbels initially sided with these pro-
ponents, in fact, he surrounded himself with examples of Barlach's
sculpture and Nolde's painting; he saw the spirit and chaos of
Expressionism as analogous to the spirit of Nazi youth At extreme
odds with him was Rosenberg, who sought to promote vblkisch

art (art of and for the German people) over any type of modern
aesthetic Goebbels and Rosenberg took opposing sides in their
speeches and writings, neither yet sure of the Fuhrer's opinion l4
When Hitler appointed Rosenberg early in 1934 to supervise all
"intellectual and ideological training," he gave him a rank equal to
Goebbels's in his role as president of the Reichskulturkammer (Reich
chamber of culture) The ideological tug-of-war continued well into
the year, until the controversy required Hitler's intervention In Sep-
tember, at the party rally in Nuremberg, Hitler spoke of the dangers
of artistic sabotage by the Cubists, Futurists, Dadaists, and others
who were threatening artistic growth, but he also cautioned against
excessively retrograde German art Thus, neither Expressionism nor
the conservative volkiscb art received his blessing Nazi-approved art
would be based exclusively on German racial tradition Henceforth,
all forms of modernism, including art criticism, were outlawed

The unusual methodology employed by the Nazis in the Entartete
Kunst exhibition entailed the gathering of works of art for the specific
purpose of defamation Never before had there been such an effort,
perhaps only Soviet Russia in the years following the revolution of
1917 offers a parallel for the efflorescence of modernism and its
immediate repudiation by the government in power The late-
nineteenth-century French Salons des Refuses, in which art outside
the academic tradition could be seen, were state-sanctioned oppor-
tunities for the avant-garde to emerge By contrast, the Nazis exhib-
ited works contrary to their "approved" art in order to condemn
them There was no chance for an alternative voice to be heard

Rgures J— 4

KixtaposttkMi ol works ol degenerate' an by kail Sihmidt Ruitlutt and Amcdeo
Modigliani and photographs ol facial deformities, from Paul Sthultze-Naumbur^,
Kmal mi K.m<, 1928

As early as 1933 the seeds had been sown for the approach used
in the Munich exhibition four years later In that year the Deulscber
Kutistbtricbt (German art report), under Goebbels's jurisdiction, pub-
lished a hve-point manifesto stating "what German artists expect
from the new government " Much of the content of the manifesto
was generated by artists outside the mainstream avant-garde who felt
that the art world had passed them by They sought revenge on a
modern art that was becoming increasingly identified with Germany
in the international art world The manifesto laid the groundwork
for the events in 1937

• All works of a cosmopolitan or Bolshevist nature should be
removed from German museums and collections, but first they
should be exhibited to the public, who should be informed ol
the details of their acquisition, and then burned

•All museum directors who "wasted" public monies by purchas-
ing "un-German" art should be tired immediately

•No artist with Marxist or Bolshevist connections should be
mentioned henceforth

• No boxlike buildings should be built [an assault on Bauhaus
architecture]

•All public sculptures not "approved" by the German public
should be immediately removed [this applied especially to
Barlach and Wilhelm Lehmbruck]

The attack on the museums

Prioi i" the outbreak "i the First World Wai museums an dealers,
and pci n idn als in ( iermany wen- greatly attuned t • » avant-garde
activities in I urope and were avid advocates for the most recent
developments Museum curators and directors had responded

eagerly to Impressionism and Cost Impressionism In IH'I7 the
Nationalgalerie in Berlin became the hrst museum in the world to
acquire ,i painting bv Caul Cezanne, and the Museum lolkwang in
I ssen was among the earliest public supporter1, ol the work of Caul
( iauguin and Vincent van Gogh Herwarth Walden, with his gallery
and publication Dcr Sliirm, was a staunch supporter ol I xprcssmnism.
Cubism, Futurism, and the Russian avant-garde

In 1949 Caul Ortwin Rave who had become a curator at the
Berlin Nationalgalerie in the 1930s, wrote the hrst book describing
the artistic situation under the Nazi regime Kunstdiktatw mi /Jrrltot
Rcicfc (Art dictatorship in the Third Reich), which contained his eye-
witness account of the EHlurtfle Kunst exhibition ,; What emerges
from his description of the activities of German museums from 1919
through 1939 is a picture of a country filled with museums actively
committed to modern art, to its acquisition and display Alexander
Doerner in Hannover, Gustav Hartlaub and Fritz Wichert in Mann-
heim, Carl Georg Heise in Liibeck, Ludwig lusti in Berlin, Alfred
Lichtwark in Hamburg, Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen, Max
Sauerlandt in Halle and later in Hamburg, Alois Schardt in Halle,
Georg Swarzenski in Frankfurt, and Hugo von Tschudi in Berlin and
later in Munich were among the museum directors who proselytized
for contemporary art They were responsible for acquiring, often
directly from the artists, major works by Barlach, Beckmann, Lyonel
Feminger, Erich Heckel, Kirchner, Lehmbruck, Macke, Franz Marc,
Nolde, Cechstein, Christian Rohlfs, and Schmidt-Rottluff, as well as
artists of the earlier generation, Lovis Corinth, Liebermann, and Max
Slevogt They were not only committed to contemporary German
art but also acquired in significant quantity important works by
foreign Impressionists and Cost-Impressionists Cezanne, Gauguin,
van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Caul
Signac and the art of contemporary foreigners such as James Ensor,
Wassily Kandinsky El Lissitsky Henri Matisse, Ciet Mondrian, and
Cablo Cicasso

The exhibitions they organized, which frequently traveled,
helped to define artistic trends and were important signs to foreign
museums and dealers of the healthy state of contemporary art in
Germany Important international exhibitions in Cologne in 1912,
Dresden in 1919, and Dtisseldorf and Hannover in 1928 exposed new
German art to a wider public Contemporary German art was shown
in Florence, London, New York, Caris, Cittsburgh, and Stockholm
In 1931 Alfred Barr, Ir, traveled in Germany to prepare his Modern
German Painting and Sculpture for the fledgling Museum of Modern Art
in New York He was so impressed by what he saw in the museums
that he made a point in his catalogue of citing the contemporary
collecting policies of German public institutions

Figure 5

Grosst antibolschtwislisck Aussltllmj I Great anti-Rolshevist exhibition), Nuremberg, 1937

VI

I! 11 It". B

n ff

Figure 6

The exhibition Da twitfc Jude (The eternal Jew), Munich, 1937, over the title are the words, "very political show

Howevei much modem German art is admirtd or misunderstood abroad it
i* crrtaiitfv supported publicly and /viiwlrry in Germiwy irilfi extraordi
nary jrnrri'Miv AIiimiiih Jirniors h,n>e il>< couragt foresight and kiwwl-
tagt to buy ivories »y Ibi most advanced artists long before publh opinion
forces them to do so Somi Mb I reman Museums, as tbt lists in this
catalogue suggest are a mosl positive factor both in supporting artists
ami in educating Mm public to an understanding 0/ ibeir icorfe '"
Alter visiting a New York gallery showing ol works of modern
C .erman art in 1939 the reviewer lor the Nne York World-Telegram
umte ( Ine's first reat tion on seeing them is ol amazement that
such early examples ol work by men who were later to become world
Famous should have been purchased by museums in ( iermany so
many years ago

The Nationalgalerie in Berlin housed the most representative
collection ol contemporary German art On October 30, 1936,
immediately following the close of the Summer Olympics, Goebbels
ordered the gallervs contemporary rooms to be closed to the public
From Annegret landa's essay in this volume we learn how this most
visible lorum lor modern art was a battleground in which a succes-
sion ol museum directors engaged in a struggle to reorganize and
protect the collection, to preserve some aesthetic dignity and even
to continue to acquire contemporary art with dwindling funds Alter
coming to power the National Socialists began a systematic cam-
paign to confiscate modernist works from public museum collections
Hitler saw an attack on modernism as an opportunity to use the
average German's distrust of avant-garde art to further his political
objectives against lews, Communists, and non-Aryans The charge
of "degeneracy" was leveled at avant-garde practitioners of music,
literature, him, and visual art, and their works were confiscated to
purity' German culture In 1933 the earliest exhibitions of "degener-
ate " art were organized to show the German people the products of
the "cultural collapse" of Germany that would be purged from the
Third Reich Confiscated works were assembled into Schreckenskam-
mfni der Kunst (chambers of horror of art) whose organizers decried
the (act that public monies had been wasted on these modern "hor-
rors" and implied that many of the works had been foisted on the
museums by a cabal of Jewish art dealers These precursors to the
Enl.irlflf Kiotst exhibition in Munich in 1937 sprang up throughout
Germany, often featuring works from the local museums (see
Christoph Zuschlag's essay in this catalogue) Entartete Kumt was
not the only anti-modernist exhibition to occur in 1937 The Institut
fur Deutsche Kultur- und Wirtschaftspropaganda (Institute for
German cultural and economic propaganda), a section of Goeb-
bels's ministry, organized the Gnsst antibolschewistische Aussttllung
(Great anti-Bolshevist exhibition, fig 5), which ran in Nuremberg
from September 5 to September 29 and then traveled to several
other venues, and orchestrated the tour of the NSDAP's exhibition
Der ru'iijr lude (The eternal lew, fig 6) from Munich to Vienna, Ber-
lin, Bremen, Dresden, and Magdeburg from late 1937 to mid-1939

The Kunsthalle Mannheim: An example

I he situation in Mannheim was typical of that ol many other Ger-
man museums out ol the spotlight ol Berlin one could just as easily
have chosen the Landesmuscum in Hannover, the Kunstsammlungcn
in Dresden, the Museum lolkwang in lissen, or the Staatliche

Galerie Moritzburg in Halle '*

Between 1909 and 1923 Fritz Wichert, the director ol the
Kunsthalle Mannheim, purchased several key examples of French
and German Impressionism and German Impressionism, including
paintings bv Alexander Archipenko, Beckmann, Corinth, Kirchncr
and Liebermann Sally Falk's donations ol works by l.ehmbruck
and I 1 nest o de I ioi i provided the nui leus for a growing col lee Hon

ol sculpture ' '

Wic hert's successor was ( .ust.iv I lartlaub, whose tenure
extended from 1923 until 1934, when he- was Forced to resign I le
was responsible for most ol the exhibitions and major acquisitions ol
Expressionist and modern art that made Mannheim .1 c inn 1 foi thosi
who wanted to see current art in ( Iermany figs 7—8 1 I he hies ol
the Kunsthalle yield an interesting picture ol the volume and velocity
ol these purchases and exhibitions and ol Hartlaub s voracious inter
est in contemporary art, including the I auves Die Brucke, Der Blauc
Reiter, Neue Sachlichkeit I New objectivity), and other examples of
German and non-German avant-garde art

1924-25 Exhibition Dfitlscfctr Werkbund "Die Form"
Acquisition Grosz, Grosstadt

1925-26 Exhibitions Edvard Munch ; Neue Sachlichkeit

Acquisitions Marc Chagall, Blaues Haus, Dix, Die Witwe,
Grosz, Max Hermann -Neisse, Kirchner, Stilleben

1927-28 Exhibitions James Ensor, Wege und Richtunaen der Abstraction
Acquisitions Baumeister, Tischgesellschaft, Robert
Delaunay St Severing Ensor, Masks and Death, Oskar
Schlemmer, Frauentreppe

1928-29 Exhibition Max Beckmann

Acquisitions Beckmann, Picrrrtlf und Clown, Das
Liebespaar, Chagall, Rabhmcr, Andre Derain, Landscape

1929-30 Acquisition Heinrich Hoerle, Melancholic

1930-31 Exhibitions Bauhaus, Neues von Cestern
Acquisition lankel Adler, Zu'ti Madchen

1931-32 Exhibitions Oskar Kokoschka , Georg Minne

1932-33 only graphics

1933-34 nothing major

1934—35 only graphics

As early as the mid-!920s museums had felt the cold wind of
censorship In 1925 Hartlaubs Neue Sachlichkeit exhibition traveled to
the Chemnitz Kunsthiitte, where the director, Dr Schreiber-
Wiegand; asked Hartlaub to make some changes in the catalogue
We are most grateful to you for your permission to use your introiiMclion
to the catalogue, but with regard to our special art-political conditions,

BARRON

Figure 7

Gallery in the Kunsthalle Mannheim during the defamatory exhibition Kullur-
fcolscfcnmstiscfcf Bilder (Images of cultural Bolshevism), 1933, work later in Entarlitt
KuhsI 1 Schlemmer, Fraumtrippt, 2. Beckmann, Cfcristus mi in Bxbnchtrin, 3. Hoerle,
Melancholy 4, Adler, Abutter iimi Tocfcler, 5. Baumeister, Jmhjtse\hc\iajl

I have one request Since in the attacks oh our collecting activities these
[works] are regarded as "Bolshevism in art, " might we change a few
words in three paragraphs? On page I could we simply leave out the word
"Katastrophenzeit" [catastrophic time], and maybe on the next page
cypress the sentence a little less controversially? I would like to avoid any
problems [I] ask jor your friendly understanding of our local situation.
You yourself know how everything now is affected by political conditions
and [those who] want to kill everything that does not please them This
includes Expressionism, of course, especially my purchases of pictures by
Schmidt-Rottluff, Kirchner, and Meckel™

Hartlaub obliged so that the exhibition and catalogue could
proceed as planned By the early 1930s, however, his own freedom
was increasingly hampered During the last year of his directorship
Mannheim was the scene of public protests against some of his
acquisitions, including Chagall's Rabbmer (Rabbi, fig 118), which
was the subject of a window display in the town incorporating the
sign, "Taxpayer, you should know how your money was spent " In
1934 Hartlaub became the first museum director to be fired by the
National Socialists Other directors who soon joined the ranks of
those dismissed by the Nazis included Heise in Liibeck, Justi in
Berlin, Sauerlandt, then director of the Hamburg Museum fur Kunst
und Cewerbe, Schreiber-Wiegand in Chemnitz, and Swarzenski in
Frankfurt

On two separate occasions, July 8 and August 28, 1937, the
Kunsthalle Mannheim was visited by the special committee
empowered by Coebbels to confiscate examples of "degenerate" art
from German museums Mannheim was one of their most successful
stops they seized over six hundred works by artists such as non-
Germans Chagall, Delaunay Derain, Ensor, and Edvard Munch
and Germans Beckmann, Corinth, Grosz, Lehmbruck, Nolde, and
Schlemmer Most of these masterworks are lost, a few, fortunately
have been reacquired by the Kunsthalle, and others are dispersed in
public and private collections

KUNSTHALLE MANNHEIM

ex

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CO

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GEMA'LDE

G-RAPHIK

mi

MAX
BECKMANN

DASG-ESAMMELTEWERK
AUS DEN JAH REN 1905-27

Figure 8

Poster for an exhibition of paintings and graphic works by Max Beckmann, Kunsthalle

Mannheim, 1928

The Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung, 1937

( )n Octobei IS 1933 at the ground breaking ceremony for tin- I laus

dei I taitschen Kunst I litler said he was laying the "foundations foi

this new temple- it\ honot ol the goddess ol u I In n, hitei t Paul

[roost insisted From the beginning that the building was to be a
representative structure leu the new German art hue to the expen

sive materials used and the monumental scale ol the looms the

building attracted enormous attention Hitler announced that it was

the Mrst new building worthy to take its place among the immortal
achievements ol the C ierman artistic heritage •' 'It was also m this
speech that he delivered the ultimatum that the National Socialists
would give the people lour years time to adjust to the cultural

policies ol the new government i

The year 1937 represents hoth a nadir and zenith foi the
National Socialists in terms ot their campaign against modern art
Hitler evidently concurred with Troost that the Haus dcr Deutschen
Kunst should display contemporary art, in fact, he planned to use
an exhibition ol approved German art as a chance to further shape
cultural policy" To find the art to fill the spacious new halls the
National Socialists staged an open competition chaired by Adolf
Ziegler, president of the Reichskammer der bildenden Kiinste The
competition was open to all German artists, and approximately fif-
teen thousand works were submitted Much to the frustration ol the
organizers they were provided with no clear guidelines for the selec-
tion of works to be included in the exhibition Goebbels and Hitler
himself participated in the selection (figs 9—10), and Goebbels noted
in his dtary "The sculpture is going well, but the painting is a real
catastrophe at the moment They have hung works that make us
shudder The Fuhrer is in a rage"3' Hitler added some artists
who had previously been rejected and threw out the work of several
who had been indged acceptable He abhorred "unfinished work,"
which subsequently became a criterion in the selection process
Eventually nine hundred works were chosen from which the final
selection would be made

On July \ti in Munich, Hitler presided over the opening, held
with great pomp and ceremony, of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst
and its inaugural exhibition of approved art The Grosse Deutsche
Kunstausstellung (fig II ) brought together over six hundred paintings
and sculptures that were intended to demonstrate the triumph of
German art in the Third Reich Hitler announced

from hou' on we are going lo wage a merciless u'<ir o/ destruction against
the liisl renuumng elements o/ cufluriil disintegration SbouU there be
someone among [the artists] who still believes in bis higher destiny — -well
now, he has had four years' time lo prove himself These four years are suf-
ficient for us. too, to reach a definite judgment From now on — of that you
can be certain- — <ill those mutually supporting and thereby sustaining
digues of chatterers, dilettantes, and art forgers will be picked up and
liquidated for all we care, those prehistoric Stone-Age culture-barbarians
and art-stutterers can return to trie caves of their ancestors and there can
apply their primitive international scrnlcbin^s.34

Figures 9-10

I leinrich I loffmann's candid photographs ol Adult Hitler and Adult Ziegler choosing

sculpture tor inclusion in the (.mscr Deutsche KutisUiu^hllunj (.real German art exhibt
tionl, Munich 1937

hgure II

1 loffmann's photograph of a gallers' in the (,rtivcr Driltscfcc KuwW.iu^tWIuttj losei
Thorak's sculpture Kamemdscbaft Comradeship fig 2~ can he seen against the
far wall

The Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellunff was the first of eight annual
exhibitions, from 1937 to 1944, mounted in the Haus der Deutschen
Kunst in the Nazis' attempt to present the best of German artistic
creation, a continuation of the exhibitions that had formerly taken
place in the Munich Claspalast (Class palace), which had burned to
the ground in 1931 There was a tradition in several German cities of
staging annual open competitive exhibitions for local artists in which
all the works of art were for sale, they were characterized by the
display of distinctly conservative and traditional art, which enter-
tained a consistently loyal public In this respect the Grosse Deutsche
Kunstausstcllungcn were no different, except that they were larger, less
parochial, and actively sponsored by the government Installation
photos and film footage indicate that the art was arranged by cate-
gory— landscapes, portraits, nudes, military subjects — in the way
commodities would be sold in separate areas in a market The sales
opportunities were fairly promising, and this alone may have con-
vinced some artists to embrace National Socialist policies, since
without their approval it was virtually impossible to sell contempo-
rary art in Germany Many of the purchases were used to decorate
public buildings and offices Several of the buyers were among the
Nazi elite, who purchased the works for their official residences 2i

At the time of each opening there occurred an elaborate
pageant on the "Tag der Deutschen Kunst" (German art day)
Participants wore historical costumes and created floats featuring
models of well-known works of art that were driven through the
streets of Munich The opening ceremonies attracted anywhere from
400,000 to 800,000 visitors In his inaugural speech in 1937 Hitler
announced that, "When we celebrated the laying of the cornerstone
for this building four years ago, we were all aware that we had to lay
not only the cornerstone for a new home but also the foundations for
a new and genuine German art We had to bring about a turning
point in the evolution of all our German cultural activities ." The
1937 pageant was centered around the theme, "Zweitausend lahre
Deutsche Kultur" (Two thousand years of German culture) Hun-
dreds of thousands of spectators watched the spectacle of a parade of
more than three thousand costumed participants and four hundred
animals Immediately following this overblown performance thou-
sands of uniformed soldiers marched through the streets, as if to
provide the ultimate marvel The official National Socialist news-
paper, the Vijlkischer Beobacbter, described the events in glowing
words "Today we sat as spectators in the theater of our own time
and saw greatness" (July 19, 1937)

In the Grosse DeHfscbe Kunstausstellung the Nazis sought to pro-
mote mediocre genre painting as mainstream art, the most recent
achievement in a continuum of centuries of German art It was
meant to wipe out any hint of the modernism, Expressionism, Dada,
New Objectivity Futurism, and Cubism that had permeated the
museums, galleries, journals, and press since 1910 The National
Socialists sought to rewrite art history to omit what we know as
the avant-garde from the history of modern art

Figure 12

Collage of "Expressionist art of the [Communist] school," from Wolfgang Willnch,
Saubirung ia Kumllmptk, 1937, work later in EnlarliH Kuml 1, Nolde, Cfcrishu \mi in
Sunirrm, other work 2. Nolde, 3. Schmidt-Rottluff, 4. Mueller, 5. Hofer, 6. Pechstein,
7. Klee, 8- Rohlfs, 9. Kirchner, 10. Beckmann

The situation was slightly different for sculpture Guidelines
were more difficult to observe, artists' motives more difficult to judge
Sculptors were apt to discover that some examples of their work
were championed by the National Socialists and others lumped with
"degenerate" art One artist's work was inadvertently included in
both the Grosse Deutsche Ktmstausstellung and Entartete Kunst Belling's
Boxer Max Schmeling was on view in the Haus der Deutschen Kunst,
while his DreMang (Triad) and Kopf (Head) were branded "degener-
ate" next door Georg Kolbe and Gerhard Marcks had some of their
earlier Expressionist works confiscated from German museums, yet
their contemporary images found favor with the Nazi elite, and they
continued to work openly (although two of Marcks's works were in
Eiifurtete Kunst) Even Arno Breker, the Nazis' sculptor of choice, saw
one of his early sculptures confiscated More conservative sculpture
in the tradition of Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin had a signifi-
cant following before the Nazis came to power and continued to be
appreciated under Hitler's regime

i igure 13

i ollaged degenerate art from the Stadtmuseum Dresden, from Willrich Saiibmuij
.It-. fGmstlaipdi work later in Entarlttt Kimsl 1 Dix Kritgskriippil 3 . Vull Scbivdigm
Fm« 4 Segall Dn taiga Wmdtm 5 Schwitters Mmbild (sideways) 6 kokoschka,
DieHtiim other work 2 Eugen Hoffmann

The campaign against modern art in museums

Goebbels issued a decree on June 30, 1937 giving Ziegler and a five-
man commission the authority to visit all maior German museums
and select works for an exhibition of "degenerate" that was to open
in Munich at the same time as the Crosse Deulscbe Kunstiiusslrtlun^

Oh (foe express authority of the Fuhrer I hereby empower the president o/
(be Reichskimmer der bildenden Kiinste, Professor Zieiflcr of Munich, to
select and secure jor an exhibition works of Cernum degenerate art since
(910, both painting and sculpture, u'foicl) lire now ih collections owned
by the derman Reich, individuttl regions, or local communities You are
requested to (jive Prof Zieifler your full support during his examination
and selection of these works26

The directive went on to define works of "degenerate" art as
those that either "insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natu-
ral form, or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic
skill ■" To have the Crosse Deutsche Kunstausstdlutu) and Endirlele Kutisl on
view simultaneously would underscore the triumph of official art over
"degenerate" art This was to be a far more ambitious action than
any of the small exhibitions mounted since 1933

ZiegleVs commission was made up "I individuals who, as critics

of modernism, were well suited to thru t.isk, among them were

( mini Klaus von Haudissin, an SS olluri who during Ins Intel tenure

as director ol the Museum Folkwang in I ssen had already i leared

the museum ol "offensive" examples ol modern art, and Wolfgang
Willrich, author of Sauberum) des Kunsttempeh (Cleansing of the temple
ol art), a racist pamphlet whose methods of excoriation ol modern
art digs 12-13) played an important role in the concept and content
ol the Endirlefe KuhsI exhibition The other members were commis-
sioner for artistic design Hans Schweitzer, art theoretician Robert
Scholz, and art teacher and polemicist Walter Hansen

According to Rave, in the first two weeks of July about seven
hundred works were shipped to Munich from thirty-two museums in
twenty-eight cities Museums in Berlin, Bielefeld, Bremen, Breslau,
Chemnitz, Cologne, Dresden, Diisseldorf, Erfurt, Essen, Frankfurt,
Hamburg, Hannover, Jena, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Konigsberg, Leipzig,
Lubeck, Mannheim, Munich, Saarbrucken, Stettin, Stuttgart, Ulm,
Weimar, Wiesbaden, and Wuppertal were purged of their holdings
of Expressionism, Futurism, Constructivism, Dada, and New Objec-
tivity At the Kunsthalle Mannheim, for example, the commission
selected eighteen paintings, five sculptures, and thirty-five graphic
works, which were shipped immediately to Munich

The commission revisited most of the museums later in the
summer and selected additional works, so that a total of approx-
imately sixteen thousand paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints
by fourteen hundred artists were confiscated and shipped to Berlin
to await final disposal The commission overstepped its authority and
seized works created prior to 1910, as well as those by non-German
artists The plundering continued until 1938 and was finally "legal-
ized" retroactively under a law of May 31, 1938, that stated that
"products of degenerate art that have been secured in museums or in
collections open to the public before this law went in to effect
may be appropriated by the Reich without compensation "

The works not included in Entartete KuhsI and those from the
second round of confiscations were sent to Berlin and stored in a
warehouse on Kopenicker Strasse where they were inventoried
Those of "international value" that could be sold outside Germany
for substantial sums were later weeded out and sent to another
storage facility at Schloss Niederschonhausen Goebbels created
another commission, for the "disposal of confiscated works of degen-
erate art," which was to decide which works were to be sold for
foreign currency and at what prices This group included Ziegler,
Schweitzer, and Scholz, with the addition of Franz Hofmann, Carl
Meder, Karl Haberstock, and Max Taeuber The work of this com-
mission and its effect are discussed later in this volume in essays by
Andreas Huneke and myself

K A R R O N

"Entartete Kunst"

On July 19, 1937 Ziegler opened the Entartete Kunst exhibition
across the park from the Gross? Deutsche KunstaussteUunt) , in a building
formerly occupied by the Institute of Archeology The exhibition
rooms had been cleared, and temporary partitions were erected on
which the objects were crowded together in a chaotic arrangement
(figs 14-16), which is not surprising when one considers that the art
was confiscated, shipped to Munich, and installed in less than two
weeks The paintings, some of which had had their frames removed,
were vaguely organized into thematic groupings, the first time
Expressionist works were presented in this way While the first rooms
were tightly grouped according to themes — religion, Jewish artists,
the vilification of women — the rest of the exhibition was a composite
of subjects and styles that were anathema to the National Socialists,
including abstraction, antimilitarism, and art that seemed to be (or
at least to be related to) the work of the mentally ill (The specific
organization of the works in Munich is discussed in this volume by
Mario-Andreas von Liittichau, who has painstakingly recreated the
installation and inventory of the exhibition ) Directly on the wall
under many of the works were hand-lettered labels indicating how
much money had been spent by each museum to acquire this "art"
The fact that the radical postwar inflation of the 1920s had led to
grossly exaggerated figures — in November 1920 a dollar was worth
4 2 billion marks! — was conveniently not mentioned Quotations and
slogans by proscribed critics and museum directors and condemna-
tory statements by Hitler and other party members were scrawled
across the walls Since every work of art included in Entartete Kunst
had been taken from a public collection, the event was meant not
only to denigrate the artists but also to condemn the actions of the
institutions, directors, curators, and dealers involved with the
acquisition of modern art

Entartete Kunst was to have been on view through the end of
September, but the astonishing attendance prompted the organizers
to extend the run until the end of November Plans were also made
to circulate the exhibition to other German cities, with Berlin as the
first stop The leaders of the various Gins (regions into which Ger-
many had been divided by the National Socialists for administrative
reasons) vied for the opportunity to present the exhibition, but only
the most important were accorded the chance Entartete Kunst in
varying configurations ultimately traveled to thirteen German
and Austrian cities through April of 1941 (The tour is discussed
and documented in Zuschlag's essay) Shortly before the show
closed in Munich, Ziegler's office appointed Hartmut Pistauer as
the exhibition coordinator It was his job to make the arrangements
for each venue, supervise the installation, and greet any important
party visitors at the opening (fig 17) on behalf of the Propaganda-
ministerium (Ministry of propaganda) 27

Figure 14

Detail ol the Dada '

and Schwitters

all in Room 3 of Eutartitt Kunst, Munich, 1937, work by Klee

Figure is

View ol a portion o) the south wall in Room 5, work by Heckmann, luhr kirchn

Mueller Nolde Rohlfc and Schmidt Rottlufl

,,p'ni^w^.,

Figure 16

View of a portion of the south wall of Room 3, work hy Baum, Helling,
Campendonk, Dexel. Felixmuller Hugen Hoffmann, Klee, and Nolde

BARRON

Figure 17

Hartmut Pistauer (in dark suit, center) leads Nazi party

officials through the Dusseldorf venue of EnUtrkk Kumt,

1938, work by Cies and Nolde can be seen in the

background

When Entartete Kiwst opened in Munich, no catalogue was avail-
able Shortly before the exhibition closed in November, a thirty-two
page booklet was published to accompany the touring presentation
This Ausstelluncfsfuhrer (exhibition guide) stated the aims of the exhibi-
tion and reproduced excerpts from Hitler's speeches condemning the
art and the artists that produced it (a facsimile and translation by
David Britt are presented in this volume) Some of the same quotations
that were used on the walls in Munich found their way into the
booklet, and Schultze-Naumburg's technique of juxtaposition was
prominently featured images of art by the mentally ill from the
Pnnzhorn Collection were placed next to photographs of works
by Rudolf Haizmann, Eugen Hoffmann, Klee, and Kokoschka, with
captions such as, 'Which of these three drawings is the work of
an inmate of a lunatic asylumv' Although not all the works illustrated
in the booklet were included in Entartete Kumt, all were by artists
who were represented in the exhibition The cover featured Der iifiic
Mensch (The new man), a famous sculpture (later destroyed) by the
Jewish artist Otto Freundlich, with the words Entartete "Kumt" partly
obscuring the image (fig 1) By printing Kumt to look as if it had
been rudely scrawled in red crayon and by enclosing it in quotation
marks, the National Socialists clearly made the point that although
they considered this material degenerate, they certainly did not
consider it art

One of the inevitable questions about the Eiilurlelc Kumt exhibi-
tion concerns its purpose Why did the National Socialists go to
such an effort to mount, publicize, and circulate it? What did they
hope to gain1 One explanation at least offers itself If the Nazis had
merely confiscated and destroyed the art, it would have been the cul-
tural equivalent of creating a martyr By staging Eiitarlftf Kumt they
were able to appeal to the majority of the German people who must
have considered most modern art incomprehensible and elitist To all
modernists, not just those represented in Enlarkk Kumt, the Nazis
sent the message that such art would no longer be tolerated in
Germany an official position that, thanks to the cleverly manipu-
lated complicity of the German people, had the force of a popular
mandate

One thing that emerges from any examination of the cultural
activities in Germany under the National Socialists is that, despite
every attempt to provide rigorous definitions of "healthy" and
"degenerate" art and to remove all traces of the latter from public
view, the actions against modern visual arts (as well as those against
literature, music, and him) were enormously problematic and contra-
tradictory Ultimately, however, the brilliant flowering of modernism
in Germany that had begun in the early years of the century
came to a halt in 1937 with the opening of Entiirletf Kunst and the
Crosse Deutsche Kunstausstellunif Artists, writers, filmmakers, poets,
musicians, critics, and intellectuals of all disciplines were forced to
take drastic action, either to emigrate or to resort to a deadening
"inner immigration " Much of the confiscated art was destroyed or
has vanished, and many of the most powerfully creative artists of
Germany's golden era were broken in spirit, forced to flee, or killed
But the art, the documents, and the memories that have survived
enable us to reconstruct the era and ensure that, in the end, the
National Socialists failed — the modern art of Germany was not
and will never be eradicated Collectively, the works of art and the
pieced-together fragments of history remind us that art may be
enjoyed or abhorred but it is a force whose potency should never
be underestimated

It is ironic that some of the issues raised by an examination of
these events should have such resonance today in America News-
paper articles on public support for the arts and the situation facing
the National Endowment for the Arts emphasize an uncomfortable
parallel between these issues and those raised by the 1937 exhibition,
between the enemies of artistic freedom today and those responsible
for organizing the Eutiirtete Kumt exhibition Perhaps after a serious
look at events that unfolded over half a century ago in Germany we
may apply what we learn to our own predicament, in which for the
first time in the postwar era the arts and freedom of artistic expres-
sion in America are facing a serious challenge ■

Mole

1 Hlldegard Brennei Dii K IpolilikJe Nat fsozulismns (Reinbek Rowohll

1963 H"i

2 While .ill accounts from the Immediate postwai era confirm tins event Rrsi

reported b) Paul Ortwin Rave in 1949 t liihalur n> Drilten Rricl Hamburg

CebrQdei Mann n recent works by authors im luding ( leorg Bussmann .ind

1 1 khardt Klcssman have questioned whethei there was In Fact such a wholesale
destruction ol works ol .in sec Bussmann, "Degenerate Art' A Look at .i Useful
Myth in Cmw Art in ifce xnb Century Painting and Satlpturt toos ms (exh s.n
London Royal Academy of Arts 1985 113-24 and Klessmann, "Barlach in der Bai
barei FraHfc/tirlrr Al^rmnnr ZrituH4 December 13 1983, literary supplement In Sofie
lohns rcsentk published account ol her and her husbands art exchanges with Berlin
in the late 1930s she challenged the Nazis contention that approximately live thou-
sand works were burned on Man h 20 1939 and suggested that only the frames may
have been destroyed in the tire see ( arl.i Vhult.' I lotlmann, ed Die Sammlum) S'ojir
unj Fmanurl Form Finr Dolcumrnlatu'H Munich Hirmcr, 1990', 27

3 Carl Einstein, Die Kunsl Jes 20 labrbunderts (Berlin Propylaen, 1926, 2d ed 1928,
3d ed 1931 Leipzig Reclam, 1988), Berthold Hinz, Arl in llx Third Reich (New York
Random House 1979 24

4 I lellmut Lehmann Haupt, Art unaVr ,i Dictatorship • New York Oxford University
Press, 1954' 3

5 Ibid 45-40

6 In 1909 luhus Langbehn published Rembrandt als FrzieFer (Rembrandt as teacher)
and in 1928 his Durrr als Fulirrr 'Durcr as leaderl, completed by Momme Nissen, was
issued posthumously, these two immensely popular books made strong appeals to
German nationalism in art

7 For a particularly helpful analysis of Nordaus book see George L Mosse's intro-
duction to the 1968 English edition l Max Nordau, Draeneration I New York Howard
Fertig. 1968))

8 George Bernard Shaw "The Sanity ol Art An Exposure ol the Current Non-
sense about Artists Being Degenerate" in Minor Critical Essays (London C onstable and
Company, 1932, St Clair Shores Mich Scholarly Press, 1976), 281-332

9 See Theodor Kirchhoff, Handbook oj Insanity /or Practitioners and Students I New
York W.lliam Wood, 1893), and Richard M Goodman, Genetic Disorders among tht
Jewish Ptoplt (Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979), 421-31 The term cor-
rwzionr (corruption i had been used by the seventeenth-century Italian critic Giovanni
Pietro Bellori in an attack on Vasari and Michelangelo

10 Sander Gilman, "Madness and Representation Hans Prinzhorn's Study of
Madness and Art in Its Historical Context," in The PrmzForn Collection (exh cat,
Champaigne, III Krannert Art Museum, (9841, 7-14, idem, "The Mad Man as Artist
Medicine, History and Degenerate Art," Journal oj Contemporary History 20 (1985)
575-97

11 Alfred Rosenberg, Race and Race History" and Older Essays, ed Robert Pois
(New York Harper and Row, 1970), 154

12 Hans Prmzhorn, BiUnern Jer Ceislrskrankrn Em Beitrag zur Psychology und Psycho-
fatbouxjie der Gestaltunj 'Berlin lulius Springer, 19221, published in English as Artistry oj
tht Mentally III A Contribution to the Psychology and Psycbopathology oj Configuration , trans
Eric von Brockdorff (New York Springer, 1972)

13 See Table I in Christoph Zuschlag's essay in this volume

14 Hlldegard Brenner, Barbara Miller Lane, and George L Mosse have described
the conflict and power struggle between Rosenberg and Goebbels over modern art,
particularly German Expressionism and Italian Futurism, see Lane, Architecture and
Polrlrcs in Germany lois-es (Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1968), Brenner,
"Art in the Political Struggle of 1933-34," in Hajo Holborn, ed , From Republic to Reicb
The Making of Inr Nazi Resolution I New York Pantheon, 1972), 395-434, and Mosse,
Nazi Cullure Intellectual, Cultural, ana" Social Life in ike Third Reich (New York Schocken
Books, 1981)

15 Paul Ortwtn Rave, KunslJikfalur im Dntlen Reicfe, rev ed , ed Uwe M Schneede
(Berlin Argon, 19871, 103-4

16 Alfred Barr, lr, MoJern German Painlino- and Sculpture (exh cat, New York
Museum of Modern Art, 1933), 7—8 Barr also indicated which German museums
collected examples by each artist

17 "European Works at Buchholz," Neu> York WorU-Telearam, September 30, 1939

in Hans-JUrgen Buderei Iniarittt Kunst" BtsxUagnabnu-AkUontn in da
K'unsinalle ManiiFnm j'*i? Kunst i Documentation no larmheim

Stadtlsche Kunsthalle Mannheim 198 I am grateful to Di Manfred Fath

ol the Kunsthalle Mannheim, lor permission to examine museum flics related to thl

degt M, rate" art action

1 1 >i recent publication On the special situation in other museums mei
see the following Essen Paul Vogl ed., Dofannailr zur Gtscbicbtt i\ Museum fcdkwang
mi-tits (Essen Museum Folkwang 1983), Halle Andreas HGneke .
Aklion 'Fnlarlele Kmiki" 1937 m Halle 'Halle Staalliche Galene Montzhurg 1987
Hannover Bescblagnabmt-Aktion im LanaVsmusrum //annotvr itt7 'exh cat, Hannover
Landcsmuseum Hannover 1983

In addition to the acknowledgments I have made elsewhere in these notes, I
would like to thank Markus Kc-rsting ol the Stadtlsche- Gak ' ' II provid

ing data on the purchases ol Gcorg Swarzenski and to Hans Gopfert of the Staatliche
Kunstsammlung Dresden lor details on the collecting and exhibitions there in the
1920s and 1910s Contemporary articles in the journals Museum Jer (,rarnu',irt and Iht
Kunst fur Alle also provided much background information

19 Buderer, "Fnlarlele Kunsl." 8

20 Ibid, II

21 Hinz, Arl oj ibe Third Reich, 163

22 Rave, Kunsljiltlalur, 54

23 Die Tagebucber non loseph Goebbels Samllicfce Fradmenle. ed Like Irohlich Munich
G K Saur, 1987), pt I, vol 3, 166

24 Adolf Hitler, speech at the opening of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, Munich,
July 18, 1937, cited and translated in Lehmann Haupt, Arl unjer a Dictatorship, 76-77

25 Jonathan Petropoulos, "Art as Politics The Nazi Elite's Quest for the Political
and Material Control of Art" (Ph D diss, Harvard University 1990)

26 loseph Goebbels, decree sent to all major museums, lune 30, 1937, a copy is
preserved in the archives of the Bayensche Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Munich, Akt
712a, 12 71937, Nr 1983, cited in Mario- Andreas von Luttichau, "Deutsche Kunst
und Entartete Kunst' Die Munchner Ausstellungen 1937," in Peter- Klaus Schuster
ed, Die 'KunstslaJl" Muncfcen |«J7 Nalionalsozialismus und Entartete Kunst Munich Pres-
tel, 1987), 92

27 I am indebted to Christoph Zuschlag who first brought Pistauer and his role in
Fnlarlele Kunsl to my attention

Figure 18

Arno Breker, Bmitscbaft (Readiness), 1937, bronze,

formerly at the Zeppelmfeld, Nuremberg

t . I < ) k I . I I MDSSI

Beauty without Sensuality

The Exhibition Eiiliuidc Kunsi

The National Socialist standards lor art
were based upon the idealized figures and
sentimental landscapes that had informed
nineteenth-century popular taste and upon
the neoclassical themes that were Adolf
Hitlers favorites National Socialism annexed neoromantic and
neoclassical art defining it as racially pure, an art that could easily
be understood and whose depictions of men and women exempli-
fied the Germanic race This was the official art that dominated the
annual Grossr Deutsche Kunstaussttllung (Great German art exhibition)
in Munich, beginning in 1937, for which the paintings and sculptures
were often selected by Hitler himself

There was deeper purpose to the acceptance of such art it
symbolized a certain standard of beauty that might serve to cement
the unity of the nation by projecting a moral standard to which
everyone should aspire Respectability was to inform personal and
public morality which true art must support The men and women
in Nazi painting and sculpture thus embodied the proper morality
and sexual behavior Beauty without sensuality was demanded of
artists and sculptors, a beauty that had to reflect the generally
accepted moral standards that the Nazis championed as their own
For it was the strength and appeal of National Socialism that it did
not invent anything new in its effort at self-representation but
simply appropriated long-standing popular tradition and taste

The Enl.irtflc Kunst exhibition was staged in 1937 as a foil to the
Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstcllunc) Painting and sculpture that supposedly
reflected life in the Weimar Republic 1 1919-33) were displayed as
concrete evidence that the Nazis had saved German society from
Weimar's onslaught upon all the moral values people held dear
marriage, the family chastity and a steady, harmonious life
Weimar culture was "Bolshevist'' culture, manipulated by the lews,
as the guide to the exhibition and the inscriptions on the gallery
walls stated repeatedly The destruction of respectability and
the destruction of society and the nation were linked

The exhibition must not be seen simply as Nazi propaganda, tor
it plaved upon basic moral attitudes that inform all modern societies
The concept of respectability has lasted, after all, even today art is
condemned if it transgresses the normative morality in too shocking
a fashion That EnLirtete Kunst exists in a continuum is demonstrated

bv the controversy in IW) over Robert Mapplcthorpes homocrotic
photographs, which wete thought to offend against public decency
Beauty with sensuality presented a danger to society because of what
it symbolized, namely a revolt against respectability as a principle of
unity and order — thus the destruction of the immutable values upon
which society supposedly rested It we are to understand the true
significance ot the Eittitrtclc Kuiisl exhibition, we must examine the rel-
evant history in order to see how the forces of respectability coped
with their "enemies" and what was at stake, for the exhibition itself
was like the tip of an iceberg, and that iceberg has not yet melted

Hitler pointed out at the 1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremberg
that "anyone who seeks the new for its own sake strays all too easily
into the realm of folly" a remark that was printed in the EnUulete
Kunst exhibition guide What was at issue was art as the expression of
supposedly unchanging values in a society in search of such values
The modern age seemed to threaten the coherence of life itself The
accelerated pace of industrial and technological change in the nine-
teenth and twentieth centuries produced a certain disorientation, a
"simultaneity of experience" with which people had to cope By the
mid-nineteenth century there were already complaints that railroad
travel had destroyed nature, as the landscape performed a wild
dance before the trains' windows lust so, the invention of the tele-
phone, the motorcar, and the cinema introduced a new velocity of
time that menaced the unhurried pace of life in an earlier age Such
concerns were reflected in a heightened quest tor order in the face
of instability

Respectability ensured security order, and the maintenance of
values, taming the chaos that seemed always to threaten society, it
reflected peoples attitudes toward themselves and toward all that
was "different " The enemies of respectability it was said, could not
control themselves they were creatures of instinct, with unbridled
passions Such accusations were scarcely to be found before the age
of the French Revolution, but from then on they became common
whether it was Englishmen at the time of the Napoleonic wars claim-
ing that the French were sending dancers to England to undermine
the islanders' morality or whether it was First World War propa-
ganda seeking by means of words and pictures to impute to the
enemy every kind ot so-called sexual perversion, respectability
was made a political issue from the very beginning

Figure 19

Urban scene from the film Dir Tunml 'The

During the course of the nineteenth century an increasingly
clear distinction was drawn between "normal" and "immoral"
behavior, "normal" and "abnormal" sexuality It was doctors, above
all, using categories of health and sickness, who threw their weight
behind society's constantly threatened moral norms, lending them
legitimacy and thus denning the stereotypes of abnormality

Those whom society treated as outsiders were now credited
with all those characteristics that ran counter to society's image of
itself The mentally ill, Jews, homosexuals, and habitual criminals
were all said to be physically unbalanced Nervousness had been
designated a serious illness — one that unleashed the passions — by
the famous French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot in the 1880s It
was now seen as the chief threat to mainstream bourgeois morality
which emphasized steadiness and restraint Sharing the iconography
of illness in general — exhaustion, contortions, and grimaces —
nervousness was thought to symbolize the opposite of normative
standards of beauty The Enlarlete Kimsl exhibition was built upon
such views of the outsider, using modern art to construct a "chamber
of horrors "

Looked at closely nervousness itself was seen as a product of
modernity The outsiders were always city-dwellers (fig 19), further
proof that they scorned the tranquillity of eternal values for them,
time never stood still One of the most despicable Nazi propagan-
dists, Johann von Leers, expressed it in this way no doubt speaking
for many others in doing so the city was the refuge of immorality
and crime, and it was here that the "Jewish conspiracy" tried to gain
control over German hearts and minds in order to drive them insane
with frenzy and lust For all its exaggeration and racial hatred, this
view was still indebted to the nineteenth-century notion of respec-
tability with its emphasis on controlling the passions and on the
consequences of losing that control There is a continuity here
that we constantly encounter the National Socialists' attitude
toward sexuality cannot be separated from the general history
of respectability

Degeneration was, in its modern sense, a medical term used
during the second half of the nineteenth century to identify the
condition of those who had departed from the "normal" because of
shattered nerves, inherited abnormalities, or behavioral or sexual
excess Degenerates could be identified by their bodily deformities,
red eyes, feebleness, and exhaustion Such conditions signaled the
start of a process that would inevitably lead to destruction What
haunted society from the Jin di aide onward was the fear that not
only humans but nations as well could degenerate, a process thought
to have begun already because of the falling birth rates in France
and other countries Those who refused to conform to the moral
dictates of society were labeled "degenerate," and as they themselves
were doomed to destruction they might destroy society as well

The physician Max Nordau in his book Entartung (Degenera-
tion) of 1892 did much to popularize the term in its application to
modern literature and art modern artists, whether Impressionists or
Expressionists, were incapable of reproducing nature because they
had lost the faculty of accurate observation and painted instead dis-
torted and irregular forms mirroring their own nervous deformities
and stunted growth In Hitler's view the artists in the 1937 exhibition
symbolized degeneracy "And what do you create?" the exhibition
guide quotes Hitler as asking "Misshapen cripples and cretins,
women who can arouse only revulsion as the expression of
all that molds and sets its stamp on the present age " Against a
background of attempts to define the boundaries of bourgeois
morality, Hitler's pronouncement resurrects the nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century iconography of the outsider as described
by physicians such as Nordau Moreover, it had the effect of advanc-
ing a certain concept of beauty as a readily understood symbol
of society's values

The ideal of beauty played a dominant role as a symbol of
morality, extending far beyond the realm of art beauty helped to
maintain control over the passions Friedrich Schiller, for example,
in his series of letters Uber die aesthetiscbe Erziehung des Menschen
(On the aesthetic education of mankind) of 1795 wrote that beauty

ennobled the otherwise merely instinctive sexual act, transcending it
bj virtue ol its eternal values Hut what is "beauty"? I"his question
penetrated to the vei y heai I ol sot iety s morals In neoromantii 01
neoclassical art beauty became the sell portrait ol so< iety the view
it likcJ to have ol itsell

How deeply respectability and us concept "I beauty were
embedded in society c .m be inferred from the ways in which the
concept was presented long before National Socialism At tin-
beginning ol the nineteenth century it was religion, especially
Protestantism that took upon itsell the task oi promoting respei
lability whereas by the end ol the century that role had been
assigned to the people themselves The stricter attitude toward
sodomy which was made a criminal offense in many countries in
jin dt sirclf Europe, appealed no longer to religious but to supposed
popular sentiment 1 he clear and unambiguous distinction between
the socially normal and the so-called deviant — a distinction that was
now supported medically and iconographically as well as by religion
and education — had been internalized ( Propagandaminister loseph
Goebbels knew he was risking very little when, in 1936, he banned
art criticism on the grounds that the general public should make up
its own mind, that vear more paintings offered at the annual exhibi-
tion of German art were sold than at almost all earlier exhibitions )

The achievement of beauty without sensuality presented a
special challenge in the representation of the ideal male, who,
inspired by Greek models, was often represented in the nude (fig
20) The evolution of bourgeois morality was contemporaneous with
the rediscovery of classical sculpture .1 I Winckelmann, describing
Greek male statuary as the paradigm of beauty for all time in his
GfscbioW ia Kutist iffs Allertlmms (History of the art of antiquity) of
1774, made this art acceptable to the middle classes by raising nudity
to an abstract plane and turning it into a stylistic principle Such
beauty was perceived as somehow sexless, a conviction shared by
others at a later date, aided by the belief that the almost transparent
whiteness of these figures raised them above the personal and sen-
sual At roughly the same time Winckelmann wrote his famous
book, johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, "Apollo Helvedere, why
do you show yourself to us in all your nudity, making us ashamed
of our own nakednessv' Male symbolism could not be stripped of
all phvsicalitv, the beauty of the Greek youths — lithe and supple,
muscular and harmonious bodies — lay in their nakedness It was
precisely the corporeality of the sculpture that expressed strength
and harmony order and dynamism, in other words, the ideal qual-
ities of both burgher and nation (fig 21) For the Nazis such men
symbolized the true German upon whose commitment the Third
Reich depended

From the moment when bourgeois morality was first estab-
lished, the ideals of male and female beauty differed radically, a
circumstance that largely determined the political role of women as
a national symbol The male was regarded as dynamic, promising
to bring about a timeless order and cure an ailing world, Fnedrich

Figure 20

SfirrrlMdrr Spear-bearer), copy of the DorypMm by Polyclitus (c 450—420 BC
monument to the (alien oi the First World War, bronze, formerly at the University
of Munich

Theodor Vischer, the nineteenth century's foremost German writer
on aesthetics, assigned to beauty and manliness the task of prevent-
ing chaos Women, by contrast, were turned into passive figures
such as Cermania or Queen Luise of Prussia (1776-1810), who was
stylized as the "Prussian Madonna " While the male was often
depicted nude, the woman was almost always fully clothed, at least
to the extent that she functioned as a national symbol And yet, for
all their differences, public representations of men and women had
one important point in common they transcended sensuality

The nakedness of the male stereotype displayed on so many
Nazi buildings and monuments, however, never lost its unsettling
and latently threatening effect In this context it is not without
significance that nudism was banned immediately after the Nazis
came to power (it was said to deaden women's natural shame) On
much the same level was a warning issued by the Reichsministerium
des Innern (Reich ministry of the interior) in 1935 to the effect
that nude bathing by people of the same sex could be seen as the
first step toward the violation of Paragraph 175, which punished
homosexual acts

In its attempt to strip nakedness of its sensuality the Third
Reich drew a sharp distinction between private life and public repre-
sentation Arno Breker's nude male sculptures (fig 18) continued to
be in official demand, and statues of seminude men and women still
decorated public spaces But it was an abstract, smooth, almost
transparent nakedness and a frozen posture achieved by recourse
to Winckelmann's purified concept of beauty

The Nazis encouraged physical training, and here the problem
of nudity arose once more Hans Suren in his Gymnastik tier Deulschm
(German gymnastics) of 1938, a book that went through several
editions during the Third Reich, exemplified the effort to divest the
nude body of its sensuous appeal in this particular setting He advo-
cated nearly complete nudity in the pursuit of sport or while roaming
though the countryside, but the male body had to be carefully pre-
pared before it could be offered to public scrutiny the skin had to
be hairless, smooth, and bronzed The body had become an abstract
symbol of Aryan beauty as it was in Leni Riefenstahl's film of the
1936 Olympic Games Sensuality was transcended by an alignment
with Greek form figures that could be worshipped but neither
desired nor loved

And the Nazi view of women' Goebbels insisted that girls
should be strong, healthy and good to look at, which meant that, as
he put it, in contrast to the male, the muscles of their arms and legs
should not be visible (The importance of iconography can be judged
by the extent to which the Nazis described physical detail ) But how
could this ideal of womankind be reconciled with the naked sports-
woman, for the latter did indeed exist The simple answer was that
the female athlete's body was often approximated to that of the male
Without emphasizing the obvious feminine contours, it was thus, in
principle, identical to that of the male youth in nakedness without
sensuality

Ma. t

Figure 21

Richard Scheibe, figure from an unidentirk-d '

location unknown

Figure 22

Adult Zicglcr Akl I Nude i, 1939, oil on canvas, 86 x 145 cm ( l¥h x 57'A in ),

Bayerischc Staatsgcmaldesammlungen, Munich (on deposit)

Wink- on the one hand, Coebbels launched his .macks <>n

spoils girls'' on the other, the Hund Deutscher Madel I I ag I

i .( mi. in girls was liberating the mass ol young girls foi the lirst

time m their history from some home and family restraints, an act
of emancipation achieved through sports and country walks The
National Socialist view ol women was clearly not free ol in< ongruity
Perhaps the reason lot this is that National Socialism was based on a
consciously male society that often behaved in a contradictory way
toward women Male homosexuality lor example, was ruthlessly
persecuted, but the same was not true of lesbianism, which was
ignored .is a punishable crime

In the depiction of women the main concern was, once again,
to separate private from public representation In the private sphere-
women could be completely naked and sensual, for how else can
we interpret the paintings by Hitlers tavontc artist, Adolf Ziegler
(fig 22) — paintings that hung not only in the Fiihrer's private apart-
ments but also in the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung? Zieglers fleshy
and often full-bosomed nudes, who left nothing to the imagination,
hung side by side with typical chaste German maidens with blond
plaits Public representation was political representation, however,
and here the aim was to integrate the masses into the Third Reich
with the aid of stereotypes that would treat the beautiful as a reflec-
tion of the eternal and immutable, revealing it as something pure
and removed from all materialism and sensuality

The ideal of manly beauty must be seen in contrast to the
weak, exhausted, unmuscular figure of the outsider The youthfulness
of the male stereotype symbolized the dynamic of bourgeois society
and of the nation as well, outsider figures, by contrast, were gener-
ally old We find very few young lews represented in nineteenth
century German drama, for example they were almost without
exception old and lonely

Society expressed its morality in terms of generally accepted
ideals of beauty while proiecting its fears and ideas of ugliness onto
the very groups the National Socialists were eventually determined
to exterminate Jews, homosexuals, habitual criminals, and the men-
tally disturbed Even before the Nazis' electoral victory in 1930,
Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi ideologist, had written in his book about
the Weimar Republic, Der Sumpf (The swamp) "Democracy has
apparently been stabilized Yet with its pederasty lesbianism, and
procuration it has been defeated all along the line "

The open homosexuality of Ernst Rohm, the powerful chief of
the SA (Sturmabteilung, storm troops I, and other SA leaders was
indicative of the ambivalent attitude toward bourgeois respectability
on the part of some members of the early National Socialist move-
ment This is true of Hitler himself, who defended Rohm against
attack by declaring that the latter's private life was his own affair
as long as he used some discretion When, in 1934, Hitler ordered
the murder of Rohm and other leaders of the SA who were known
homosexuals, it had in fact little to do with their sexual inclinations
the SA was by then threatening Hitler's own power and destroying

his relationship with the regular army Be that as it may the oppor-
tunity was seized to underline the role of the party and the regime
as the defenders of respectability Mock trials were held in which
Catholic priests were accused of homosexuality and the family
was given a central role in National Socialist propaganda

The foundations for such developments had been laid imme-
diately after Hitler took power on January 30, 1933 As early as
February 23 all so-called pornographic literature had been banned
and prostitution drastically curbed It is no wonder that organizations
such as the Deutsch-Evangelische Sittlichkeitsbewegung (German
evangelical morality league) welcomed Hitler's seizure of power,
since it apparently brought an end to the moral chaos of the postwar
period, and this was by no means the only organization of its kind
that supported the Nazis in their self-styled role as the saviors of
bourgeois morality (Was it only Albert Speer's mother who voted
for the Nazis because their youngsters marching though the streets
of Berlin looked so neat') Hitler himself boasted that with his advent
the "nervous nineteenth century" had finally come to an end But a
threat to respectability remained

The Nazi party sought to build upon wartime experiences
by first presenting itself as a continuation of the male camaraderie
that had existed in the trenches Even when it broadened its base
of appeal, it never lost the character of a Mannerbund, a league of
men, an institution that had a long tradition in Germany Important
subgroups of the party such as the SA or the SS (Schutzstaffel,
elite guard) were proud of being male organizations that excluded
"unmanly" men But such conscious male bonding seemed to raise
the danger of homoeroticism or even homosexuality a possibility
that frightened some of the leadership

The driving force behind the purge of all that might pose a
threat to respectability was Heinnch Himmler, the leader of the SS,
who more clearly than anyone else articulated the sexual policies of
the Third Reich and thus revealed its underlying fears (These same
fears were also behind the organization of Entarteti Kunst, which
was an attempt to demonstrate the consequences of the rejection of
social and sexual norms ) Himmler's obsessional regard for respec-
tability and his fear of all sensuality encouraged him to magnify the
homoerotic and homosexual potentialities of the Mannerbund, includ-
ing his own SS, which often represented itself symbolically as an
idealized seminude male If he emphasized the contrast between
homosexuality and manliness, it was because of his fear that the one
could easily turn into the other At the same time he affirmed that
the Third Reich was a state based upon the comradeship of men and
that indeed "for centuries, yea, millennia, the Germans have been
ruled as a Mcinnerstaat" [state of men]

But that state was now threatened with self-destruction as a
result of homosexuality as Himmler made clear in November 1937 in
a speech delivered to the SS leadership in Bad Tolz He regarded
homosexuality as a sickness that poisoned both body and mind (he
even suggested prostitution — otherwise strictly prohibited — as a
remedy), but he now went a stage further and drew on the imagery
of the "natural" and "unnatural " In the good old days of the Teutonic
tribes, Himmler told his Bad Tolz audience, homosexuals were
drowned in the swamps "This was no punishment, but simply the
extinction of abnormal life" Nature rectified her own mistake, and
Himmler lamented that this kind of extinction was no longer possi-
ble For him, deviants from the sexual norm were not only outsiders,
they were also racial enemies The desire for their deaths, presented
here as the goal of the struggle for purity and respectability points
the way to the Holocaust

It must be stressed that doctors such as Charcot who described
Jews as particularly subject to nervous diseases had never for a
moment thought of killing them for Charcot, anyone who was ill
could be cured It was racism that determined Himmler's offensive
against outsiders, but it was also the wish to protect respectability
no matter what the price

All this is the indispensable background to the Entartele Kunst
exhibition It was designed to be out of the ordinary a survey of all
that was indecent and ugly all that represented an assault on bour-
geois morality through the latter's concept of beauty Works by
modern artists were treated not as evidence of individual creativity
but as representative of something undesirable, they were accorded
no individual value, only a symbolic status This, of course, made a
mockery of those artists who vaunted their individuality above all
else It was the reaction of a society that felt itself to be under a
constant threat, a society moreover, that was bonded together by
respectability and the security that it radiated Morality and its sym-
bols, of which beauty was the positive and nervousness the negative,
were an issue of the first order in an age when society believed itself
on the very brink of chaos as a result of the pace of change and the
Great War In this context the concept of "degenerate art" merely
added to the general sense of anxiety

And yet foreign newspapers reported in 1937 that far more peo-
ple had visited EnlarMe Kunst than the parallel exhibition devoted to
officially approved German art According to the Manchester Guardian
there were five times as many visitors to Entartete Kunst each day
while the New York Times reported that there had been 396,000 visi-
tors, as opposed to 120,000 at the Crosse Deutsche KunstaussteUuntj ,
within the space of a week What is the explanation' It is a question
that is difficult to answer, but it is unlikely that an interest in modern
art played any part The Nazis themselves encouraged people to visit
the exhibition Had the latent temptation to act unconventionally —
a temptation almost encouraged by the Reich's antibourgeois
rhetoric — become acute once more"1

Respectability and .ill that it implied remained an essential par)
ol the regime and in the exhibition guide .ill those outsiders who
had threatened society's conformist prim iples since the beginning ol
the last century were blamed foi the degeneration of art ["he paint
mgs on display wen- presented as the work "I madmen disfigured by
sexual excesses they represented Marxist and lewish attacks on all
that was ( rerman I he text ol die guide summed up a tradition that
drew an iik reasmgh sharp dishni lion between respectability —

that is normality — and abnormality between the healthy and the

mi k and between the natural and the unnatural Hv cmbrai inn the

respectable people could resist the chaos ol the age embodied by
'degenerate art and accept a "slice of eternity" into their lives What
was sacrificed in the process was sensuality passion, and to a great

extent individuality itselt

I he analysis ot "beauty without sensuality" undertaken here can
be seen as a critique oi bourgeois morality and, finally of the never-
ending attempt to distinguish between this morality viewed as the
norm and what was seen as "abnormal " Hut we must never forget
that for most people respectability was and is much more than
merely a form of behavior or an ideal of beauty, for many perhaps
even tor the vast majority, it offers cogent proof of the cohesiveness
of society, a cohesiveness necessary for all systems of government,
not lust tor National Socialism Hence, the favorable response
encountered by the premise of the Entarlflr Kuml exhibition, even in
places where we would least expect it the London New Statesman, for
example, a left-wing journal, wrote that the exhibition was the best
thing Mr Hitler had done so tar

The smooth functioning of a generally accepted morality was
just as important for the cohesion of society as the more often cited
economic and social factors At the same time it was something that
people understood, something that impinged on their daily lives in a
wholly concrete and comprehensive way The ideal of beauty as the
exemplification of society's norms was influenced not only by senti-
mentalism and romanticism, it had a social function as well The
aesthetics of politics, of daily life, had involved a degree of social
control ever since bourgeois morality first came into being Not only
the works of art but much ot the popular literature was tilled with
passion and love that were supposedly devoid of sensuality For
example, Agnes Cunther's novel Die Heihcfe uni \hr Nan iThe saint and
her fool, 1913 i, a runaway best-seller during the Weimar Republic,
was a sentimental love story in which sensuality was equated with
sickness The representational art and the literature of the time fell
readily into a tradition that the National Socialists merely took to
its extreme

\n.l tod. iv II my analysis in only say thai the

same social needs still exist tb.it out modem tolerant e toward the
individual and sensuality ts more .in extension ol what is permi
than an actual breach in the principle of respectability I h( re may
be additional proof ol this in the lact that alter periods ot sexual tol-
■ ram e the limits are always reimposed We are seeing this rhythm

repeated today in episodes like that of the Mapplethorpe exhibition

and in the continued etlort in the United States to i ontiol iti.
content ol publicly funded art

Marcel Proust gave perhaps the finest expression to that
reciprocal relationship between conformism and tolerance that we
can see all around us Swann the lewish hero of A la recherche du temps
perdu, is welcomed among the aristocratic and snobbish Cuermantes
as an exotic plant until he becomes a Dreyfusard, defending the cap-
tain against his reactionary accusers, at which point they see him
as a threat to their political and social position This seems to me
to symbolize the reality ot a situation in which we continue to find
ourselves bourgeois morality, once a newcomer in our midst, now
appears so much a part of the way we see ourselves so essential to
our society that we can scarcely imagine a different kind ot morality
with the result that we have forgotten that, like everything else in
this world, it is the result ot historical evolution ■

Notr

This is a revised version of the author's article "Schonheit ohne Sinnhchkeit
Nationalsoziahsmus und Sexualitat," Znlmituhn/l, special ed , 1987, 96-1119 Sec
also his Nationalism and Sexuality Respectability and Abnormal Sexuality in Modern
Europe (Madison University ol Wisconsin I'ress, |9HH

Figure 23

Visitors in Room 3 of Entartctt Kunsl. Munich, 1937

I' I MR CUEN1

Three Days in Munich, July 1937

Three days in Munich in July of 1937 as a
seventeen-year-old a visit to the Grosse
Deutsckt Kunstaussttllunt) (Great German art
exhibition), which had lust opened (I had
missed the official inauguration by three
days and two visits to the Eiil.irlrtc Kunsl exhibition left unforget-
table impressions Untortunately letters to my family were destroyed
during the war and in the bombing ol Dresden, they would have
been ol great help in resurrecting the memories of an impressionable
teenager, which naturally have been tempered and even augmented
by knowledge acquired later Yet some of the experiences of those
three days are as frightfully real as if no time had elapsed

I should explain that my father, Alfred Giinther, was a news-
paper critic — what was called a feuilletonist — in Dresden He had
written on art and literature for years and knew many contemporary
artists and writers, who were frequent visitors in our home In 1935
he had been expelled from the Reichsschnfttumskammer (Reich
chamber of literature), the organization to which all writers were
obliged to belong, and lost his job because his second wife, the
outstanding photographer Genia Jonas, was Jewish

I had grown up exposed to modern art In my room hung
reproductions of works by Franz Marc {Blaue Pjerd I [Blue horse I]
of 1911, fig 24) and Vincent van Gogh (one of the versions of Sun-
flowers) My interest in Paul Gauguin had been kindled by such
books as Launds Bruun's Van Zantcn's glucklicbt Zat (Van Zanten's
happy times), a sentimental novel about Gauguin's life in the South
Seas — certainly not an artistic, historical, or literary masterpiece1
I had gone to exhibitions with my father or my mother and looked
at — more than read — the various art journals and books available
in our home I thought most people lived as I did

Some credit for my interest in the arts must also go to the
Reemtsma cigarette company A coupon in each package could be
exchanged for quite well-printed color reproductions of important
works of art, to be pasted beside short introductory texts in albums
of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque art I also had an album on
modern art that had made me at least partially conversant with the
Fauves, Futurists, and Expressionists Some of my classmates col-
lected coupons from the Trommler cigarette company, which gave
away color reproductions of all the uniforms of the army and Nazi

Figure 24

Franz Marc, Blaul Pfai I (Blue horse I] 1911, oil on canvas, 112 x 84 5 cm

(44* x 33% in I, Stadtische Calcne im Lenbachhaus Munich

organizations I exchanged Trommler for Reemtsma coupons (a
number of my classmates found my interests strange, to say the
least), and my "art collection" grew quickly

In 1937 I made my trip — a vacation in which Munich was only
one stop — in excited anticipation Newspapers and radio had given
extensive reports of the greatest of modern art exhibitions, the Crosse
Deutsche Kunstausslellung , in the newly completed Haus der Deutschen
Kunst (House of German art), and of the opening activities, includ-
ing a speech by Adolf Hitler This speech, which was published
verbatim in the newspapers, had troubled me Much of it was a con-
demnation of modern art, artists, art dealers, gallery owners, and
museum directors, as well as critics There was very little to indicate
what true modern German art ought to be and how it would differ
from that which was so strongly condemned I looked forward to an
exciting three days, but it did not occur to me what an enormous
impact this visit would have on me

When I arrived in Munich some of the decorations installed
for the opening pageant, "Zweitausend lahre Deutsche Kultur"
(Two thousand years of German culture, fig 25), were still in place,
although the dismantling was in progress The Pnnzregenten-
strasse had been lined with 160 pylons, each nearly forty feet high,
crowned with the eagle and swastika From the railroad station to
the center of the city 243 flags had flown at intervals of twenty-five
feet from flagpoles nearly thirty-five feet high A number of these
flagpoles and pylons were still standing and gave the city a very fes-
tive appearance as I walked toward the new Haus der Deutschen
Kunst Viewing the building's long row of columns stretching along
the street, I suspected that there was not much room behind this
facade, which was clearly meant to be the dominating feature Its
imposing height and cold symmetry created a monumentality that
dwarfed the visitors, an impression that accompanied me into the
galleries themselves (Much later I learned that the Bavarians called it
the "Bratwurstelgalene," because the colonnade resembled sausages
hanging side by side in the window of a butcher shop )

The entrance hall was impressive in size but disappointing
The marble, the abundance of red Hags, the laurel trees in large pots,
the bust and pictures of Hitler were not unique Basically the decor
repeated on a slightly grander scale that used for all Nazi festivals
and special occasions in theaters, opera houses, museums, and even
schools I do remember that I was impressed by the silence every-
body whispered It was obviously due to the semiecclesiastical
atmosphere created by the size of the rooms, their decor, the impres-
sive lighting, and the careful placement of the exhibits (fig 26)

Which of the works most impressed a seventeen-year-old'
Quite a number stayed in my memory undoubtedly because I
expected so much I find it amusing that I remember especially well
a few quite small pieces of sculpture, unimportant in themselves but
appealing to me because they counteracted the gigantism and the
large number of works that seemed "bland " There was a small

Figure 25

Parade and pageant, "Zweitausend lahre Deutsche Kultur" {Two thousand ye
of German culture), Munich, "Tag der Deutschen Kunst" (German art day),
July 18, 1937

bronze group of wild ducks by Max Esser, for instance, which I liked
because of its unpretentiousness, and there was a bronze figure by
Hermann Geibel of a young girl playing a recorder, which looked
to me like an idealized version of an admired girlfriend The huge
figures by Arno Breker and Josef Thorak (fig 27) and other statues
that dominated the galleries, however, held no appeal for me on the
contrary I found them rather frightening I thought that they were
intentionally attempting to imitate famous Greek sculptures I knew
from books, but they lacked the grandeur and quiet balance that 1
considered to be the hallmarks of that art These were simply large,
primarily male, nudes People around me marveled at the craftsman-
ship, technical achievement, and — what was repeatedly praised —
realism of these figures (although certainly none of us looked like
any of these giants) The visitors whom I overheard seemed not to
recognize by the titles given to the statues — Kameradscbajt (Com-
radeship), Sieg (Victory) — that they were meant to be symbols

Yet the over-life-sized works fit well into the scale of the large
galleries, and even sculptures by Georg Kolbe, Fritz Klimsch, and
Richard Scheibe, some of whose works I knew from illustrations,
seemed to gain in dimension in these surroundings and made an
impression that was quite different from what I had expected
Sometimes the impression was a negative one I had always loved
the beautiful Tdnzerm (Dancer) of 1912 by Kolbe, a photograph
of which I had hanging in my room, but his Junger Streiler (Young
fighter) of 1935 in this exhibition lacked grace and resembled
the numerous other idealized males

■

•A*kB.^

I igUIt 26

Gallery in the (.ros-r Drulsil<r Kunsinusstrllunt) l Great German art exhibition I, Haus der
Deutschen Kunst Munich 1937 Adolf Ziegler's triptych Die vier Elemente (The four
elements is on the tar wall

Figure 27

losel lliorak Kameraiscbajt ( .imr.idr-.hip plastei
location unknown, exhibited in the GroSU Drufscfa
Kutistaussttllung see fig n

1 recall a number of paintings (although my memory may have
been aided by reproductions I saw later) Understandably in one so
voting, 1 remember well the innumerable nudes idealized, erotic,
but cold, like an amateur's photograph None was appealing to this
seventeen-year-old not the Bauerliche Venus (Rustic Venus) by Sepp
Hilz or the insipid and tasteless Vier Elementc (lour elements) by Adolf
Zieglcr or the pseudo-romantic Das Erwachm (The awakening) by
Richard Klein all of which had been reproduced in various journals
It was not that I had been brought up a prude on the contrary, my
mother was very much in favor of anything healthy and natural Art
books containing depictions of nudes had surrounded me since child-
hood The nudes in the Grosst Deutsche Kunstausstellunt), however, were
something else The painters were obviously good craftsmen, but I
remember writing home that they were certainly not artists I must
admit that I was disturbed by the amount of nudity, although the
titles were always "elevating" These undressed ideals of female
beauty — looking so similar, they could all have been sisters —
reminded me too much of the nineteenth-century French salon
paintings in the large art volumes (which in earlier years I had not
been permitted to see) in my grandparents' home

Another thing I remember about this huge show was that many
of the paintings looked like photographs There was, for example,
the translation to canvas of a famous photograph of Hitler and Presi-
dent Paul von Hindenburg, Der Tag mn Potsdam (Potsdam Day), by
Richard Lindmar, which, I later read in the newspaper, took three
years to paint I became aware from the whispered comments
around me that people admired works of this type because they
depicted "so realistically" what was beautiful and good, which

included quite a number of portraits of Hitler and prominent Nazis
and soldiers in various uniforms I found disturbing the images of
farmers (although Bauer in Nazi jargon meant something more than
"farmer" it carried a near-mystical connotation of man's relationship
to the earth) I knew quite well what agricultural and village life was
like, as students we had been sent to various farms for several weeks
at a time to help with the harvests From these enjoyable experi-
ences I knew that depictions of farmers as inhabitants of a heroic
paradise — lulius Paul lunghanns's Niederrheimsches Weidehdd I Lower
Rhenish pastoral) or Fritz Mackensen's Golitsiiimst (Sunday service)
of 1895, for example — were quite removed from reality As for the
other works of art, there were many landscapes, some still lifes and
small bronze sculptures, and a large number of realistic watercolors
and graphic works, most of which left little impression on me except
for their quantity In short, my walk through the Grosse Deutsche
KunslaussteUuna was ultimately disappointing and tiring It was cer-
tainly not what I had hoped for or even expected Was this really
the new German art that Hitler had welcomed in his speecFr

Only after I left the Haus der Deutschen Kunst did I see tucked
into the catalogue of the Grosse Deutsche Kunsiausstellung a small red
card announcing the AusslellunQ "Entartete Kunst 1 didn't know what
it was and so postponed my visit till the next day I stayed at the
lugendherberge (youth hostel), if I'm not mistaken, because I
remember a few conversations there with others of my age Some
couldn't have cared less about the exhibitions, a few others had seen
the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstelluntt , and some hadn't liked it 'although
among the latter there were a few rather graphic references to the
many nudes) None had gone to see the Entartete Kunst exhibition

GUI N T II I R

I spent the evening looking through the Munchiter Neueste
Nachrkhten and the official Nazi newspaper, the Vdlkiscbe Beobachter,
reading about the pageant I had missed There had been floats with
reproductions of the sculptures from the great Bamberg and Naum-
burg cathedrals, others with enormous figures of Treui (Fidelty) and
Glaube (Faith), and still others presenting periods of Germanic his-
tory from the Vikings to contemporary times, the latter represented
by units from the army and various Nazi organizations Hundreds of
men and women dressed in different period costumes marched along-
side the floats It was a grand spectacle that emphasized the glory
of German accomplishment throughout history Included was — to
my surprise — the huge head of the Greek goddess Athena, carried
by people dressed as "Old Germans," but there were also figures
of the Germanic gods and goddesses with the eagle Hresvelda The
other young people with whom I talked who had seen the pageant
were all very impressed by this show of German history For the
large number of spectators who had lined the marching route, it was
a glorified and idealized review of the past in forms that duplicated
much that was on view in the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellunc)

How different was my next day's confrontation with EntarMt
KunsV Specific details have faded, but the shock, dismay and sadness
I experienced during my visit are as vivid as if it happened just a
short while ago The announcement inserted in the catalogue of the
Crossf Deutsche Kunstausstellung had stated, "fur Jugendliche verboten1"
(young people prohibited), but nobody asked my age While I had
had to pay an entrance fee at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, this
exhibition was free of charge I was aware from the first that there
were more people here than there had been at the Grosse Deutsche
Kunstausstellunc; the previous day (much later I learned that £»l<irlclf
KmhsI had 2,000,000 visitors to the other exhibition's 420,000) The
atmosphere was also quite different People talked, some loudly and
made comments to one another, even to strangers I cannot now
remember if anyone was there in an official capacity as a "guide,"
nor do I recall if the few visitors in Nazi uniform were the ones who
made the loud comments At the time I had the impression that the
various remarks were spontaneous

The rooms were quite narrow, as were the openings from one
room to another, and the ceilings much lower than in the Haus
der Deutschen Kunst In some areas people pressed up against one
another to see the badly lighted works, the atmosphere was dense
(fig 23) From the types of works selected, their hideous hanging
and placement, the graffiti -like inscriptions on the walls, the nota-
tions of price, and the use of truncated quotes by museum directors
and art historians it was very obvious to me that this exhibition
was not intended to introduce people to modern art but to inflame
them against these works It was a blatant attempt to discredit
everything on view

1 cannot recall how 1 entered the exhibition, but I do remember
well the impact of the frightening Kruzi/ixws (Crucified Christ) by
Ludwig Gies, which filled the wall beside the entrance on the upper
level (fig 28) To me, as shocking as the first impression was, this
modern work echoed the pathos of Mathias Griinewald's great
sixteenth-century Isenhem Altar in Colmar What had brought tears
to my eyes in Colmar could easily have caused a similar reaction
here, but the way in which the work was displayed caused it to lose
its impact On the wall beside the sculpture was a very positive cri-
tique identifying it as an important document of modern religious
expression, the text was partly obliterated, however, by a large ques-
tion mark There was also a shorter note explaining that the work
had hung as a war memorial in the cathedral of Lubeck and con-
demning this defamation of the dead soldiers of the First World War
Did no one recognize, I wondered, that here war was likened to
Christ's Passion and that the inhumanity of war was paralleled by the
inhumanity of the Crucifixion^1 At the same time I could easily
understand that many visitors, if not most, would react negatively
either because they could not accept the unconventional figure of
Christ or because they felt that war memorials ought to present only
the idealized heroism of those who had died

In the first room 1 was overwhelmed by the brilliant colors of
several paintings by Emil Nolde, including the nine panels of his
Leben Chnsti (Life of Christ, figs 321-29) Again it was obvious to
me that the artist, by his choice of these flaming colors and the defor-
mation of the figures, had tried to remove the events of Christ's life
from the standard, accepted depictions and force the viewer to gain
a new insight into these events Nolde's works displayed the same
intensity as the Kruzifixus at the entrance I remembered my own
confirmation and realized that my good, sensible pastor might not
have liked these representations but at least would have recognized
the artist's attempt to break away from the sweetness and sentimen-
tality that had been adopted for so much Christian art There was
a text on the wall that included the phrase, "Verhohnung des
Gotteslebens" (mockery of the Divine) I remember some very
angry words by visitors in this room, the mildest of which was
"blasphemy" Again, I could understand these reactions, especially
since the people around me appeared not to be the type who
would normally have gone to museums or exhibitions of modern
art (although some of these works had been painted as long as
twenty-five years ago) and therefore must have been shocked I
could not understand, however, why Ernst Barlach's Chnstus und
Johannes (Christ and John, fig 158) should have been included in
this exhibition This small, quiet, deeply moving bronze group
could not have offended anybody I had a photograph of it in my
room and had always supposed it to be Christ and the doubting
Saint Thomas or the prodigal son's return

Figure 28

Ludwig Gies Kruzifixus (Crucified Christ ( 1921 ^ wood, formerly in Lubeck Cathedral,

probably destroyed, shown here on the landing in Room I of Entartctt Kunsl

The following rooms were equally disturbing Paintings were
hung very closely together, some above others, some even over the
doorways The strong colors of the paintings, the interfering texts,
the large wall panels with quotations from speeches by Hitler and
Joseph Goebbels all created a chaotic impression I felt an over-
whelming sense of claustrophobia The large number of people
pushing and ridiculing and proclaiming their dislike for the works
of art created the impression of a staged performance intended to
promote an atmosphere of aggressiveness and anger Over and
over again people read aloud the purchase prices and laughed,
shook their heads, or demanded "their" money back

I recall vividly one room in which abstract art was displayed
There were no titles, but 1 knew that some were works by Wassily
Kandinsky because my father had talked with me about the absence
of recognizable objects in his and other modern paintings I also
recall the reactions of the people around me they considered the
works silly (dumm) because there was nothing to be seen, and the
remark, "The artists are making fun of us," was frequently heard

A part of the exhibition I remember especially well was a wall
displaying Dada art (figs 43, 67) I didn't know anything about this
movement, but the art looked to me like a lot of fun, and I wondered
why it made the viewers so angry Directly beside the Dada wall was
a beautiful picture by Lyonel Feininger (fig 29) and a large abstrac-
tion by Kandinsky I was upset because these two works simply did
not go with the Dada group Would the many people who were
incensed by the Dada artists see the difference, or would they simply
walk past, considering these paintings just two more abominations?

Another bewildering issue was raised by paintings by Lovis
Corinth, some of which I had seen previously in reproductions (fig
3D Labels beside them derided the works because they were painted
after the artist had had a stroke I could not understand why this
would make the paintings "bad," especially since I could not see any-
thing in them that made this remark meaningful It was an argument,
however, that appeared acceptable to many visitors around me

It became increasingly clear to me that most people had come
to see the exhibition with the intention of disliking everything, an
intention that the installation was cleverly designed to encourage
Many who had probably never seen Expressionist works frequently
remarked that these so-called artists could neither draw nor paint,
and that therefore there must have been a "conspiracy" of art
dealers, museum directors, and critics to bamboozle the public The
organizers of EnUutete Kunst thus promoted the idea that these works
were not only badly executed and incomprehensible but evil, that
they had been foisted on the public by people who hated anything
good and decent and German, like works by Albrecht Durer or
those on view in the Crosse Dfiilscbe Ktmstausstellung This atmosphere
frightened me, 1 remained very quiet and even avoided looking at
those who made loud, angry remarks Indeed, I never heard anyone
speak up for the works or the artists represented or attempt to
challenge the condemnations

Figure 29

Lyonel Feininger, Hopjgarlm, 1920, oil on canvas, 655 x 82 5 cm (25V, x 32'/i in
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, gift of friends and family in memory of Cath,
Roberts Seybold Entartrtt Kunst. Room 3, NS inventory no 15980

Figure 30

Otto Mueller, Zi^euufmi (Gypsy woman), tempera on canvas, 1005 x 75 cm
(397m x 29'A in ), Westfalisches Landesmuseum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte,
Munster Enl.irldt Kunst, Room 3, NS inventory no 15969

Figure 31

Lovis Corinth, Eccr Homo, 1925, oil on canvas, 189 x I4S cm 174'/. x 58'/. in I,

Kunstmuseum Basel Enlurlrlr Kumt, Room 6, NS inventory no 1615 1

In retrospect, this was not surprising Having lived for the last
four years under Nazi rule, I myself had learned not to challenge
"official" opinions or ask too much or too frequently One did not
question the teachers who continually praised Hitler's accomplish-
ments, especially those who wore the Nazi party swastika in their
lapels And there were further distinctions to be made between
those who had joined the party before 1933 and those whom we
called Miirzgtfallene (victims of March) the latter had enrolled,
often just to retain their jobs, in March of 1933, the last time new
members were accepted Having to prove their new loyalty they
were frequently more radical than other party members in promot-
ing Nazi ideology

Some of the art exhibited in Entariett Kunst had personal associa-
tions for me Truly poignant were the paintings dealing with the war
There were works by Otto Dix, who had taught at the Akademie
in Dresden and had painted a portrait of my father in 1919 The
Knegskruppel (War cripples) were frightening in his caricatured, biting
representation Never before had veterans been depicted in this way
it was the complete antithesis of those heroic representations that
filled the rooms in the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstelluni) And yet I
remembered from my childhood men whose legs had been ampu-
tated or with other visible deformities sitting in the streets selling
shoelaces and matches My mother frequently gave me a coin to
put into the caps they had placed in front of them Regardless of the
bitter distortions in Dix's work, regardless of the exaggeration, the
scene was truthful Now, however, the picture was interpreted as an
insult instead of an indictment of war Equally forceful was the large
picture Der Schutzenclraben (The trench), a horrid scene of human
cadavers caught in barbed wire The whole brutality and inhumanity
of war was visible in this painting In front of these works I heard
threats uttered against the painter

Another group of works that made a lasting impression on me
was in the section featuring images of women I was surprised that
some of the brown gypsy girls by Otto Mueller were included as
"degenerate" art (fig 30) I had always loved the color lithograph we
had at home These nudes were far less erotic than some of the pic-
tures in the other exhibition, I didn't understand why these were to
be rejected Later, I saw some of Mueller's lovely watercolors on the
lower floor, and I simply could not grasp what could be wrong with
these depictions I do recall, however, that the scorn I had heard
expressed in other sections of the exhibition was muted in front
of these works

There were other paintings and graphic works by artists whom
my father knew and whom I may have met at one time or another
(Although I don't remember any names, I do recall my mother telling
me that she frequently washed the pants and shirts of some of these
visitors who were too poor to have their laundry done ) My father
had known Oskar Kokoschka when he was recuperating from his
war wounds and later teaching in Dresden, and at that time he had
acquired a few of his lithographs, which might perhaps have been

Figure 32

Oskar Kokoschka, Dst Wanderer m Gewiiter (Traveler in a thunderstorm), plate 3 from
the portfolio 0 Ewtgkat — iu Donneruvrt Bacbkantate (O eternity — thou thundering
word, Bach cantatal, 1914, published 1916, lithograph, 43 x 298 cm (167. x ll'A in.),
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for German
Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 168c EnUrlete Kuml, Room Cl, NS inventory
nos 16274-79

from the beautiful and moving portfolio O Ewigktit — du Donnerwort,
Bacbkantate (O eternity — thou thundering word, Bach cantata, figs.
32—36), also in Entartete Kunst My father had told me the story of the
famous painting Die Windsbraut (The tempest, fig 37), which I saw
for the first time in this exhibition it represented Kokoschka with
Alma Mahler, based upon Dante's imagery of the doomed lovers
Paolo and Francesca I thought it a most beautiful depiction and
could not understand why it would be hung there to be exposed
to derision

Among the graphic works displayed on the ground floor of the
exhibition were prints from published portfolios — one of which my
father owned — from the famous Bauhaus school in Weimar Some
of the artists who taught at the Bauhaus had made frequent trips
to Dresden and sometimes visited our home All of them were
now declared to be "un-German" as well as "degenerate " One was
Gerhard Marcks, the sculptor, who I always thought was one of the
truly "classical" artists His plaster model of the archangel Gabriel
and a small bronze of a boy (fig 294), both exhibited in Etifiirlftr
Kunst, were accessible and lovely forms lacking the distortion that
was so bitterly criticized in other works on view Also in the exhi-
bition were lithographs of a highly abstract face by Alexej von
Jawlensky (figs 234-40) My father, who had once given a lecture
at the opening of an exhibition by the artist in Dresden, owned a
beautiful picture based on the same form (fig 38)

HH

*^

k V

Figure 33

Kokoschka Dm Wih fSbrt Jen Mann (The woman leads the man plate 4

392 x 313 cm (15% x 12% in.) M82288l68d

I igUre M

Kokoschka, D,is /rlilr Litfrr (The last camp,, plate o, 41 1 K <n_ , m 16
M82 288l68f

Figuns ^

Kokoschka, Furckl uni Hojfnung Drr Al.inn Iroslrl J,is U-ti/j 1 1 ear and hope The rt

comforts the wornanl, plate 7, 38 5 x 30 3 cm (IS'A x II'. in i, MK2 288I68K

I i^ure 3r»

Kokoschka, Munii unj Wnhhrn ,iu| Jon Slcrkwej 'Man and Wl

death plate 8 181 x 30 cm (15 x 1H4 In) M82 288if>8h

I. II I N 1 II 1 R

Kokoschka, Dn Wmisbnut (The tempest), 1914, oil on canvas, 181 x 220 cm
(71'/4 x 867* in , Kunstmuseum Basel Etidirlrif Kuttst, Room 4, NS inventory
no 16021

In sin ii i I was confronted on all sides by images with which
I had grown up which I admired and loved and which now were
labeled degenerate Artists who were spoken ol in my parents
home with respect and admiration were held up to be ridiculed and
mot Iced I was certainly aware thai many people didn't like modern
art, I had experienced this frequently when my schoolmates came
tin .1 visit and not only shook theii heads at tin- art hanging on out
walls but were sure that there was something wrong with me since I
seemed to like it ( ertain phrases were well known to me " 1 hat
man cant draw" 01 "Was tins artist colorblind?" But that kind ol

Criticism was also common when we discussed what we liked and
disliked in literature and it was always respected as ,i mattei ol per-
sonal preference None ol those schoolmates had ever used terms
like degeneralt or made references to writers as foreigners or lews
when we discussed certain poems or novels It seemed irrelevant
and we probably knew very little, it anything, about the writers'
personal background)

Here in Munich, however, the atmosphere was quite different
On my second visit to Entarlett Kuml, a man who by his appearance
and speech seemed educated argued that any deformation of natural
form poisoned the viewer and that abstract works were created pri-
marily bv dangerous foreigners and 01 lews Indeed, the visitors were
practically forced bv the installation and the accompanying texts to
despise the art and the artists And this reaction was praised as the
proper attitude of "true" Germans who should not be misled by those
who wanted to destroy "true" art The uninformed, many of them
probably seeing modern art for the first time, were made to believe
that they could indeed decide what was and what was not art, that
they were the ultimate arbiters because, after all, they knew what
they liked

Nevertheless, I remember that there was a strange difference
during my second visit to Enuirtrtc KiihsI The people were rather
quiet, as if attending a "real" exhibition There were only a few who
talked, rather quietly, and it appeared that some of them had seen
these works before or even liked them They would stand in front
of a work for longer periods of time than the other visitors, although
they hardly ever spoke, even to those who accompanied them I
remember hearing a whispered "Aren't they lovely''" from a woman
standing in front of some graphic works on the lower floor, she then
walked quickly away It was only at this point that I became fully
aware of how the design of the exhibition had affected me, that only
in some cases had I been able to disregard the "didactic" statements
How sad I was that works I cherished by artists I admired were
placed in the pillory Little did I realize that many if not most, of
the artists represented in Enfiirlrtr Kimsl would be forced to emigrate

would be prohibited from exhibiting oi selling then works or even

from creating art thus ending th< It i an 1 1 and in a way theii lives

I lovs well I remembi i my feelings while standing I" fori

works I had wanted to s.iv something in theii defense to

u hi i laughed and i ursed and di i ided them but I was too afraid to

do so I had become frightened watching the rea< tions ol the people
around me What would thev do to me — and would it create even
greatet trouble for my fathei if thev found oui that I didn't share-
then disgust1 A seventeen -ye.it old in Germany in 19H7 did not
challenge the opinions of his elders especially in the atmosphere
ol disdain hostility and latent anger created by the organizers
ol I Kiarlflt KhiisI ■

254 x 346 en

\ l.uiston

sk) Kopj I lead Oil on board,
private collection

i UEKTHEI

Figure 39

Adolf Ziegler (at the podium) opens the exhibition EntarkH Kuml at the Archaologisches Institut, Munich,

July 19, 1937, in this view of Room 3 four paintings by Otto Mueller can be seen in the background

MARIO ANURIAS VON LUTTICHAU

Entartete Kunst, Munich 1937

A Reconstruction

w

We now stand in an exhibition that contains only
,i |ra< lion 0/ what was bought with the hard-earned
savings of the German people ana exhibited as art
by a large Number of museums all over Germany

All around us you see the monstrous offspring of
insanity, impudence, ineptitude, and sheer degener-
acy What this exhibition offers inspires horror
and disdust in lis all '

ith these words, on luly 19, 1937, Adolf
Ziegler, the president of the Reichskammer
der bildenden Ktinste (Reich chamber of
visual arts), opened the Ausstellung "Entartete
Kunst" (fig 39), the exhibition of contempo-
rary art that was intended as a pendant and contrast — an "exorcism
of evil" — to the Crosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German art
exhibition), inaugurated by Adolf Hitler on the previous day at the
Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German art) in Munich 2

Since 1929 various local groups of the Kampfbund fur deutsche
Kultur (Combat league for German culture) had been staging cam-
paigns of denigration of modern art as a "crime against German
culture "' Enturfete Kirnst was the culmination of the first act of the
national, centrally directed "cleansing of the temple" Barely three
weeks earlier, on June 30, Ziegler had been given plenipotentiary
powers by the Reichsminister fur Volksaufklarung und Propaganda
(Reich minister for national enlightenment and propaganda), Joseph
Goebbels, to seize from German museums specializing in the con-
temporary avant-garde any works of "decadent" art he wanted tor
the Munich exhibition Ziegler was assisted by a committee made
up of individuals whose opposition to modernism had attracted
attention in the past few years, either within the Nazi party or
in the wider public arena Count Klaus von Baudissin, the Nazi-
appointed successor to Ernst Gosebruch, the suspended director of
the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Wolfgang Willnch, a painter and
writer on art, whose pamphlet Sauberuna des Kunsttempels (Cleansing
of the temple of arti had not only given the Nazis the idea for
an exhibition of "degenerate" art but had convincingly defined its
form,4 Reich commissioner for artistic design Hans Schweitzer, art
theoretician Robert Scholz, and Hamburg drawing teacher and

journalist Walter Hansen, another noted author of ideologit.il
polemics s

This group traveled around Germany for less than ten days"
In haste, and more or less at random, they selected and inventoried
works of art and shipped them straight to Munich The exact num-
ber of works seized in this campaign can no longer be established,
the total, however, was larger than could be displayed in the con-
fined space of the exhibition rooms in Munich

In the few days that remained before the opening on luly 19
the exhibition was installed with feverish speed in the arcaded
Hofgarten wing of the Residenz (at Galeriestrassc 4), in rooms that
housed the plaster-cast collection of the Archaologisches Institut
Many books, prints, drawings, photographs, and a few paintings
were crowded into glass cases or thumbtacked to the walls of two
barrel-vaulted rooms on the ground floor, one longer than the other,
but both only four meters (approximately thirteen feet) wide In
seven rooms on the upper floor movable screens were installed to
cover the windows, existing murals, and plaster casts, which had
been moved aside 7 Paintings were hung on cords — in some cases
without their frames — tightly packed, as high as they could go

Most works were identified by the artist's name, the title, the
museum from which it had been taken, and in many cases the year
of acquisition and the price paid, all in large lettering directly on
the wall beneath the paintings (fig 40) or on the plinths of those
sculptures that did not stand directly on the floor The labels were
somewhat inaccurate titles were incorrect or works occasionally
ascribed to the wrong artists The dates given were misleading they
did not refer to the creation of each work but to its acquisition by
the museum concerned Beneath or beside many of the works was a
red sticker bearing the words, Bez.iMl von dm Steuergroschen des arbei-
tenden deutschen Volkes (paid for by the taxes of the German working
people), an effective technique of populist, nationalist art criticism,
which served the purpose of promoting outrage at the apparent
waste of public money by institutions and their directors I No men-
tion was made of the fact that some of the art had been acquired by
the museums during the great inflation of the early 1920s, in these
cases the ludicrous amount of the purchase price was calculated to
increase the visitors' indignation *) Museum directors were often
cited by name or, as in the case of Paul F Schmidt, the former

Upper floor

Ground floor

:::::::;:;::::::::

i i

Lobby Gl G2
1 1

1 1 -

Figure 40

Walter Dexel, Loltomolii* (Locomotive), c 1921, oil on canvas, 70 x 82 cm (27'A x

32'/« in ), location unknown hnUutelt Kunst, Room 3, NS inventory no unrecorded

director of the Stadtmuseum in Dresden, condemned by the use of
out-of-context quotations from their own writings, drawn in every
case from Willnch s Sauberunt) des Kunsttempels 9

The organizers attempted to bring some iconographic order
into the overcrowded exhibition by grouping the works under a
series of tendentious signs, labels, and headings The propaganda
purpose was both to relieve the impression of disorder and chaos
and to emphasize the themes of degeneracy in art by means of an
ostensibly didactic organization Actually these texts were seldom
directly related to the works themselves

Insolent mockery of the Dunne under Centrist rule

Revelation oj the Jewish racial soul

The cultural Bolsheviks order oj battle

An insult to German womanhood

The ideal — cretin and whore

Deliberate sabotage oj national dejense

German farmers — ii Yiddish view

The Jewish longing {or the wilderness reveals itself — in Germany the negro
becomes the racial ideal oj a degenerate art

Madness becomes method

Crazy at any price

Nature as seen by sick minds

Even museum bigwigs called this "art of the German people"

Also painted directly on the wall in large letters were the
"verdicts" that had been passed by Hitler, Coebbels, and Nazi ideo-
logue Alfred Rosenberg on the outlawed art, the various artistic
movements, and their adherents With great precision these remarks
captured the essence of the vilification that covered the walls all
around For example "It is not the mission of art to wallow in filth
for filth's sake, to paint the human being only in a state of putre-
faction, to draw cretins as symbols of motherhood, or to present
deformed idiots as representatives of manly strength "'"

These texts were intended to emerge as the "voices of reason" in
the midst of the Nazi-contrived atmosphere of visual terrorism They
also provided the organizers with moral and political justification and
left the visitor in no possible doubt that the exhibition was necessary

The Nazis regarded modern art as krankhaft, "diseased," and this
term as applied to art hy Paul SchultzeNaumburg in his pseudo-
scientific pamphlet Kunsi und /v.innc Art and race) published as tar
back as 1928," was synonymous with "racially interior" Schultze-
Naumburgs warped comparisons of Expressionist portraits to photo-
graphs of sick and teebleminded individuals i tigs 3-41, lor example,
were carried into the political arena by the Nazis, along with the
equation ot "Bolshevistic" with "anarchistic," and the unitying link
in all this defamation, the word Jewish

Modernism, allegedly maintained by an irresponsible cultural
elite, had to be unmasked as a palpable fraud calculated to confuse
the German people The modernists' interest in the primitive art of
non-European cultures, spontaneous drawings ot children, and fan-
tasies of mental patients presented the Nazis with a wide and fertile
held tor antimodernist propaganda, for they rejected any departure
from academic tradition as a "lunatic monstrosity" and "sheer inep-
titude "i: "Art," said Hitler at the opening of the Grossc Deutsche
Kunstaussttllunt), "that cannot rely on the ioyous, heartfelt assent
of the broad and healthy mass of the people, but depends on tmv
cliques that are self-interested and blase by turns, is intolerable
It seeks to confuse the sound instinct ot the people instead of
gladly confirming u"

lit line describing the reconstructed exhibition in detail, which
will demonstrate not only the extraordinary quality nl art on view
but also the propaganda methods employed in its presentation
I must first briefly discuss the snuices that have made such a
reconstruction possible

First, there are a few documentary photographs published
repeatedly in the literature on the subject, second, alongside the
many questionable reviews that appeared in the daily press at the
time, there was one surprisingly informative article in which art
critic Bruno F. Werner, writing in the Deutsche Alltlememe Zeilumi ol
July 24, 1937, supplied a partial list of artists and works that served
as a rough guide to the sequence ot the installation Another indis-
pensable source is Paul Ortwin Rave's seminal book Kunstdiktatut nn
Dntten Reich I Art dictatorship in the Third Reich) of 1949, a firsthand
account of a state-led crusade — probably unique in recent history —
to eradicate an artistic movement In an appendix Rave gave an
almost complete alphabetical list of the artists reviled in Munich and
the works exhibited (although prints and drawings were listed with-
out titles only as a presumably estimated total I To these resources
must be added numerous hitherto-unpublished photographs
unpublished notes made at the exhibition by Carola Roth,14 and
letters written by Ernst Holzinger, a curator at the Bayerische
Staatsgemaldesammlungen, to the director of the Nationalgalerie in
Berlin, Eberhard Hanfstaengl ,s

In addition to the information provided by these sources, which
made possible a detailed picture of Etitartete Kiwst for the first time in
1987 on the fiftieth anniversary of the original exhibition,"' a read-
ing of the surviving portions of the Nazi inventories, in which a
number was assigned to each confiscated work, shows that the num-
bering coincided to some extent with the sequence of works in the
exhibition, a connection that was discovered by Andreas Hiineke "
A few weeks after the opening of the Munich exhibition Goebbels
ordered a second, much more extensive "cleansing of the museums,
lasting from August through November, which added to the artists
censured in the Munich exhibition a number of others, some of
them foreign The seized works were shipped to a storehouse on

Kopenicker Strasse in Berlin and given inventory numbers Those
responsible for the confiscations then traveled to Munich, probably
toward the end of November, to complete their inventory by listing
the works that had already been confiscated for the exhibition
They followed the order of the installation, observing a sequence
based on medium first came the paintings on the upper floor, then
those on the ground floor, for the most part proceeding clockwise
around each room, then the sculptures, and finally the prints, draw-
ings, books, and other material, which were shown on the ground
floor either in glass cases or on the walls

The last inventory number assigned in Berlin, 15392, was given
to a portfolio of etchings by Bernhard Kretzschmar that is nowhere
recorded as having been in the Munich exhibition The numbers
assigned in Munich begin with 15933, Max Beckmann's Kreuzabnabme
(Deposition) in Room I on the upper floor The sequence established
by the inventory gives us, virtually complete, the arrangement
and number of works on view in Munich just before closing day
(During the run of the exhibition — July 19 through November 30 —
particularly during the first few days, some rearrangement and
regrouping took place, and this will be discussed in detail later)
There remain, however, some numbers on the list that cannot be
assigned to any specific artist or work because of gaps in the source
material Additionally the number of the last work recorded at the
exhibition remains unknown According to both Roth and Holzinger,
the exhibition itinerary ended on the ground floor with a vitrine of
books including Gottfried Benn's Kunst und Machl (Art and power),
assigned number 16485 It can therefore be assumed that the inven-
tory ended between 16485 and 16500, or perhaps a few numbers
higher The next known number in sequence, 16529, was assigned
to a work not shown in Munich it appears on a sticker attached to
Franz Marc's Tierscbicksale (Fate of animals) ls The numbering of all
confiscated artworks ends with 16558, Otto Mueller's watercolor Akt
im Griinen (Nude in greenery)

These are the sources that have made possible the first reliably
documented reconstruction of the Munich exhibition Not only
the paintings mentioned by Werner or Rave but also the prints and
drawings that were previously lumped together and the published
material that was on view can now be accurately identified and,
thanks to the many photographs, at least of the upper floor, their
placement almost completely established

The Munich installation of Enf<irle!e Kunst is described here fol-
lowing the sequence of the inventory numbers — from 15933 through
approximately 16500 — that were assigned to the works of art shortly
before the exhibition closed on November 30 Photographs taken
on various days soon after the opening document not only changes
in the installation but also the presence of additional works on view
in the early days of the exhibition and subsequently removed from
display for one reason or another Eyewitness accounts have been
helpful in those areas that cannot be documented by photographic
or other sources

Note to (be reader

The tables on the following pages present information on each work
of art exactly as it appeared on the wall label in the Enliirlele KhmsI
exhibition, with the addition of the inventory number, which was
not seen by the visitor but which now serves as an aid to identifica-
tion and cross-referencing (works that have no recorded inventory
number are identified by the artist's name) No attempt has been
made to correct errors or inconsistencies in the labels, with two
exceptions in the event that a work was incorrectly attributed to
an artist or given the title of another work, the correct artist or title
is provided in brackets For complete information on each work,
please consult "The Works of Art in Eiibirtele Kunst, Munich 1937" on
pages 193-355 of this volume, using the artist's name and the work's
inventory number as guides

A question mark after an inventory number indicates that it is
conjectural and has been assigned by the author

Inventory numbers that appear in white indicate works that
have not been identified in any illustration of the exhibition

Label text in parentheses either was omitted in the exhibition
or cannot be confirmed, in such cases — especially with regard to
the ground-floor display — the information is taken from the Nazis'
inventory

The quotations and comments written on or attached to the
walls have been transcribed from photographs or reconstructed from
the recollections of eyewitnesses Aside from the texts by Hitler or
other party dignitaries, all the quotations were taken from Willrich's
Sauberung des Kunsttempeh Room headings have been provided in
German and English Letter codes have been assigned to all docu-
mented wall texts, a letter in white indicates that there is no visual
documentation

Rooms 1 through 7 in the EnUirtete Kunst exhibition were located
on the upper floor, Rooms Gl and G2 on the ground floor

Rooml

I In exhibition began on the upper floor, which was reached by a
narrow staircase As they climbed the --tans, visitors were greeted by
1 udwig <. iies's ovei life sized Kruzifixus i rucified C hnst, tigs 28, 41)
dominating the upper landing against a wall hung with red cloth
Beneath the sculpture, which had been so theatrically endowed
with a quality ol menace was a cloth-covered plinth onto which
was i.u ked a photograph ol the interior ol Liibeck Cathedral
. ti^j 42) showing the work in place alter its installation in 1921
Alter public protests fearing that the sculpture might be damaged,
the artist subsequently placed it on loan to the museum in Liibeck "
In Room I ot the exhibition were displayed paintings ol religious
subjects The derisive comment, "Insolent mockery ol the Divine
under Centrist rule, inscribed on the wall beside Emil Noldes
monumental Lrl'rn Cbristi i Lite ol Christ, rigs 321-29), was intended
as a simultaneous indictment ot the art and the church

Room 1
Works o! art

Arnsl liflr

Owner, dale acquired, acquisition price or inturmatx

15933

liet kmann, KrruZiibmibmr

Fii/mr in

15934

Nulde, ( brislw u die Sundmn
Nationalgalene lierlin, 1929. M 25,000

huwr II!

15935

Nolde, Oir Mil l Komgr
Landesmus Hannover

hjurt 134

15936

licckmann, CbrithB u die Fhtbrtihttm
Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1919, M 8,000

Future 163

Rauh, HI Frmziskui
Stadt Gal Munchcn

15938

SchmidtRottluff, PbaritUtt
Stadt Mus Dresden, RM J.OOO

Figurt 372

15939

Rohlfs, Bus

Stadt Mus Hagcn

Figure 363

15940

Luthy Madonna

Stadt Galerie Dresden, 1925, RM 6,000

15941

Nolde, Kreuzigung
Folkwang Mus Essen

Figum 321-29

Heckrott, MtiimlroMi^in

Stadt Gal Dresden, 1920, RM 2,000

15943

Thalheimer Vrnucbung da M Antomui
Stadt Gal Miinchen

15944

Nolde, AbcndmiiM

Halle Moritzburg, 1913, RM 5,000

Figure 108

15945

Nolde, Tod dtr Mitrut aus Agyptm
Folkwangmus Essen

Fl^urf 3 37

15946

Nolde, Cbristus u die Kinder

Kunsthalle Hamburg, 1918, RM 15,000

Fl^urf 336

15947

Nolde, Dir klugm u«d d\t loncfctoi luitgfraum
Folkwang Mus Essen

16232?

Prof Gies, Cbristus
Dom zu Liibeck

FtHum 28. 4 1

?

Prof Cesar Klein, iDrr new Vogtl/Kopf)

?

Emil Nolde, Adam und Eva

?

Karl Schmidt -Rottluff, Cfemlus

Figure 368

Figure 41

Ludwig Gies, Kmzi/ixus (Crucified Christ), detail, c 1921, wood, dimensions

unknown, probably destroyed Enlnrlrlf Kunsl, Room I. NS inventory no 16232?

LUTTICHAU

Rooml

A Untrr da Hemchaft da Zentrums jrahrr Vtrhohnung drs Cotterkbens

below i S942 Insolent mockery of the Divine under Centrist rule

B Marvel'

\ej\ of 16232 The concentrated simplification of all the motifs is not meant as a

halting pnmitivism but is a deliberate effort to convey aesthetic
stimuli The spiritual values too are so profound and individual
that they would in themselves make the work one of the richest
documents of modern religious experience It would be hard to
find a symbol that would convey to posterity with greater power
and depth the significance of the Great War and its fallen heroes

c

btlow (62*2

"Christ" by I'rol Gies, Berlin

This horror hung as a war memorial in the cathedral of Lubeck

Figure 42

This photograph of Ctes's Kruztjixus in Lubeck

Cathedral lc 1921/22) was displayed under the

sculpture in Entarttte Kunst

L U T T I ( II A U

Room 2

••— -— f—~~

JPfrU

^™**i

15950
B

15951

C

15953?

.Ut Khsffer m<S oil timsffcr Anrottaf sc'm "
but return**'
.Afif nnnfclffiratto-'W)

.MS" hmmr <fer jftirarkr /in/fv hiVr
kxiiqask tati i Dunti S/iwindel ."

iter dbu|jB» tormi/ma** of ein tetin,*r (tar
M ition nifif d«? Wi/t zu worn hit."

Or £^mh tolsW, faHMWu.f ,> P

. Waiter Dmse.tomt at Sti ,tejum*roi

ilttoi i/uirti rfm Makmis'

fn/m ftsctrtor « imt &a/i]»: iw ^mwju- wov

Sections oi the south wall

to hit tfw «$ta St «*r. ** 9**"*

fiBMBf.MWi (W«n <«'J Mm p n Wuirfr.ftrti'iicir
liH.iq AlfrflWllimwi ICirmJiKnniiflUOTrfIS
imMwl W>! *r <"*" W «* "** «wh<i*i-
rcslro iKiwn.Arm nrrfhfm nuf diplitaif
Ifr mrtwn tint mm UtrWn.imin wir s«? alien
to, m anmr *is> ropflWrt ind Writ rim rws.*f
m iiimuf mjpiflVm ml. Wir twin™ Wifrn wir.
* attpflrafm fotorspidcr. Wir tin ».<ils cr HUT
Ktfr.DidilB'rtfcr wwtwB mim.abtr wr 5wl mil
™i nM ob nS HW/mf Mi . Hfr set/cn ruis ft* ■
to' <mcn rivwn SrfnwxM ii die K# imt written
Smte.rf" um rt» ffirtW ntadtotoi, pniwmie i Vsl
wire pkiisir. Wiiv/rnortw.fflimmnrrK'r smrl wir mi*
msmr liwNwir." nio

Mnniftst *r MsrtonsHstm'

The much smaller Room 2 contained only works by Jewish artists,
including Jankel Adler, Marc Chagall, and Lasar Segall These were
lumped, regardless of subject, under the heading, "Revelation of the
Jewish racial soul " The end walls of the tiny room carried lengthy
quotations from Hitler and Rosenberg that proclaimed in no uncer-
tain terms the resolve of the Fuhrer and the man who had been
his leading "cultural warrior" since the birth of the "movement" to
show no mercy to the "incompetents and charlatans," the "lews and
Marxists" whose works were collected here On the south wall,
opposite the paintings, was an array of comments, quotations, lists
of names, and photographs (covered with a curtain on July 24,
according to Holzinger), including a list — headed, "The cultural
Bolsheviks' order of battle" — of well-known personalities, artists,
and architects, each name followed by an explanatory term such
as Jude (Jew), Rittgarcbitekt (Ring architect),20 or Baubauslehrer
(Bauhaus teacher) 3I The words of art historian Edwin Redslob,
who was Reichskunstwart (Reich commissioner of art) before
1933, George Grosz, Kurt Eisner, and the Manifest der bohchewistischm
Aktion (Manifesto of Bolshevik action) by A Udo were quoted
with hostile intent to expose the thinking of the alleged adver-
saries and corrupters of German culture In addition, photographs —
as yet untraced — of Rudolf Belling, Max Pechstein, and Moritz
Melzer were pinned to the wall.

Room 2
Works ol i

Owner date acquired, acquisition price or information

15948

Katz, BiUtiis

Kunsth Karlsruhe, 192 I, donation

Fl^urr 252

15949

Chagall, Dor/scotf
Folkwangmus Essen

Figurt m

15950

Wollheim, fioliscbf LanJscbafl
St Kunstlg Dusseldorf, 1932

15951

Mcidner Stlbttbildms

Mus Brcslau. 1929, donation

Fi^urr 296

15952

Adler, KattatzUcbta

Stadt Kunstsammlung Dusseldorf, 1926

, M 800

Fi^urr 156

15953'

Adler, Madcbm

Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1927, M 800

Figurr 157

L Segall, Die cipgni VKmoW)

(Stadt Cal Dresden

Ftgurt 391

15955

Adler, MusiJttmta

Stadt Kunstsammlg Dusseldorf. 1924,

M 1,500

15956

Chagall, RafcUrr

Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1923, M 4,500

Figurt 1 1 8

15957

Chagall, Wmttr
Stadelsch K Inst Frank!

Fi^urr in

15958

L Segall, Purimftsl

Folkwang Mus Essen, 1928, M 2,000

15959

Feibusch, Scbwtbmd,

Stadelsches Kunstinst Frankfurt a/M, 1932

15960

L Segall, Lirlioidr
Folkwang Mus Essen

Fitfurr 390

Wall taxi

In the held of culture, as elsewhere, the National Socialist move-
ment and government must not permit incompetents and char-
latans suddenly to change sides and enlist under the banner of the
new state as if nothing had happened One thing ts certain
under no circumstances will we allow the representatives of the
decadence that lies behind us suddenly to emerge as the standard-
bearers ol the future

[From a speech by Adolf Hitler at the session on culture at a
NSDAP rally, Nuremberg, September 2, 1933]

continued

LUTTICH,

Room 3

B

abovt 15951

Jewish, all too Jewish

With a sense of humor and a practiced talent for sycophancy,

even fascist rule can be borne quite well 1 ask which of you is

unshakably determined that his entire lite should be marked by

character, forthnghtness, manly pride, and adherence to

principle?

Ludwig Meidner (Das Ktmslblatt, 1929)

Paul Westheim, Editor

Offoibanmg der jWiscbfii Rassemee\e
(595 J Revelation of the Jewish racial soul

Artists who for fourteen years were duped by Jews and Marxists
and accepted laurels from their hands are now being extolled
as our revolutionaries by certain individuals lacking in instinct
and by specific politically motivated backers It is high time we
stopped being too tolerant

[Alfred Rosenberg, 1934]

Soiilli wall Aufmrscbplan der Kukurbohcbmmtm

The cultural Bolsheviks' order of battle

E The artist as an artist must be an anarchist

Kurt Eisner (lew!
Aural ,im ,illr Kuiisllcr, 1919

How does the artist rise in the bourgeoisie1 By cheating
Crosz, George in Slurm

The average German is a cretin, and it is not for him to show the
nation the way

Dr Edwin Redslob, retired Reich Curator

With the slogan 'Art is Sh'*" Dada began its destruction
Erwin Piscator in his book Din poltttsche Theater

F What this horrendous age needs more than anything else is

perfect impudence Life is smothered under layers of dignity
pedantry achievement, hard work, and talent-mongering We
want no more than to be magnificently impudent' We no longer
even want to call ourselves Futurists — we don't give a damn for
the future

We take no responsibility whatsoever for our work, if we do
anything at all, and we laugh at anyone who wants to make us
responsible We can bluff like the most hardened poker players
We act as if we were painters, poets, or whatever, but what we are
is simply and ecstatically impudent In our impudence we take the
world for a ride and train snobs to lick our boots, para que cVst
Molrr plaisir We raise the wind, we raise the storm with our
impudence

Udo

Manifest der bohcbwislisdm Aklion

[DitAkliem 1915]

In the third room, which was interrupted halfway along the south
wall by a wide projecting partition (presumably to conceal a plaster
cast of the Nike of Samotbrace that stood behind the screen, fig 43),
statements in outsized letters running along the tops of the tempo-
rary walls imposed some semblance of iconographic or thematic
order Nudes by Karl Hofer, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klein-
schmidt, and Otto Mueller were headed, "An insult to German
womanhood" and "The ideal — cretin and whore " More slogans
("Deliberate sabotage of national defense" and "An insult to the Ger-
man heroes of the Great War") introduced Kirchner's Selbstportral ah
Sotdat (Self-portrait as a soldier, fig 264) — the title of which the
organizers altered for effect to the more provocative SoUal mil Dirne
(Soldier with whore) — and Otto Dix's indictments of the horrors of
war, Kriegskriippel (War cripples) and Der Scbiitzengraben (The trench).
In a deliberate fabrication, works by Kirchner, Pechstein, and Karl
Schmidt-Rottluff were presented under the heading, "German
farmers — a Yiddish view" Another group of works by Mueller,
Nolde, and Pechstein was dismissed, somewhat enigmatically with
the words, "The Jewish longing for the wilderness reveals itself — in
Germany the negro becomes the racial ideal of a degenerate art "
Further comments in the same vein, especially the precepts of Hitler
and Goebbels, which occupied four sections of the wall, exemplified
the logic of the Nazis' antimodernist campaign.

In his "combat" against modernist art Hitler paid particular
attention to the Dadaists and their circle At the 1934 Nuremberg
party rally he had thundered "All the artistic and cultural blather of
Cubists, Futurists, Dadaists, and the like is neither sound in racial
terms nor tolerable in national terms" This passage from his speech
was displayed directly opposite the "Dada wall," which was arranged
with considerable care A statement by Grosz, "Take Dada seriously1
It's worth it," was blazoned across the wall with deliberate irony
Below, details from compositions by Wassily Kandinsky — who had
been quite erroneously classified as a Dadaist — were enlarged and
painted on the wall to form a self-contained ensemble in conjunction
with a Merzbild (Merz picture) and Ringbild (Ring picture) by Kurt
Schwitters, Paul Klee's Sumpflegende (Swamp legend, fig 273), two
issues of the periodical Der Dada (figs 224-25), and an unidentified
marble figure by Rudolf Haizmann The exhibition organizers pre-
sumably intended to demonstrate that they themselves or anyone at
all could produce Dada art — or compositions by Kandinsky for that
matter — thus demonstrating the worthlessness of such works A pho-
tograph of Hitler standing before the Dada wall at a preview of the
exhibition, in the company of the organizers Ziegler, Willrich,
Hansen, Heinrich Hoffmann, and others, reveals that the works by
Schwitters, Kandinsky and Klee were originally hung crookedly on
the wall (fig 44), later photographs of the final installation suggest
that someone must have vetoed this as too obvious

During the run of the exhibition the installation in Room 3
underwent a number of changes Between Kirchner's Celbe Tanzerin
(Yellow dancer) and Max Ernst's Erschaffmg der Eva (Creation of Eve),

Figure 43

A view ol Room 3 in Eni.irtrlr Kunsl, Mun

south wall, including the- I Xid.i wall

:h, 1937, showing the projection along the

Figure 44

Adolf Hitler, visiting EnlartnV Kunsl on July 16, 1937, stops at the Dada wall, he is
accompanied by commission members Hoffmann, Willnch, Hansen, and Zicgler
Paintings by Kandinsky Klee, and Schwitters have been hung deliberately askew

also called Belle lardimere, on the west wall there originally stood a
bronze group by Ernst Barlach, Cbristus uiul Johannes I Christ and
John, hg 46) Sometime on or after the morning of luly 24 this ssas
replaced by another sculpture, which was identified by Holzinger,
writing to Hanfstaengl on luly 25, as Der Scbauspitltt (The actor,
fig 45), a wood carving dating from 1928-29 by Theo Briin, proba-
bly from the Stadtmuseum Hagen, previously on view in Room 7
There is no information as to what happened to the Barlach bronze
in the interim, but the inventory number assigned to it — 16245 —
indicates that it was back on view by the end of the exhibition when
the list was compiled No inventory number, on the other hand, can
be assigned with certainty to the work by Briin, at some point,
therefore, the Briin was probably removed and Barlach s group put
back in its original place until the exhibition closed

Also removed from the exhibition before the inventory was
compiled were two sculptures by Belling, DreMand (Triad, Hg 178)
and Kotf (Head, fig 179), their numbers — 15029 and 15047, respec-
tively— were in the sequence of those previously assigned in Berlin
The organizers had initially failed to notice that another bronze by
Belling, Uer Boxer Scbmelmd (The boxer Schmeling), was actually on
view across the street at the drone Deutsche Kunslaussttlluni] , which
Hitler had promoted as the forum of the "new" German art n
Kirchner's wood carving Badcndc (Bather), which had originally been
placed next to Ernst's Belle Jardiniere, was moved to fill the gap

Two errors require comment the work entitled Josej und
Potiphar (Joseph and Potiphar) and ascribed to Christoph Voll, 16233,
is actually Adam und Eva (Adam and Eve) by Eugen Hoffmann^ and a
Lyonel Feininger, 15980, bears the wrong title it is not Tellow. seized
from Berlin (and on view in Room 5 as number 16084), but a view of
Hopfgarten, confiscated from Leipzig (fig 29

LUTTIi H A II

Room 3

For other views of Room 3 see cover, pages 4 and 398, and figures 16, 23, and 66

«n

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i 1 — i 1 — r

16010

Schmrdl-Rottlufl. Somim am Mttr
Essen Folkwang Museum

16011

Nolde. Rusit

Stadt Museum Erfurt

f*"""°

16012

Nolde. MMnnhri

Hannover Landesmus, 1924, RM 2,000

Fismiii

16013

Kirchner. Stnumani

Dresden Stadt Cal , 1926, RM 9,000

16014

Otto Mullet, Ml, rrt Llt.Jic(t»/l
Halle, 1924, J.000

Fifttlii

16015

Fellxmullet Mtiiit mil KmJ
Ruhmeshalle Barmen. 1922, 7,000

16016

Kirchner. Du G»lliii Jei Hustlers
Stadt Calcrie Franklurr. 1919. 5,000

*""

16017

Heckel, fWrtrJr
Folkwang Mus Essen

16018

K Holer ScMn/r*.! Afascdm

Barmen Ruhmeshalle, 1922, RM 6,000

Ftawrrn.

16019

Kokoschka. /iWm

Stadt Mus Dresden, 1920, RM 10,000

FUm»,

16020

Holer, Drr mmdmtdr Gr/nmfmt
Staatl Slg Stuttgart

16021

Kokoschka. Die WmUrM
Hamburg Kunsthalle, 1924, 13,500

Fi,»r, ,r

16022

Kokoschka, AusuMnaVrrr

Halle Mor.Kburg, 1926, RM 13,500

F«.r...

16023

Christ Rohlls, BtaUeZ

Halle Montzburg, 1934. donation

16024

Kirchner. Dtr fCraitk

Hannover Landesmus, 1930. RM 2,400

F*.»>

16025

Kirchner 8iUmi Jo Malrrt SrWmmrr
Essen Folkwang Museum

Ferris.

16026

Beckmann. SiIMiUiiii

Stuttgart Kunstsammlg, M 3,000

'"""•"

1602?

Heckel, Flimnch hm,\„
Stadtisches Kunstmstitut Frankfurt

16028

Kirchner. Kartosfi.tUrr Kmt,
Halle Mohtzbg, 1924, RM 3,500

F,«vr,»0

16029

Pechste.n M.rae. a. Haff

Hamburg Kunsthalle, 1923, donation

16030

K Holer. T.icrijnelliclx/r

Barmen Ruhmeshalle, 1924, RM 2,700

16031

Beckmann, Drr SlraiiJ
Stadt Caleric Frankfurt

16012

Karl Holer. ImiiUmii

Museum Breslau, Iy32, donation

16033
16034

16036
16037

16044
16045?
16046

16047

K Hofcr. Zwa FmnJt
Siadclsches Kunstimtm
1928. M 3,500

K.rchnerD.tMr.
Berlin Naiionalga
1928, M 5.000

I hi worl in Room 4 were not arranged bv theme or artist, nor
did the walls hear sneering slogan',, comments, or quotations

i hi I uhrers speeches on contemporary art Here the

limited themselves foi the must part to indicating

artisl title museum, and purchase price To ludge from the

ph graphs ol individual sections of the walls (figs 51-53),

tin hanging was — it such words are nut out ut place in this
context — calmer and less emotive The works shown here were
mostly by the artists ol Die Bruckc The bridge — Erich Hcckcl,
fr ... I .... r Mold. Pechstein and Schmidt-Rottluff— with the
addition ol ( hristian Rohlfs The room also contained two other
!.:.;■ I;. >. I riijnii -, I hi MnniJ > 1 he beach i and Oskar
I okosi M.< ■ /!» Wmdsbrml iThe tempest, tig 17)

Room 5

i 1 — r

J] I L

For another view of Room 5 see figure

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um

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Hcally li is noteworthy ihai Kandimky mi

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lightest fegwd far »n a ItoftonoU

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rilmkyswen followed b) wen tub In

front <rf this

irtol the I .,

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16110 V^'lt'i' ?n,u™^Z l»» -^-nl ^^ '"

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Room 6

i r

r^i^i

BoiiS

tit

14145 15051 16156

16150 16151 16152 16153 16

26 [later 16155. 16156, 16157]
Lehmbcuck Mater 162481

Rooms 6 and 7

Rooms G and 7

salei

ir "removed frt
tingly commeri
Berlin 1935 i
fter the Nazi se

Tin. contents and installation of the two remaining rooms on the
upper floor were altered shortly alter the opening of the exhibi-
tion and therefore cannot be established in detail

The works in Room 6 bore no titles Only in a few cases
was the visitor provided with any information, whole sequences
of works were left unlabeled Where the former collections were
named, the emphasis was on the tacts of seizure by Ziegler and
ed from display Staatsgalene, Munich,
n display Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 1936 "
-> such as "acquired by exchange, National-
"acquired Cologne 1934" revealed that
zure of power in 1933, and in defiance of
al policies proclaimed at a succession of party meetings,
s had persevered in acquiring contemporary art
The entire south wall of Room 6 was reserved for works
by Lovis Corinth, under an inscription reading, "Decadence
exploited for literary and commercial purposes" According to
Holzmger, the artist's name was originally written alongside the
paintings but was erased after the opening or, in one case, as
can be seen from a photograph, obliterated by the red sticker
proclaiming that it was "paid for by the taxes of the German
working people"

Beneath Corinth's Walchensee landscapes was a nar-
row glass case, installed on July 23, according to Holzmger,
Containing photographs of works by Corinth and Wilhelm
Lehmbruck Lehmbruck's Grossr Kmende (Large kneeling woman;
fig 2401, lent by his widow to the Stadtische Calene, Munich,
was placed in this room only on July 22 and was removed again
one week later (or reasons that remain unclear The work had
been badly damaged in transit "The shards lie on the plinth"
1 lolzinger) The photograph beneath the Grosse Kmende was
ol l.ehmhruck's Silznidfr Junglmg (Seated youth, fig 289), this
sculpture, which had been seized in Mannheim on July 8, was
shipped to Munich on July 29 and set up in the space left vacant
by the removal of the Crosir Kmende *

On the west wall was a celebrated work, Twm der blaurn
Pjerde (Tower of blue horses) by Marc, with the note, "removed
frum display Kronprmzenpalais. Berlin, 1936" Holzinger's tet-
ters to I lanlsMengl and the notes made by Rave after his visit to
the exhibition on July 21 or 22!« describe the changes that cen-
tered on this work during the first few days of the exhibition
I he painting was removed after the Deutschcr Offizier*,bund
(German officers' federation) sent a note of protest to the
R) i. hskammer der bildenden Kunste to say that Marc, an officer
who had served the Reich and the fatherland with distinction
m the <. ,reat War, who had won the Iron Cross, First Class, and
who had (alien at the siege of Verdun, could not be associated
with the infamy of such an exhibition " (Four other works by
Marc, winch were in Room 7 at the opening and were subse-
quently moved to Room 6, remained on view, as the inventory

oadis nouio ooiosciio luooao

ZE

Tni

is given the
ventory was started
no longer in the exl
) Berlin is impossibli

numbers show) Tnrni der hlauen Pjtrdt was given the number 14126,
which indicates that by the time the i
Munich with the number 15933, it wa
although exactly when it was moved

The vacant wall was filled with two additions to the exhibition,
paintings by Corinth and Nolde Hofer's Stdleboi mil Gmun (Still life
with vegetables), which had previously been hung on the east wall
of the same room, was also moved A triptych by Werner Scholz
and a wood carving by Voll along the same stretch of wall were also
pulled out of the exhibition before it closed, to judge by their low
inventory numbers (14140 and 15051, respectively)

Above the door leading into Room 7 were the words, "They
had four years' time" (fig 55), a reference to the remark with which
Hitler concluded his declaration on taking power on February 1,
1933 "Now, people of Germany give us just four years, and then
judge us" In this room were paintings by academy professors whose
work had incurred the Nazis' displeasure and who had consequently
lost their posts, in some cases as early as 1933 Unfortunately only
one photograph of Room 7 has so far been found, so that no more
than a tentative reconstruction is possible Surmounted by the
words, "These are the masters who have been teaching German
youth," were paintings by among others, Hans Purrmann, still
the honorary director of Villa Romana in Florence, Karl Caspar,

dismissed in 1937 as a professor at the Munich Akademie. his
wife, Maria Caspar- Filser, Paul Bindel, Werner Heuser, Heinrich
Nauen, and Edwin Scharff, all of the Diisseldorf Akademie. Fritz
Burger-Muhlfeld, Hannover Akademie, and Georg Schnmpf,
Berlin Akademie The same room also contained works by Paula
Modersohn- Becker and Edvard Munch -n It appears that paintings by
August Macke were initially shown in Room 7, they were removed
after another protest note from the officers J7 Macke, also a holder of
the Iron Cross, First Class, had been killed in battle in Champagne
in September of 1914

According to Rave, a number of labels and comments were
whitewashed over, although they remained visible and legible He
m the resulting muddle
TJiese labels clearly sboic that the exhibition onlamzers art not concerned
with art atom but with making war on tbt public art administration Tlicy
bear a particularly endoit .(rWi/i .i.j.jmsl the Rdchicrzithun&mimstfnum
(Racb ministry of education ) Tl)e numerous chanties made in the
inscriptions betray a degree of uncertainty on the part oj the exhibition

Room 7

From the accounts ol Rave and I lolzinger, which art- not entirely
consistent, It is possible to reconstruct the confused situation in
Rooms <> and 7 immediately aftei the opening ol Etttartitt Kunsl on
Monday luly 19 Room 7 was closed on Monday opened on Fuesday
evening around <>is closed on Wednesday Rooms 6 and 7 were
both inaccessible <>n I hursday > From the early morning onward,
according to Rave from the afternoon onward, according to
I lolzinger) but were reopened the next day

The works m the two rooms were rehung during the Inly 22-23
closure but it Is unclear which paintings hung opposite the ( orinths
in Room 6 before the change We know from both Rave and
Holzinger that Kokoschka's DolomHtnutmschajl Trc Lroa (Landscape in
the Dolomites, Tre (."rod, tig 2H3) and lour small paintings by Marc
were in Room 7 before being moved to Room 6 during the closure
We may speculate that works by Nolde, Max Peitfer Watcnphul,
Rohlts and Scholz among others, were originally displayed on the
walls of Room 6 in a less cramped arrangement than appears in the
photographs taken alter the reorganization This might also help to
explain the curious arrows painted on the walls that point to the pic-
ture titles in Room 6 once the organizers had crammed more works
into the room, the hanging no longer coincided with the labeling,
and the arrows helped the visitors to get their bearings

Holzinger gives a full list of the paintings in Room 6 on July 23
that coincides exactly with the inventory drawn up at the end of the
exhibition (November 30) Thus, from July 23 at the latest, apart
from the removal of Turin dcr blauen P/cr.ff and the replacement of one
Lehmbruck sculpture with another, the installation of Room 6 was
in its final form

During the run of the exhibition, from the second week
onward, if not before, Room 7 remained closed to the public, and
access to it was granted only to journalists and holders of special
permits

Another interesting remark by Rave indicates that "on July 21
numerous works that had not been included were packed into a fur-
niture van and driven away"3" This would indicate that the content
of the exhibition — including the ground-rloor section opened to the
public only on July 22 — had already been determined The works
removed from Rooms 6 and 7, including the Marc painting and the
works by the academy professors, all have low, fairly adjacent inven
tory numbers, which suggests that they were inventoried in Berlin
alter being sent there in one consignment

Room 7 At mm Iilli

Works olarl

i quired at quitition prk

I Naucn, Ahmlrsmnnm i

-utoiMumoi

'Naucn, dVUm'i FUcbtbtm)
(Diiss !

Kindcl Marlinsjimjt)
(Diisseldorf)

1 leuser, T,iuli
(Diisseldori

i Naucn, Kuhvrult
1 ssen

(Burger-Miihlreld, Absirakk Kempt Fmw

(Hannt.\< i

[Scharff, rjmfc an in Trunk)
(Diisseldori

Purrmann. BodcHSedand

Munchen)

14260

(Caspar, Dnri Fr.iu™ an I
Munchen]

14261

(Caspar, AujmlchitfiJ Oilerv Fijurr l»2
1 Munchen

i Caspar ./,ia>/' rhtgl mil im Etiiicln
(Munchen)

iSchartl, ftjiWr Manner)
• 1 XisseldoH i

'Caspar-Filser, WinltrUndxbafl
(Munchen]

(Burger-Muhlfeld Abslraiu Kompmttm* i

i Naucn Madonna
i Barmen )

?

Purrmann, E^immi

(Bremen

Walltoxt

A

blow Purrmwn
tini H260-61

Solctir mmffl utitnTn.hl(tm Fis Fmlr jVwIhIv (wijm.F

These are (he masters who have been leaching German youthl

i li I r i i it \ ii

Ground floor

The second section of the exhibition, on the ground floor, comprised
a number of oil paintings but mainly watercolors, prints, drawings,
photographs, and books and is far more difficult to reconstruct

On Thursday, July 22, three days after the rest of the exhibition
had been inaugurated, the ground-floor rooms were opened to the
public The delay was no doubt caused by sheer lack of time the
organizers had had from June 30, the day when authorization came
from Goebbels, until July 19 to assemble the show On this lower
floor the impact of the presentation was even stronger than on the
floor above The walls were densely and chaotically covered with
paintings, prints, drawings, and written comments, unframed works
on paper, photographs, and books were crammed into the glass cases
that stood against the longer sides of the rooms It looked as if a
hasty effort had been made to pack into this part of the exhibition
as many as possible of the remaining works that had been shipped
to Munich

From a small lobby — presumably at the foot of the narrow
stairway to the upper floor — the exhibition extended through
two vaulted rooms Since the upper floor was supported on the
Hofgarten side by an arcade, the ground-floor rooms were that
much narrower The organizers made use of the existing glass-
topped vitrmes, which were about forty inches deep, leaving only
a narrow passage, and there were signs instructing the public to
keep to the right as they walked through Both rooms were lit by
windows on the south side

Unlike the upper floor, the installation on the ground floor
showed no attempt at iconographic classification With few excep-
tions the works were not individually identified Here and there the
visitor would come across a label covering a group of works by a
single artist or a large number of items from a single museum
Sometimes details of provenance had been carelessly chalked onto
the frames, as with the works from Dresden on the west wall of
the first room, for other works the plates traditionally attached to the
frames by museums provided the name of the artist and the title
of the work

Although far more than half of the objects on display in EnUirkte
Kunst were crammed into these two catacomblike chambers, there
exists neither a press account of this lower section nor any official
documentation or listing of the works The inventory numbers and
the notes made by Roth and Holzinger — which convey the general
muddle and the visual chaos — are the only sources that afford a
chance of reconstructing any of the installation As on the upper
floor, the paintings were listed first on the inventory, they were hung
primarily on the end walls and between the windows Then followed
the framed prints and drawings, and finally the unframed works on
paper and the books

A comparison of the numbering system with the surviving
photographs suggests that the works in the cases and the prints and
drawings on the walls were inventoried in a sequence that began

with the vitrines on the north wall of Room Gl (16252-79), pro-
ceeded to the vitrines on the north wall of Room G2 (16280-360),
then, working back along the south wall of Room G2 to the south
wall of Room Gl, the numbering ran in all probability from 16261
through 16528, the last number that could have been assigned in the
exhibition But until all the inventory numbers can be traced and
assigned to individual works no definitive reconstruction of this part
of the exhibition is possible

Ground floor Lobby

The lobby contained two works, Scbmied von Hageti (Blacksmith of
Hagen), a figure in wood by Kirchner, and Der neue Mensch (The
new man, fig 56), a plaster sculpture by Otto Freundlich, which
was later featured on the cover of the Ausstellungsjiihrer Entarttte
"Kunst," the guide published to accompany the exhibition on tour
after it left Munich (fig 1) 30 No inventory number can be traced
for Der neue Mensch, which suggests that it was withdrawn from the
exhibition early together with other sculptures including the
Kirchner (which has a low inventory number)

Lobby Artist, lillr

Works of art Owner, date acquired, acquisition price or information

(Kirchner, Scferi
(Essen)

i H.ym)

Otto Freundlich, Kotf
(Hamburg)

"Head" of Olio Framilich

The face of the "new man" of the "new world community" who is
heralded by the "new art " The anarchist-Bolshevik Freundlich
writes "Today we stand outside all history, we are ripe for the
essence of our world destiny"

Room Gl

Figure 56

Otto Freundlich, Dtr ncut Mtttsch (The new i

139 cm (54 'A in ), location unknown

an), detail, 1912, plaster cast, height

The hrst of the two downstairs rooms was about hall as long as the
second On the west wall. Inside and above the dooi hung a group

of paintings seized from the Stadtmuseum in Dresden, mainly
painted by local artists, diese had figured in the Sclirrttnisfcommfr

(chamber of horrors) exhibition that opened in Dresden in 1933 and

Subsequently toured Germany31 More paintings were displayed
along the north wall above the glass cases including an impressive
sequence of five paintings by Oskar Schlemmer On the end wall
were two paintings by Grosz and two by Dix On the three piers
between the windows on the south side were more paintings, includ
ing three by Heinrich C ampendonk

In the glass case on the north wall were, among other works,
three portfolios of prints Kandinsky's Kleine Wellat (Small worlds*
figs 249-51), a portfolio of twelve woodcuts by Feininger hgs 20K-
9), and Kokoschka's Bacbkantatt (Bach cantata, figs 32-36) The
number of works from each portfolio actually on view can be estab-
lished only in the case of Kokoschka Presumably a selection was
made of prints by Kandinsky and leininger, but each portfolio was
assigned only a single number The vitnnes on the south wall con-
tained some other portfolios — Dix's Der Kneg (War, figs 191-97) and
Kandinsky's Klattgt (Sounds, fig 247) — but mainly books from the
lunge Kunst (Young art) series founded by Ceorg Biermann and pub-
lished in Leipzig, these copies were seized from the library of the
Schlesisches Museum in Breslau Much space was also devoted to
the books of drawings by Klee and Barlach published by Reinhard
Piper Verlag, Munich, which were exhibited with the organizers'
comments, some of which were recorded by Holzinger

16252 North wall vilrmt 16279

South null I'llrinr

lbbJo

"1

| 16201 |

16200

Fl6199 1

16198

This diagram indicate rftt location of imxtitontJ nvrJu for which thrrr is imnfojiwlf

jyhotoiiTitphu documentation

L U T T I ( H A U

Room Gl

16164

16165

A

16166

16167

16168

16170

16169

16171
16172

16175 16176 16177 16178
16179 16182

Sections of the North wall

Room Gl
Works oi art

Artist, litlr

Owner, date acquired, acquisition price o

information

West wall

16158

(Dix, Ltmdscbajl mil aufgebmder Sonne)
Dresden

Figure (98

(Skade, Dametibildttis)
(Dresden)

(Schubert, Verkiindigung )
(Dresden)

(Johanson, Fobnk)
(Dresden)

16162

(Mitschke-Collande, Famtbe)
Dresden

16163

(Cassel, Bildnis)
Dresden

16164

(Schubert, Beerdigang)
Dresden

16165

(Hebert, BiUms. Mem Bmder)
Dresden

16166

(Skade, FrauoiMAiis)
Dresden

16167

(Crundig, Kmibe mi( gebroebenm Arm)
Dresden

16168

(Kirchner, Brrglandscbaft)
Dresden

16169

(Heckel, Zwe, Aklt irti Atelier)
Dresden

16170

(Felixmuller, D,n Paar)
Dresden

North wall

16171

(Rohlfs, Madcben mil Kind)
(Hagen)

16172

(Hebert, Selbslbildm)
(Dresden)

(Mondrian, Farbige Aujleilung)
(Essen)

(Schlemmer, Sinnender)
(Stuttgart)

16175

(Schlemmer, Drn Frautn)
(Breslau)

16176

iSchlemmer Konzrolriscbr Grufi/>r
Berlin

Fuurr «3

16177

iSchlemmer, RomisJ'rs
Essen

Flljurr 36 5

16178

iSchlemmer, Fwurwrrrppr
1 Mannheim

Fltfurr 36 <

16179

< Bayer. Lrndscbd/l m Ttssm
(Essen)

16180 ?

(Dix, BiUnis Franz RuJziirilll
Dusscldorf)

FiiJurr 200

16182

(Rohlfs, 8/umn.
-Hasen

(Nolde, Fmumiopf)
Dresden i

(Dix, D,t Wiiwi)
I Mannheim j

'Cleichmann, Dir Brauti
'Mannheim

iNolde, filtlfflfMjijrtrri X

[Kiel)

Fijurr 126

1 kleimchmidt, SlilM>m)
(Mannheim)

16188

1 Mueller, ft.Jmdr Frllu l
Barmen

16189

i Nay Fmlimforf Tim .«/ Boraioli" 1
luhecki

Figure 316

16190

iKandinsky Dir Krcuzl^w
Barmen

Fi^urr 2<<

16191

i Ernst, Mmcbtlblumm 1
l Berlin

16192

Kirchner, D,n Wobnzmma
Lubeck

flQMrt 270

16193

(Eberhard Vision
Karlsruhe

LUTTK H A U

North wall, vilrines

(Schmidt-Rottluff. Larukcbaft)

2

■>

?

I Hoffmann, Nacktcs Wab)
(Dresden)

(Grosz, Menscben)
(Dresden)

(Pechstein, Aus Palau)
1 Dresden )

'

(Grosz, SrH Nr 22896//)
(Breslau)

(Voll, Kopf)
(Dresden 1

(Wl, FiihJ Kiltdir im Fniai)

(Berlm)

(Voll, SitzrnJfr Alii dm O/rn)
(Dresden

(Haizmann)

(Haizmann)

(Dix, Sapprvkopf)
(Dresden)

2

7

(Grosz, Slrassmszmr mil KmpptU
(Breslau)

(Mueller, WriMicJicr AfcO
(Berlin)

(Kandinsky KUmr Mini)
(Breslau)

Fyurn 249-51

(Kandinsky Klmc Wchm)
(Breslau^l

1 Feininger, Hobximitt-Mappl)
(Breslau)

FitfltrtS 208-9

(Kokoschka, fticWtantalrNr ?)
(Halle)

(Kokoschka, BocWwnlalr Nr «)
(Halle)

Figure 3 3

(Kokoschka, BacMwnl.i(t Nr 3)
(Halle)

Figure 32

(Kokoschka, BachhmMt Nr 8)
(Halle)

Fi^iirr 36

(Kokoschka, Bucbkanlale Nr 6)
(Halle)

F,^« 3.

(Kokoschka, BachkanUtlt Nr 7)
(Halle)

Fijmt 35

16194

(Grosz, Crosstab)
(Mannheim)

F.gur

l 216

16195

Georg Gross, Max Hfrnwim-Nfissf
(Mannheim)

F,gu,

r 2(3

16196

(Dix, BiMms it-, Juwelrm Karl Krall)
Berlin

Fw

r 199

16197

(Dix, BiMms As Dieters Htrfctrl Fulmberg)
(Diisseldorf)

South wall

(Campendonk, Bergzttcfm)
(Frankfurt)

F.gu

I 181

(Campendonk, Ba&mdt Frauen)
(Dresden)

(Campendonk, Zwa Fraimi in emem 7eic/j)

(Volker, Itulustriilandschajl)

(Berlin)

South wall, vitrines

(Kokoschka, Srltslfwrlral)
(Dresden)

(Junge Kunst 35 With, Chagall)

eslau)

l lunge Kunst 20 Graf, Uhim)

(Junge Kunst 31 Einstein, Kisling)

(Junge Kunst 5 Daubler, Klan)
(Breslau)

(Junge Kunst 18 Kuhn, Rotdtr)
(Breslau)

(lunge Kunst 41 Wolfradt, Dix)
(Breslau)

(Junge Kunst 2)
(Breslau)

(Junge Kunst 2 1 Wolfradt, Grosz)

K

(B

(B

ilau

,l,iu .

;lau)

(Junge Kunst 42 Grohmann, Kandwky)

eslau)

(Junge Kunst 12 Frieg, Mor^iicr)

eslau)

(Junge Kunst 7 Hausenstein, G

esla.

(Junge Kunst 9 Cohn-Wiener, Jatckel)

eslau)

(lunge Kunst 13 von Wedderkop, Kltr
:slau)

(lunge Kunst 45 Grohmann, GofscM

eslau)

nge Kunst I Biermann, Pfckstrm)
eslau)

(lunge Kunst 48 Reifenerg, Hojtr

eslai

(Junge Kunst 3 Uphoff, Horltfrr)
(Breslau)

Figuri 2 8

lunge km'-.! i Briesjei Mrhfar]
Breslai

lUIUJC kllllNl

Breslau

hffigC kilns! I .irnlNhcr^cr ImpimiOHtmm «"J

Kunsi
Breslau

Hinge kunvt 16 \felentinei Sj,n,,Ji Roll/ujjf)

lunge Kunsi
Brestau

lunge kimsi B Schwarz
Breslau

fCnrjm)

(Dix Dn Kritf)
Berlin

FrJUfr

Kandlnsky KUwi
(Breslau

fijMrt 24 7

1 Hcnn, rCliRfl urt.i Al.tJ'l

Mciilner, StpUmbtrjadmi]
■ Breslau

fyurr 20 7

missing

Also on display in the vitrines were the following (to which Inven-
tory numbers were not assigned]

Additional volumes from the lunge Kunsi series on Carnpendonk,
Cezanne, Coubinc, Derain, Eberz, Gauguin, van Gogh, Hccken
dorl, Kubin, Laurencin, Macke, Matisse, Modersohn- Becker, Moll,
Nauen Rocder Rousseau, Scharft and De Smet

Prospectus ol the Deutschen Kunst series published by
Angelsachsen Verlag

Piper Verlag publications Ernst Barlach, Zeicbmwftti, 1936 ion
view Hexoinii. 1922, Flucbcndt Furie, 1923; Der Warlatdt, 1922,
and Dm Furien, !922i, and Paul Klee, Hatthacbnun^nt, 1936

D

below (61

wutb u\ill I'Mrinr
r 6459-8 3

I)r PI Schmidt

I In .. .mi. museum director with • icojutsmoi

■

indard
Antral 1930 p 174

B Book revle%

(t/toj tart Men drawings by Schwitten Merz poems by Schwittei

0J I Bl h always with a poem on the Ich and a drawing on the

right And both meaningless Printed words in Itm

lengths and the

over notcpapei and childish drawings oJ coffee grindei h

and ^ I . OSed to be drawings l)amnedill

I
Umdumm

So heai glands stream tormented
Wawall squeal unlarned you sell sing
Shrill blazing glands equalk being
Like axletrces screaming
Blaze tormented bodyhoi unlarned gleam
< lh lie it Mi unlarned tormented torment

Hey you Slbaylle splats th

l Jh ■.<<■ oh ting along

The dragonfly golds ( .loyteyah

But toorment dream chokes oM my sing

Now if anyone asks me what all this is supposed to mean I cm
only laugh in his lace, along with the poet and painter himsell
(Kuwicte presumably Art is not there to be understood", Mcrz

poems arc not ior professors ol philology Dada— ytS I >ada — is
there for |oining in lor laughing at yourself and the world at

large, for being a happy dope li you don't feel it, you wont ewer

get it To think that someone has the COUragi to kid around in art'
A slap in the face to meaning and gravity To Kurt Schwitters —
many thanks

Paul F Schmidt

C In praise of nonsense

Irft of 16*72 The director of the Stadtmuseum in Dresden I )r P I Schmidt,

writes "In the pioneer artists ol our time we see an unprecedented
struggle for psychic salvation, for them it is all or nothing — not
some mere studio problem, some nuance ol color and lighting.
but the meaning ol existence itsell The sacrifice ol ones own
life counts for little when an image of the universe stands to be
revealed For the sake of a sutlermg creation these great souls
embrace all suffering; and they do so with the joyi
of the martyr This is a truly heroic generation, and its willpower
verges on the sublime, lor to the outsider, who knows no better,
it seems like eccentricity and madness and a vile assault upon
the sanctity of tradition "

He is accorded the highest praise

"Schmidt has the rare gilt ol going to the heart ol the matter

with a single word a firm point of view a secret

romanticism"

I Rob in Wfestheims Kuns&lan, 1923

Max Hermann-Neisse painted by Georg Gross

What is art but a moldy fruit from the houscplant of bourgeois
romantic reality"1

Max Hermann-Neisse

At least as culturally pernicious as the work ol incompetent
malignant, or sick "artists is the irresponsibility of those literary
pimps tenured museum directors and experts who have foisted
this perversity on the people and would still cheerful!)
as art today

How Professor Biermann has disseminated art-Bolshevism in

Germany

south wall vitriMt
16487-526

ioulk wall vitrint

(6**7-528

A masterpiece of ideological realignment

The State Secret Police intervene — a selection of books
confiscated in recent years

I. U T T I I HA II

Room G2

16204

16208

16205

B

16206

A

16207

West wall

16212

16213

16214

16280?

16286?

16289?

Klee

16231

16281?
16282?

E
16284?

16287?
16288?

16290?
16291?

D

Klee

16315
16316

G

16317

16283? 16285?

Sections of the North wall and vitrines

16216-16217

16218-16219

16220

16360
16361

16230

16229 16228 I

16227

16226

16225

TTiis diagram indicates the location of inventoried iwrlcs /or which there is inadequate photographic documentation

16223

16331

16334

16336

H

16339

16353 16356

16357

16221

16332

16335

16337

16338

16342

16354 16359
16355 I

16358
16360

E.a5i wan

16224 16225

Noldc

On the entrance wall of Room G.2 and on the wall between that and
the first window were works by Rohlfs and Klee In this area the con-
nection between the installation sequence and the inventory listing
of the works is particularly clear In the absence of photographs, how-
ever, the inventory numbers alone would not have sufficed for an
accurate reconstruction Those who carried out the inventory some-
times failed to draw a distinction between oil paintings and framed
watercolors or drawings On the upper floor the framed works on
paper by Kandinsky Klee, and Schmidt- Rottluff (all seized from
Halle) were included among the oil paintings, and the same thing
happened on the ground floor with the framed works by Klee The
three watercolors by Klee tacked up on the west wall appeared
merely as "sheets" and were given much higher inventory numbers
than the other paintings or no inventory numbers at all

LUTTICHAU

A strip of text can be seen along the north wall in the few avail-
able photographs "We would rather exist unclean than perish clean,
we leave it to stubborn individualists and old maids to be inept but
respectable, reputation is not our worry" These words, wrenched
out of context, had been written by Wieland Herzfelde, the pub-
lisher and founder of Malik Verlag, as a polemic against the double
standards of bourgeois morality Further abusive comments were
written on cards placed among the items in the vitrines or tacked
onto the walls Even with the accurate information supplied by
Holzinger, who noted down the gist of many of these texts, it has
not been possible to identify all of them As in the previous rooms,
they were mostly statements by art historians, quoted out of context
in accordance with Willrich's tried and tested method Rather than
speculate, we have inserted into the room-by-room reconstruction
only those texts whose wording and position is known for certain

The exhibition ended on the east wall, and visitors had to
retrace their steps to reach the exit On this wall and along the
south wall were more paintings, interspersed with prints that can be
identified only conjecturally from photographic evidence The posi-
tions of the unframed prints in the glass cases or of the works on
paper thumbtacked to the wall cannot be established with any cer-
tainty Holzinger and Roth tell us that the display also included
photographs of works of art by among others, Gies, Cesar Klein,
Scharff, and Ceorg Scholz None of the available sources, however,
indicates that inventory numbers were assigned to photographs,
thus, the correspondences that the exhibition organizers certainly
intended to emphasize can no longer be ascertained Books, on the
other hand, were clearly inventoried, as can be seen from the list
of contents of the vitrines along the south wall of Room Cl

The north wall of Room G2 began with a series of prints
from various Bauhaus portfolios (16280-91) seized from the Wallraf-
Richartz-Museum in Cologne Above the portfolios, in the three
cross vaults, were paintings, including works by Dix, Alexej von Jaw-
lensky and Schmidt-Rottluff In the sequence of inventory numbers
there follows a more or less orderly succession of groups of works
taken from the print collections of the museums in Diisseldorf,
Berlin, Dresden, Mannheim, Breslau, Essen, and Dresden again
Between the first Dresden and Mannheim groups were works from
Hamburg, according to Holzinger Notable were woodcuts by
Schmidt-Rottluff and a small group of watercolors by Mueller at
the end of the north wall

In the cases on the south wall were works from Dresden
museums and a large number from the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin,
with single prints from Essen and Diisseldorf, followed by a conspic-
uously large consignment from the Schlesisches Museum, Breslau
The sequence of these groups suggests that especially in this part of
the exhibition there was no time to orchestrate the effect and that
the prints went straight into the vitrines or onto the walls as they
were unpacked This room also affords a particularly high propor-
tion of missing or unattributable inventory numbers

Room G2 Artist, lillr

Works oi art Owner, da

price or information

West wall

(Rohlfs)
(Hagen?)

(Rohlfs, Brarnitr Mondscbein)
(Hagen?)

Figure 358

16204

(Rohlfs, Zwci Kbpjt)
1 Hagen?)

16205

(Rohlfs, Tessintr Dorfrtimtr)
(Hagen1)

16206

(Rohlfs, Lmtscfco/ti

1 Hagen? 1

16207

1 Rohlfs, DrrCiom)
(Halle)

16208

(Rohlfs, lungtr Wald)
(Hagen?)

(Rohlfs, Halbjigur auf Grim)
(Hagen?)

(Rohlfs, Kopf)
(Hagen?)

16211

(Rohlfs, Topj mil Blumni)
(Krefeld)

16212

(Klee, Rylfcmus da Fmslcr)

(Stuttgart)

16213

(Klee, AW ubtr itr Slail)
(Berlin)

16214

(Klee, Winlirgarlm)
(Halle)

16215

iKIee, Wohml)
( Frankfurt 1

fi^urt 271

16231

(Klee, Dtis Vokailucb dtr Kammmangtnn Rosa Sdbtr)
(Berlin)

Figure 27<

?

(Klee, Gcisterzimmir)

F^ure 278

?

(Klee, Recbtmdtr Cms)

Figure 276

?

(Klee, Zwitscktrmaschint)

Figure Ml

North wall,

coves

(v Jawlensky Sizilianerm)
(Mannheim)

(v Jawlensky Kind mil gruntr Halskttte)
(Breslau I

(Dix, Arbeilcrm jffl Sonnltigskktdi
(Barmen)

(Dix, Arbrittr for Fabrik)
(Stuttgart)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Mthncbolit)
(Liibeck)

Figure 57

Room G2 in Entartete Kunst, looking west

LUTTK MAU 75

North wall and vitrines

16280?

(Schreyer, Kintifrslfrr'rM )
(Koln)

F,iw.

t 389

16281?

(Kandmsky Komposition)
(Koln)

Rpi

1 248

16282?

(Jawlensky Ko/>/)
(Koln)

F^H

I 23-1

16283?

(Klee, Dk Hnfyr n mum, Licit)

I Koln

Fip

t 275

16284?

(Bauer, Bautama]
(Koln)

Fip

r (59

16285?

(Itten, F/<jhs d« wasscn Manttts)
I Koln I

Fip

I 232

16286?

(Schreyer, KmiicrslmW)
(Koln)

Ftp

r 388

16287?

(Molzahn, Komposition )
(Koln)

Ftp

f 304

16288?

(Topp, Abstrakte Komposition)
(Koln)

Ftp

f 393

16289?

(Schlemmer, Fi^ur Fi2)
(Koln)

Ftp

r 366

16290?

(Schlemmer, Fi^rmpUKi)
(Koln)

Ftp,

r 367

16291?

(Baumeister, Abstrahr Silifip)
(Koln)

Ftp

r 161

(Wollheim, SMachtsdmsd)
(Diisseldorf)

(Adler, Handler)
(Diisseldorf)

(Hoerle, Das Paar)
(Diisseldorf)

?

(Schwitters, Untbcn)
(Berlin)

(Schwitters, Traum)
(Berlin)

(Grosz, Akl)
(Berlin)

(Mueller, Paar)
(Berlin)

(Kirchnei; Dfs Kimstlen jungslt Tocblir (mm Tanz)
(Berlin)

(Meidner, Dii Vmmbung Paul,)
(Berlin?)

(Nolde, Propbtt)
(Berlin)

Fip

r 347

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Sicfe wasebmd, Frau)
(Berlin)

(Pechstein, Aus Palau)
(Dresden)

(Dix, Sappmkopf)
(Dresden)

(Dix, Madcbm)
(Berlin)

Ftp

f 201

(Meidner, Scptrnikcnjrscfirfi)
(Berlin)

(Klee, Dtr Anjlir)
(Berlin)

Fip

t 272

(Pechstein, Lirgendtr Ah)
(Berlin)

(Pechstein, SilzWtr Akl)
(Berlin)

(Gilles, Pbanlasliscbes Gibildc)
(Berlin)

(Felixmuller, Rwoluticm)
(Berlin)

(Beckmann, Entlauscbte)
(Berlin)

Ftp

r 174

(Beckmann, Nacktlattz)
(Dresden)

Ftp

1 176

16315

(Heckel, Kopf)
(Dresden)

16316

(Kirchner, Strassmech)
(Dresden)

16317

(Pechstein, Zwet Frauen)
(Dresden)

16318?

(Nolde, Discission)

Fip

t 33S

missing (possibly other works from Dresden,
Hamburg, and Mannheim)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Landschaft im Hrrbst)
(Mannheim?)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, BiMnis Flicbtbrm)
(Mannheim)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Madcbmkopf)
(Mannheim?)

16331

I Schmidt-Rottluff, CbrMm mil crhobmir Hand)
(Mannheim)

Ftp

t 386

16332

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Ziori Ah,)

Fip

f 381

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Bikinis dir Mulltr [?])
(Breslau)

16334

(Schmidt-Rottluff, BiUnis JtrMultfr)
(Breslau)

Fip

r 383

16335

(Schmidt-Rottluff, SirzWrr iwiMicoer Akl)
(Essen)

Fip

f 387

16336

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Kopf)

Fip

r 385

16337

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Wctblicbir Kopf)
(Breslau)

Ftp

r 382

16338

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Chrislm-Kopf)
(Essen)

Fipt 368

16339

(Schmidt-Rottluff, BiMnis G.)

Ftp

f 377

(Schmidt-Rottluff)

(Schmidt-Rottluff)

16342

(Schmidt-Rottluff, iicbmdi)
(Breslau)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Wtib am Oftn)
(Breslau)

Ftp

t 380

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Drti Aposltl)
(Breslau)

Ftp

r 384

(Segall, Ziwi Figurm)
(Dresden)

Figure 58

Room G2 in Ettlartttr Kumt. looking east

LUTTIIHAU 77

South wall, vitrines

(Kokoschka, Litgmdes Madchm)
(Dresden)

i Mitschke-Collande, Drr btgenlertt Weg)
(Dresden)

Figm

1 298-303

(Pechstein, Badmde IV)
(Dresden 1

Flaw

357

iRohlfs, Dra tanzmde Maimer)
(Dresden)

(Beckmann, Chnstus und Tliomas [?])
(Dresden)

(Nolde, GerteNr 584)
(Dresden)

(Nolde, Zti'n Frmdramgr)
(Dresden)

F.gur

■ 348

16353

(Dix, Dmmkopf)
(Dresden)

Fifm

1 202

16354

(Felixmuller, Mulla mi Kmdi
( Dresden )

Fiw

r 211

16355

i Mueller, Ucbtspaar)
(Dresden)

16356

(Mueller, Zit'n Madchm im Grunm)
(Dresden)

16357

(Mueller, Zu>« Madchm am Baum )
(Dresden)

16358

(Mueller, Grunts und braunes Madchm)
(Dresden)

16359

(Mueller, Nacklti Paar)
(Dresden)

16360

(Mueller, Dm Aklr vor dm Spiegel)
(Dresden)

East wall

16221

(Burchartz, Slillebm mil zu>« Kannm)
( Hannover)

16222

(Heckel, Barhimluhr)
(Halle)

Fiju,

I 226

16223

(Driesch, Volksjisl)
(Lubeck)

16224

( Nolde, StillftVn mil Maskc)
(Lubeck)

?

(Nolde, Die Heiligm Dm Komgi)

Figu,

[ m

South wall,

piers

16225

(Nolde, Fraumprofil)
(Stuttgart)

1 Beckmann, Maskmball )
(Frankfurt)

Figui

■l 166

(Mueller, Badmdi m Stclandscbajt)
( Stuttgart)

Figure 307

(Drexel, Blummfrau)
(Berlin)

(Kokoschka, Dir Frantic)
(Berlin)

Figu

rr 285

(Kirchner, Tdnzcrinnm)
(Berlin)

Figu

re 261

(Dresden)

Figure .7,

(Segall, Mann und Wtib)
(Dresden)

(Crosz, Im Cafe)
(Dresden)

Fl^urr 2 1 0

(Grosz, Nach dm Slahlbad)
(Dresden)

Figure 222

(Crosz, Drr Seiltanzer)
(Dresden)

Fujurr 221

'

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Silzmde Frau m Birgland)
(Breslau)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, ZiegtUi hn Dare\)
(Berlin)

Fujurr 379

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Sitzenier Akl)
(Berlin)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Wabir)
(Berlin)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Mam mil Pfnjt)
(Berlin)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Dm Manner am Tisch)
(Berlin)

Fi^urr 3 78

missing l possibly other works from Berlin)

(Mueller, Zigeunmn)
(Breslau)

(Schmidt-Rottluff, Kmmdt Frau)
(Dresden)

(Nolde, Unterhaltung)
(Berlin)

Figure 349

(Nolde, Mann und Weikhtn)
(Berlin)

Fiourr 346

(Pechstein, Kra/t und Herrlkhke,!)
(Berlin)

Figure 3 56

(Pechstein, timer laglich Brot)
(Berlin)

Figure 35-i

(Pechstein, Valer unsrr)
(Berlin)

Fujurr 353

(Pechstein, Fiifcrr uns n/cfcl in Vmuchung)
(Berlin)

Figure 355

(Rohlfs, Wtiblidicr, kauernder Akl )
(Berlin)

(Rohlfs, Fraumbddms)
(Berlin)

(Crosz, GrosslaJl in USA)
(Berlin)

Fujurr 2 1 5

(Crosz, WiUu.nl)
(Berlin)

Fijurr 220

(Crosz, Am Kai)
(Berlin)

Fyurr 2 1 4

(Crosz, Strassmbtld mil Mond)
(Berlin)

Figure 2 ( 7

(Crosz, Ztchgelagc)
(Berlin)

Fujurr 2 1 8

(Crosz, GfrmiiHf«fedf>/f)
(Berlin)

)

Mis U-lmfrJ

(Berlin

fljurr 10]

(Schllchlei AmiAmuu)

Berlin'

mam, Umarmunai

fnlurr 177

1 loin M / md Soimr)

(Berlin

(Feininger, bVnri
(Berlin]

N..IJ< lunjn Fm>l unJ r.iMjrriifnm '

Berlin

1 laurr ISO

Croa ZwoAtoe)
[Berlin

(Schlemmcr Abitrakli Kmposiiim in rVo'ss)
(Berlin)

(Siebert v Hn...
Dusseldorl

missing (possibly other works Irom Berlin or
Diisseldorf)

(Crosz. Drr Crltrruzialr)
(Berlin)

Fidurr 22)

missing (possibly other works from Berlin
and Essen

( Kirchner, NtichtT A1«ihm )
(Essen)

(Kirchner, SilzmaV fuiu)
(Essen)

iVCauer, AFslraltlrs Lillwi
i Breslau i

Fiaurr 19 1

(van Heemskerk, AFslraJrlrs Dido l
Breslau1

Fiaurr 22 a

Stuckenberg, Aklraklrs lilho)
Breslau1 >

Fl^urr 392

(Ktee, Hci//ina»Mnkr Szorr)
(Breslau;

FiaUrr 2 77

(Muche.AlilHrrz una1 Hand)
(Breslau1

Figurt 305

(Itten, Hrrzm derli&c)
(Breslau?)

Fidurr 233

(v lawlensky Stchs Kopfe)
(Breslau?)

Fianrrs 235-<0

iCrossmann [Crosz], Slrassrmzrnr
(Dresden i

(Chagall, Alanwrr mil Kuh\
(Essen)

(Feininger, Drr Griper]
(Essen)

Figurr 2in

(Moholy-Nagy KrmstrulriioK i
i Essen)

(Dix, FlmchaUmi
(Breslau)

(Dix, Slrassr)
(Breslau)

(Dix, Kri^skriipfirl)
(Breslau)

Fidurr 3 90

■>;:in<lrt,.

Bretltu

IplK mil ><,(.> Klallrrn,

Idllni im 1 rrmi

(Kandlnsky Abtlmkl Mi
(Breslau)

missing (possibly other works Irom Breslau
ind Berlin)

Be. kmann D/i (irii/rr
(Berlin)

FiJWrr 171

(Beckmann, Drrt»n/nWm

(Beckmann, Kmtlabnabm
1 1 )resden I

Fidurr 171

(Beckmann, l/msiMunartirs l\uit
(Dresden)

Fidurr 170

(Beckmann, Fasdrintfjszmc)

(Dresden)

Fidurr 175

(Beckmann, Paar)
(Essen)

Fidurr 172

(Beckmann)

(Beckmann)

(Mueller, Aklrim Crimen)
(Berlin)

'

The (ollowing works and photographs were also on view in the
ground-floor galleries, however, since no inventory numbers were
assigned to them, it is not possible to determine where they were
displayed

Robert Cenin graphic work

Franz Jansen graphic work fWallrafRichartz-Museum, Cologne

Cesar Klein lour graphic works

Paula Modersohn- Becker WriMicferr Akl mil Hul, sketch

E Minztrick watercolor

Pablo Picasso StilMwn, color lithograph

Fritz Schaefler watercolor

Otto Andreas Schrciber woodcut

Wilhelm Philipp lithograph

Otto Pankok Holo //. lithograph i tig 351)

Otto Cleichmann photograph of Dir Braul, comparing it to an
illustration of the statue of t/fu from Naumburg Cathedral

Ludwig Gies photographs of his work

Wollgang Curlitt photograph of his bedroom, with murals bv
Cesar Klein and woodcarving by Rudolf Belling

Walter Kampmann photograph of his art obicct Diana im rVossa
strlW unJ 5clur»rml, 1930

Edwin Scharff photographs u! his smlpti
the city of Diisseldorf, in progress

! Dir arossro PfrrJr lor

L U T T I c H * U

A Christian Rohlfs's painting instructions Take one meter of canvas,

below 16206 squeeze out the contents of various large tubes of paint all over it,

vigorously smear the whole thing, stretch, and place in a frame

B So one fine day Christian Rohlfs got to be a professor But he can't

below (6208 help it It's the same way that, one fine day he got to be seventy

years old But they might just as well have made the Old Man of
the Mountains, or Robinson Crusoe, or Gulliver, or the Boy Who
Wouldn't Eat His Soup a professor instead

Karl With, Director of the Museum Folkwang, Essen

C Even before the first rocket ship soars beyond the frontiers of

below Klee, earth, the soul of our planet, the way into the cosmos, reveals

Geisterzimmer itself to the painter Paul Klee as he works away in dedicated seclu-
sion Paul Klee has overcome the force of gravity Through an act
of the soul An event of epoch-making, profoundly human signifi-
cance Unerringly his creative being has left its native spheres far
behind and soared among the stars, leaving the temporal accre-
tions of lineage and personal status as an outworn chrysalis
behind him Man's progressive loss of contact with his roots —
which to those who remain earthbound is a sinister process,
a vision of dread — stands revealed, through the radical self-
fulfillment of a being totally absorbed in the spirit, as a spurt
of growth into supernal regions
Rudolf Probst

D

below Klee,
Zwitscher-
maschine

1 am not to be comprehended purely in this world's terms
my home is with the dead as much as with the unborn
Paul Klee

E By Lothar Schreyer!

above 16284 Virgin

Blood sisters me

Sprouts shame

You womb You blood

Fruit of fruit

Scared sickened shamed

You by shame, You by womb

Sister You by blood
Stumbucber XIV

Lothar Schreyer dabbles in Christian mystical art appreciation!

From "Dance" by August Schramm
Into the wounds
Sounds hop
Wallow, burrow
Welter, swirl
Fall with a giggle
Tumefy and eat each other
Couple, couple
Impregnate each other
Bring forth showers
Insanely big'
Etc etc

Slyly measured pleasures
Days of desire moaning
Groaning
And
Rasping etc

This is the kind of poetry that Rudolf Bliimner used to recite at
Sturm evenings

F We would rather exist unclean than perish clean, we leave it to

north wall stubborn individualists and old maids to be inept but respectable,

reputation is not our worry

Wieland Herzfelde, Malik Verlag

north wall vitnne, Guidelines for cultural Bolsheviks

16295 At this moment it is the duty of Communist artists to work with

all the means at their command to exploit the practical possibili-
ties of gaining for Communism access and comprehension at every
level of society As long as the bourgeoisie remains in power, real-
ity must be interpreted in stark and uncompromising terms of
class conflict, the opposition's morality and ideology must be dis-
credited, and our own ideas must be promoted Furthermore,

Communist artists must make contact with each other, possibly
forming party groups Communist interests first, then artistic
In artistic matters, however, not coercion but example, not dic-
tatorship but democracy It goes without saying that the artistic
verdicts of any such democratic jury are not to be definitive but
provisional and tactical Productive examples need to be set Col-
lectively artists will give priority to propagandists issues over
technical ones so that Communism, from being a primary
political principle, will become a principle of living consciousness
Wieland Herzfelde

G

Weimar critics

above 16) t

7 G Biermann

Leipzig

L Benn.nghe.fi

Hamburg

H Busch

Hamburg

Dorner

Hannover

P Fechter

Berlin

W Crohmann

Berlin

G Hartlaub

Mannheim

H Hildebrandt

Stuttgart

C C Heise

Frankfurt

Muller-Wultow

Oldenburg

W Niemeyer

Hamburg

J Meier-Craefe

Berlin

F Mernitz

Berlin

M K Rohe

Hamburg

K Scheffler

Berlin

E Sander

Hamburg

P F Schmidt

Dresden

R Schapire

Hamburg

H Sieber

Hamburg

C H Theumssen

Berlin

H Walden-Lewin

Berlin

P Westheim

Berlin

W Wolfradt

Berlin

W Hausenstein

Munich

L Schreyer

Berlin

north wall vitnnr Repetition of Udo quote from Room 2

The decline of Bocklin Bbckltn has within him the germ of
decay All of them — Bocklin, Klinger, Thoma, and the rest, with
their cheap, barbaric "anthropomorphism" — succeed only in
proving that Bocklin's case is Germany's case What these men
lack is culture, and so does Germany
[Julius Meier-Craefe]

H His stern, masculine art breathes an air of ascetic concentra-

above (6338 tion The landscapes, human figures, and portraits convey

a powerful emotive charge, there is much in them that is earth-
bound, not in the realist sense but rather in that of Goethe's earth
spirit, "weaving the living robe of God " This enabled Schmidt-
Rottluff in 1918 to produce images of the life of Jesus that lent a
new force and expressive immediacy to events that had been
depicted countless times

K Zoege von Manteuffel

I The drawing, which lightly and summarily traces the clear-cut

between 16355 outlines of youthful limbs and the angular patterns of boughs and

and (6360 leaves, is dominated by a fluid rhythm There is a fairy-tale

enchantment in these works, which are like pastoral poems, man-
ifestations of that yearning for nature that has haunted every age
of advanced civilization The lithographs of Otto Muller are
among the finest things ever done in this technique
K Zoege von Manteuffel

below (6229 Kokoschka appears, and it is no coincidence that it is the music of

Bach that has set the tone for one of his magnificent sequences
Erwin Redslob

south wall vitrine Cosmic hurricanes spray out into the void, shatter the space,
(6404 burst with immeasurable force of the imaginary upon quaking

towers Rhomboidal, opalescent, shimmering arches sink upward
to unattainable zeniths Tumbled matter encounters vast clefts,
the erratic merges with cascading labyrinths
Willi Wolfradt

Not«

traction of th< exhibition Entartttt Kunst flrsi i
I )cuts< he Kunsi und i ntartctc Kunsl I Me Mum. In in Vusstellungen 19
'Rekonstruktion dei Ausstellung I ntartctc Kunsi in Peiei Klaus Schustei ed
in tsldJl Mttoeawi IW7; I mn i Munich Pi

198 13-118 an ■ th/i K In contrast to thi 198 publii itton thi pres

eni essay ^ on< entrates on the essential facts necessarj i" Follow the sequi nee ol the

exhibition ! hi room In i n n\ onstrut Hon iih ludes the texts and comments dts

played in ea< h room

I Vdoll Zieglei excerpi from i speech at the opening ol tin exhibition Entartttt
K'i.msi Munich My 19 1937 published in Schustei Oit Kunststadi Miincben, 217
: Foi the cultural and political background ol the Munich EnlarieK Kunsl exhibi
Hon see Paul Ortwin Rave h tdihlat OriUm Rricfc Hamburg CebrUderMann

I'M- Hildegard Brennei OitK tpolitikdtt Rein be k Rowohli

1963 Karl I leinz Meissnei Deutsches Vblk gib uns viei lahre Zeit
Nationatsozialistische Kunstpolitik 1933-1937 in lurgen I larten ed I lii Axl bat

i}cbluh EuropMscht K.-nflilcir Jn ion '.ii"r in Erimtrung an dit frUbt Avantgardt exh

cat DiisseldoH Stadtische Kunsthalte 1987 368 T5 and Luttichau 'Deutsche
kunst und 1 ntartete Kunsl B3 101

5 i Rave Kunstdiktatw thi standard text Brennei Dif Ktmstpolitft 16
Diethei Schmidt ed In \ttzta Sluna \ ! ol Scbriften dtutscbtt KhhjIIo dts

manzigsttn Jabrbundtrts Dresden VEB Vferiag der Kunsl il»r>4' 230, Michael Koch
Kulturkampl in Karlsruhe Zur Ausstcllung Regie rungs kunsi 1918- 1933/" in KuhsI ih
Karhntbt i9O0-i9$0 exh cat Karlsruhe Staatliche Kunsthalle 1981) HO 2h and
(■sv,i\s by Stephanie Bai 1 1 in and C It istoph /use hlag m tins volume

4 Wolfgang Willnch Saubtnmg dts Kunsttmipffs Eint pobtt^hr Kampjscbrifl zui Gesun
dung dtutscbtt Kunsl im Go'sli nordiscbei Arl Munich I [■ Lehmann I'M" Hits consists
mainly ot an interminable succession ol oul of-context quotations from artists art
erupts and art historians, which Willnch extracted from a number of sources —
mostly progressive art periodicals including Die Aktion Dai Kunslbtatl, Do Gtgntr, Der
Sturm, Der QurrvJimlt and /V RiJ.j — and strung together with his own smug com-
ments A number ot works by modem artists were illustrated, in some cases in a
collage complete with derisive captions, created by Willnch himself At the end of
this botched mess was an appendix ol names that the intended reader would have
found uncommonly interesting, including lists ot Sturm group contributors and

members ot the red Novembergruppe, leading art dealers, and publishers
who in Willrich's Opinion had been particularly active in the promotion of cultural
Bolshevism The pamphlet came out in March of 1937, by April its publishers
were including in their publicity material the information that on April 13 it had
been adopted tor the National Socialist hook list

5 Among Walter Hansen s publications were "Die Zielsetzung und Wertung in der
Deutschcn w kunst des [ )ruten Retches Hansiscbt Hoi.li^hul-ZtilunH IH, no I (May

I 1936 2-3, and Judenkunsl in Dtutscbland Qutlltn und Studim zur Judenfragt auj dan Gtbitt
drr btldmd™ Kunsi fin Handbucb zur Gtscbicblt der Vtrjudmg unj Entartung dtutscbtr Kunsl
fooo-fon i Munich Nordland 1942 The latter pamphlet is written very much in
Willnch s style and quotes many ot the same sources, it was published as late as 1942,
when the leading figures m art and cultural lite had left Germany or withdrawn into

inner emigration when the Russian campaign had failed, when the grisly killing
machine of Auschwitz was already in motion and when Germany had withered into
a cultural desert

6 The committee seems to have begun work in Cologne, tollowed by Hamburg,
Hannover i luly 5 Essen luly 6 and Berlin lulv 7 Alter Berlin it divided Willnch
visited Halle I luly s Magdeburg and Brestau, the rest of the committee visited
Mannheim lulv 8 Munich lulv 9 Stuttgart lulv 10), and Lubeck ' luly 14)

7 I otter my gratitude to Prof Dr Heinz Luschey for this information Professor
Luschey who was born in 1910. was studying archaeology in Munich in 1937 and had
to pass through the exhibition to reach his tutorial class

8 A painting in Room 5. Farbtnordnung by Hans Richter, was acquired in 1923
tor JO marks, in the same gallery were Karl Schmidt -Rottluff's KhSictWsc/w/I mil
UttUuujsstation and Erich Heckels Landschaft mif Miihle. also acquired in 1923, for

I 5 million and I million marks respectively

9 See, for example, texts by and about Paul F Schmidt on the north wall of
Room Gl on the ground floor

in Adolf Hitler, excerpt Irom a speech made at a National Socialist party rally
Nuremberg, September II 1935 printed on the east wall of Room 3 in Entartttt Kunst

I I When Paul Schultze Naumburg was appointed to run the Weimarer Veremigte
Werkstatten 'Weimar unified craft workshops' in 1930 his hrst action was to have
Oskar Schlemmers murals hacked off the staircase walls In 1933 he was among

the first to urge Hitler to take action against the modernist works hung in the
Kronpnnzenpalais. Berlin See Ludwig Thormaehlcn Ermntrungtn an Stefan George
Hamburg Rowohlt 1962 277-78

12 Zieglers speech see note I] in Schuster Dx Kunststadt" Munctfm, 217-18 See
also Walter Grasskamp, Drr unbtwaltigU Modem Kumi und Offetttlicbkeil Munich Beck,
1989), 80 "Riskante Quellen

lolf Hltl

.i'umj Munii h '":

Mil

during a number ot visits to Int.itttU Kunit I offci im gratftudl

■

15 I rnsl I lolzingei went to Entarteit Kun

until

■ i Paul
Ortwin Rave My tl . . msly

iments
if. s< c also I uttti h i"

17 I ists of thi rks i nisi in tru fi illi * \ng n

Berlin \kademh dei blldenden KOn VrchK Berlin 5ta

Preussischei Kultunbesitz Na tlkhe Musccn zu

Berlin, Nationatgalerit Potsdam Staatsarchr l- Vngek II" Getty Center foi
the History of Art and the Human krt, Wllhclm F

\liil.' I'll'- i

18 Man rirrscfeicfc ah now in the Kunstmus • that

still bear their inventory numbers cither written in red crayon on the stretcher or
frame or printed on a plain white Sti( k( I

19 Otto I'homae, Die Propaganda Mascbinerie Bitdende Kunst und Off entlicbktitiarbeit im
DriUen Rocfc (Berlin Cebriider Mann I97H 541, and losel Wuli Ok Mdmdc Kilnstt m
DriUtn Reich Eine Ookumcnialion Ciitersloh Rowohli 1963 Frankfurt/BeriiiWienna
Ullstein 1983 353 367 373

20 I >er Ring [Tie i ing i sot iety ot avant-garde architects formed m Berlin m
1925, disbanded in 1933 under pressure from the Nazis Its members included OtttJ
Harming IVtei Hehrens Walter Gropius, Hugo Hanng, Ludwig Hilbcrseimcr, Erich
Mendelsohn, I udwig Mies van del Rohe, *nd \ lans Scharoun

21 The Hauhaus began as the Weimar Kunstgewerbeschule School ot applied arts
founded in 1906, and changed its name in 1926 when it moved to Dessau Conceived
as a working community of artists, designers and archite( ts the Hauhaus exerted a
great influence on industry design and architecture and became internationally
famous It was closed down in 1932 at the insistence ol the Nazis Among the Hauhaus
members represented in the Munich exhibition were Herbert Bayer Lyonel Iciningcr
Johannes Itten, Wassilv Kandinsky Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer

22 Grossr Deutn.be Kunstausstellung (exh cat, Munich Haus der Deutschen Kunst,
1937), cat no 43 See also Thomae, Die Propaganda-Mascbinerie, 41, 343

23 On the seizure of Lehmbruck's works, see the correspondence between Anita
Lehmbruck, the widow of the artist (who had died in 1919', and the Rcichskammer
der bildenden Kunste in Berlin, in Schmidt, in letzter Stunde. 120-50

24 Paul Ortwin Rave, "Bericht uber den Besuch der Aussiellung Entartete Kunst' in
Munchen am 21 und 22 juli 1937/' unpublished memorandum 'typescript1, estate of
Paul Ortwin Rave, Berlin

25 Alfred Hentzen, "Die Entstehung der Neuen Abteilung der National-Galerie im
ehemahgen Kronprinzen-Palais, fabrbucb Pmessiscber Kulturfwirz 10(1973) 64

26 Remhard Piper, letter to Ernst Barlach, July 28, 1938, published in Ernst Piper,
Nationalsozialistiscbe Kunstpolitik Ernst Bartacb und dte "entartete Kunst Frankfurt S
Fischer, 1987), 198

27 For this information I am indebted to Mrs Gisela Macke whose husband,
Wolfgang, the son of August Macke, visited the exhibition in Munich It has proved
impossible to confirm it from other sources

28 Rave, "Bericht"

29 Ibid

30 The exhibition guide Ausstellungsfubrer Entarutr Kunst was compiled by the
Amtsleitung Kultur, Reichspropagandaleitung iGultural office ot the Reich propaganda
directorate and published in Berlin by the Verlag fur Kultur und Wirtschaftswer-
bung at the end of 1937 See the facsimile reproduction and translation in this volume
and Luttichau, "Fuhrer durch die Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst " in Eberhard Roters.
ed , StfltioMfti der Moderne Kataloge epocbaler Ausslellungen in Deulscbland imo-1963 Kommm-
tarband (Cologne Walther Konig, I988i. 151-64

31 On the various antimodernist propaganda exhibitions in Germany from 1933
onward and their respective itineraries see the essay in this volume by Chnstoph
Zuschlag

LUTTK H

OtrtnnHrtf
jttnfflo

* r** Jjrtn ien m %

His aofmolcr

Die bolfcticnrif

Figure 59

Gallery in the Berlin installation of Entartcte Kuml, Haus der Kunst, 1938, work

by Beckmann, Dix, Felixmtiller, Skade, and others can be seen on the walls.

CHRISTOPH ZUSCHLAC

An "Educational Exhibition"

The Precursors of Entartete Kuust and Its Individual Venues

You ask aboHl ibt causes and sense oj this haired
it has neither sense nor causel Politics — in other
words lot will to power
Gerhard Marcks, 1937'

You should talk quietly there's a dying man
in the room Dying German culture —
within Germany itself it no longer has even
catacombs at its disposal Only chambers of
horrors in which it is now to be exposed to
the mockery of the rabble, a concentration camp for the general
public to visit Things are becoming more and more insane "! These
grimly macabre remarks by the Jewish philosopher Ernst Bloch were
written in the summer of 1937 following the opening of two exhibi-
tions in Munich, the Grosse Deutsche Kunslausstellung (Great German
art exhibition I at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst and Eiidirldf Kunst
in the arcades of the nearby Hofgarten Together these exhibitions
marked the spectacular climax of National Socialist cultural policy

A whole system is brine) exposed lo ridicule here
Berliner Borsenzeitung, April 12, 1933

The precursors to "Entartete Kunst"

Systematic and institutionalized attacks on modern art began with a
vengeance only a few weeks after the National Socialists' seizure of
power' The Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums
(Professional civil service restoration act), which was passed on
April 7, 1933, was designed to restore a tenured civil service, thus
creating a legal basis on which to dismiss unaccommodating univer-
sity teachers and museum officials on racial or political grounds
Even before this, leading figures from the German artistic world had
been driven from office — and in some cases from the country — and
replaced by people more in sympathy with the views of the NSDAP
(Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist
German workers party])

Largely at the bidding of the new directors of the country's
museums, and with the support of local organizations with nationalist
leanings, such as the Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur i Combat

league tor German culture1, special exhibitions were arranged in
various towns in which the local collections of modern art no matter
to which school the artists belonged were displayed in a defamatory
light and offered up to public ridicule In their politic, il function ide-
ological thrust, and propagandist aims these exhibitions anticipated
Eiidirlflf Kunst

Table I appended to this essay gives a schematic overview of
these pre-1937 exhibitions, which were frequently and popularly
described as Schreckenskimmern der Kunst I chambers of horrors of art
or Schandausstellungen (abomination exhibitions) 4 A glance at the
names of some of the individual exhibitions — Kulturbolscbcwistiscbc
Bilder (Images of cultural Bolshevism) in Mannheim, Regierungskunsl
id(8-<933 (Government art 1918-1933) in Karlsruhe, and AWrmfcrr^tisI
Kunst im Difiislf der Zersetzung (November spirit Art in the service of
subversion) in Stuttgart, to name three — reveals their political
character and ideological import The works of art exhibited were
not disparaged for their own sake, but "falsely treated as documents
of the age of decadence and used to make a sweeping public con-
demnation of the cultural policies of the 'Weimar system '"5 By
wreaking vengeance on art the National Socialists sought to settle
old scores with the democratic Weimar Republic and thus lend both
legitimacy and internal political stability to their own rule This aim
was supported in propagandistically effective fashion by stigmatizing
modern art as "Jewish-Bolshevist," which was intended to mobilize
preexisting prejudices against modern art and to foment anti-Semitic
and anti-Communist sentiment at the same time Attacks were
directed indiscriminately at artists, dealers, and public collections
Prominence was frequently given in every Schrtcktnskammer to
acquisitions by the more progressive of those museum directors who
had been dismissed from office

Both programmatically and methodologically the various
"chambers of horrors" were conceived along the same lines
although, being independently rather than centrally organized they
differed in their aims, taking their cue for the most part from the
contents of the local collections In Karlsruhe, for example, the main
emphasis was placed on German Impressionism, in Stuttgart, by
contrast, on the sociocritical realism of the 1920s Apart from these
regional differences, however, "the range of those subjected to public
attack" extended "from the Impressionists to the New Objectivity,

Figure 60

Gallery in the Kunsthalle Mannheim during the defamatory exhibition Kultur-
bokcbewistiscbt Bilder (Images of cultural Bolshevism), 1933, identifiable work is by
Beckmann and Delaunay (see fig 7 for another view of this gallery)

from Max Liebermann to Otto Dix, George Crosz, and Paul Klee "6
The Schandausslellungen were frequently the spectacular prelude to a
thorough "purge" and rehanging of a gallery's holdings, the works
that had been on view would then, as a rule, disappear into storage 7

It is particularly significant in the present context that the
organizers of the Scbreckettskummerti were already developing the
essential features of that dynamically exhibitionist dramaturgy that
was to be deployed at the 1937 Entartete Kunsl exhibition in Munich
By creating an aura of illicitness, the exhibition organizers succeeded
in gratifying the "curiosity and love of sensation of a broad cross sec-
tion of the general public"8 As a rule, minors were forbidden entry
to the exhibitions in Karlsruhe the reason given was the presence
of a "gallery of erotica" with "obscene" drawings In Bielefeld the
exhibition (taken over from Stuttgart) was mounted expressly as
an "educational" exhibition, and entrance was limited to teachers,
doctors, clerics, judges, and members of the NSDAP,9 the
Schreckenskammer in Halle could be seen only by those who paid a
special fee and entered their names in a visitors' book (see Table I)

A further characteristic of these exhibitions was an appeal
to popular sentiment "The population has an opportunity here to
form its own opinion" (Hakettkreuzbanner, April 3, 1933) This implied
freedom turned out to be a propaganda trick, of course, since the
acceptable opinion had already been determined in advance and
programmed into the exhibition by the way in which the art was
presented l0

In order to "prove" that the art under attack was degenerate,
and in order to make that degeneracy plain to the visitor, the art was
crudely contrasted with "healthy stable art," the latter providing an
"instructive" contrasting example This was done in the Mannheim
exhibition, for example, by setting up a "model gallery" that pro-
vided the standard of comparison by which all other works were to
be judged When the same exhibition reached Munich, the "degen-
erate" works were displayed as a "warning" and hung alongside others
by the "exemplary" Edmund Steppes, a landscape painter in the

nineteenth-century tradition whose works were regularly repre-
sented at the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung "

Reviews of the Schandausstellungen repeatedly drew comparisons
between the imagery of the "degenerate" artists and that produced
by the mentally ill That such infamous discrimination was also given
visual expression is clear from reports of the Erlangen exhibition,
which had originally opened in Mannheim three months earlier, in
April of 1933 n The comparison served only one purpose, which was
to "unmask" the artists as being mentally ill themselves, thus, it was
implied, both the mentally ill and the artists should be excluded
from the type of society that the organizers sought to advocate

By specifying the amount of money paid for each work on view,
the organizers planted the thoughts that the museum officials and
municipal authorities who were responsible for its purchase had been
wasting the taxpayers' money and that the Jewish art dealers were
guilty of profiteering Many of the prices, some of which were
extremely high as a result of inflation, were deliberately not con-
verted into reichsmarks (the currency introduced in 1924) so that
they would seem even higher

The language used to revile modern art was not minted by the
National Socialists but had evolved around the turn of the century in
the wake of arguments over French Impressionism It was now taken
up by middle-class conservatives and radically minded nationalist
writers in their war of words on avant-garde art The irrational
polemics against "Jewish-Bolshevist" art (one of the most widely used
slogans to characterize "degenerate" art) were a distillation of that
National Socialist view of the world that discovered the workings of
"international Judaism" everywhere it looked "The 1918 Revolution
was Jewish, as was the whole of the Weimar Republic, Jewish, too,
was Marxism and the Soviet 'dictatorship of blood,' and so too, of
course, was the international investment capital, the political parties
of the left were a 'mercenary force in the pay of the Jews,' and,
finally, democracy parliament, the majority and the League of
Nations were Jewish "M

The frequent use of specific linguistic stereotypes "Jewish
Bolshevist art being an example — led to their lexical ossification "
Particularly striking here is the way in which the vocabulary was
borrowed often with contradictory results) hum biology especially
parasitology art fot instance was either "sick" and "degenerate"

or "healthy" see the essay liv Ceorgc I- Mosse in this volume

The methods of presentation sketched out here in summary
fashion were not all used in every Scbrtcktnskammcr There was great
variety in the stage-managing of the exhibitions, otten influenced by
particular local conditions A significant feature of the Mannheim
exhibition tig o(> was that the works were "hung close to each
other in reckless confusion" liVnics Mannbeimtt VolkMatl. April 5,
1933), and being exhibited without frames, they were, so to speak,
held up naked to ridicule

The immediate model and actual forerunner of the Munich
exhibition of 1937 (not least in terms of its name) was neither the
Karlsruhe nor the Mannheim exhibition, as has been previously
claimed, |S but the Dresden exhibition of 1933 Held in the inner
courtyard of the Neues Rathaus and conceived by Richard Muller,
director of the Dresden Kunstakademie, this Enlurlrtf fCwis! exhibi-
tion— more commonly if erroneously known as Spicgelbilder des Ver-
falh in dtr Knits! (Images of decadence in art)16 — subsequently went
on tour to at least eight different German cities between 1934 and
1936 It concentrated on works owned by the Stadtmuseum Dresden,
giving particular prominence to the Expressionist artists of Die
Brucke (The bridge), the Dresdner Sezession Cruppe 1919 (Dresden
secession group 1919), and the Assoziation revolutionarer bildender
Kunstler Deutschlands (Association of revolutionary visual artists of
Germany i, known as ASSO The exhibition was presented again in
Dresden in August of 1935, when it was clearly intended to provide a
contrast to the Sacbsiscbt Kumtausstellunt) 1935 (Exhibition of Saxon art
19351 Among its prominent visitors were Hermann Goring, Joseph
Goebbels, and Adolf Hitler (tig 61), who declared that "this unique
exhibition ought to be shown in as many German cities as possi-
ble" {Kolniscbt lllustncrte Zeitung, August 17, 1935) A tour was arranged
and coordinated from Dresden, and the exhibition's first stop was
Nuremberg, where it was shown at the time of the 1935 NSDAP
rally When the exhibition returned to Dresden on September 24,
1935, the Dresden Kulturamt (Office of culture) had already received
enquiries from several municipal authorities who wanted to borrow it
tor themselves Mayor Ernst Zorner reserved the right to have the
final say in the matter In a letter accompanying the exhibition he
outlined its aims it was intended to show "into what a morass of
vulgarity incompetence, and morbid degeneration German art —
previously so lofty pure, and noble — had sunk in fifteen years
of Bolshevist Jewish intellectual domination" [Frankucber Kuritr,
September 7, 1935)

1. 11 the next yeai until September oi 1936 the Dresden col-
lection toured to Dortmund,1 Regensburg Munich figs 62 1

Ingolstadt, I >armstadt, and I rankfurt In luly 1937 it was integrated

in its entirety into the Entartttt KhikI exhibition m Munich

What response did these preliminary exhibitions encounter'
And what role did thev play in the development of National Soc ialisl
policy toward the arts ' We may start out wiih the assumption that
the maionty of the many visitors"1 found themselves in lull at 1 ord
with the tenor of the exhibitions But in making this assessment we
must also take into account their predisposition to sympathize with
what they saw That is why we must ask what level of knowledge
and what expectations they brought to the exhibition With an audi-
ence that was essentially uninformed, unfamiliar with the works on

SCHRECKENSKAMMER

Figure 61

Page from an article on the 1933-36 Entartttt Kunsl exhibition published in the Kolnnehc
lUuitrttrtt Ztitung, August, 17, 1935, above Dresden mayor Ernst Zorner (left and
Hermann Goring ( right) examine Volls Scbwatttfm Frau i Pregnant woman); below
Adolf Hitler visits the exhibition, work by Heckel and Crundig is displayed at right

ZUSCHLAC

exhibition, and handicapped by feelings of resentment toward mod-
ern art, the type of propaganda mentioned earlier would clearly have
been effective The way in which the exhibitions were organized
denned the target groups at which they were aimed

Although the press had already been brought to heel, occa-
sional voices were raised in protest, in contrast to the generally
enthusiastic approval expressed by National Socialist feature writers
A reviewer of the Mannheim exhibition, for example, explicitly crit-
icized the choice of art and method of presentation and came to the
conclusion that "on many points" it was "impossible to give whole-
hearted endorsement to the exhibition" iNeues Mannhdmer Volksblatt,
April 5, 1933) Arguments raged within the very museums and
galleries at which the exhibitions were held, indicating that these
Schwdausstcllungm were far from enjoying the support and approval
of all museum employees ." Some of the visitors spoke out in defense
of the works being ridiculed, and their protests are said to have
caused a scandal In some cases protesters were even arrested by the
police -" "Deeply shaken" and "with the urgent request that you order
a halt here," Oskar Schlemmer appealed to Coebbels on April 25,
1933, entreating the minister to protest against the Schnckenskam-
mem 2I Criticism was also voiced against this type of exhibition at a
very important public demonstration, "Jugend kampft fur deutsche
Kunst" (Youth fights for German art), organized by the National-
sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (National Socialist league
of German students) and held at Friedrich-Wilhelm University
in Berlin on June 30, 1933 The Studentenbund was a rallying point
for opponents of the National Socialists' policy toward the arts and,
as such, belonged to that faction that campaigned for recognition
of "Nordic" Expressionism " The argument over Expressionism also
reflected differences of opinion within the NSDAP leadership itself
concerning the way in which cultural politics should be allowed to
develop The principal disputants were Propagandaminister (Min-
ister of propaganda) Goebbels and the founder of the Kampfbund fur
deutsche Kultur, Alfred Rosenberg In spite of Hitler's radical rejec-
tion of a more liberal approach to modern art at the NSDAP party
rallies in 1933 and 1934, this conflict continued to simmer until 1936
or 1937 It also made it possible for artists who were attacked in the
Schreckenskammcm to continue to exhibit their work at art societies
and private galleries Not until 1937 was the whistle finally blown
on the artistic avant-garde in Germany

w

» -

i vj

Figures 62-63

Two views in the Munich venue of the 1933-36 Enlartrlt Kun
exhibition, Alte Polizeidirektion, March, 1936, above Voll's
Scbuxmgm Fran, below Dix's Krigskupptl (War cripples) am
Eugen Hoffmann's Wnhlichrr Akl (Female nude)

What was so irresistible about National Socialism was iIh promise ol absolutt
authority, thtrt ir,i% clarify hcrr ,i mum •') unambiguity

I MI.: Sinn I98413

The 1937 Entarlele Kunst exhibition in Munich
11k Entartett Kunst exhibition thai opened in the arcades ol the
Munich I lofgarten on luly 19 1937 iig 64), had been preceded by
an initial round ol confiscations involving all the country's leading
museums and galleries It occupies a position ol central importance
in more than one respect In the Inst place, it was the final stage
in that process ol institutional COnformism that had begun on
March II, 1933, with the establishment ol the Reichsministenum
Im Ynlksaulklaiung und Propaganda (Reich ministry for national
enlightenment and propaganda!, Followed on November 15 by the
creation ol the Reichskulturkammer i Reich chamber of culture) In
tlu- second place, the exhibition was planned as a final, devastating
blow to modern art, and through its programmatic contrast to the
Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellumi , which had opened the previous day in
the nearby Haus der Deutschen Kunst, it was intended to define the
future course of cultural politics in Nazi Germany At the same time
it provided the signal for that "pitiless purge" that Hitler had proph-
esied in his opening speech at the Crosse Deutsche Kunstausstellumi, a
purge that took the form of a second round of confiscations — this
time involving thousands of works of art — lasting from August
through November of 1937 Unlike the preliminary exhibitions,
which had been regionally circumscribed, uncoordinated, and pro-
vincially isolated events in terms of the provenance of the works on
display and of the impact that was sought,24 the 1937 exhibition was
organized by the state and centrally coordinated

Over six hundred paintings, sculptures, works of graphic art,
and books from thirty-two collections were shown at Enl<irtftf Kunst
in nine narrow rooms (fig 65) Nearly 120 different artists were
represented The spectrum of artistic styles ranged from German
Impressionism to Expressionism, from Dada, Constructivism,
Bauhaus, and the New Objectivity to all the different forms of
abstract art, but it was the Expressionists, in particular the artists of
Die Brucke, who came in for special denunciation An attempt had
been made to structure the exhibition according to theme —
religious subjects, representations of women, scenes from rural life,
landscapes — but the plan was not consistently carried through

The layout of the exhibition had been substantially planned
by Adolf Ziegler, Wolfgang Willnch, and Walter Hansen25 and
was characterized by a specific form of presentation (fig 66) An
eyewitness account by Paul Ortwin Rave, curator at the Berlin
Nationalgalerie since 1934, is worth quoting at length

/« the rrliilitth/ >mrrou' rooms Irfllisu'orJ: structures covered with burlap
have been erected alone) the walls The paintings are attached to the parti-
tions, while the inscriptions are u'rittrn on the burlap Tin pamtmds hang
close to one another, generally in two superimposed rows The windows,
which are immediately above the partitions, and the narrowness o/ (foe

Figure 64

Entrance to the exhibition Bitartete Kunst, Archaologisches Insmut. Munich, 1937

Figure 65

Room C2 in Entartett Kwist, Munich, 1937

zuscHLAi; 87

4

i

y

Nkrr bctaawtiste ldinsMQinn*ro(|eritw?

BEntttJKn "6ta«?n Hotel die Qraalaqm fur dm
. gcHQKleiaer neucn tftsisr qaMffm oderourti
Jfl or dfflferttwhnd djer Brer in MM sidRr-
{ iOfct.sDKbm-wir.dic wr dfcrai Sufinj Ic-

tK&rkftei„.Wir««den wn jetzraboincn ttncftir-
|' faailaaewj^ftai qapxfe tola Carat

Figure 66

Room 3 in Enlartili Kutist, Munich, 1937

Q ems!" f

Figure 68

Wassily Kandinsky Dir schwarzi Flick (The black spot), 1921, oil i

138 x 120 cm (54 'A x 47% in ), Kunsthaus Zurich

Figure 67

Detail of the Dada wall in Room 3, work <

and Schwitters

' by Haizmann, Hausmann, Klee

rooms make a i/i/ZmiIi ii> view (be ivories om display fbi propagandist
aim ol i/ir rxbibilion scented lo f>« besl served by the numerous inscriptions
71>r guiding principles air written up m large letters in tbt individual rooms
or on srctiom ol the wall while vrntr ol the individual uvrK foiJ sfn i.il
caftfiotis iiJi/fi/ lo IBCM / Ih guiding principle in the first room, for example.
reads 'Insolent mockery oj Iw Dipjtie uiidn I mtrisl rule // a-, in (be
majoriry oj case lw fwrctMsc />nir u?as indicated, a large red label was
stuck to tbr nvrl- 111 ,/iifvli(>ii H'il/i ll'r message, "Paid for by tbe taxes of
the German working people ' '2*

The installation was completed bv "explanatory or "helpful"
remarks bv Hitler. Cioebbels, and Rosenberg, and by comments
and statements by artists and art critics who, when their words
were taken out of context, seemed to indict themselves and the
artists about whom they wrote This extensive use of extraneous
texts represented a departure from the organizational praxis of
such exhibitions A further important feature was the quotation
of passages from Willrich's antimodemist hook Sauhenmti des
Kunsttempels (Cleansing of the temple of art) These inscriptions were
also to be a distinctive criterion of the later stages of the exhibition
The result of this contextualization was both an impression of
chaos and the creation of an associative framework with a powerful,
psychologically suggestive impact intended to reduce all the art to
the same basic level, to prevent any single work from developing
an individual presence or from being perceived in isolation The
psychological effects thus achieved were given a political function
Captions and pictures, juxtaposed or arranged in orderless confusion, are
intended lo stir the viewer's emotions, triggering feelings of repulsion and
indignation, these feelings in turn, like the opinions expressed in the cap-
tions are intended to encourage a sense of satisfaction at ifcc demise of this
type of art and ultimately to inspire agreement with the "revolutionary"
new beginning and political succession.27

The aims and methods of this type of presentation are best
exemplified by the most lavishly orchestrated section of the exhi-
bition, the "Dada wall" (tig 671 Wassily Kandinsky's abstract
composition Der sebwarze Fleck (The black spot, fig 68) of 1921 was
painted on the wall as a background, although significantly simplified
( the copy appears to have been based on a reproduction in Will
Grohmann's book in the series lunge Kunst-") Grosz's injunction
from a poster at the Erste /HlfrinitioHiilf D.i<fii-/Vlfssf (First international
Dada fair] of July 1920, "Take Dada seriously1 It's worth it," was
printed across the upper half of the wall ■'' Hanging below were two
works by Kurt Schwitters, Mertbild (Merz picture) and Ringbild (Ring
picture), Klee's Sumpflegende (Swamp legend, fig 2731, two title pages
from the magazine Der Dada (figs 224-251 published by Malik
Verlag in Berlin, and a label with two quotations, one by and one
about Schwitters 50 In spite of the superficial parallels with the cre-
ative methods of Dadaist art — collage, in particular — the Dada wall
had as little to do with Dada as did Kandinsky or Klee Instead, the
element of uncertainty that was of fundamental importance for any
Dadaist work of art was replaced by the intentional reinforcement of

the visitor's negative attitude Indeed the lattei was the most impor-
tant aim behind the installation " It was therefore irrelevant whether

the nonsensil al notion that Kandinsky and Klee were connected with
I '.nil was the result of intentional falsification, ignorance 01 simple
negligence I >ada served as a paradigm ol "degenerate" art the
organizers wen simply out to exploit the material available, and it
was certainly not in then own best interest to em mirage their visi-
tors to perceive subtleties

If the installation ol the exhibition is interpreted as a semiotic
system in which the combination ol image and text plays a prepon-
derant role, the reactions of the visitors to the exhibition may be
analyzed as constituent parts of that system "It is not enough to see
what's there the whole way in which the visitors react is bound up
with it, too View and object are a single action Organizers and
visitors are as one, to a degree that is completely lacking at art
exhibitions"'3 This consensus was achieved partly by conditioning
the visitors to the exhibition by the methods mentioned above
(according to Alois Schardt, the organizers' aims were additionally
served by hiring actors to play the part of indignant and wildly
gesticulating visitors") and partly by their predetermined pre-
disposition "Whenever one set foot inside the exhibition a great
deal of indignation could be heard It was, in fact, sincere For,
on the whole, [the visitors] had come with the desire and conviction
that they would be outraged "34

As has been mentioned above, the Munich futjrtflf Kunst exhibi-
tion was organized programmatically as a parallel event to the Grossf
DfHtstl'r Kunstausstellung, the latter held in the spacious and well-lit
rooms of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst and distinguished by delib-
erately generous spacing between the individual exhibits 1 hg 2'.
Here was celebrated the "German" art with which National Social-
ism planned to supplant "degenerate" art The pointed contrast
between the two exhibitions — which was lost when Eiilijrlflf Kunst
went on tour to other towns and cities in Germany and Austria —
makes their underlying aims and functions even more transparent

The denunciation of "degenerate" art was generally intended to
call into question the intellectual dimensions of modern art "For
modernism has not only redefined the forms of art in a radical and
subversive way, it has also put forward a new liberal plan for the
world that uses the individual as a standard by which and a point of
reference from which to experience reality "'^ It was this extreme
subjectivism, above all, finding expression in artistic freedom and
stylistic variety that could not be reconciled with the aim of a con-
formist "block community" and therefore had to be resisted For the
Nazis, modernist plans to reform the world and the images of man-
kind that were visualized by the modernist movement were irritating
and disturbing in their radicality and ambiguity As such, they were
nothing more nor less than the expression of a state of chaos that
was in turn the product of the "Jewish-Bolshevist subversive will " To
triumph over this will was to create an art that, as a visible sign of
order, would rediscover" its former clarity or unambiguity

ZUSCHLAC

The circulation oi the 'Entartete Kunst" exhibition, 1938-1941

The following telegram was sent on November 23, 1937, by the
Reichspropagandaleitung (Reich propaganda directorate) in Berlin to
the organizations responsible for propaganda in each district
The Entartete Kunst exhibition is beim] taken over by the
Reichspropagandaleitung oj the NSDAP, further enlarged, and sent on tour
to the largest cities in the Reich with an average run of four weeks in each
place The precondition for receiving the exhibition is a practical interest on
(be part of the individual towns and any other places that may be consid-
ered, nil mitres! thai has also been demonstrated by their willingness to
provide financial support The propaganda organizers of each individual
district are instructed to discover without delay which towns offer favorable
conditions for housing the exhibition Dates can be assigned by the
Reichspropagandaleitung beginning with February i, (938. 36
Nothing is known about the response that it provoked, except that
sixty-five towns and cities had applied to receive the exhibition by
March of 1939, according to a report in the Thuringer Gauzeitung of
March 23

It is likely that the decision to send the exhibition on tour
throughout the Reich was due to Coebbels's initiative Several of his
diary entries contain expressions of enthusiasm for the "great suc-
cess" of the Munich exhibition On July 24, five days after Ent<irlele
Kunst had opened, he noted, "The 'Entartete Kunst' exhibition is a
huge success and a severe blow It will also come to Berlin in the
fall This is how it must be done Awaken the people's interest by
means of great actions "37

The Institut fur Deutsche Kultur- und Wirtschaftspropaganda
(Institute for German cultural and economic propaganda), a sub-
section of Coebbels's ministry that specialized in propagandists
exhibitions, was given the job of implementing the plans "* A
twenty- four-year-old Austrian student and SA (Sturmabteilung,
storm troop) member, Hartmut Pistauer (figs 17, 70, 72), who had
made a prominent contribution to the installation of Entartete Kunst in
Munich, was appointed exhibition organizer by the Reichskammer
der bildenden Kunste (Reich chamber of visual arts).39

Between February 1938 and April 1941 the exhibition went to
Berlin (February 26-May 8, 1938), Leipzig (May 13-June 6),
Diisseldorf (June 18-August 7), Salzburg (September 4— October 2),
Hamburg (November 11— December 30), Stettin (now Szczecin, Jan-
uary 11-February 5, 1939), Weimar (March 23— April 24), Vienna
(May 6-June 18), Frankfurt am Main (June 30-luly 30), Chemnitz
(August U-September 10), Waldenburg in Silesia (now Walbrzych,
January-February 1941), and Halle (April 5-20) (see Table 2) Nine
of these twelve cities were the capitals of their respective districts,
which was clearly an important criterion in their selection The local
leadership of the NSDAP in each district acted as organizer for that
stage In much the same way the local party assumed responsibility
for on-the-spot propaganda for the exhibition and for organizing the

opening ceremony priority booking,40 special trains, and the like
Why a period of several months was allowed to elapse between
some of the venues of the exhibition is not known, but presumably
organizational problems were responsible for the delays

The exhibition was shown in a variety of spaces In some
cities "adult-education" facilities were utilized, but for the most part
museums or art galleries were chosen — a paradoxical state of affairs,
since "degenerate" art was denied any artistic value, in addition to
which the works were practically uninsured 4I

The exhibition was handed back to the Propagandaministerium
(Propaganda ministry) in November of 1941 4: According to pub-
lished figures, it had been seen by more than 3 2 million people

During the summer months of 1937 the spectacular build-up to
the Eiilijrlelc Kunst exhibition in Munich was widely covered in the
German press, but public interest palpably waned once that exhibi-
tion was over While the national dailies still carried reports of the
exhibition when it reached Berlin, they took no further notice of any
of its subsequent stops From then on reporting was limited to the
local press As a rule, the opening ceremony held in the presence of
high-ranking party officials, was described in detail, often covering
an entire page, accompanied by several illustrations of "degenerate"
art and lengthy passages quoted from the opening speeches Having
been made to toe the party line and conform to state ideology, the
press was simply required to repeat official accounts In doing so, it
availed itself of the same stereotypes as had the exhibition orga-
nizers, and not only on a linguistic level It was always the same
works of art that were reproduced (for example, Eugen Hoffmann's
Madchen nut blauem Haar [Girl with blue hair]), often incorrectly
captioned or even without captions

During the four years Entartete Kunst toured Germany and Aus-
tria its content changed The first sales of "degenerate" art to foreign
buyers began in the summer of 1938, which meant that the more
important works were gradually removed from the exhibition and
replaced by less significant pieces, especially by examples of graphic
art Works by local artists from regional collections were also added
at each of the exhibition's venues in order to give it greater topicality
and local character The few lists that have been previously avail-
able41 and photographs of the exhibition rooms have allowed only
a limited reconstruction of the exhibition's individual stages.

The Berlin exhibition (figs 59, 69-70) differed fundamentally
from that in Munich in both the choice of works on display and the
plan behind their presentation The most important changes were
outlined in a handout entitled "Informationsmaterial fur die Schrift-
leitungen" (Information sheet for editors), prepared by the Propa-
gandaministerium for the press preview

Only a section of the material shown in Munich is exhibited ih Berlin Tlie
exhibition has been enlarged and supplemented with paintings and sculptures
that could previously be seen in the German capital. In planning the Berlin
exhibition the underlying motive has been [decisive] The material as
a whole has therefore been structured around different groups, each of which

I igurc 69

EnlarUU Kiowl at the Haus der Kunst Berlin, w*n

T 1

I^^HHB

1

^i -*■ J

_Wf-*l

»■■>'

i |

■ ■ •

1 fl

I

Figure 70

Joseph Coebbels iccnteri visits EiflarMt Kumf in Htrlm on February ':

accompanied bv Hartmut Pistaucr I left ;, work by Marcks and Nolde can be seen

Figure 71

Enlnrlrlr Kunst at the Kunstpalast am Ehrenhol, Dusseldorf, 1938

Figure 72

Pistauer leads Nazi party officials through Enfurlrlr Kunst, Dusseldorf, 1938, sculpture

by Hoffmann and Niestrath can be seen at right

Per \oUenaen
y,cht*ore o

Figures 73-75

Gallery views of EnUirltlt Kunst at the Landeshaus, Stettin, !939, at left is the photo-
graph of dealer Alfred Flechtheim, work that tan be identified is by Freundlich, Gies,
Kirchner, Kurth, Meidner, and Noldc

ZUSCHLAC

is covered by an introductory essay in the catalogue In assembling the
visual material special attention was paid to the various specific areas that
show the connection between degenerate art and the cultural program o\
Bolshevism A large part of the exhibition is taken up by a comparison
between degenerate art and those works that were placed at the
organizers' disposal by the Psychiatnsche Klimk of Heidelberg 44
The increased emphasis on the "Bolshevist" character of the
vilified works, which is explicitly stressed in this passage, is also
revealed by a shift of emphasis in terms of the exhibition's contents
whereas it had been the Expressionists who bore the brunt of the
attack in Munich, it was the sociocritical, politically committed art
of the 1920s that was preponderant in Berlin, especially the work of
the Dresdner Sezession Cruppe 1919 and ASSO45 A more political
tone also marked the banners and slogans that accompanied the
exhibition (on this occasion they were not lifted from Willnch's
book, nor were they painted directly on the walls [fig 59]) This
also influenced the choice of works reproduced in the exhibition
guide, a quarter of which clearly demonstrated social criticism
Another striking difference between Munich and Berlin was the link
between the order in which the paintings were hung and the layout
of the "catalogue," or exhibition guide (see the facsimile and transla-
tion in this volume) This guide was written only after preparations
for the Berlin exhibition were underway and divided "degenerate art"
into nine sections, each of which was defined in terms of its content
"collapse of sensitivity to form and color," religious subjects, "class-
struggle" propaganda, "draft-dodging," "moral program of Bolshev-
ism" racial degeneration, mental degeneration, Jewish art, and
"sheer insanity" This grouping provided the installation model not
only in Berlin but at all subsequent venues, as is clear from the
reviews of those exhibitions Similarly the comparison between
"degenerate" art and works painted by patients at the Psychiatrische
Klinik in Heidelberg was emphasized as a special feature in Berlin
and later venues One quarter of the illustration pages in the guide
featured reproductions of the work of these psychiatric patients,
taken from the famous Prinzhorn Collection Conversely works by
a number of artists were removed from the Berlin exhibition either
because protests had been raised at the way in which they had been
attacked — one thinks here of war heroes August Macke and Franz
Marc and foreigners Piet Mondrian and Edvard Munch — or because
they were regarded as "critical cases " The latter group included
prominent Expressionists Ernst Barlach, Kathe Kollwitz, and
Wilhelm Lehmbruck, whose acceptance hinged on the outcome of
the continuing debate over the legitimacy of Nordic Expressionism,
and Impressionist Lovis Corinth, a well-established and highly
respected older artist, whose youthful style had been an example of
that same "healthy" academic art that was so admired and promoted
by the NSDAP46 The comments about individual artists and their
works that had been written directly on the wall in Munich were
indicated in Berlin on tiny black-and-white labels, which were
used subsequently at other venues (fig 76) "

l*M\im

^.Jtogtt *M^|

\\

f^

of Entarttti Kunsl at the Festspielhai
nd Molzahn

Salzburg, 1938, identifiable work is

The corpus of works exhibited in Berlin was taken virtually
unchanged at the next two venues, Leipzig and Diisseldorf (figs
71-72) Whereas there was talk in Leipzig of "large banners with
basic personal revelations by the leading art-Bolshevists" [Leipziger
Neueste Nachnchten, May 14, 1938), these are not in evidence in the
few surviving photographs that document the Diisseldorf exhibition
Presumably the organizers in the latter city decided to dispense with
this aggressive form of defamation,4" although their qualms did not
extend to the "stone-tablet-like posters with statements by the
Fuhrer" [Frankfurter Zettung, February 27, 1938, fig 72) that had been
prepared for the Berlin exhibition Quotations from Hitler's speeches
at NSDAP party rallies and the opening of the Haus der Deutschen
Kunst also peppered the pages of the exhibition guide, in addition to
being a feature of the installation at each of its venues, as was true of
statements by artists and critics and the comparison of "degenerate"
art with art by the mentally ill

One example of the attempt to give each exhibition "local
color" was the addition in Diisseldorf of a large photograph of the
well-known Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim, who until 1933
had owned modern art galleries in Berlin and Dusseldorf (the photo-
graph remained in the exhibition in Salzburg, Hamburg, Stettin
[figs 73-75], and Weimar) 49 Also in Dusseldorf Pistauer ran "edu-
cational courses" in which he gave "a comprehensive survey of
the political and cultural background of this pseudoart from the
previous system" and explained "the links that existed between the
degenerate art produced at that time and the Bolshevist program of
subversion" (Rbeiniscbe Landeszeilung — Role Erde, July 8, 1938)

An important change occurred in September 1938 during the
fifth stop of the exhibition, in Salzburg (fig 76), the first Austrian
venue, where it was shown six months after the annexation of
Austria Seventy-one works were reclaimed and sent back to
Berlin, including Max Beckmann's Selbstbildnis mil rotem Scbal (Self-
portrait with red scarf, fig 162), Marc Chagall's Die Prise [Rabbmer)
(The pinch of snuff [Rabbi], fig 118), Dix's Der Schutzengrabat (The
trench), Lyonel Feininger's Teltow, Erich Heckel's Sitzender Mann

Figure 77

E(il,irlrlr Kunsl at the Schulausstellungsgcbaudc, Hamburg, 1938

Entdrtctc Kunu

[
^1

Figure 78

Pages from an article on EnUirtttt Kunst published in H,mbutt)tt Frandenblatt,
November II, 1938, work illustrated is by Adler, Camenisch, Gies, Grosz,
K1e.nschm.dt. and Wollhc.m

Figure 79

Gallery in the exhibition EntarMc Mustk (Degenerate music l at the Landesmuseun

Weimar, 1939, at right is organizer Hans Severus Ziegler

ZUS( H I. A C

„Entartete Kunst

ZUR AUSSTEUUNG

... Jetitr Stem rrinl veL-u&t .n'ini Inl'kvft jcder
Zaun.kdtsXhHvtH iede*Haus iectes Weib,
jeder ^irr. UndJitden.Juden mhitHe't iiui,dem
&\if*t empe-r $ nine, piolctte u
bari:ge,KhHHir:t\irii'c),\l>eieHdej<edel*di\
lMfdtmtiopf*sMttMtie,'mdeilit+liliege>tde,-
namenlos, whiles .... Otai/alt tint sie Sftbfl 'ft
vespnach eine„judnk-fte k'ata*1rophe'ae*anitt*

Figures 80-81

Pages from an article on EntarUte Kumt published in Die Pause (Vienna), June 1939,
above work by Chagall, Kirchner, Kokoschka, and Schmidt Rottlull, below work by
Adler, Schlemmer, and Schwitters

Figure 82

Gauleiter ([District leader! Sprenger (fourth from the right] visiting EnUtrtete Kunst i

the Kunstausstellungshaus, Frankfurt, July 22, 1939

KUNSMRRglNN

Figure 83

Article by H T Wust on the Frankfurt showing of Enlarltli Kuml published in the
Rhm-Mamnchi Somtajs-Zdtmj, July 9, 1939, identifiable work is by Adler, Baumeister,
Chagall, Haizmann, Hoffmann, Ritschl, and Schwitters

(Seated man kail I Infers /)ir Tnmknie (The drunken woman),

Kandinsky's Gijtgriine Sicbtl (Yellow green crescent) I mm I udwig
Kirchner's Bildnii ( Islwi Scbltmmn (Portrait <>l ( >skar Schlemmer,
fig 259 Kiev Urn im fiscb (Around the fish; fig 280), Oskai

kokoschkas On U'hi.M'mu! ' I lu- tempest, fig 57), Otto Mueller's
Dnri Frauro (Three women iig 506) Emil Nolde's altarpiece Das
Lcbcn I brisli I lu life ol Christ, figs 521-29), Christian Rohlfs's
KiipclU iii Dinktlsbiibl (Chapel in Dinkelsbiihl), and Karl Schmidt-
Rottluffs Stlbstbildnif iSclr portrait, hg 37!) (see note 43) The
return ol these important works to Merlin was prompted hy the
establishment of a warehouse at Schloss Niederschonhauscn for the
assembly ot all those works that were "internationally exploitable,"
in other words, those that could most profitably be sold abroad and
converted into foreign currency s"

In order to fill the gaps left by the removal of these works 1 15
more paintings and examples of graphic art, generally of "lesser"
quality (that is, lesser value), were removed from the stock of expro-
priated art in Berlin and added to the exhibition in time for its
opening in Hamburg ( figs 77-78) S| A unique feature of the Ham-
burg exhibition was deployment of student teachers from the city's
schools who organized more than two hundred guided tours of the
exhibition {Hamburger Tatieblitt, December 22, 1938)

In Weimar, the eighth venue, the exhibition was combined
with one entitled Endirtftf Mmik (Degenerate music, figs 79, 133,
140) The latter exhibition had first been staged in Dusseldorf, the
"Reichshauptstadt der Musik" (Reich music capital), from May 24 to
lune 14, 1938, as part of the Reicbsmusiktagt (Reich music festival) " By
means of scores, libretti, photographs, stage designs, and musical
examples available on headphones the "degenerate tonality"
of composers as diverse as Berg, Hindemith, Krenek, Schoenberg,
Stravinsky Webern, and Weill was held up to public ridicule Enl.ir-
Iflf Musik was organized in Dusseldorf primarily by Hans Severus
Ziegler, general administrator of the Weimarer Nationaltheater,
deputy district leader of the Thunngian branch of the NSDAP
and Reichskulturwart (Reich supervisor of culture) He was
almost certainly behind the idea of combining fnliirlcte Musik
with fnlitrlfle Kunsl in Weimar

In its combined and expanded form the exhibition traveled
to Vienna (figs 80-81), Frankfurt am Main (figs 82-83), and
Chemnitz, where it closed prematurely after only two weeks,55 as
a result of the onset of the Second World War At this time Entar-
Iflf KtiHSt was one of six exhibitions traveling through the Reich
under the sponsorship of the Institut fur Deutsche Kultur- und
Wirtschaftspropaganda On September 6, 1939, the president of the
Werberat fur Deutsche Wirtschaft (German economic publicity
council), which controlled the Institut, issued a general ban on
exhibitions ,4 The immediate closing of the exhibitions caused finan-
cial problems for the Institut, which ceased its activities until 1941

In January of that year the Reichspropagandaleitung decided to

revive the traveling exhibitions with seven shows, including Entartctt
Kunst The aim was now to bring the exhibitions to cities that had
been considered too small in the past H A much reduced version
of Eiiliirttlf Kunsl, with only two hundred works and without the
Entartete Musik section, was installed in Waldenburg, Silesia, as part
of an increase in propaganda activites in a region that had been
"reunited" with the Reich by Hitler in 1939 In April of 1941 the
exhibition was seen in I falle an der Saale M

The Institut fur I )eutsche Kultur- und Wirtschaftspropaganda
returned Entartete Kunst to the Propagandaministenum on November
12, 1941 An inventory drawn up at that time 'see note 43) records
7 sculptures, about 50 paintings, and approximately 180 works of
graphic art When this list is compared with the inventory of works
originally exhibited in Munich, it appears that, of the works
returned in 1941, only 8 paintings (by Philipp Bauknecht, Herbert
Bayer, Conrad Felixmuller, Otto Gleichmann, Oskar Schlemmer,
Werner Scholz, and Friedrich Skade), one sculpture (Ludwig Cies's
Kruzifixus), and 32 graphic works had been on view in Munich in
1937 and were presumably the only works to have been exhibited
at all thirteen venues ■

Noin

This essay was written in coniunction with my dissertation at the University ot
Heidelberg under the supervision of Professor Dr Peter Anselm Riedl, whose continu-
ing support I wish to acknowledge I am grateful for the assistance oi the national and
municipal archives in the Federal Republic of Germany the German Democratic
Republic, Austria, and Poland The eyewitnesses whom I interviewed provided
valuable information and were generous in sharing it with me I also wish to thank
Dr Andreas Huneke and Dr Mario-Andreas von Luttichau for their support I am
especially indebted to Cornells Bol, Thomas Haffner, Wolfram T.chlcr C hnstmut
Prager Andrea Schmidt, and Wolfgang Schrock Schmidt for their valuable advice and
stimulating discussions

1 Gerhard Marcks, letter to Oskar Schlemmer, December 12. 1937. Staatsgalene
Stuttgart, Oskar-Schlemmer-Archiv

2 Ernst Bloch, "Gauklerfest unterm Calgen," in his Erbschajl Jir.rr Zol, rev ed

l Frankfurt Suhrkamp, 1985 i, 80 Bloch had tied from Germany four years earlier and,
after passing through Switzerland, Vienna, Paris, and Prague, had settled in the
United States, where he was to remain until 1948

3 For an overview of the history of National Socialist cultural policy and
especially of the activities of the Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur see Hildegard
Brenner, Die Kumtpolitik its Natiomhaialisme iRembek Rowohlt. 1963 ? 21
Remhard Hollmus, Diis Ami Rosenberg und seint Grantr Zum MMblkampf im
iwliona/sozw/istiscdni Herrscbaftssystem I Stuttgart Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1970), 27-
54, and Stephanie Barron's hrst essay in this volume

4 The details presented in Table ! are based on my own research and on the
following literature Rudigei lorn, vied unset Reich labrtausaut dautni" — litrlcftU
1911-1945 Kunsl und Kunslpolilit m NatiomiUozuilimus exh cat Bielefeld Kunslhallc,
1981), Michael Koch, "Kulturkampf in Karlsruhe Zur Ausstellung Regierungskunsi
1918-1933," in Kunsl in Karkruhe I9O0-I9SO (exh cat, Karlsruhe Staatliche
Kunsthalle 1981 1, 102-28, Ulrich Weitz, "Das Bild behndet sich in Schutihatt

in Stuttgart im Driltm Rncfc Anpaaung, Widentand, Verfolavnj (Jir hihrc ivn 1911-1939
(exh cat, Stuttgart Stadtische Galene unterm Turm, 1984 150-63, Werner
Alberg, DfcsrUor/n Kunslszoir I93J-io<5 lexh cat Dusseldort Stadtmuscum, 19871,

z II s t II L a c

47-49, 61, Marlene Angermeyer-Deubner, "Die Kunsthalle im Drittcn Reich," in
Stilslreil und Fuferrrfirmzi/). Kunsller und Werk m Baden 1930-1945 (cxh cat edited by
Wilfned Rosslmg, Karlsruhe Badischer Kunstverein, 1987), 139-63, Hans-Jiirgen
Buderer, Etllartttt Kunst Bachlagnalmtahton in dn Stadtiscben Kunslballe Minnferim (937
(exh cat, Mannheim Stadtische Kunsthalle, 1987), Karoline Hille, "Chagall aul dem
Handwagen Die Vorlaufer der Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst,"' in Klaus Behnken and
Frank Wagner, eds , Inszenierung da Macbl Asffefliscfef Faszination im Fascfeismus (exh cat,
Berlin Neue Gesellschaft fur bildende Kunst, 1987), 159-68, and Karl Bnx, "Mod-
erne Kunst am Pranger Zur Ausstellung Kunst, die nicht aus unserer Seele kam, '"
Karl-Morx-StadV Mmanaeb 7 ( 1988) 64-67

5 Koch, "Kulturkampf in Karlsruhe," 102 The political character of the exhibi-
tions was repeatedly stressed by the National Socialists themselves The Stadtarchiv
Dortmund (StADo), for example, contains a letter of October 25, 1935, from the
Kulturamt (Office of culture) in Dresden to the mayor of Dortmund indicating that
Entartete Kunsl was not an art exhibition in the sense proclaimed by the president of the
Reichskammer der bildende Kunste (Reich chamber of visual arts) on April 10, 1935,
but a political demonstration (StADo, Best 113, Zg 29/1951, Nr 116, Bl 14)

6 Michael Koch, "Kunstpolitik," in Otto Borst, ed , Das Driltt Rncfc in Baden und
Wurltemberg (Stuttgart Theiss, 1988), 240

7 One exception to this was Karlsruhe, where the works shown at the exhibition
rZegierungskunsl t9iH-i9Ji were reintegrated into the gallery's collection when it was
rehung, see Koch, "Kulturkampf in Karlsruhe," 119

8 Brenner, Dif fCunsiJralililt, 41

9 Jbrn, " unrd unsrr Rricfc," 6

10 One of the reviewers of the Mannheim exhibition (Nrurs Miinnforimer Volksblalt,
April 5, 1933) voiced much the same criticism "It is claimed that people's 'eyes are
now to be opened,' and that 'the nation is to be called upon to judge for itself But
everything possible has been done to confuse and blindfold them'"

11 On the principles of contrasting different types of art see Hans-Ernst Mittig,
"Miinchen, 50 Jahre nach der Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst," Kritiscbc Baricbte 16, no 2
(1988) 78

12 Erlangu Neuesle Nacbnchten, July 26, 1933, FrU^rr Tagblatt, July 28, 1933

13 Eberhard Jackel, Hitlrrs Weltanschauung Entwurj emer Htrrscbaft, 3d ed , rev and
enl (Stuttgart Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1986), 60

14 Johannes Volmert, "Politische Rhetonk des Nationalsoziahsmus," in Konrad
Ehlich, ed, Spraehe m Faschismus (Frankfurt Suhrkamp, 1989), 143

15 Both Paul Ortwin Rave (KumlJikilur im Drilloi Rricfe, ed Uwe M Schneede
[Berlin Argon, 1987], 45) and Hildegard Brenner {Die Kunstpolitik, 37-38) attributed
a prototypical character to the Karlsruhe exhibition, which they claimed set the tone
for all later comparable installations Their opinion has been taken over by virtually
all subsequent writers on the subject Hille ("Chagall aul dem Handwagen," 165)
believes that it was the preliminary exhibition in Mannheim that was the immediate
model for the 1937 exhibition

16 Spietlelbilder da Verfalls in dn Kunst (Images of decadence in art), the title usually
given to the Dresden exhibition by many writers on the subject, is based on an arti-
cle by Richard Miiller published in the Dresdner Anzeiger of September 23, 1933, and
reprinted in Brenner, Die Kunstpolitik, 175-77 and Diether Schmidt, ed, In lelzler
Stunde, J933-1945, vol 2 of Scbriften deutscber Kunsilfr Jrs zwanzigslen Jabrbunderts (Dresden
VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1964), 213-14 The correct title, Entartete Kunst, appears in
other newspaper reviews of the period, including the Dresdner Nacnncnloi, September
22, 1933, and the Bhslriertcr BrarMchltr, December 16, 1933, 1713-15, 1742, as well as

in artists' memoirs for example, Hans Crundig, Zunscben Karneval und Ascbermittwocb,
14th ed (Berlin Dietz, 1986), 229, and Wilhelm Rudolph, Dresden « Holzsc/jnillr unj
Federzeicbnungen (Leipzig Reclam, 1983), 7

17 The Stadtarchiv Dortmund contains three files relevant to this exhibition (Best
113, Zg 29/1951, Nr 115-116, 126) a series of press cuttings and reports on prepara-
tions for the exhibition, with notes on various organizational matters, and two lists

of the works exhibited The first of these is a typewritten "packing list" drawn up in
Dresden and dispatched with the crates, the second, which differs from the first only
in minor details, is a handwritten list compiled when the crates were unpacked tn
Dortmund It is therefore possible to reconstruct the Dresden exhibition by compar-
ing the corpus of works in these two lists with the list of those first exhibited in

Dresden in 1933 {Dresdner Nacbricbltn, September 22, 1933, see Table 1) It emerges
that the original number of oil paintings was increased from 42 to 48 for the traveling
exhibition, while the number of sculptures was reduced from 10 to 6, and the water-
colors and engravings from 155 ( 43 watercolors and 1 12 engravings) to a total of 40

18 The predominantly high attendance figures were derived from the galleries' own
statistics and from local press reports (see Table I)

19 This is illustrated in one instance by a letter dated April 24, 1933, from the
curator of the museum in Mannheim, Edmund Strubmg, to Alfred Hentzen, a mem-
ber of the staff of the Berlin Nationalgalene "I should like to emphasize expressly that
the exhibition [Kulturbolscbewistiscbt Bildcr] has been organized not only against my rec-
ommendation and in the face of my repeated objections but without my involvement
Full responsibility for it is to be borne by Mr Cebele von Waldstein, the commis-
sioner assigned to the Kunsthalle" (archives of the Stadtische Kunsthalle Mannheim,
see Hille, "Chagall auf dem Handwagen," 166 n 14)

20 In Dresden in 1933, for example, "a series of visitors who tried to defend the
works on view were arrested" (Fritz Loftier, Otto Dix t89f-i9«9 Oeuvre der Gemalde
[Recklinghausen Aurel Bongers, 1981 1, 46) On the scandal that ensued in Frankfurt
in 1936 see the Frankfurter Volksblall of September 9, 1936, and files in the Stadtarchiv
Frankfurt am Main (Magistratsakten, Az 6022, Bd 1, Bl 258-65c)

21 Oskar Scfelmm.tr Bnefe und Tagebucber, ed Tut Schlemmer (Munich A Langen/
C Miiller, 1958), 308-9

22 The leaders of the Studentenbund, Otto Andreas Schreiber and Fritz Hippler,
organized an exhibition under the title Dmsstg deulscbe Kunstlrr (Thirty German artists)
at the Calerie Ferdinand Moller in Berlin, opening on July 22, 1933 It contained works
by, among others, Barlach, Lehmbruck, Macke, Nolde, Rohlfs, and Schmidt-Rottluff
Even before it had opened, the exhibition was violently attacked by nationalist groups
associated with Alfred Rosenberg's Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur, and after only
three days it was temporarily closed by the Reichsinnenmimster (Reich minister of the
interior), Wilhelm Frick See Brenner. Die Kunstpolitik, 70-71, and Eberhard Roters,
Galene Ferdinand Moller Die Grscfeicfetr rinrr Galeriefiii moderne Kunsl in Deulscbland 1917-1956
(Berlin Cebruder Mann, 19841, 303

23 Fritz Stern, "Der Nationalsoziahsmus als Versuchung," in Otfned Hofius, ed ,
Rrjlrxionoi Jinstm-r Zeit (Tubingen Mohr, 1984), 9

24 It is particularly noteworthy that none of the major cities or cultural centers —
Berlin, the capital of the German Reich, or Munich, the cradle of National Socialism,
or Hamburg, the "city of trade" — organized its own Schandausstcllung The precursors
of Entarlete Kunsl were largely provincial actions, perhaps because a museum-going
urban populace familiar with modern art would have been too sophisticated for a
chamber-of-horrors approach to be successful

25 See Mario-Andreas von Luttichau's essay in this volume and his article "Entar-
tete Kunst," in Stiificmen der iVWcnif Die bedeutenden Kurtstausstellungen des 20. Jabrbunderts m
Deulscbland (exh cat , Berlin Berlinische Calerie, 1988), 289-98.

26 Rave, Kumldiklalur, 145-46

A collection of press clippings about the exhibition, including reviews, is
preserved in Munich in the Stadtarchiv (ZA "Entartete Kunst")

27 Georg Bussmann, "'Entartete Kunst' Blick auf einen nutzhchen Mythos," in
Dmlscfet Kunsl im 20 Jabrbunderl Malerei und Plastik 1905-1985 (exh cat , Stuttgart
Staatsgalerie, 1986), 109

28 Will Grohmann, WassiJy Kandmsky, Junge Kunst, vol 42 (Leipzig Klmkhardt &
Biermann, 1924), a copy of the book (NS inv no 16467) was displayed with others
from the Junge Kunst series in the first room on the ground floor of Entarlete Kunsl

29 See Peter-Klaus Schuster, "Munchen — das Verhangnis emer Kunststadt," in
Die "Kunslsladl" Muncben 1937 Nalionalsozialismus und 'Entarlete Kunsl " (Munich Prestel,
1987), 29-31, figs 15-16

30 A photograph printed in Drr Fuferrr, July 25, 1937, and the Leipzig* Tagszcituttg,
May 12, 1938, shows that this label was later removed and stuck to the upper right-
hand corner of Schwitters's Menbdd

31 Carl Lmfert, "Ruckblick auf entartete Kunst, " Frankfurter Zeilum), November 14,
1937, Schuster, "Munchen," 30, and Andreas Huneke, "Funktionen der Station 'Entar-
tete Kunst,'" in Sfafionm der Modeme, 48

32 Linfert, "Ruckblick"

J3 ["his information comes from in unpublished interview with Magdalen Mary
who worked is .1 10 retarj foi Mols Schardt in tin- United States in the 1930s, tl»
interview was conducted by I Ifriede I isi hingct and William Moritz m l-os Angeles in
Septembei ol 1988 I am grateful to Professor Moritz bi drawing it to my attention

34 I mini "RUckblk k

35 lorn Merkert I Vi Auhrag Imsst ( .cgenwan in Museum der Gegtnurari Kumt
in i>/|rnilnitoi S.immJuii.joi f>£s 1937 (exh cat, Dusseldorf Kunstsammlung Nordrhnn
». strait n 198 B8) Id

3c. Zentrales Staatsarchfv Potsdam iZStAl, Best 5001-743, BI 23

37 DicTagtbikbtrom bstpb GotbbA Siimtlicbe Frngmmtt, ed Elke Frohlich (Munich
K C Saui 1987) pi I vol I 211, see also entries for August I (221), August 20

2M and September I, 1437 (251)

38 The director ot the Institut lur I Vutschc Kultur und Wirtschattspropaganda,
VCaldemai Stcincckei organized the Gnsst tmlibohcbwistixbt Aussltllmj Nttntbm) 1937
(Great anti-Bolshevist exhibition Nuremberg 1937, fig 5), lor example It ran from
September 5 to September 24 and was then shown in several other towns and cities,
Including Berlin (November <>, 1937-lanuary 9, 19381 The Institut was also in charge
of the traveling exhibition Der ru'it/r lutlt I The eternal lew, tig 61, which was taken
over from the Rnchspropagandaleitung (venues of the exhibition Munich, November
8, 1937-lanuary 31, 1938, Vienna, opening August 2, 1938, Berlin, November 12.
1938-lanuary 14, 1939, Bremen, February 4-March 5, Dresden, until April 23, Mag
dchurg Mas- 22-lunc 1 1 1 Works of art were also included among the "documentary
material' shown at these exhibitions, see the Natiotufsoziiiustrscbe Briimtoizriluiti?,
November 21. 1937, Rave, Kumliiikl.ifur, 122, and Joseph Wulf, Die rnWmJm Kuiislr im
Onltm KnJ' Eim Dahmmlalim I Franklurt/Berlm/Vienna Ullstem, 1983), 317 n 2

39 Berlin Document Center, Best Rnchskammer der bildenden Kunste,
Personalakte Hartmut Pistauer

40 By order oi Hitler htmselt, visitors to the Munich exhibition were admitted free
of charge (see the dralt of a letter from Franz Hofmann to Joseph Goebbels, March 9,
1938, ZStA, Best 5001-743, BI 36) An entrance charge was instituted at each of the
subsequent venues, however

41 Purely as a formality the objects included in the exhibition were insured lor
a total oi 20,000 retchsmarks, since "the only value they have is lor instruction and
enlightenment" l Franz Holmann, letter to Hartmut Pistauer, March 3, 1938, ZStA,
Best 5001-743, BI 35)

42 ZStA, Best 5001-1018, BI 29-36

43 These comprise an incomplete list of the contents of the exhibition in the Kunst-
museum Dusseldorf in June 1938 I Barbara Lepper, Vtrbotm. vtrjolgt: Kiiiutdiktahir m i
Reicb (exh cat, Duisburg Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, 1983], 41-47, document 9),
a list of the works sent back to Berlin from Salzburg in September 1938 (ZStA,

Best 5001-743, BI 75-761, a list of works added to the Hamburg exhibition in
November 1938 (ZStA. Best 5001-743, BI 77-801, and a list of works returned to

No

nber 12, 1941 (ZStA, Best 5001-1018

algalene, Archiv Hansen
artete Kunst,'" 45—46
■inth, Marc. Macke, Lehmbruck, Kollwitz

the Reichspropagandamtnislt
BI 29-36)

44 Staatltche Museen zu Berlin, Na

45 Huneke, 'Funktionen der Station En

46 Paul Westheim, "Em Ruckzieher Co
nicht mehr aul der Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst," originally published in the Ptimer
Togesza'hlfuj ol March 27-28, 1938, and reprinted with explanatory notes in Tanja
Frank, ed , Puul Wntbnm Kumlknltk jus J™ Exil i Hanau Muller 6. Kiepenhauer, 1985),
80-83, 274-75 n 81 For Edvard Munch see Remhard Pipers letter to Ernst Barlach,
July 28, 1937, published in Ernst Piper, NduWsozulisfische Kunslpolitik Ernst ftirUfc
unJ Jir "Entorlele fCunst" (Frankfurt Suhrkamp, 1987), 198

47 Inlormation about the Berlin exhibition is also provided by a detailed report
written by Felix Hartlaub in a letter ol February 28, 1938, to his father, Gustav F
Hartlaub, the director of the Kunsthalle Mannheim from 1923 to 1933, see Felix
Hiriljuf. m smim flnc/oi, eds Erna Krauss and G F Hartlaub (Tubingen Rainer
Wunderlich, 1958), 159-60

48 Bernard Schulze, who saw the exhibitions in Berlin and Dusseldorf at the age of
23, confirmed this assumption in an article (Frankfurter Alltfrmrinr ZriluiuJ July 4, 1987)
and a conversation with the author on October 2, 1989

49 rhis information came from tht i i f a contemporary witness, C arl

Lautcrbach, published in Zr.i Ui./.i.-m lum 19 198

so Sec Andreas I I i' - lay in this volume At the same time the Propaganda

ministenum demanded the return ol three other works ol art, I )ix's /liljnii in Tunzmn
Anita Brrfm and a sculpture and a relief by ( lerhard Man It! whii Ii n had lent to an
exhibition, Eurujus SilmKiM-,im/i( ™ ( Mm I urope's battle with destiny in tli-
held at that year's party rally in Nuremberg ZStA Best 5001-743 HI X4 86

51 The list of works added to the exhibition lot its Hamburg venue in Novembei
1938 is preserved in Potsdam ZStA Best SOOI743, BI 77-80)

Information about the FJamburg exhibition is also provided in a detailed report
written by limmy Ernst, son ot Max I rnst, in his memoirs, A Not-So-Slill Mr A Mmott
(New York St Martin's/Marck, 1984), 94-96 The Staatsarchiv Hamburg 135 I
l-IV 5227) contains press clippings, including reviews of the exhibition

52 See Albrecht Diimling and Peter Girth, eds , EnUrtrir Alusit Zur Duisehfor/er
Ausslr/Juiu; ivn 1938, Emr Ifnmmrtilirrlr /crtonslrMiflicni (Dusseldorf Kleinhcrne,

I4HK ' and the essay by Michael Meyer in this volume

53 Uieiuniizer TagAklt, August 27 1939

I am grateful to Georg Bruhl, Chemnitz, lor his generous gift of an entrance
ticket for the Chemnitz exhibition ' hg 41 1

54 Hugo Fischer, head of the Institut fur Deutsche Kultur und Wirtschafts-
propaganda, letter to Joseph Goebbels, December I, 1939 'Bundesarchiv Koblenz,
R 55 IReichsministcrium fur Volksaulklarung und Propaganda!/ 3 54, BI 95-97)

55 Unsrr Willi una1 Wtg, 1941, no 2 I February) back cover, and no 3 (March) 26,
28 (BA, NSD 12/31940/41 1 L/nsrr Willr una1 Wtd was the official monthly newsletter
of the Reichspropagandaleitung and was edited by loseph Goebbels I would like to
thank Annette Sprengel of Magdeburg for drawing my attention to this publication

56 Press clippings, including reviews, for the exhibition in Halle an der Saale are
preserved in the Stadtarchive Halle/Saale (321)

ZUSCHLAC

Table I

Exhibitions of "degenerate'' art

preceding the 1937 "Entartete Kunst" exhibition in Munich

Note Each primary exhibition is followed by a list of
the venues to which that exhibition traveled, whether
in its entirety or in an altered format The primary
exhibitions are arranged chronologically

Mannheim, Kunsthalle

Kulturbohcbtwistiscbc Bildir (Images of cultural

Bolshevism I

April 4-lune 5, 1933

Organized by Otto Cebele von Waldstein,

"kommissanscher Hilfsreterent"

(acting assistant consultant!

21)141 visitors

Adults only

Selected reviews

Hakmkmizbaimtr. April 3, May 10 and 24, 1933
Nmc Mamihtmtr Ztilitng, April 5 and 13, May 9, 1933
Nans Mamhrimir Volksblatt, April 5, May 27, 1933
Mambdma Tajtblatt, April 16, 1933

Works on view comprised sixty-four oils, including
paintings by Adler {Mutter mid Tocbter), Baumeister
{Tiscbgisdhcbajt), Beckmann tCbnslus mi iicEhcbmham,
among others), Chagall (Dir Prist, among others),
Delaunay Derain, Dix, Ensor, Fuhr, Cleichmann (Dit
Braul), Crosz {Metropolis [Blicfe in dit Grosstadl], BiHtlis
Mix Htriminn-Nfissf), Heckel, Hoerle {Melancholic),
Hofer, Jawlensky (Sizilumerin), Kanoldt, Kirchner,
Kleinschmidt {Stilleben), Marc, Munch, Nolde, Pech-
stein, Rohlfs, Schlemmer (Fr.iHoitrfp/if), and Schlichter,
two sculptures, by Schreiner {Sitzaidts Madtbtn) and
Archipenko (Zirn Fr.nmt), and twenty works of graphic
art, including works by Adler, Chagall, Delaunay,
Crosz, Kirchner, Kokoschka, El Lissitzky Masereel,

Subsequent mints

Nolde, Pechstein, and Rohlfs A checklist of the
exhibition is preserved in the archives of the Stadt-
ische Kunsthalle Mannheim

The paintings were exhibited unlramed, and the
names of the dealers (Cassirer, Flechtheim, and Tan-
nenbauml and the purchase prices were noted (a
proven method of National Socialist artistic criticism
utilized in these exhibitions from now on)

There was also a Musterkabinett (model gallery)
with examples of "good" art by Mannheim-based
artists, including Klein, Oertel, Otto, Schindler and
Stohner

Munich

Mambamtr Galtrieankauje

(Mannheim gallery acquisitions)
June 25-July 12, 1933

Selected reviews

Miincbnrr Nfiitstr Nflcbricbfnt, June 28, 1933
Muucben-Augsburgische Abcndzcitmg, June 29, 1933
Volkmhn Btobachtir, lune 29, 1933

Thirty-two works from the Mannheim exhibition
were contrasted to the paintings in a commemorative
exhibition marking Edmund Steppes's sixtieth
birthday

Erlangen, Orangerie (Kun
Marmbamtr Scbreckenskammer
! Mannheim chamber of horrors)
July 23-August 13, 1933

Selected reviews

Erlmga Neueste Nacdricbtoi, July 22 and 26, 1933

ErUmga TuibliU, luly 22 and 28, 1933

The thirty-two paintings from the Munich venue were
contrasted to works of unknown provenance produced
by the mentally ill, drawings by children, and a repro-
duction of a hiteenth-century Russian icon

Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle

Reqitrumlskunst (9(8-1933 (Government art 1918-1933)

April 8-30, 1933

Organized by Hans Adolf Biihler, artist and director of

the Kunsthalle and Kunstakademie

Adults only

Selected reviews

Dtr Fuhrcr. April 8, 1933
Karlsruber Tagblalt, April 8, 1933
Karlsruber Ztitutu), April 10, 1933

The exhibition featured 18 oil paintings by Bizer
(Rtbbtrg I Rtbyartli), Corinth (.WalcbaKaltmdxbaft,
Bildmi Cbarlottt Btrmd-Cormth), Erbsloh (Garlm), Fuhr
(Waldkaptllt [Kaptllt am Wasstr]), Hofer (Shllmtm
[Gerumpil], Haustr m Btmau), Kanoldt (Slillfbot mil Gum-
mibilum), Liebermann ( Gmusrmtrkt in Amsterdam, Ernteftld.
Korbjlecbltr), von Marees tFamlmbild 11), Munch (Tbt
Road to Asgdrdstrand), Purrmann (BlumrnslucH, Schlich-
ter (Bildnis Brrtoll Brtcbl), and Slevogt (GrscWacblffrs
Schwtin. Frucbtestillebcn), as well as 79 drawings, water-
colors, and works of graphic art by Beckmann, Bizer,
Campendonk, Dix, Feininger, O Fischer, R Gross-
mann, Crosz, Heckel, Hofer, Kirchner, Kogan,
Meidner, Nolde, E Scharff, T Schindler, Schmidt-

Rottluff, K Stohner, artists from the Karlsruhe artists'
group known as "Rih," and teachers dismissed from
the Kunstakademie, including Hubbuch

Purchase prices were listed, as were the names
of the ministers of education and the arts who were in
office when the purchases were made

There was an "Erotisches Kabmett" (gallery
of erotica) of drawings by students from the
Kunstakademie

Also exhibited were a list and photographs of
art — mostly second-rate old master and nineteenth-
century paintings that had been kept in storage — that
had been sold by previous museum directors to raise
funds for the purchase of modern art

Nun mberg StSdttschc ». aleric

I mma I hambt i ol horron
April 17 May MS 1933
< Irganlzed b) I mil Stahl artist and
at ting din

IQOOO visitors

Selected n

Acbl III" Blatl Vpril H snd 18 1933
NftwknjKi Zriliuuj April is snd 19 1933
Miindmn Nfrutsb Nacfericfefm Vpril EQ r

I Ik i vt.ii.iih.il in luded palm l-Coi Inth

Dh Boxer] Bimstengel Bo • i In

■ ■■■ , ;: rto I lobrowsky FeltxmUlli i

- rossmann Heckroti H ■■ I. I '■

H..L- Kamps Neumann Pascin Purrmann Rbslei

■ Wferrl Einstein SchmkJl Rottlufl
Schreinei Slevogi Do HUncftcnj and Winklci
Pun fuse pri( es were listed

v hemnitz Stadtisches Museum
rCmul ditnicbtautwnmrSttkkam
Art thai did not issue from oui soul
M,n it kine 1933
Organized by Wilhelm Rudigei acting direct

Selected reviews

Cbcmitiiza ImcblMt May 13 is and :i 1933

Cbrmnitzti Tadcszrituna May 2* 1933

I he exhibition Irx luded i<> paintings by W Arnold
KiWn voi Jrm fmstti Heckel lUWr [triptych]),
Kin I"k i rVbimztmmn St&bttbildnh Wish K'ul> I
Kokoschka I SflfrstfriMmJ mrt ptJtmizIfii Ann« Nolde
( bmlus i« BrtbiNKM Ambtrkopj ■■ IV. listen Frown am
Mttr), W Rudolph K'«/. und K',jlkl.n-i Schmidt Rottlufl
(LhuJscIm/i I'm Hrrfcsl DrrfcrdHb /mh# BiMnis Lyond
Ffmmdfl Al.imtrr bfi Krrze and Segall (/« Ate/irr),
* small si. .ilc sculptures; 120 prints by various artists

including Bcckmann, Dix (from Do ''

Cro Heckel.1 ■ Hri/^r wm nmrrrii

J i. i'i Mauri Schlemmei [Kopj m Profit mit sebuxtrzet

h hmidi Rottlufl approximately 21
and Schrcyer and drawings and m
Feininger Turn in Irrpiow Kandinsl ■
.in.! otht i ■

Purchase prices were listed

Stuttgart Kronprinzenpalats ( iraphischc Sammlun
der Wurttembergist hen Staatsgalei ie
NootBtbenjtbl KmhsI i«i Dirnsh drr Zcrsozun^
Novi mbei spirit Art in the service "' subversion)
lune 10— c :i 1933

Organized by Count Klaus von Haudissin senior
curatoi
Adults only

Selected reviews

NS-Kuner, June 13, 1933
SdfauVscfer Mcrfcur lune 14. 1933
WtirUmbtrgiicba Staahanzdgcr, lune 22, 1933

The exhibition included one painting [Kleinschmidt's
Ducfl im NorJ-Gi/n, graphic art by Beckmann, Dix
(from Do Krit,) lor example i relixmuller, Crosz
i including the portfolios im Schatten and AbrtcbnunQ
folit' Meidner, Schwitters, and others, reproductions
ol paintings by Dix, Grosz, and Meidner from books
ol the lunge Kunst series, the pamphlet Am alle Kiinsller,
Expressionist journals Uhe Aktion, Der Sturm I, posters,
photographs, and newspaper cuttings, and loans from
the Weltsknegsbucherei (World war library), among
other lenders

Sur»srijMr»I i

Bielefeld, Stadtisches Museum, Ceschichtliche

Abteilung

NoivmberQml Kunst im Diemte der Zersetzuntj

I November spirit Art in the service of subversion)

August 20-c September 18, 1933

Not open to minors or to members of the

general public

Selected reviews

WfctfflliscJw Neuestt Nacbr ichtm, August 18 and 22, 1933

WestjaUche Zeitung, August 18 and 22, 1933

This exhibition was a reduced version of that in Stutt-
gart, the works that had been loaned to Stuttgart bv
the Weltsknegsbucherei were not shown in Bielefeld
but were replaced by work by Archipenko

The exhibition was described as a Scbuluttjfs-
ausstellung (educational exhibition) and was open only
to teachers, doctors, clergymen, judges, and NSDAP
officials

Dessau, two display windows in the offices of the

Anbaltiscbt Tatfeszatung

July 1933

( Organized by W.lhetm F Loeper, NSDAP district

leader

Selected reviews

Anhalter Anzeujer, July II 1933 i background

information!

The exhibition featured works by Bauhaus artists
owned by the municipal authorities and including
feininger, Kandinsky Klee, Muche, and Schiemmt
Purchase prices were listed

Ulm Stadtisches Museum, Moderne Calene
and Kupferstichkabinett
Zehn labn Wmer Kunstpolitik
Ten years of arts policy in Ulm)
August 4-c September 8, 1933

Selected reviews

Ulmfr Slurm, August 3, 1933

Ulmer Tadblatt, August 9 i letter from a reader i

port of the exhibition i and 17 1933

On view were paintings and graphic works by
Delacroix (oil sketch for Dante and Virgil), Dix,
Faistauer (Gardone di sopra), Grosz, (Marsfillrs), Haller,
Hofer (Kartevspieler, Trunkenei, Jawlensky, Kokoschka
(Grn/rr S«), Laurencin (Portrait oj a Girl), Liebermann,
Meunier, Munch, Nolde (Johannes der Taujtr), Pellegrini
Picasso, Renoir, Serusier (Breton Farmhouse), Sisley [Seim
Landscape), Vlaminck (The Oisr at Autvrs), and others

Purchase prices and names of dealers (Abels,
Flechtheim, Goldschmidt, Thannhauser) were listed

Also included was a portrait by Gustav Essig
of Emil Schwammberger, mayor of Ulm during the
Weimar Republic, who had protected and supported
the museum's Jewish director, Julius Baum, in his
purchases of modern art

Z U s ( HI tC

Dresden, courtyard of the Neues Rathaus
Etttartiti Kunst (Degenerate art)
September 23-October 18, 1933
Organized by Richard Muller, artist and director of
the kunstakademie, Willy Waldapfel. artist and coun-
cilman, and Walter Casch, official art commissioner
of Dresden
Minors admitted only as members of guided tours

Selected reviews

Dmdntr Nachncbtm, September 22, 1933

Drtsdner Anztiger, September 23, 1933

Hliulrirrtrr Biobachler, December 16, 1933, 1713-15, 1742

The exhibition included 42 oil paintings by among
others, Campendonk {Badendt}, Cassel { Mannlicbes
BiUim), Dix iKritpkrUppil, Drr Scbulzengrabrn),
Feinmger I Drr KircrK .ion Clmtroda), Felixmuller (Bildms
Olio Ruble, ScbSHhiit, Silbslbildms), Criebel (Madcben in
hmdscbaft), Crosz (AtSmlrurrr), Crundig, Hebert
(SrlbsAiUms), Heckel (S.tzoiJrr Mann], Heckrott
liWrr), Hofer, Jacob (Knab, mil Apjtl, Traum), Kan-
dinsky Kirchner iStrassrnsznit), Klee (Urn dm Fiscfc),
Kokoschka I Drr HriJoil, Lange (Slilirbrn mil roltr F\gur,
Tscbum ilV Kiifzrn/rnW), Luthy {Madonna), Mitschke-
Collande, Mueller iBadmde), Nolde {Frautnkopj, Garten-
bild, Madcben m Garten), Pechstein, Rudolph (Rynilami-
scbajl, Vfirlsstufcr um Millmiacbl), Schmidt-Rottlutt
{Fraumbildms), Otto Schubert {Freud mi hid), Schwit-
ters (MrrzfciH, Rmgbdd), Segall (Dit ra.ii/m Wandtm),

and Skade, 10 sculptures by Hoffmann {Adam und Eva,
Madcbm mil blauem Haar), Ludecke, Marcks, Maskos
IMulIrr und Kind), and Vol I, 43 watercolors and 112
works of graphic art by Dix (Latidxbafi mil utttergeboiaei
Sonne, Drr Slretcbbolzbamller), Felixmuller, Crosz,
Heckel, Hofer, Hoffmann, Jacob, Kokoschka (Mix
RmilWt, Tillfl Diinrux), Kretzschmar (Drr Tod da
Scferrtars), Lange, Ludecke, Modersohn-Becker, Nolde,
Rudolph, Schmidt-Rottluff, O Schubert, Segall, Vol I.
and others

Purchase prices were listed
The Staatliches Filmarchiv in Potsdam-
Babelsberg has in its collection about ten minutes of
footage of this exhibition

Subso/iifiil i

Hagen, Stadtisches Museum
Kumt zu'rirr Welten (Art of two worlds!
Opened February II, 1934
14,520 visitors

Selected reviews

Haaentr Zoluni), February 10 and 12, 1934

Wtstfaliscbt Laniazatmg — Roll Erdi, February 12, 1934

Ufelifrulscbr VoWtszalmg, February 13 and 14, 1934

A selection of works from the Dresden Eiil.irlrlr fCiwsl
exhibition was contrasted to earlier German, Dutch,
Flemish, and Italian artists, including Graff, Chodo-
wiecki, Rembrandt, and Rubens, and to acceptable
examples of twentieth-century German art

#U>cedinun#mifraec
-bolfdieanfttfrii«i
4ucMcglfWin£ .-■

Ottytui otmlO-tfilf -20 Ulir/lftnUiHspt ei's O.IOmitll

Figure 84

Poster for EnUutete Kunst, Dortmund, 1935

Figure 85

Poster for Entartete Kumt, Munich, 1936

Nuremberg, Stadtische Calene
Entartete Kunst | Degenerate art)
Organized bv Emil Stahl, director
September 7-21, 1935
12,706 visitors

Selected reviews

Franker Kunrr, September 7, 1935
Numberger Zeitung, September 7-8, 1935
Volktscber Beobadler, September 10, 1935

A selection of works from the Dresden Entartete Kunst
exhibition was shown in Nuremberg on the occasion
of the 1935 NSDAP rally, to it were added local works
such as Dix's fiildms der Tanztrin Amta Berber, already
held up to ridicule in the 1933 Scbreckenskammer exhibi-
tion in Nuremberg (see above)

The Stadtische Galene also organized an anti-
Semitic exhibition, Drr Judensf>iegel (The mirror of the
Jews), to coincide with this Entartete Kunst exhibition

Dortmund, Haus der Kunst

Entartete Kunst (Degenerate art)

November 1 l-December 8, 1935

Organized by the city of Dortmund and the leaders of

the local NSDAP

Adults only

21,668 visitors

Selected reviews

Dorlmunder Zeitung, November 12 and 27, 1935

Tremoma, November 12, 1935

WestjaWbe Landeszettung— Rote Erde, November 12 and

26, 1935

The exhibition contained forty-eight oil paintings, six
sculptures, and forty watercolors and works of graphic
art, which were compared to paintings and reproduc-
tions of works by Caspar David Friedrich, Kobell,
Leibl {Dorjpotitiker, Frauen m der Kirche), von Marees
{Ruderer), Thoma, and others, a portrait of Hitler, and
a Merzgedicht (Merz poem! by Schwitters Checklists
of the exhibition are preserved in the Stadtarchiv
Dortmund (see note 17)

Regensburg, Kunst- und Cewerbeverein

Entartete Kunst (Degenerate art)

January 12-26, 1936

Organized by the Kunst- und Gewerbeverem

Regensburg

Selected reviews

Bayenscbe Ostmark, January 16 and 18-19, 1936

identical to that in D>

Munich, Alte Polizeidirektion, Weisser Saal

£nl<irfftr Kunst (Degenerate art)

March 4-31, 1936

Organized by the regional headquarters of the Propa-

gandaministenum tor Upper Bavaria, Kraft durch

Freude, and the NS-Kulturgemeinde

Selected reviews

Munchner Zeitung, March 4, 6, and 24, 1936
Neues Muncbner Tagblatt, March 4, 1936
Muncbner Neueste Nacbncbten, March 5, 1936
Dte Deutscbe Bubne, April 1936, 6-7

; identical to that in Dortmund

Ingolstadl Ncucs Schloss kunstvcrcint
I nlarttti fCunsI I Icgeneratc arl

May I Int.. I 1936

Selet ted reviews

[ngohUila TagblaU April !0 May S 1936
Donaulwli May 20 and 10 1936
Dmlsdm Kmu&trkbl no 6 lura 1936

The exhibition was idrntn.il to thai in Dortmund

Darmstadt, Kunsthalle (Kunsrvereln)

ftiiitriftf b mi.i I legi neratt ai I
Opened lune 20 Nit.

Selected reviews

DarmUlila Wochmscbau, no 24, lune 2, 1936, 1-4

DamsUdta TadMatt, lune 21 and 23, 1936

The organizer, added works by proscril
artists to tile I >ortmund exhibition

Frankfurt am Main, Volksbildungsheim

hitjtklr kirns! ' I >< >■' ii' I ,ltc .ii I

September 1-30, 1936

Organized bv Krah durch Freude and the I Ian

Thoma < lesellschafl

Selected reviews
Nalimalblatt, August 30, 1936
Frankfurter Volkshklt, September 9, 1936
Frankfurter Zrttuna, September 9, 1936
Frankfurter Wocbenvbau, 1936, no 36, 10-11

On view were the works from the Dortmund exhibi-
tion and contrasting examples of "German" art by
1 1 A Buhler, Thoma, Scholderer and others

Breslau Won Liu Schlcsisches Museum de

bildenden Kunste

Kunsi Jrr Gtntaricbtung lom-fm i Intellectual ;

1918-1933)

Opened December 17, 1933

Organized by Wolf Marx, acting director

Selected reviews

Scfclrsrscbr Zeilung, December 5 and 16, 1933

ScMniscrw /llustritTlf Zritun?, 1934, no 2, 2-3

Th

lud-

linger

bibition included fourteen oil pain
ing works by Adler [Mamm/BitM l)i* I
(,™trlurm) Crosz (Drr neue MmscM, Kokoschka,
Meidner (Srltsiporfrat), Oskar Moll i Bin It Jurck Fntiltr
Waldaimert), Molzahn (ZwAlingc), Mueller (£sd mil
Kind), Pechstein {Ebtpaar auj Palm), and Schlemmer
[Drei Frauen), three sculptures, including two works ir
brass by Margarete Moll \Madcbmkopj, WeibWbt Fufir
\Tanzerm ]), and sixty watercolors, drawings, and
graphic works by Campendonk, Dix iErmnerung an
Spitgelsalt mn Brunei, Knysiriiji/irli, Feminger, Oskar
Fischer lftriloi(frs Piiiirl, Crosz iDa donntrn sir

Vmcbitdnt Vor gauge), Hoetger Kandinsky Irom the
Klrinr Wfllre portfolio), Kirchncr, Klee iDir Hciligt com
mneren Lett), Lcger I Woman Reading,. Oskar Moll
Pechstein, Schlemmer, Schmidt-Rottluff lLirf>n(>u<ir,
PropbrliM, StnJsrfinsw/.iMrrmj, Wusten iTrauund and
others, and a prose poem by Kandinsky from Kl.ritJr
Purchase prices were listed

Halle an der Saale, Museum Montzburg
SdirtckrmlwmirK'r (Chamber of horrors)
November 27 1935-c July 25, 1937
Organized by Hermann Schiebel, acting director

Selected reviews

M/ttddnlscrX iViilioiMlzritun.j, November 27, 1935

The Ha

xhibitii

omething of an exception,
since it was not a temporary exhibition but a perma-
nent installation of the gallery's own modern art
collection, including sculptures and oil paintings by
Feininger, Ktrchner, Kokoschka, Marc, and Nolde and
watercolors by Kandinsky

The general public was admitted upon payment
of a special fee, beginning on October 18, 1936, they
were also required to enter their names in a visitors'
book (preserved in the Staatliche Calerie Montzburg
Halle) Between that date and July 25, 1937 445 visi-
tors entered their names and addresses in the book

Dessau, Anhaltischc Cemaldegalene
Entartete Kunst (Degenerate art
September 19-October 3, 1937
Over 5,000 visitors by October I. 1937

Selected reviews

Anhallrr Anzciger, September 20, October 2-3, 1937

Drr MiltfUnilscrK, September 21, 1937

DnitHrir Allilmeine Znluna, September 22, 1937

Ffiinlt/urifr Zeituna September 22, 1937

Kolkisclirr Brofiacrjrrr, September 25, 1937

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of its founding
the Anhaltische Cemaldegalene mounted two exhi-
bitions Neuerverbungm drr Arrrulfmbm Gemaldegalene
au\ funf Jabrbumlertm I Recent acquisitions from five
centuries by the Anhaltische Cemaldegalene) and
Entartttt Kunst For the latter, the works of the Bauhaus
artists that had been exhibited in July of 1933 (see
above) were put on view again and supplemented by
portfolios of drawings and engravings by Bauhaus art
ists and paintings by Crosz, lawlensky and Schmidt-
Rottluff

Purchase prices were listed

ZUSC HLAC

Table 2

Venues of the

Entartete Kunst exhibition, 1937-1941

Munich, Archaologisches Institul

, Hofgarte

n arcades,

Calenestrasse 4, rooms housing

the plaster

cast

collection

July 19-November 30, 1937 (extended)

2,009,899 visitors

Selected reviews

Muncbner Ntunle Nacbricbten, July

20, Augusl

20, 1937

Dfulscfct Mlgmtmt Zniung, July 25

1937

Drr Fiikm, luly 25, 1937

Frankfurter Ztitung, November !4,

1937

[The only known extant newsreel footage of the exhi*
bition, taken at the Munich venue, has been located
in the Library of Congress, Washington, DC (lulien
Bryan Collection, uncatalogued film footage) — SB]

Poster for fnl.irlrlt Kulfst, Berlin, 1938

Berlin, Haus der Kunst, Konigsplatz 4
February 26-May 8, 1938 (extended)
500,000 visitors

Selected reviews

Fr.tnfc/urtfr Zrifu»4, February 25 and 27 1938
Drr An^r.f, February 26, March I and 10, 1938
Volkisr/irr Brobacbler (Berlin edition), February 26
and 27, 1938

Leipzig, Crassi-Museum
May I3-June 6, 1938
60,000 visitors

Selected reviews

Ltipzigtr Nrunle Nacbmblm, May 14, 1938

Lnpzigrr Tageatitmj), May 14, 1938

Dusseldort, Kunstpalast, Ehrenhof 5
June 18-August 7, 1938 (extended)
150.000 >

Selected reviews

DussrUor/tr Nacbmblm. June 18, 1938

Rkjmsck Lliidnznluiu) — Roll Eric, lur

Salzburg, Festspielhaus

September 4-October 2, 1938 (extended)

40,000 visitors

Selected reviews

Sailburgtr Larrdnltiiung , September 5 and 6, 1938

Salzburgn Volkblatt, September 5 and 6, 1938

Hamburg, Schulausstellungsgebaude, Spitalerstrasse 6
November 1 1-December 30, 1938
136,000 visitors

Selected reviews

Hamburger Anzngtr, November II, 1938

Hamburga Frrmimblall, November II, 1938 (fig 78)

Hamburger Tagrblatl—Wacbtmcbau, November 13, 1938

Figure 88

Poster for EntmteU Kunst, Chemnitz, 1939,
lithograph, 473 x 33 cm (18% x 13 in ),- Textil-
und Kunstgewerbesammlung Chemnitz

Figure 87

Poster for Entartete Kunst, Leipzig, 1938, lithograph,

59 x 84 cm (23% x 33'A in ), Museum fur Gestaltung,

Zurich

'""We

Figure 89

Poster by Rudolf Hermann for Enlartttt KuhsI, Hamburg,

1938, lithograph. 1173 x 82 3 cm (46'A x 32V. in I, The

Robert Gore Rifkind Collection, Beverly Hills,

California

; a : | 'Jiusl'lcUunfl

\Z'Jl„(Sntattett gunjl"

I ; ■ i ■• I SbettmiB. Simlmamriltlj. Serftmbotw
;g|J Ml. Bnanlt bis le. 6wlemter 193S

I i s I | 93oroerfaufsIarte

I 5 I « RM. 0,35

Figure 91

Ticket for Enfjrlrlr KumsI, Chemnitz, 1939, Chnstoph

Zuschlag, Heidelberg

ftollt ' 5.-20. Rprtl 1941

CinHt.mil. II til OolhliilltlinnOt IDflllnir plot

Stettin Szi ■•" i" I -I'"1,
l.mu.,1-. ii Fcbnui

Selected n

Slrllinrr Cfllfl

Zatung lanuar) 10. II h 17 24, and 28

\V< iin.n I andesmuseum
March 23 V"l
isitors

A/ljonfiMf Thunntlmht LwJnZnluntl /VruluM.iwJ

Mar li 13 ind 'i 1939

71'ufin.jrr Gauziilmg March 23 and M

Vienna, Kunsllcrhaus
May '• Iuik 18 1939
i 000 visitors

Selected reviews

Vdlttiicba Baktubta Vk nna edition Maj

lune 12 1939

(lluslrifrif Krmm-Zrilunj, Ma)

viHs-Zniww May i

Nmfs Wmim TagUall Ma}

Kunsl .Jon Volk, May 1939, 36

DttPdKSt lune 1939 '>S-''H K<; (figs B0 81

Frankfurt am Main kunst.iiisstrllungshaus
Bockcnheimcr Landstrasse 8
June 30-luly 30 1939
40111 in visitors as of luly 22

Selected reviews

Fraxt/urlrr villtsWall, July I and 23, 1939

Rhm-Afamisck Sotmlagi-Zahmg luly 9 l"1'' >v «<

Chemnitz, kaufmannisches Vereinshaus. Montzstrasse I
August ll-September 10. 1939 i closed on August 2d

Selected reviews

Cbonmtzrr Nrufitf Nacbricblm, August 10, 1939

Cfemimrzn TagMatt, August II, 1939

Waldenburg iWalbrzychi, Silesia, Cebaude der
Kreisleitung de NSDAR AdolfHitler-Aue
January I8-Februarv 2 1941

Selected reviews

Mittrlscfebsisdx GrriirijsirifuN.;, lanuary 15, 16, 17. 20. 26.

29, 1941

Neun Tagbtatt, lanuary 16, 18-19, 20, 31, 1941

Halle an der Saale, Landesanstalt fur Volkhcitskunde,
Wettiner Platz
April 5-20, 1941

Selected reviews

Wf-Znlum), April 4 and 5-6, 1941

Hflltisck Nadvfcfai, April 7 and 8, 1941

Figure 90

Poster for Enldrtrir Kunst. Halle 1941

ZUSCHLAG

Figure 92

Gallery in the Kronprinzen-Palais, Nationalgalene, Berlin, 1930, work later in
Entarltle Kims! 1. Baumeister, Dm Montmrr, 2. Schlemmer, Konzrolmcbf Gmppc,
3. Metzmger, Im Kanu, 4. Belling, Dmkhmg, 5. Belling, Kopf

ANNECRE1 I A N I > A

The Fight for Modern Art

The Berlin Nationalgalerie after 1933

Even before 1433, German museum directors
who wanted to buy and exhibit works of
modern art not only had to have an intuitive
feel for quality they also had to have the
courage to persevere in battle with the
opponents of modern art,' opponents who were eloquent, influential,
and often very powerful, none more so than Adolf Hitler, a man
aggressively and radically obsessed with the desire to destroy a
whole artistic movement In the twelve years during which he and
his followers wielded power, innumerable works of art from national
and municipal collections were removed, sold, exchanged, or
destroyed on the grounds that they were "Jewish" or "degenerate" or
the "products of cultural Bolshevism " Not even the most pessimistic
observers could have predicted the devastation that lay ahead, but
the approaching danger was nonetheless perceived as real As a
result, the activities of the Berlin Nationalgalerie after 1933 were
concentrated, at least in part, on attempts to protect the Neue
Abteilung, the modern art collection housed in the former
Kronpnnzen-Palais, from attack and interference and to prevent this
department from being closed altogether5 Although it gradually
became clear that it was an act of resistance against a superior enemy
force, the fight was sustained to the end, with even occasional
victories i

The Neue Abteilung was only one of several departments of
the Nationalgalerie 4 It had begun to assume a distinctive profile
after 1919, when the Kronpnnzen-Palais became available after the
removal of the imperial family The contents and appearance of the
collection changed repeatedly in the following years, depending on
acquisitions and loans, so that gradually it became possible to offer
visitors an overall survey of more recent developments in art (figs
92, 104-5) 5 This was a result of the combined efforts of Ludwig
Justi, director of the Nationalgalerie since 1909, and his assistants
Alfred Hentzen, Walter Kaesbach, Anni Paul-Pescatore, Paul Ortwin
Rave, Alois Schardt, and Ludwig Thormaehlen

Early in 1933 an extensive restructuring of the gallery was
completed " The chronological divisions were altered for example,
works by the French Impressionists and German Impressionist Max
Liebermann were returned to the main building and integrated
with nineteenth-century works Other artists, including Vincent

Figure 93

Oskar Schlemmcr, Konzmlnscbt Gruppi (Concentric group), 1925, oil on canvas,
975 x 62 cm (38% x 24% in ), Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Entartttt Kunil, Room Cl,
NS inventory no 16176

Figure 94

View of the Beckmann gallery in the Kronprinz

Palais, 1933, work later in Bltartetl Kui.il 1 Paris

fiisliwcfct

van Gogh, Ferdinand Hodler, and Edvard Munch, regarded as the
"fathers of modern art," remained in the Kronpnnzen-Palais, and
their work was seen first by the visitors as they entered the exhi-
bition rooms on the first (ground) floor Other foreign artists
represented in the Neue Abteilung included Georges Braque, Juan
Gris, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and a number
of Italians, such as Carlo Carra, Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo
Modigliani, Gino Severini, and Mario Tozzi, whose works had
recently been acquired through a series of exchanges The second-
floor rooms contained works by more recent German artists, such
as the members of the Berlin Sezession, with a room each for Lovis
Corinth and Max Slevogt, while the third floor featured an impres-
sive series of major works by avant-garde artists including Ernst
Barlach, Max Beckmann, Rudolf Belling, Otto Dix, Lyonel Feinmger,
Erich Heckel, Karl Hofer, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee,
Wilhelm Lehmbruck, August Macke, Franz Marc, Ewald Matare,
Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, and Karl Schmidt-
Rottluff (figs 94, 96-99, 101) 7

The reopening of the Kronpnnzen-Palais in February 1933
occurred at a particularly critical time Germany was in a state of
radical upheaval as the National Socialists sought to consolidate their
power, and the gallery immediately found itself in the line of fire
The target was no longer the work of individual artists nor the com-
mitment of a handful of art lovers, but the artists' continuing right to
express themselves The violence of the attack and the unfair means
employed were clearly revealed in the libelous and spiteful tone that
underlay the criticisms of Justi's plan for the Nationalgalerie and of
his work at the gallery as a whole As early as the summer of 1932 a
National Socialist member of the Prussian parliament, Dr M Lopel-
mann, had entered the fray with a series of newspaper articles
published under the title, "Der Hexenschlaf der deutschen Kunst"
(The enchanted sleep of German art), which were directed against

a number of leading employees at the Staatliche Museen (State
museums) in Berlin, including lusti himself" A recently founded
(and legally registered) society calling itself the Kunstklub (Arts
club) also put in an aggressive appearance, organizing an evening
discussion in January 1933 at which Adolf Behne, Paul Westheim, and
others accused Justi of a policy toward his museum that was "not
international, but Germanophile "9 A third criticism, and especially
the correspondence that resulted from it, revealed how dangerous
the sworn enemies of the Nationalgalerie had become Robert
Scholz, at that time still arts correspondent for the Steglitzer Anzeiger
and Deutsche Tageszeitunt), accused lusti of "courting every fashion",
the Nationalgalerie, he claimed, lacked "a true center" When Thor-
maehlen subsequently described Scholz as an opportunist, Scholz
denounced lusti and Thormaehlen to the Prussian Kultusministerium
(Ministry of education) and demanded a "purge" at the National-
galerie To his indignation he was informed that both the minister,
Bernhard Rust, and the political commissioner, Hans Hinkel, con-
sidered "any interference by unauthorized persons in unresolved
questions of artistic policy" to be "undesirable "l0 In spite of this
"wait-and-see" policy on the part of the responsible ministry the
malicious campaign against lusti and others continued in secret
On March 19 an article signed only "R WH" appeared in the
N)ederhimit2er Neueste Nachrichien under the title, "Die Juden in den
staatlichen Bildergalerien" (The Jews in the state picture galleries)
It was a mediocre piece of writing, but its anti-Semitic and defama-
tory tone fit so well into the program of the new powers-that-be that
it was reprinted by several other periodicals, including Deutsche
Kultur-Wacht "

Racial hatred, factional hostilities, "cleaning-up operations,"
and Gleichschaltung (coordination) became the order of the day even
in the small circle of employees at the Nationalgalerie Immediately
after the article by RW H had appeared in print, a group of gal-
lery attendants at the Kronprinzen-Palais — history records that

Figure 95

Max Beckmann, Panscr Fastnacbl (Parisian carnival), 1930, oil on canvas,
214 5 x 100 5 cm (84 'h x 39% in ), Staatsgalene moderner Kunst, Munich
EnlarMt Kunst, Room 3, NS inventory no 16002

their names were Ciba, Dunkels, I r 1 1 .- I loflii h Si hrodei I hiei

mann, Ulnch, and Weiss — complained that they were fori ed to
work in the same room as paintings by "Jewish artists" or "ol lewish
provenance " They submitted a petition to the local NSI )AP
(Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, National Socialist
( ,i i man workers party) headquarters demanding that lusti and his
chief clerk, Perlwitz, be removed from office on the grounds that
they had "encouraged lewish Marxist dealings " In this case lusti was
able to prove his accusers guilty of slander and punish them with a
reprimand '- What finally decided the future course of events was
Hitlers "highly significant meeting" with a "delegation of leading art-
ists" on June 13, 1933 Hitler "decided that the KronprinzenPalais
should be purged in the sense outlined in his program, but that the
works it contained should not be destroyed but preserved as docu-
ments of a somber chapter in German history""

How deceptive, then, were the hopes aroused by a student
demonstration at Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin on |une 29,
when student speakers decried "reactionaryism in art" and pro-
claimed their support for the art of Barlach, Heckel, Nolde, and
Schmidt-Rottluff This event appears to have convinced the Nazi
authorities that it was now time to introduce draconian measures to
carry out their policy Alfred Rosenberg, the leading Nazi ideologue
and founder of the Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur (Combat league
for German culture), organized a counterdemonstration,u the
Reichsinnenminister (Minister of the interior), Wilhelm Frick,
refused permission for an exhibition prepared by the National-
sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (National Socialist league
of German students), the group that had organized the demonstra-
tion, to open at the Galerie Ferdinand Moller in Berlin,15 and Rust,
now minister of education for the entire Reich, telephoned Thor-
maehlen at the Nationalgalerie to announce that its director was to
be "sent on indefinite leave, effective immediately" Schardt, at that
time the director of the Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe
in Halle an der Saale, was appointed to replace him '"

By removing the widely attacked lusti from his exposed position
and appointing Schardt, the ministry hoped at least to save the art
collection, for essentially Schardt was just as committed a supporter
of modern art as Justi had been Schardt had earlier worked under
Justi at the KronprinzenPalais as a temporary assistant during the
early 1920s, when he had helped to organize a 1923 exhibition of
Klee's work In Halle, Schardt had continued to build the collection
started by Max Sauerlandt, adding works by Feininger, Klee, and
Nolde He had defended lusti at the Kunstklub debate, although he
criticized lusti's "division and evaluation according to naturalistic,
historical principles" as being out-of-date It was Schardt's view that
the "new age" demanded "clear and unambiguous statements, pro-
ceeding from characterful philosophical insights " He believed there
were three basic trends in art that had run parallel throughout the

Figure 96

View of the gallery in the Kronprinzen-Palais containing works by Marc and
Lehmbruck, 1933, work later in Etilarlclr Kunst 1. Lehmbruck, Grossr Kmmdi,
2. Marc, Turn. Jrr blauen PjtrJc

Figures 97-98

Two views of the gallery in the Kronprinzen-Palais devoted to the work of Nolde,

1933, work later in Enlmlrlt Kunst 1. Cbristus und die Smitrm, 2 Maskm IV

millennia and which he termed classicists naturalistic and roman
tic (modern Expressionism belonged to the latter).1 Schardt
presented his program "Was isl deutst he Kunst?" What is German
.in .a .1 meeting held at the Staatliche Kunstbibliothek st.m an
lihrar\- h was regarded by manv listeners .is sensationalist and ol
possible assistance to those who wen- bent on attacking I xprcssionist
ai I " Schardt was Forced to refuse the many invitations he received
to repeat the lecture since the Kultusminister < Minister of educa-
tion) had now intervened Forbidding him to make "any written or
verbal statement in public until Further notice"1''

It was an unfortunate beginning Nor was it the only order with
which Schardt had to comply On lusti's desk he found a copy of the
"draft declaration" with its notorious paragraph from the Cesetz zur
Wiederherstellung des Rcrutsbeamtentums (Professional civil service
restoration act1 ol April 7 1933, M which an employee had to sign in
order to prove his or her Aryan pedigree The politicization of life
had begun Schardt had to ensure that "National Socialist ideas
were disseminated among the civil service" and that every employee
listened to the Prussian prime minister's speech in the Landtag
(Provincial assembly) and read Hitler's Mem KampJ?' He was also
required to ensure that "positions in the public service that are free
or likely to become free are filled by members of the National-
sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei,"" and, finally he had to
specify the number of employees on the museum's payroll, since
plans were being made to build "air-raid shelters in government-
owned buildings :l — preparations were already being made for war,
and it was only 1933

And what happened to the modern art in the Nationalgalerie^
Schardt planned a complete reorganization of all its nineteenth-
and twentieth-century holdings He began by closing almost every
building In the Kronpnnzen-Palais no expense was spared, as the
exhibition rooms were painted using a process tested in Halle, tours
of inspection were made all over Germany to gather information
about new artistic trends, and loans were brought in from artists'
studios and other museums By means of all these efforts Schardt
planned to satisfy the highest qualitative demands :4 To preempt any
attacks from anti-Semitic quarters he had "genealogical lists" drawn
up, setting out the impeccable pedigree of artists such as Barlach,
Feininger, Klee, and Marc25 Early in November, however, Rust vis-
ited the Kronprinzen-Palais, declined to give his permission for the
gallery to be reopened, and dismissed Schardt, as he had dismissed
Justi, with twenty-four hours' notice3'' Eberhard Hanfstaengl was
immediately summoned from Munich and appointed the new direc-
tor As head of the Stadtische Kunstsammlungen in Munich,
Hanfstaengl had not yet made his presence felt in the Held of modern
art, and no doubt he came with excellent references thanks to the
fact that he was a cousin of Hitler's favorite, Ernst Hanfstaengl

"i ■ is. ■ 09

Figure 99

View of a gallery in the Kronpnnzen-Palais containing abstract works 1933 work
later in Entorlrtt Kunsl 1 Klee, Um dm Fiscb, 2 Matart Dk Kate 3 Klee Simpfltgmdt
4. Kandinsky Komposition Ruhr

Figure 100

Emil Nolde, Maslm IV (Masks IV), 1920. oil on canvas. 86 x 66 cm (33% x 26 in.),

private collection Enldrlrlr Kumt, Room 3, NS inventory no 15978

When Eberhard Hanfstaengl took up his appointment at the
Nationalgalerie, the fight for modern art had in fact already been
lost, even if very few people realized it at the time -7 Nonetheless,
he succeeded in the course of the next two years in transforming
not only the collection of older art but also the Neue Abteilung By
ignoring or circumventing the orders he received, he was able to
prevent a great deal of harm from being done The personnel files
from these years are crammed with memos and express letters from
his superiors, often marked "secret" or "confidential," inquiring
about intermarriages with Jews2" or membership in banned
parties and organizations29 or requiring staff to take part in mili-
tary training exercises 30 By 1935 air-raid drills were already being
carried out," and it was discussed whether it was "necessary to take
special organizational measures to protect the museums' irreplaceable
works of art from the danger of destruction in the event of an air
raid "u This was the oppressive atmosphere in which work had to go
on at the Nationalgalerie

One of Hanfstaengl's first actions on taking office was to reopen
the Kronprinzen-Palais with a "provisional installation" on December
15, 1933" But, in spite of his good intentions, what a transformation
had taken place1 More than fifty of the most distinctive works
remained in storage, so that the public's perception of modern art
was decidedly adulterated nothing by Willi Baumeister, Wassily
Kandinsky or Oskar Schlemmer, only a single work by Klee,
the powerful Beckmann room (fig 94) completely gone, and only
landscapes by Heckel, Kirchner, Nolde, and Schmidt-Rottluff
(figs 101-2) <4

In spite of the many concessions that had to be made, and even
in its reduced form, the installation represented a brave declaration
of support for the defamed artists, because a point had now been
reached when even those who spoke out in support of such art had
to expect reprisals and removal from office It was a risk that the
employees at the Nationalgalerie were prepared to take over and over
again They took pains to find alternative ways of acquiring and
exhibiting modern art, even though the opportunities had become
extremely limited In addition, they had difficulty in publishing their
collection, because the periodical Museum der Gegtnwari, which had
been edited by Nationalgalerie staff, had ceased publication " Nor
was it considered opportune, as it had been before 1933, to publish
a catalogue of the gallery's holdings Nevertheless, abridged inven-
tories of the paintings and sculptures that were placed on public
display were still being printed as late as 1934 and 1935 36

The Verein "Freunde der Nationalgalerie" (Society of friends
of the Nationalgalerie), formed in 1929, which had bought primarily
works by foreign artists for the gallery lost a number of its members
in 1933, with the result that the group had less money to spend on
paintings, it bought drawings instead It was also difficult to pur-
chase new works from the gallery's own budget, since it was known
in advance that certain works would not be authorized Whereas
Hanfstaengl could buy extremely important art by older masters,'7

his hands were tied when it came to more recent works In spite of
this he still tried to ensure that the work of modern artists was repre-
sented at the Nationalgalerie by arranging exchanges with the artists
themselves works representing the human figure, for example, were
replaced by landscapes or still lifes -'" The most significant addition,
however, was an unexpected transfer to the Nationalgalerie of
works acquired through the Reichsfinanzminister (Reich minister of
finance) from the Dresdner Bank in 1935, including works by Bar-
lach, Marc Chagall, Dix, Alexej von Jawlensky Oskar Kokoschka,
and Pechstein J9 Somewhat less problematic was the purchase of
drawings These could be bought in secret, since the ministry and
general public rarely set eyes on them In this way the collection was
supplemented with works by Barlach, Beckmann, Corinth, Feininger,
Werner Gilles, Heckel, Hofer, Otto Mueller, Rohlfs, and Schmidt-
Rottluff

Other works of art found their way into the gallery's depository
as a result of confiscations by the Gestapo or Reichsministerium des
Innern (Reich ministry of the interior) 40 One such incident deserves
particular mention here An auction was held at Max Perl's establish-
ment in Berlin on February 28, 1935, at which the Nationalgalerie
acquired five drawings 4I After the sale the Gestapo confiscated
sixty-four paintings, drawings, and works of graphic art on the
grounds that they were "typically Bolshevist manifestations of art"
of "pornographic character"42 In the spring of 1936 these works
were transferred to the Nationalgalerie for storage From these
Hanfstaengl selected four oil paintings and a portfolio of ten
drawings as "contemporary documents to be preserved under lock
and key" while the remainder were burned "in the furnaces of
the former Kronprinzen-Palais "41 How frightened must these
people have been, to give and carry out such orders'

Although virtually no new exhibitions were organized by the
Nationalgalerie after I933,44 the gallery's employees were able to
resist interference and outside pressure and draw up plans for a
series of exhibitions in the Prinzessinnen-Palais under the innocuous
title Deutsche Kunst seit Durer (German art since Diirer), with the col-
laboration of other departments of the Staatliche Museen of Berlin
By invoking the name of one of Germany's most famous Renaissance
artists they were able to "bring together works created in the present
day with those from earlier centuries " It required a certain courage
on the part of Hanfstaengl and Otto Kiimmel, general director of
the Berlin museums, to state in the introduction of the exhibition
catalogue that "works of high art are always of equal standing,
whether they were created today or during the time of the Medici,
whether they were produced under northern skies or beneath a
Grecian sun "45

Figure 101

View of a gallery in the Kronprinzen-Palais containing work by Kirchner and
Schmidt Rottluff 1933, work later in Enlarlrlr Kunsl 1 Schmidt-Rottluff, Dor/ am Set
2. Schmidt Rottluff, Ronmcbn ShlWmi mil Karafli mi Qlront

Figure 102

Karl Schmidt Rottluff, Dor/ am S« (Village by the lake), 1913. oil on canvas,
76 x 90 cm (297/« x 35% in ), The Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton
D May fnljrtrlr Kunsl, Room 5, NS inventory no 16107

Figure 103

View of the Barlach gallery in the Kronpnn

-Palais installed in 1937

But the days when the incorrigible employees at the National -
galerie could pursue their work unnoticed were at an end And once
again it was the reopening of refurbished departments that was to
blame Reconstruction had been completed in 1936 in the main
building of the Nationalgalerie on the Museumsinsel (the island in
the River Spree on which Berlin's main museums were situated),46
and the gallery's collection of nineteenth-century works, supple-
mented by some spectacular new acquisitions, had been rearranged
In the Kronprinzen-Palais, too, decisive changes had taken place47
Another Barlach room had been installed (fig 103), 48 as well as a
Lehmbruck room and a room with sculptures by young artists In
the case of Kirchner, only his Bergwald (Mountain forest), a loan, was
on view, while Beckmann was represented only by his Schneelandscbaft
(Snowy landscape) and a still life, Glaskugtl mit KomUhren (Class ball
with ears of wheat) 49

In spite of this drastic reduction the Neue Abteilung found itself
once again under attack A long and abusive article appeared on
April 2, 1936, in the National Socialist newspaper Das Schwarze (Corps
under the headline "Kxonprinzenpalais sauberungsbediirftig"
(Kronprinzen-Palais in need of a purge) The anonymous author
accused the museum director of "lacking almost all understanding of
the cultural aims of the new Reich" and claimed that "under the guise
of aesthetics those very things are still being propagated that it
appears incumbent upon us to eradicate root and branch " Individual
works of art were branded "grotesque daubings from the previous
[Weimar] system," and the whole concept was denounced as a "cul-
tural abomination " Nolde and Schmidt-Rottluff were pilloried as
"cultural Bolshevists," Beckmann was their "imitator," and Macke a
"second-rate pavement artist "5n

Although the author's name was not given, the language of the
article bore a striking similarity to that of teacher Walter Hansen
and painter Wolfgang Willrich,51 who arrived on the scene in the
months that followed as the true precursors of the "entartete Kunst"
(degenerate art) campaign So extreme were their views and tactics
that they were hated even by members of their own party johann
von Leers (known as the "wild anti-Semite") wrote of Hansen that he
was "as intellectually sterile as a mule he is only happy when spying
on others, stirring up trouble, collecting material, and engaging in
unscrupulous, irresponsible, and yapping witch-hunts", he was a
"terrible product of the age," a "spy, an informer, and a slanderer
by profession and inclination "52 And as a result of his attacks on
Gottfried Benn, Willrich was advised by SS leader Heinrich
Himmler himself that it would be more prudent for him "to
continue painting decent pictures" than to pry into people's pasts
and to "persecute them until their very lives were destroyed "53

As early as 1934 Hansen had guided members of the Hitler
Jugend (Hitler youth) through the Kronprinzen-Palais and hurled
abuse at the artists and their works 54 The material he used on
these occasions was published in 1936 as an article entitled "Neue
Zielsetzungen und Wertungen in der deutschen Kunst des Dritten
Reiches" (New objectives and values in the German art of the Third
Reich).55 Hansen placed other material at Willrich's disposal for
his book Sauberung dis Kunsltempels (Cleansing of the temple of art)
According to Leers, Willrich was Hansen's "machine gun, a weapon
that the latter, inspired by his morbid urge to slander people, would
use to 'shoot them down "56 But the purge of the Kronprinzen-
Palais, which the anonymous hack writer in Das Schwarze Korps had

demanded be i arrled out before the 1936 * MympR i lames were

Opi ni 'I in Berlin was not yet taken in hand I hi- ant Inn itics cvi

dently still felt certain Inhibitions in the presence oi foreign visitors

Not until October 30 did Rust order the gallery to be ( losed

Willrich was triumphant " I )unng the months that followed, his
hook still 111 manuscript) passed through the censors offices, includ-
ing that oi loseph ( roebbels himself and established Willrich's

dubious lame as an "expert" in the held ol "degenerate" art As such
he was ordered hv Coebbels to collaborate with Hansen on an
exhibition entitled in reference to I litter's famous admonishment to
the German cultural community Gebi mil oiti Kihrc Zeil (Give me four
years' timet, held in the spring oi 1937 their brief was to design a
display crudely contrasting "degenerate" art to new "German" art
The two "experts descended with predatory fervor on the
Kronprinzen-Palais in Berlin and the galleries in Dresden, making
notes on everything they saw But their spiteful overenthusiasm
roused so much opposition that their scheme was boycotted even
bv employees of Goebbels's Reichspropagandaministerium (Reich
ministry of propaganda) 59 Their time, however, was not tar olt

On June 30, 1937, the president of the Rcichskammer der bil-
denden Kiinste ( Reich chamber of visual arts), painter Adolf Ziegler,
was instructed to begin preparations for an exhibition in Munich,
VerfalhkuHit seil t9io (Decadent art since 1910), and "weeding-out"
operations were soon following one other in quick succession The
more sensitive observers at the Nationalgalerie could see the inevita-
ble catastrophe looming Ziegler's commission reached Hannover on
luly 5, Essen on the 6th, and arrived at the Kronprinzen-Palais on
the 7th Among its members was Willrich with his infamous lists,
inspiring resentment by his "virulent manner" and prompting Ziegler
to remark, "halt-jokingly" that a museum should be opened based on
the "decadent art" exhibition in Munich with Willrich as its director
so that he would then be provided for"" Hanfstaengl refused to
"wield the executioner's axe" and appointed chief curator Rave to
accompany the commission It is to Rave, who chafed bitterly at
having to perform this duty that we owe a detailed account of the
macabre spectacle of artists like Willrich and Ziegler, who had suf-
fered an inferiority complex throughout their lives and now found
themselves with sufficient power not only to attack the great artists
they envied but to ridicule and revile their works with impunity
They were like men possessed, carried along by a heady destructive
urge, without any feeling for rights or laws A total of 141 works fell
victim to their zeal at the Nationalgalerie 64 oils, 4 sculptures, and
73 drawings, including the works impounded by the Gestapo at the
Perl auction (these were described as being owned by the National-
galerie when they were exhibited in Munich) 6I They were shipped
to the Bavarian capital on July 10 62

( )n luly 24, five days aftei the inauguration ol Entartclt KuhsI in

Munich, Coebbels wrote the following lubilant entry in his diary
" I he I ntartete Kunst' exhibition is a huge success and a

blow It will also come to Berlin in the fall I lanfstaengl must

go, too 1 he- old commission must now expropriate all degenerate
paintings in the museums I he luhrer gives me power to do so
No sooner said than done I lanfstaengl was sent on indefinite leave"
On lulv 27, 1937"' with the result that the Nationalgalerie now had a
second non-functioning director, a comical state of affairs that may
explain why a third director was not appointed Perhaps ( ount
Klaus von Baudissin had his eye on the |ob (he had played an
inglorious role in the fight against modern art in I ssen) I l< was
appointed to the Kultusministcnum and as director of the section
responsible tor the arts issued instructions on August 2 for a "further
selection ot works of degenerate art" to be undertaken in nearly
every museum and gallery in Germany

The commission revisited the Nationalgalerie on three separate
days in August and confiscated 72 oil paintings, 24 sculptures, and
251 drawings'^ (Not until October 15, however, were they moved to
a storage facility at Kopenicker Strasse 24 in Berlin, where the works
not exhibited in Munich had also been taken ) As with the first
round of confiscations, the selection was often completely arbitrary
of almost 40 drawings by Gorinth, only 5 were selected, of 70 by
Heckel only 20, of 60 by Macke only II, and so on A handful of
canvases by Heckel, Kirchner, and Lehmbruck were hidden away
The paintings acquired from the Dresdner Bank were also left
untouched because they had not been entered in the inventory""
(Loans, including works owned by the Verein "Freunde der
Nationalgalerie," had already been returned to their owners before
the commission arrived67)

The Kronprinzen-Palais stood empty (it was later handed
over to the Akademie der Kunste), and it was unclear for a time
whether the Nationalgalerie would retain the nearby Prtnzessinnen-
Palais A portrait exhibition was planned but was dismantled again
before the official opening"" A "gallery of foreign artists" was then
considered, for which the ministry demanded to see lists and
photographs "g After an official visitation on September 15, 1937,
permission to open was refused A lightning visit by Baudissin
and Propagandaministerium official Rolf Hetsch followed, and on
November 3 twenty-one "doubtful" works by foreign artists that had
been exempted from confiscation the previous August were also
taken away to the storage facility on Kopenicker Strasse70 Following
this third confiscation very little remained of what had originally
been an important collection of modern art Only for a limited
number of donated works was the expropriation order reversed and
the art returned 7I Also, a "purge" was carried out at the ministry of
culture, and one hundred examples of "decadent Jewish art" were
transferred to the Nationalgalerie for "safekeeping ~:

As a result of the loss of its Neue Abteilung, the Nationalgalerie
was effectively prevented from collecting in an entire area of art
The gallery had become a historical institution and was no longer
allowed to buy works by living artists Fortunately, however, Coeb-
bels's plan to turn the Kronprinzen-Palais into a museum of Nazi-
approved modern German art using purchases from the annual
exhibition in Munich came to nothing75 Nor was the gallery pro-
faned by being used for a local variant of the Entartete Kuml exhibi-
tion, which was held instead in the Haus der Kunst (House of art)
near the Reichstag (Parliament) building in 1938 74

By this date (1939) it was not the museums that owned their
works of art any longer, but the German Reich As a result of a law
passed in 1938, "confiscation" had become "expropriation " The
Nationalgalerie "had no more to do with [its art] than with the Sis-
tine Madonna "75 The insurance had to be canceled,76 and all the
entries in the inventory crossed off77 Museums were no longer asked
for their works of art, loan contracts were no longer signed The
Institut fur Deutsche Kultur- und Wirtschaftspropaganda (Institute
for German cultural and economic propaganda) in Weimar, which
organized the circulation of EnUirtete Kunsi, inquired after the prices
of recent works only because it wished to play this information as
its trump card 7"

It was in September 1938 that Rave first became aware of a con-
fidential list of "internationally exploitable" works, with the details
of prices to be charged on the international art market The list
included forty-rive oil paintings and eight sculptures from the
Nationalgalerie Their sales value, Rave noted to his consternation,
was lower than their insurance value n While works formerly owned
by the Verein "Freunde der Nationalgalerie" were sold secretly
and directly to dealer Karl Buchholz,80 the Propagandaministenum
concluded a series of official sales and exchange contracts with
Buchholz, Hildebrand Gurlitt, Ferdinand Moller, Bernhard A
Boehmer, and the painter Emanuel Fohn (see the essays by Andreas
Hiineke and Stephanie Barron in this volume) In all, 237 works from
the Nationalgalerie — about half the modern collection — were sold
or exchanged,"1 of the profits — money and art — the Nationalgalerie
received only a sixth in compensation, although its losses amounted
to more than one million reichsmarks 82

But the 1937 catastrophe was very soon overtaken by an even
greater disaster in the form of the Second World War In 1939 all the
museum buildings were closed and the works of art taken to safety
to the vaults of the Reichsbank, the antiaircraft towers near the zoo
and in the Friedrichshain, or, ultimately the mines in western Thu-
ringia The transported art included the handful of works at the
Nationalgalerie that had escaped expropriation 83

The Nationalgalerie buildings were severely damaged by high-
explosive bombs during the final months of the war,84 but as soon as
hostilities were over, the task of rebuilding began with great enthusi-
asm, in spite of the terrible devastation and lack of even the essen-
tials People were rid of their fears and full of hope Although much

had been lost, many of the works of art returned from their places of
safekeeping85 Justi, appointed general director of Berlin's museums
in 1946, organized the first survey of these works in the rooms of the
Schlossmuseum Entitled Wiedmeben mt Museumsgut (Reunion with
museum pieces)8" or, more aptly Vcrn Hahchepsut bis Htckel (From
Hatshepsut to Heckel), it provided visitors with their first oppor-
tunity for many years to see works by artists who had long been
vilified The first rooms in the Nationalgalerie were reopened in
1949, and the following year saw the inauguration of a small room
given over entirely to twentieth-century works 87

The political situation soon deteriorated, however, as a result
of the growing hostility between the western allies on the one hand
and the Soviet Union on the other It was for this reason that the
art treasures stored in western Thuringia found their way into a
Neue Nationalgalerie founded in the western part of Berlin In the
years that followed, this new museum also reacquired a number
of previously expropriated works 88 The Nationalgalerie on the
Museumsinsel in the eastern part of the city was able to reclaim
those works in Boehmer's estate that had been confiscated earlier,
authorized by the Soviet military administration, who repealed the
1938 expropriation law89 Moller, too, was living at this time in the
Soviet-occupied zone but fled to West Berlin to escape the threat of
dispossession Only Kirchner's Interieur (Interior), which Moller had
offered for purchase to the museum in Halle, where it had remained,
came back to the Nationalgalerie in East Berlin90 As the political
situation worsened, so too did the position of cultural politics
The Stalinist doctrine of "Socialist realism" became the norm, and
war was declared on so-called formalism, a movement to which
those artists who had been vilified by the Third Reich belonged 9I
As Viktor Klemperer observed, the very existence of the spirit and
language of the Third Reich seemed threatened 9: The measures
taken by the Nationalgalerie to "purge" its collection once again,
however, were not as drastic as those undertaken by other museums,
protected as it was by Justi's eminence Great works of modern art
were already to be seen there as early as 1954 and (following the
famous exhibition of art from the Dresden and Berlin museums sent
back from the Soviet Union) from 1958 onward 9' ■

Figure 104

View of a gallery in the Kronpnnzcn 1'al.ns O
and Picasso, 1929/30, work later in fnturtrtr Ku
2. Kirchner, Str<wrmzmr

ork by Harth, Kirchner,
iner, Dir Mnslrr dn Crack,

Figure 105

View of a gallery in the Kronpnnzen-Pala
1932/33, work later in fntartrlr Kunst 1. Fe
3, Belling, DrtMaruj

work by Belling and Feminger
i //, 2 Belling, Kopf,

Nulrs

1 I arlier directors ol the Nationalgalene had been unable to realize their plans to
tollrt i modern art in a systematic way Max lordan, tor example, director Irom 1874
to 1896 had wanted to add Arnold Bockltn s works to his collection and Hugi
Ischudl, director Irom 1896 to 1904 was eager to buy more French Impressionist
works Both directors had to bow to majority decisions by a Landeskunstkomm
(Provincial art commission i set up by the Prussian Landtag Provirx ial assembly
while Tschudi also had to respect the right ol veto ot Emperor Wilhelm II Ludwig
lust, appointed in 1909, had a freer hand, especially during the Weimar Republic
Even so, he was accused of "attempting to prevent political change" when, imme-
diately following the upheavals ol 1918 he bought works by Harlach, Heckcl, and
Kokoschka

2 Even before 1933 National Socialist attacks on modern art had not been taken
lying down by the Nationalgalene lusti complained, for example, about what he-
called "the Zwickau scandal," when proceedings were initiated against Hildebrand
Gurlitt, director of the museum in Zwickau Musrum dn Gljaiwart I [1930] 49-60)

1 le also wanted to condemn the purge at the Weimar Museum in 1930, but the direc-
tor of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Weimar, Wilhelm Kohler, refused to get
involved in a public protest lest it jeopardize plans to transfer the exhibition ot mod
ern art to Erfurt, he preferred to treat the incident as a "trifle" (Staatliche Museen
zu Berlin, Zentrales Archiv, Nationalgalene Archiv IZA/NCA], Acta Cen 19. Bd I,
Bl 264 i Another Nationalgalene staff member who spoke out was Alfred Hentzen,
who protested against Paul Schultze Naumburg in D« Rimi) S, no 35 (August 26,
1932), writing under the pseudonym "Walter Pennel", he also supported Ernst Barlach
in an open letter to Wilhelm Stapel, the editor of the periodical OmIscEms Volltstum,
published in Dtutscbc Zutun/l, December 17, 1933, 6, 10

3 A more complete account of the activities at the Nationalgalene during this
period may be found in Paul Ortwin Rave, Kutntdihtilur m Drillrn Rricfc (Hamburg
Cebruder Mann, 1949, ed Uwe M Schneede, Berlin Argon, 1987, all subsequent
references are to the 1987 edition), idem, Dir Grscriicfetr dn Natioruiupltru firrlm (Berlin
Nationalgalene der Staatlichen Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 1968), Alfred
Hentzen, "Das Ende der Neuen Abteilung der National-Calene im ehemaligen
Kronpnnzen-Palais," labfbuch Slijtung Prtussiscbtr Ku/lurbrsilz 8 (1970) 24-89, also pub-
lished separately under the title, Dk Btrlmtr Ntilwnal-Galtnt im liildtnturm (Cologne
Crote, 1971, all subsequent references are to the 1971 edition), idem, "Die Entstehung
der Neuen Abteilung der National-Calene im ehemaligen Kronpnnzen-Palais,"
Jabrbucb Stifttmg Prtmsiscbtr Kullurbaitz 10 (1972) 9-75, and Annegret landa, ed , Das
Sc.hic.ksal rmrr Sammlmj: Aufbm utid Zrrslorand dn Nrurn Abuiunq itr NalwnaUakrit im
(batuilitim Krmprinzm-Palais Unttr den Linden 1918-1945 (Berlin Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin, 1986, Berlin Neue Cesellschaft fur bildende Kunst, 1988, all subsequent
references are to the 1988 edition)

4 Director Ludwig Justi's "artistic empire" (to quote from his obituary by Alfred
Hentzen) was made up of several specialist museums in 1933 nineteenth-century
art was located in the Nationalgalene's main building on the Museumsinsel, works
by Karl Fnedrich Schinkel were in the former Prinzessinnen-Palais, the portrait col-
lection was in Schinkel's Bauakademie. sculptures by Christian Rauch were in the
Orangene at Schloss Charlottenburg, and the collection of models and plaster casts
was in the arcades of the metropolitan railway at the Lehrter Station, see Rave, Dir
Cncbrcfate itr Nalionalgaltric, 69-1 13

5 A few photographs have survived in the gallery archives of exhibition rooms

at the Kronpnnzen-Palais in 1919, 1927 and 1930 (figs 92, 104) Exhibition catalogues
documenting this period are Verzeicbms der m ebemlijni Kwnprmzen-Palais iiusdrstr/ltrn
Kumlwerke ( 1919, 2d ed 19201, Ludwig lusti. Drutscbr Malkunsl im nrunzrbntm lahrhun-
irrl (1920, rev and enl ed 1922 (, idem, Drulscfcr Zrichmfcunsl im nrunzrrinlm tabrbmjert
(1919, 2d ed 1920, 3d ed 1922), Vennchms in GrmiUr uni Mdwcrkc in Jrr Nationol-
G.ilrnr zu Brrlm 1 1921, reissued 1923, 1926, 1928), Justt, Von Cormtb hi Kite 1931

6 The gallery archives preserve an invitation to a viewing on February 15, 1933,
with a description of the rehung gallery by Ludwig lusti

7 Thirteen photographs of this installation have survived (see figs 94, 96-99,
101 ) A catalogue — Niitiondl-Ga/rrir Vcrzcicbnis in Gmaldt uni Biliwerke itr Neuen
Abtnlunii im rrirmjddrn Kronprinzen-Palais — had been prepared, but it was never printed

(a proof copy has survived in the Nationalgalene library) Alfred Hentzen charac-
terized the collection as follows "The Neue Abteilung in the former Kronprinzen-
Palais surpassed all the other forty or so museums in Germany that were then collect-
ing modern art in any appreciable quantity, for the majority of them it was a model in
terms of both choice and objective There was nothing comparable in other European
countries between the wars, and when Alfred H Barr founded the Museum of Mod-
ern Art in New York he referred explicitly to the examples in Germany especially
to Berlin It was for this reason that the Kronprinzen-Palais assumed quite a special
significance in the fight for modern art that began in 1933" (Dir Berliner Nalwnal-
Gakrit, 5

8 Lbpelmann's article was published in the Naliotiahcihnu) (Essen), August 17,

1932, see also the comments by "-g-" on Justi's (unpublished) reiomder in DeuHche
Kullur-Wacht 4 (1933) 15 Justi sent a typewritten copy of his remarks to various per-
sons who he hoped would use their influence to help him One such person was
Eberhard Hanfstaengl, at that time director of the Stadtische Kunstsammlungen in
Munich, who replied on September 5, 1932, that he would inform leading members
of the NSDAP of lustis stance "in a suitable way and at a suitable opportunity" He
described "such serious misdemeanors by those members of the party who are active
in the cultural sphere" as "one of the most difficult and also one of the most unfortu-
nate chapters, a state of affairs that has been recognized, at least in part, at the very
top" (ZA/NGA, Klemm-Mappe "1933," Bl 1-38)

9 The Kunstklub was a registered society with an address at Meinekestrasse 27,
near the Kurfurstendamm It advertised a discussion evening on Wednesday, April 7

1933, at which Adolf Behne was to speak on "Nationalgalene, Kronprinzen Palais,
mal so, mal anders" (Now like this, now like that) (Berlin, Zentrales Archiv, Akademie
der Wissenschaften der DDR, Nachlass Justi) Justi's rejoinder appeared in Deulsches
Volksttm I (1933) 1-7, and in his Mrmoirfti //, unpublished memoirs (typescript,
ZA/NGA), 163, see also Felix A Dargel, Nacht-Ausgabe (Berlin), January 5, 1933,
Hentzen, "Die Entstehung der Neuen Abteilung," 70, and Janda, Dm Scbtcksal emer
Sammlung, 61-62

10 Robert Scholz, "Neuordnung im Kronprinzen-Palais," Sleglitzer Anzti^rr (Berlin),
February 15, 1933, for a fuller account of the episode see Josef Wulf, Die btldenden
Kunslf im Dritlm Retch Eme Dokumentation (Gutersloh Rowohlt, 1963), 399-403

1 1 The article was originally published in the Niederlamttzer Neueste Nachrtcblen,
no 69, March 19, 1933, and reprinted in Neue Kreis-Zeitung Nalionale Runifsctwu Krm
Liebenwerda (Bad Liebenwerda), no 67, March 20, 1933, and in an abridged form
in Dfulscfer Kttltur-Wacbt 6 1 1933) 7 The Nationalgalerie's reactions to the claims
advanced in this article were not printed (ZA/NGA, Klemm-Mappe "1933,"

Bl 56-58)

12 "The majority of the employees at the Nationalgalene" protested against these
reproaches in a letter to the minister of culture (ZA/NGA, Acta Gen Pers VI,
602/33) One year later those who had been punished complained to the minister and
demanded that the reprimand be lifted Hanfstaengl's view was that "a lifting of the
reprimand by the ministry would merely gratify those officials who wished to
harm their superiors by their mendacious claims" and it was therefore "in the interests
of discipline to uphold the sentences" (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec Pers I, 198/34)

13 Richard Pfeiffer, "Die Entscheidung," DmlscJjr Kuhur-Wacbt 13 (1933) 7-8, the
date of the artists' "audience" with Hitler is given by Hildegard Brenner, Dir Kumtpolilik
des Nattonahozialtsmm (Reinbek Rowohlt, 1963), 255 n 2 See also the somewhat
inaccurate version of events in Ludwig Thormaehlen, Ertnnerungen an Stefan George
(Hamburg Rowohlt, 1962), 276-78, Thormaehlen had been to see Max von
Schillings in order to get him to sign a letter to Hermann Goring in which several
prominent figures from the world of art — including Franz Bock, Georg Kolbe, August
Kraus, Leo von Koenig, Franz Lenk, and Wilhelm Pinder (ZA/NGA, Klemm-Mappe
"1933," Bl 40) — asked for protection for Ludwig Justi According to Thormaehlen,
Schillings announced that he was to visit Hitler, and to his dismay he was joined by
German Bestelmeyer and Paul Schultze-Naumburg Schultze-Naumburg allegedly
brought "specially prepared material" with him, including an article by Felix A
Dargel in Drr Atitfnfj supporting modern art and reproducing Erich Heckel's Madonna
von Ostende, which was on loan to the Kronprinzen-Palais This material so enraged
Hitler that he gave instructions for the "purge" and demanded that "a particularly
eager eulogist of this decadent art be dismissed from the party press without delay"

14 Alfred Rosenberg, "Revolution in der bildenden Kunst," Vblhscher Beobacbter,
no 187, July 7, 1933

15 The following documents relating to the student demonstration have survived in
the Nationalgalene archives a telegram from student leader Otto Andreas Schreiber
to the Nationalgalene, July 4, 1933, the catalogue of the exhibition in the Galerie
Ferdinand Mbller, and a letter from Dr Rudolf Buttmann, department head at the
Reichsministerium des Innern (Ministry of the interior), with minister Wilhelm Frick's
permission for the exhibition to open "without the participation of the student organi-
zation" (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 20, Bd 4, 1320/33 and 1326/33) According to Brenner
(Dif Kunstpolitik, 65, 68 n 14), Justi offered to "pay the traveling expenses of any
speakers who wanted to speak in other towns as well" (258 n 8), see also Hentzen,
Die Berlmer Natioml-Galerie, 8

16 Bernhard Rust, letter to Ludwig Justi, July I, 1933 (Berlin, Zentrales Archiv,
Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR, Nachlass Justi, Nr 126), see also Thor-
maehlen, Ennnerungen an Slejan George, 279

17 Alois Schardt, letter to Bernhard Rust, November 9, 1933 (ZA/NGA, Acta
Spec 53, 2237/33)

18 Criticism of Schardt appeared in, among other places, Weltkunst, July 16, 1933,
and the Netu Zurcber Zeitung, August 28, 1933

19 Schardt to Rust, November 9, 1933 (see note 17) Schardt's book on the same
subject was similarly refused publication (it was circulated in manuscript form instead,
and among those who were sent copies was Ernst Barlach)

20 ZA/NGA, Gen Pers 1190/33, 1304/33 Not only were officials required to sign,
so, too, were white- and blue-collar workers and temporary employees

21 ZA/NGA, Gen Pers 1479/33

22 ZA/NGA, Acta Gen Pers 1586/33

23 ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 7, Bd 4, 2111/33

24 Schardt to Rust, November 9, 1933 (see note 17) Schardt wanted the Romantic
school and Expressionists to be housed in the Kronprinzen-Palais, with contemporary
art in the Pnnzessinnen-Palais, classical and naturalistic art in the mam building, and
the Schinkel collection in Schinkel's own Bauakademie A new museum would be cre-
ated for history painting The first building to be refurbished was the Kronprinzen-
Palais on the first floor were works by Blcchen, Friednch, Runge, and others, on the
second, Feuerbach, von Marees, and Thoma, and on the third, Barlach, Feininger,
Lehmbruck, Macke, Marc, Munch, Nolde, and Rohlfs See the descriptions in Rave,
Kumtdiktatm, 33-34, and Hentzen, Dir Brrlmtr National-Galerie, 12, six photographs of
the interior have survived

25 ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 19, Bd 5, 1314/33 (Barlach), 1344/33 (Feininger), 1337/33
(Klee), and the file "Ahnen-Listen," containing genealogies of the three artists in ques-
tion, with copies of letters relating to Marc

26 Rave, Kunstdiktatur, 33-34, and Hentzen, Dit Brrlmtr National-Galene, 12, see also
Janda, Das Scbicksal emer Sammlung, 64-66, n 28

27 The extent to which the situation was misunderstood at the time emerges, for
example, in Gottfried Benn's letter to Kathe von Porada of August 5, 1933, in which he
discussed the closure of the Kronprinzen-Palais "And now Beckmann' Because he's
been taken down' Ah, the good boy, everything must run perfectly smoothly every-
thing must work, these are heroes and champions1 The battle must be worthwhile,
guaranteed in advance, no failure at a late hour, ideally insured with the Allianz [an
insurance company], genius insured against failure, genius insured against destruction,
genius insured against schizophrenia and being taken down from the wall — my dear
Frau von Porada, as long as financial values are involved, you'll find respect and silence
on my part, but if you come to me with art, I'm pitiless1" (cited in Gottfried Benn
(886-1956 [exh cat, Marbach am Neckar Deutsches Literaturarchiv im Schiller-
Nationalmuseum, 1986], 207)

28 ZA/NGA, Acta Gen Pers, Bd 6, 1781/35, 2203/35, similar regulations are
found in 1145/36, 2800/36, 72/37, 866/37

29 ZA/NGA, Acta Gen Pers 1504/35, 2103/35, 107/26

30 ZA/NGA, Acta Gen Pers , Bd 6, 1354/34, 345/35, 369/35, 403/35, 209/35,
617/35, 1851/35, 1269/36, 1710/36, 255/37, 1049/37, 1251/37, 1389/37 1408/37, 1516/37,
also Acta Gen 22, Bd 7 617/35, 59/36, 943/36

31 See ZA/NGA, Acta Gen Pers references cited in note 30

32 ZA/NGA Vmi.mi - vol 1851 15 Bernhard Rust wroti to Otto KUmmcl
general dlrectoi ol the Berlin museums on < tetobei 23 1935 on the subject ol Ins
article In Gassdmb una U/tsdwn 5 no 6 1935)

i < .' \ \t . \ i 'iiiiu i N.iiH 111,1 l^.i lent- Aiisstcllun^cn the exhibition opi ra d
.n the same time .is spe< lal exhibitions "I the work ol Karl I eipold and the S< ftinkel
collection In the Bauakademie
M An Inventory ol the works in storage is in ZA Ni ,A < Irdnei I ntartete Kunsi

I HI II i

35 Only three volumes ol Ali^rwm Jrr (.c/nrir.irl had been brought out between
[930 and 1933 \ dissertation on the subject by Kurt Winklei (Freie llmversit.it,
West Herlm is currently in preparation

36 \fazeicbnis do Kmalwtrke in Jet Neuen Abttilung det Natiom iJ t \a\mt m ebenutluini
Knmprinzen-Palais Berlin Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn 1934 rev. ed il»<s

37 National-Gakrit Die wiebfafsten Erwtrbungat m den fabrrn i933-t937 (Berlin
Deutsche! Kunstverlag 1938

^s In 1934 Bariach's Da Apostti was exchanged foi Ltsmdt Moncbti in 1935 Beck-
mann's Dm lifh was exchanged for < kbsenstall and i.liihuiel mil KorwcfircM, I lofer's
Geipjffo tor BenjRjrdbc and StfJIcften mil Goitiisr, ami his Selhsthildnis ol 1928 for another
self-portrait ol 1935. and Noldes Die Amite lot W /'Mr and Rfl/e SoHHOiblumm

39 ZA/NGA, Ordnei "Dresdnei Bank," 1474/35, 283/36, and passim Chagall's
Vitebsk was given to the collector l)r Feldhausser in exchange tor Kirchner's
Ftbmirnkustf 1936

40 In N35 Holers Hm;l1iMtiM.hjfl was transferred from the Reichsministenum des
Inncrn, followed rn 1937 by Kirchner's Blicfc ins Tobel and Pechstein's Schneelandschafi

41 The auction was advertised tn UriltunsI on February 10, 1935 The National
galene purchased drawings bv Crodel, Heckel (two), Herbig, and Kleinschmidt
(ZA/NGA, Acta Gen 10, Bd 17, 515/35 F III 2206-10)

42 The confiscation order was announced in the Deutsche Alliiemewe Zeitunt) ol
March 6, 1935, see Brenner, Die Kumtpolttik, 184, doc 20

43 The works selected to be preserved were paintings by Hofer, Mueller (two),
and Pechstein and drawings by Adler, Dix, Heckel, Mueller, Pechstein, Radziwill, and
Schlichter these were all confiscated and taken to Munich in 1937, where the paint-
ings were exhibited in Cfftartete Kunsl as belonging to the Nationalgalene The burning
ol remaining works is attested by Hentzen, building inspector Bahr, and workers
Gerdau and Ulnch I the latter was among those who had signed the letter denounc-
ing lusti in 1933 ', photographs survive ol paintings by Kleinschmidt and Schmidt-
Rottlutf that were destroyed (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 24, Bd 7, 345/37)

44 See the list of the many exhibitions held under Justi in ZA/NGA, Autographen-
Sammlung Ordner "Geschichte Nationalgalene Ausstellungen "

45 There were six exhibitions in the series Deutsche Kunst sal Durer at the
Prinzessmnen Palais I) Das Bildms m der Plastik (The portrait sculpture), 1934-35,
organized and catalogued by Alfred Hentzen and Niels von Hoist, including works
by Barlach [Daubler), Lehmbruck. and Marcks, 2) Der Tanz m der Kunst (The dance in
art), 1934-35 organized and catalogued by Hentzen and Hoist, including works by
Macke and Minkenberg, 3) Das Emtfmsbild (The eventful picture), 1935, organized by
Hentzen and Hoist, catalogued by Anni Paul-Pescatore, 4) Das Stilkben (The still life),
1935—36, catalogued by Hentzen, Hoist and Paul-Pescatore. including paintings by
Corinth. Heckel and Slevogt, 5) Das Sittenbild (Genre painting), 1936-37, organized
by Hoist, Paul Ortwin Rave, and Wolfgang Schone, catalogued by Paul-Pescatore, 6)
Cross* Deutsche in Bildmssen ibrer Zfif (Great Germans in portraits of their age), 1936,
organized by Hentzen, Hoist, and Rave, catalogued by Adolf Ernst Napp and Paul
Pescatore, including works by Corinth, Lehmbruck, and Macke (no portraits of living
persons)

46 The greatest amount of work was done in two large rooms on the second floor
that were lit by natural light from above Dropped ceilings of glass had previously
been installed, hiding the nineteenth-century ceilings Alter the renovation these
rooms were bright and uniform in color (see Weltkunst, June 14, 1936)

47 Nineteen photographs have survived from 1936-37 and are preserved in the
photograph collection of the Nationalgalene Archiv

48 The Barlach installation featured two loans, the huge Kammrelief, from a private
collection and Der Racket, owned by the city of Berlin

19 Paintings by Klee, Kokoschlu verc hung with % rl

artists see 1 einmgei I Int.

Si hmidl <'d . /» Irtzln Stundt r linstlmcbrifta I

Kiinstla da zmanzigttat Uhr\ kri Dn den VEB Verlag dci ■

lists of works exhibited before and ifterth
( (rdnei I ntartete Kunsi I Bl i 9

so I he Natlonalgalerle wanted to lodge a protest Hentzen, Dir On ■

Galerit, 19) and I lanfstaengl asked the Kultusministerium foi help in ■ ombatlng these
malicious attacks Although no official denial was issued avi ministry

ollu ials ensured that the artk le was not reprinted in other newspapers A reioindcr bv
Paul Fechtei appealed in Deutsche Zukunji Apr. I I? 19 6
5i It is particularly significant that Georg Bicrmann is also criticized m tht
since he was repeatedly attacked bv I lansen and Willnch Hansen quotes the article
in a note on page 10 ot his pamphlet Neut Zielsetzungen unj Wcrlutufen m Jc Ihut <
Kunst des Dritten Retches (see note 55), but without mentioning tru

52 lohann von Leers, letter to Georg Biermann, November 28 1437, utcd in
Wull. Die bildenden Kunste, 358-59 An attack on Leers appears in a document among
Willnch's papers in the Hansen Art hi\ ZA N< , A in which Will rich accuses Leers
ol having been heavily involved in the student n vi ilts i J 193 ) The document is
described as an enclosure from a letter to Oberiandwirtschaftsrat 5enior agricultural

adviser i Hanns Deetjen, to whom Willnch sent topics ot all his letters to his emplover
Reichsbauernfuhrer I Reich (arm leader. Richard Walther Darre

53 Heinrich Himmler, letter to Wolfgang Willnch, September 22, 1937, cited in
Gottfried Bow, 241-42

54 Eberhard Hanfstaengl, letter to Paul Kleinschmidt December I1* 1935 ZA
NGA, Schnftwechsel 1935, Bl 305-6), see also Janda, Das Scbteksal ewer Sammtung,
79 n 155c

55 Wiedemann [Walter Hansen], "Neue Zielsetzungen und Wertungcn in der
Deutschen [sic] Kunst des Dritten Reiches," Hansiscbe Hocbschul-Zatung 18, no I May
I, 1936) 2-3, reprinted as a pamphlet with footnotes I Hamburg, 1936, preserved in
ZA/NGA) and also in Der SA-Mann, 1936, no 32 (August S no 33 August 15),

no 34 (August 22) This article included the hrst presentation of the comparison
(entirely Hansen's own invention) of a medieval masterpiece, the statue oi Uta from
Naumburg Cathedral, to Werner Scholz's "degenerate" painting Die Braut, a com-
parison that was repeated with photographs in the Etttartrte Kunst exhibition

Another of Hansen's articles, "Schluss mit den kulturellen Falschmunzern Rmil
Nolde, ein Kampfer — gegen den Kulturbolsehewismus",v appeared m Die llcwcgung .
no 15, April H, 1936 He also planned two essays for the Scbnftenreiben des Kunstpoh-
tiscken Arcbivs "Verfallskunst 1918-1933 am Pranger" and "ludischer Einfluss im
deutschen Kunstschaffen seit 1800''

Hansen started the Kunslpolitiscbes Archiv Entartete Kunst on orders from the
Kultusministerium The archival material was handed over to the Nationalgalene on
December 13, 1938 (ZA/NGA, Ordner "Entartete Kunst I," Bl 236, 2245/38t It con-
tained 194 photographs of works by vilified artists From the Hamburg Museum fur
Kunst und Gewerbe, printed matter, a page from Wiltrich's papers, and 188 photo-
graphs from the 1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich, and has survived virtually
intact

56 Johann von Leers, letter to Georg Biermann, November 28, 1937, cited in Wulf
Dte bildenden Kiinste, 358-59

57 On November 8, 1936, Weltkunst reported that the top floor was to be closed
Lists of works exhibited before and after the closure can be found in ZA/NGA,
Ordner "Entartete Kunst I," Bl 1-2, 11-15

58 Wolfgang W.llrich, letter to Richard Walther Darre, November 1, 1936 "It is
typical of the confusion rampant today that last Sunday Rust's ministry was publicly
forced to admit that, more than three years after we came to power, the modern
wing of the Nationalgalene with its collection of cultural Bolshevism has not yet been
cleaned up in a way that accords with National Socialist philosophy What a disgrace1
(cited in Wulf, D,e bildenden Kunste, 351)

59 Wolfgang Willnch and Konrad Nonn letter to Richard Walther Darre, April
30, 1937, cited in Wulf, Die bildenden Kunste, 313-16 Willnch claimed that "if the min-
ister seriously intends to vilify the leaders of this riffraff by contrasting them to the
National Socialist view of art and if I myself am to be appointed consulting expert,

I will not dissociate myself from such a move, although I know that I will incur the
personal and mortal enmity of these people For it goes without saying that I accept
full personal responsibility for this choice of material "

60 Rave, Kumtdthatur. 144, minutes kept by Rave during the first round of expro-
priations are published on pages 142—43

61 Ziegler's list is preserved in ZA/NCA, Acta Spec I, Bd 39a, 1447/37, lists of
works confiscated from the Nationalgalene are in ZA/NCA, Ordner "Entartete Kunst
I," Bl 10, 29-30, 69-77 The numbers assigned to the Nationalgalene works in the
confiscation register of the Propagandammistenum were 14126-45, 14288—320, and
14326, those in Entartett Kumt m Munich were assigned numbers between 15934 and
16312

62 A shipping invoice from the firm of Robert Haberlmg St Co is in ZA/NCA,
Acta Spec I. Bd 39a, 1447/37, insurance premiums are documented on a receipt in
the Zentrales Archiv (I Ceneralverwaltung [ZA I CV] 144, Beleg Nr 67) The pre-
mium receipt contains no mention of the confiscated works from the Reichsmimste-
num des Innern, listed in their place is Dix's portrait of Karl Krall, which is missing
from the Nationalgalene list The archives (ZA I CV 144, Beleg Nr 45) also contain
shipping invoices for a fifteen-hour period on July 6 and 7 which may relate to loans
Not all the works intended for Munich were in fact exhibited, see Mario-Andreas von
Luttichau, '"Deutsche Kunst' und 'Entartete Kunst' Die Munchner Ausstellung 1937''
in Peter-Klaus Schuster, ed , Dit "KunststaA" Mmdm (937 Nalionulsoznilismus und "Enlar-
Irle Kuml" (Munich Prestel, 1987), 122-81

63 Die Tapbucbtr von lostpb Gorbbth Samtlicht Fragment!, ed Elke Frohhch (Munich
C K Saur, 1987), pt I, vol 3, 211

64 ZA/NCA, Acta Pers Eberhard Hanfstaengl, see also Hentzen, Die Berliner
National-Galmt, 62-63 Hentzen was also sent on indefinite leave, an absurd situation
not least because he had been appointed curator as recently as June 30 and, like
Hanfstaengl, had been awarded the Olympia-Ennnerungsmedaille (Olympic com-
memorative medal) on July 2 He was subsequently transferred to the Cemaldegalerie
(ZA/NCA, Acta Gen Pers 835/37)

65 Minutes kept by Paul Ortwm Rave during the second round of confiscations are
in ZA/NCA, Ordner "Entartete Kunst I," Bl 16-19 In the confiscation register of the
Propagandammistenum these works were assigned numbers 12069-405 All the other
works in the Nationalgalene were confiscated after these entries were made, in other
words, from the second half of October onward The lists of works are in ZA/NCA,
Ordner "Entartete Kunst I," Bl 24-49, 85 (under the heading "Munich group,"
although they were not exhibited there), and accompanying letter (Bl 66-68) They
were shipped to the warehouse at Kbpenicker Strasse 24 by the firm of Gustav
Knauer on October 14, 1937 (Bl 78-82, an invoice of October 15 for insuring the
shipment is in ZA I CV 144, Beleg Nr 164) Rave's instructions to the cashier's office
of the Staathche Museen to pay "senior attendant Gadecke, museum attendant
Schroder, and employee Ulrich" three marks for a hot meal because they had to
work in the drawings department during the confiscations has a farcical ring to it
(ZA/NCA, Acta Spec I, Bd 39a, 1447/37)

66 The only painting affected was Kirchner's Ftbmarnkustt, which had been
exchanged for Chagall's Vitebsk (from the Dresdner Bank) and was on view in the
Kronprinzen-Palais when the expropriation commission arrived (see note 39)

67 ZA/NCA, Acta Spec 24, Bd 7, 1542/37 Nineteen paintings, watercolors, and
drawings were entrusted to Eduard von der Heydt at the Thyssen Bank, Behrenstrasse
8, Berlin The only loan from the Verein "Freunde der Nationalgalene" impounded by
the commission on this occasion was Matares Die Katzr, plaster models of Kathe Koll-
witz's Flttrnpaar remained in the main building The works m the Thyssen Bank were
brought back to the gallery on May 4, 1939, and a number of them were sold

to Karl Buchholz (see note 80)

68 ZA/NCA, Acta Cen 44 and Spec 24, 1660/37 entry at August 24, 1937

69 See records in ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 59, Bd I, 1883/37, 1902/37 1332/38,
1815/38, and Hentzen, Die Berliner NatwnaUGatmi , 41

70 The list for the third round of confiscations is preserved in ZA/NGA, Ordner
"Entartete Kunst I," Bl 61-62, 1980/37, see also Bl 53, 110, 118 A sculpture by Her-
mann Haller (see note 71), which was not on the list, was not impounded until
November 9 and taken away on November 20 (ZA I CV 144, Beleg Nr 66) The
numbers assigned to these works in the confiscation register of the Propaganda-
mmistenum were 15662-82

71 The works of art that were returned were Corinth's Familit Rum/)/, Jnnlnl-
Landscbajl, and Das Irojaniscoe P/erd, de Fiori's Marlmt Dietrich, Grauel's Hodtendes
Madcben, Haller's Kmendes Madcbn, Host's Noormbtr, Montanan's Kronigtmg, Munch's
Snou> Shovrlm, Smtenis's Sltbs&ildltis, Sironi's Kompositum, Sondergaard's Abmd am Meer,
and Tagore's Bmstbtld tints JnJtrs, Mudchtn in rolnn Gtwand, and Zinei Vogtl

72 On July 12, 1938, there was a transfer of 100 works from the Kultusministenum
to the Nationalgalene "for storage" (ZA/NGA, Ordner "Entartete Kunst I," Bl 180—
201, 1302/38), on July 19, 1938, 178 works were transferred from the ministry and 59
from the Deutsche Akademie in Rome (Bl 189-91, 202-4, 1342/38), and on April 14,
1939, an additional 20 works were transferred (Bl 258-69, 749/39) Most of this art
was lost during the war Ernst Barlach's Dtr Summler and Charlotte Berend-Connth's
Toledo were saved In 1939 5 oils and 15 watercolors by Karl A Lattner were trans-
ferred to the gallery from the psychiatric and neurological clinic at the University of
Creifswald I Bl 245-54, 71/39)

73 As early as 1936 Baudissin had expressed the opinion that Goebbels should
prevent museums from buying works by living artists and that "in future the
Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste should reserve the exclusive right to acquire such
works" (letter to Mayor Dr Reismann-Crone, cited in Paul Vogt, Das Museum Folkwang
Essen Die Gescfeicfete einer Siimmlund lunger Kunst im Rubrgrhiet [Cologne DuMont
Schauberg, 1965], 116) On February 23, 1937 Hentzen wrote to Wilhelm Fehrle that
since the closure of the gallery "an unresolved question remains We do not know
whether it is still our job to run the modern art section or not, and until this question
is settled, we cannot make our purchases either" (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 24, Bd 7,
679/37) On July 24 of the same year Goebbels noted in his diary "Kronprinzen-
Palais to take a quarter of the works from Munich From there every year Good idea"
(Die Tagcbuchrr, pt 1, vol 3, 211) The Nationalgalene subsequently acquired Ludwig
Kaspar's Sitzende (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 25, Bd 1, 1108/37), two drawings by Gerhard
Marcks 1 1 131/37), and Clara Westhoff-Rilke's bust of Rainer Maria Rilke for the por-
trait collection (674/38)

74 According to the list of "Kunstwerke in der Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst,'"
which was opened in Berlin in March of 1938, there were eighteen oils, ten water-
colors, and two sculptures from the Nationalgalene (ZA/NCA, Ordner "Entartete
Kunst I," Bl 94-95)

75 Otto Kiimmel, letter to the Nationalgalene, September 28, 1939 (ZA/NCA,
Acta Spec 24, Beih 2, 662/38)

76 The insurance coverage was terminated on October 5, 1938 (invoice of October
13, 1938, in ZA I CV 1952, Kap 155/50/51, Bl 40)

77 Paul Ortwin Rave, letter to Bernhard Rust on the subject of Otto Kummel, Sep-
tember 13, 1938 (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec, Beih 2, 662/38), the minister's consent is
dated December 7, 1938 (2155/38), see also Perlwitz's letter to Rave of February 14,
1939, relating to the form of cancellation in the inventory with corrections by Rave:
"Expropriated by Reichsk d bild Kunste, therefore to be deleted, see 2155/38 "

78 Dr Ludwig Wang, Institut fur Deutsche Kultur- und Wirtschaftspropaganda,
Weimar, letter to the Nationalgalene, March 25, 1939 (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 14, Bd
4, 618/39)

79 Paul Ortwin Rave, letter to Bernhard Rust, September 13, 1938 (ZA/NGA,
Acta Spec 24, Beih 2, 662/381 Campendonk's work was reduced from a valuation
of 800-1,000 reichsmarks to 200-400, Heckel's from 4,000-5,000 to 500-800,
Kokoschka's from 6,000 and 15,000 to 800 and 900, and Lehmbruck's from 1,500 to
600 A list was enclosed headed, "Beschlagnahmte Werke (international verwertbar)"
(Expropriated works [internationally exploitable]), with prices added by hand and in
the case of works from the Nationalgalene a note of their insurance values Rave also
sent his report to the Finanzminister, Johannes Popifz, for his information (letter

of September 14, 1938) A similar list is also preserved in the Arntz archives (Los
Angeles, The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Archives
of the History of Art, Wilhelm F Arntz Papers, III D, box 26)

W I tucrcd in the Inventor) i A works ou ncd by the vercin I reundc dcr
Nattonalgalerle Munch design tor a set lor Ibsen's Gbosts sold to Buchhol foi
2^00 reichsmarks on September 2 1939 Feininger*s Stgtiboott X u sold to Buchholz

■ reichsmarks Picasso's Tablt unto Lutroid Bovlqj Fmil sold to Buchholz (or
$000 retchsmarks Gris's Bottfc ej Bordeau> already sold to Buchholz in 1937 for
s|(H) retchsmarks Braqucs W/ (.ifr sold to Buchholz for 700 rcichsmarks, Rohllss
( emu and Hfcs* ClodemUimn sold to Buchholz on ( k tober J, 1939, for 500 retehs-
marks and Nolde S SmmerMumen and Hoben und WWJfcni. sold to Hans von Flotow for
700 rcichsmarks on ltd) 29 1939 rurthei inquiries arc in ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 29,
Belli I Rd I 1826 19 Ana Spec 24, Bd 10 625 12

81 A manuscript on this subject with excerpts and compilations by Andreas
Huncke is in ZA NGA Irum the Zentralcs Staatsarchiv Potsdam, Best 50011015,
■1017, -1018, -1019) See also Huneke's essay in this volume and his article, "Dubiose
Handler openeren im Dunst der Macht Vom Handel mit cntartcter Kunst,' in Hans
Albert Peters and Stephan von Wiese eds Aljnd Fkcbtbam Sammler. Kumthandfo.
Urffjfr exh cat DusseldorJ Kunstmuseum 1987), 101-7 On Moller see Eberhard
Roters Gakrk Ferdinand Mbila Die Gescfacbfe einei Galeriefiir modeme Kunst in Deutschland
1917-1954 Berlin ( iebrudei Mann 1984 on Fohn see Annegret landa, "Werke von
loseph Anton Koch im Tausch gcgen Lntartete Kunst, ' in A J Gar stent/ J A Koch
(exh cat, Berlin Nationalgalene, 1989), 16-19, and Kurt Martin and Wolf-Dieter
Dube Scbatkmy S$t und Emanuel Fohn (exh tat. Munich Bayensche Staats-
^cmaldesammlungen, 1965) Copies of exchange contracts are preserved in ZA/NGA,
Acta Spec 24, Bd 9, 942/40, 970/41, and photocopies of some of the correspondence
are in the Arntz archives (see note 79), box III I B and C

82 "Compensation" to the Nationalgalene was in three parts i the Nationalgalene
took fourth place behind the Stadtische Galene in Frankfurt am Main, the Folkwang
Museum in Essen and the Stadtische Bildergalene in Wuppertal) 1 1 The National-
galenc received six works of art from various exchange contracts one Menzel, three
drawings by loseph Anton Koch, one Dreber and one Oehme i ZA/NGA, Acta Spec
24, Bd 9, 970/41) None of the museums was asked about the division and distribution
of the art, since endless discussions would have ensued Only Wuppertal's director,
Viktor Dirksen, expressed gratitude for its new Overbeck (ZA/NGA, Acta Spec 24,
Bd 9, 264/42), the other galleries simply confirmed receipt The total value of these
works was 7530 reichsmarks, 2) On lanuary 24, 1940, Hermann Goring, who had
acquired a number of works for himself, had the sum of 165,000 reichsmarks trans-
ferred to the gallery in payment for van Gogh's Daubigny s harden I which had cost
250,000 reichsmarks'), three paintings by Munch, and one by Signac I ZA/NGA,
Ordner "Entartete Kunst 1," Bl 274, 105/40), he still had Franz Marc's Turm der blauen
Pferde and two other van Goghs, but these were not paid for, 3) A total of 44,490
reichsmarks was handed over in cash iZA/NCA, General-Etat 265/42)

83 StaatUcbe Museen zu Berlin. Nattonal-Galene Gemalde des 20 Jabrbunderts < Berlin
Akademie, 1976 1 and Die Gemalde dcr Nationalgalene Verzeichmt, Deutsche Malerei vom
KlassiZismus bis zum Imprcsstonimus, Ausldndiscbe Malerei von 1800 bis f«iO (Berlin Staatliche
Museen, 1986)

84 For an account of events during and after the war see Irene Kuhnel-Kunze.
Bergung — Evakuierung — Ruckfubrung Dit Berliner Museen in den labren m9-t959 [Jahrbucb
Stiftuna htmstscber Kulturbesttz, special ed 2 1 1984), Berlin Gebruder Mann, 1984)

85 Klees Blumenjrrsser and Lehmbrucks Torso were found to be missing
Lehmbrucks Die Kmende and the models for Kathe Kollwitz's Elternp.iar were destroyed
in the Nationalgalene building

86 The works on view were Barlach's Landschajt (lithograph i, Beckmanns
Selbstbildms (etching), Heckel's Frublmgslandscbaft and Selbstbildms, Hofer's ZtDO Figure*,
Kirchners Rbeinbntckc and Alpcnlandscbaft (woodcut), a plaster model of Lehmbrucks
Die Kmende (loan), Oskar Moll's Badende, Mueller's Frauen unter Baumen (lithograph), and
Pechsteins Stilleben

87 Ludwig Justi, Ausstellung in der Nationalgalene, 2d ed (Berlin Das Neue Berlin
Verlagsgesellschaft, 1950), 57-60

88 Vtrzacbms der trreimgten Kunstsammlungen Nationalgalene (Preussischer Kulturbesttz),
Galerit des 20 Jabrbunderts (Land Berlin) (Berlin Gebruder Mann, 1968 i

K9 Author!; ation dated ( h tobei B l94o" by the Kulturabteilung dct Sowjetischen
Militaradministrarion (( ultural department oi the Soviet military administration foi
the Deutsche Verwaltung fur Volksbildung in dcr Sowjetischen BcsatZUngSZOrM
man administration lor education in the Soviet occupied zom In 1947 Kurt Ri

the Ami fur Rutkluhrung von Kunstgutern I tepartmeni lot tin rest
oi in drew up an inventory oi the items in Boehmer*s estate m ( tistrow and those
field hv iMnller in /ennui > ith a Berlin provenance were given to lusti

in ItiK oi 1949 Rctltti's lists and COpiCS "I the relevant correspondence arc in !'

the Amtz archives (see note 79] which also contains a detailed report by Reutn of his

activities in the immediate postwar period Some ol these were lust published by
( .erhard Strauss, director of the Amt Museen und Sammlunj, " • - rums

and collections), in "Dokumcntc zur entartcten Kunst, in Adolf Bchne and Gerhard
Strauss, eds, Ftstgabe an Carl Hcftt zum 70 GtburtStag I'otsdam Iduard Stichnote
1948, 53-60

90 Correspondence relevant to the Kirthncr is in the Arntz archives see r,
and Roters (mltnt Ferdinand Molltr

91 Gesetzblatt der DDR, no 85, July 17, 1951 in the Verordnung uher die Errichtung
der Staatlichcn Kommission fur Kunstangelegenhetten Ordinance concerning the
establishment of a state commission for artistic matters) of July 12, 1951, it is stipulated
i paragraph 5) that the duties of the commission include "ensuring that formalism is
defeated in every area of art, that the fight against decadence is resolutely continued
and that a realistic art is developed by picking up the traditions left by the great
masters of classical art"

92 It is enough to compare statements about Barlach from 1933 and 1937 with one
from 1952 Alfred Rosenberg, Volkischcr Beobacbter, no 187 July 7, 1933 "Men from the
l^ndsturmmanner 'German home guard.' ;are] depicted as small, half idiotic mixtures
of undehnable types of humanity with Soviet helmets Wolfgang vTillrich, SaubenmA
des Kunsttmpels Bine kunslpoltUsche Kampfn.hr if t zur Gesundung dcutsiher Kunst im Geiste nor-
dischet Art (Munich I F Lehmann, 1937i 146 "dull-witted, manic creatures incapable
of active service, indeed, unsuited to any form of activity Wilhelm Girnus, Neues
Deutschland , lanuary 4, 1952 "his creations are a gray passive, despairing mass, eking
out their miserable existence in bestial dull-wittedness and showing not the least spark
of a strong, living sense of resistance Barlach prefers to look for his types among
beggars, vagabonds, and tramps, in short, among those passive sections of the
lumpenproletanat that lead lives of utter hopelessness"

93 Photographs of the interior have survived from 1954 and 1960 Other museums
did not fare so well pressure was placed on the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in
Weimar, for example, where the Bauhaus room had to be dismantled in the early
1950s following instructions from the Staatliche Kunstkommission. and in 1949 at the
Kulturhistonsches Museum in Rostock, Dr Freimann planned an exhibition of works
confiscated in 1937 from VCest German museums that had been found in Boehmer's
estate and then taken to Rostock, but she was prevented from proceeding with the
exhibition and dismissed (see Reutti documentation in the Arntz archives [see note
79], box 21), another exhibition planned toward the end of the 1950s in Rostock
was also banned

Figure 106

Confiscated works of "degenerate" art stored in Schloss Niederschonhausen, Berlii

1937, identifiable work is by Dix, Hoter, Lehmbruck, and Rohlfs

ANURIAS HUNEKI

On theTrail of Missing Masterpieces

Modern Art from German Galleries

Forty years after the Enliirtclf Kuttst exhi-
bition opened in Munich in 1937 Robert
Scholz, one of the most important and
influential art critics of the National Socialist
regime wrote
Tliere can be no doubt that this demonstration was indefensible as <w action, even
if it did include, for the most part, examples of the most appalling artistic deca-
dence It had been preceded by a "clean-Up operation" designed to purge the
country's museums of all examples of decadent art, and the Munich exhibition
included only a portion of the works removed in this way As later became clear,
ibf instigators of this clean-up operation were henchmen in the pay of individual
art dealers who wanted to gel their hands on the frozen assets of the different
museums, in other words, works such as those of the French modernists that were
already inlcrmiliOMiilly recognized It was well-known modern art dealers who
were involved in the sale of expropriated works and who, after 1945, declared they
had acted out of their concern for modern art, as a form of resistance Not even
the most pruriently spying researchers on contemporary German history have
managed to uncover the real facts about this dark chapter in the country's
recent past '

All of us who are involved in the present exhibition and who
have contributed to this volume must stand accused of "spying
on contemporary German history" But, to tell the truth, in none
of the documents that we ourselves have examined have we encoun-
tered any reference to the state of affairs referred to by Scholz
What we did repeatedly get wind of was the trail that Scholz left
behind in the years between 1933 and 1945 Although this trail is
not so important in the present context that we need to follow it in
detail, it is one that I will often have occasion to mention, and it will
also help to throw light on the "real facts," at least to the extent that
these facts have proved ascertainable

But first let me provide some background In September of
1932 Scholz numbered the sculptor Richard Haizmann among those
"figures who, on their own initiative, have dared to venture into the
world of firsthand experience and unhackneyed means of expres-
sion", the Entartete KhiisI exhibition held in Berlin in 1938, however,
in which Haizmann was represented by a number of sculptures, was
described by Scholz as an "inferno of cultural Bolshevism " In Jan-
uary 1933 he discovered in the works of Erich Heckel and Karl
Schmidt-Rottluff "essential elements of a feeling for form and for the

world that may be described as 'German ", by 1938 he had come to
think of the art of the first third of the century as "mestizo art
an art that results when the Nordic racial element is eliminated and
suppressed " In 1932 he praised the art dealer Ferdinand Mullet one
of those dealers who was later to sell impounded works abroad) as
someone "for whom the art market is not only a job, but at the same
time a matter of innermost conviction", in 1933, in his memorandum
"Reform der staatlichen Kunstpflege" (Reform of the state patronage
of the arts), he himself demanded a "purge" of the museums, and in
1977 he claimed that it was the art dealers who were to blame 3

Among those who had railed at modern art even before 1933
was Bettina Fetstel-Rohmedcr In March of 1933 she observed in the
pages of the Deutscher Kunstbericht (German art report), of which she
was the editor, that "what German artists expect from the new gov-
ernment" was, among other things,

that all products of cosmopolitan and Bolsfort'isl purport be removed from
German museums and col/fclions They can first he shown to the public in
a heap, people can be told what sums were s/)f)il on them, together with llif
names of the gallery officials and ministers of culture who were responsible
for acquiring them, after which these inartistic products can have but a
single use, which is as fuel to heal public buildings '
Such defamatory exhibitions were indeed held the same year, and
in 1939 a number of the impounded works were burned Feistel-
Rohmeder was only one writer among many who fomented this
incendiary mood In 1933, however, there was still a sizable group
of people prepared to defend Expressionism, above all, as German,
Nordic art And they were able to do so because there were dif-
ferences over the politics of art even among the Nazi leadership
Alfred Rosenberg, one of the most violent opponents of modern art,
was appointed "representative of the Fuhrer for the overall philo-
sophical and intellectual training and education of the NSDAP"
(Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist
German workers party]), although he had few administrative powers
in this capacity It was the Kultusminister (Minister of education),
Bernhard Rust, who was responsible for the Berlin Akademie der
Kunste (Academy of arts), the art colleges, and the museums
Initially there were officials employed by his ministry who tried to
mediate and mollify, so that Rust had to defend himself more and
more against the reproach that he was less than wholly consistent

Figure 107

Wassily Kandinsky Improvisation 28 (second version), 1912,

1114 x 162 cm (43% x 637* m 1, Solomon R Guggenheim

The Propagandaminister (Minister of propaganda), Joseph Coebbels,
creating the Reichskulturkammer (Reich chamber of culture) as an
instrument of power, began by seeking links with a relatively wide
circle of intellectuals and artists in the hope of finding famous names
to add luster to the Nazi cause, although he was successful in no
more than a handful of cases His own sympathies in the visual arts
lay with "Nordic" Expressionism

An uncertain situation developed in which Nordic Expression-
ism was vigorously defended by a number of art historians and a
group within the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund
(National Socialist league of German students) The latter group
organized an exhibition at the Galerie Ferdinand Moller in Berlin
under the title Drensxj deutsche Kiinstler (Thirty German artists), but
the exhibition was allowed to go ahead only after the Studentenbund
had withdrawn its sponsorship Among the artists represented were
Ernst Barlach, Heckel, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, August Macke, Franz
Marc, Gerhard Marcks, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Christian Rohlfs,
and Schmidt-Rottluff4

The arguments for and against Expressionism were effectively
decided by the speech that Adolf Hitler delivered at a conference on
culture held during the Nuremberg party congress in September
1933, when he announced, "In the field of culture, as elsewhere, the
National Socialist movement and government must not permit
incompetents and charlatans suddenly to change sides and enlist
under the banner of the new state as if nothing had happened, so

they can once again call all the shots in art and cultural policy
One thing is certain under no circumstances will we allow the
representatives of the decadence that lies behind us suddenly to
emerge as the standard-bearers of the future "5 Even so, arguments
about Nordic Expressionism were still being adduced as late as 1937
to justify exhibitions of Expressionist artists at public or private gal-
leries or publications about such artists Art dealers who succeeded
in organizing exhibitions of works by artists who had otherwise been
condemned included Aenne Abels in Cologne, Karl Buchholz, Ferdi-
nand Moller, and Karl Nierendorf in Berlin, Giinther Franke in
Munich, Fritz Carl Valentien in Stuttgart, and Alex Vomel in
Diisseldorf All of them had constant problems with the Nazi
authorities, but they gave encouragement to artists depressed by
their enforced isolation and contributed directly to the artists'
livelihood by selling some of their works to private collectors

It was in 1935 that policy toward the arts began to harden in
Hitler's state Exhibitions were closed, works of art confiscated,
museums sold "degenerate" art in order to rid themselves of these
incriminating works Count Klaus von Baudissin, appointed director
of the Museum Folkwang in Essen in 1934, joined forces with Moller
the following year to sell modern works from the museum's collec-
tion By July 1936 the situation had reached a point where Baudissin
was happy to accept 9,000 reichsmarks for Wassily Kandinsky's
Jmfirot'isiiIioH 28 (1912, fig 107) With Kandinsky's approval, Moller
acted as intermediary in the sale of several of the artist's works
(including this one) to the Guggenheim Museum in New York
Baudissin made propagandist capital out of the sale, penning a news-
paper article in which he claimed that "the high price attained could
benefit a type of art for which we really care A decent photo-
graph is quite sufficient as a souvenir of this attempt to Russianize
German art "6 This incident, together with Rust's announcement of a
"purge of museum holdings" in a speech delivered to the Akademie
der Kunste at the beginning of November 1936, had two conse-
quences there was an increase in demand from art dealers anxious
to negotiate the sale of works of art in German museums, and a
number of museum directors redoubled their efforts to sell the
"degenerate" art in their own collections At the museum in Halle an
der Saale letters of inquiry arrived in quick succession from Vomel's
and Abels's galleries When the Halle director approached the
Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste (Reich chamber of visual arts)
about this matter, he was told that there was no objection to his
selling works of modern art from his collection to the dealers in
question 7 Early in 1937 works by Otto Dix, Marc, Mueller, Nolde,
and Max Pechstein in the Dusseldorf collections were sold to Kunst-
handlung Bammann, while paintings by Dix, Oskar Kokoschka,
Paula Modersohn- Becker, and Nolde went to Moller's gallery8

Figure 108

Emil Nolde, AbmdmiU (The Last Supper), 1909. orl on canvas, 86 x 107 cm
(337b x 42V* in ), Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen £nl<jrtrtr Kunst,
Room 1, NS inventory no 15944

Shortly after the Essen Kandinsky was sold to New York,
Baudissins predecessor in Essen, Ernst Gosebruch, who had been
dismissed by the Nazis, had written to Nolde, urging him to
safeguard those works that were in jeopardy In the spring of 1937
Gosebruch offered the Halle town council 30,000 reichsmarks for
Nolde's AbmdmaU (The Last Supper, hg 108) Although the price was
much more attractive than it had been in the case of the Kandinsky
the municipal authorities feared that, if they agreed, "works rejected
by the movement" might find their way abroad They sought
assurance from Rosenberg's office and received a reply from Scholz
in his capacity as head of the fine arts department to the effect that
there were presumably "reasons for the purchase that directly affect
National Socialist policy toward the arts " For that reason, he went
on, "the material advantages of such a sale must at all costs be sec-
ondary to the higher political points of view" On July 2, 1937, the
Halle city fathers wrote to Gosebruch declining his offer Six days
later the AbendmM was impounded, together with other oils, water-
colors, and drawings in the Halle collection, and taken to Munich
in preparation for the EnUirtek Kuml exhibition9

The driving force behind this exhibition was Goebbels, who
saw it as a chance to strengthen his own power base at the expense
of Rust's position Goebbels was a pragmatist when it came to power,
and no conviction carried weight for him unless it served his own
particular ends This explains why there was now no longer any talk
of Nordic Expressionism His diary entry tor June 4, 1937 reads,
"Pitiful examples of cultural Bolshevism have been submitted to me
But I shall now intervene And in Berlin I intend to organize an
exhibition of decadent art " He read Wolfgang Willnch's recently
published Saubcnutt) des Kumllempeh i Cleansing of the temple of
artl and entrusted the task of preparing the exhibition to Hans
Schweitzer, Reich commissioner for artistic design On lune 18 it
was decided to hold the exhibition in Munich to mark the "Tag
der Deutschen Kunst" I German art day), and at the end of the
month — Schweitzer having proved "too uncertain in his
judgment" — Goebbels authorized the president of the Reichs-
kammer der bildenden Ktinste, Adolf Ziegler to impound
examples of "Verfallskunst" i decadent art) for the exhibition '"

H U N E K F

It has so far proved impossible to ascertain exactly how many
works of art fell victim to this first round of confiscations From the
lists that have survived in a number of museums it is clear that more
than six hundred works were subsequently installed in the exhibi-
tion The art that was not shown or that was removed from the
exhibition shortly after it opened was shipped to Berlin soon after-
wards and added to the stacks of works that had been impounded
during a second round of confiscations

By the rigorous consistency with which he had material for the
exhibition impounded in various museums, Goebbels encroached on
Rust's area of competence, with the result that the latter wanted at
least to implement a systematic "purge" of the museums himself
Accordingly he dismissed two officials from his ministry and
replaced them with Baudissin He then invited the directors of Ger-
man museums to a conference in Berlin on August 2, 1937, when he
informed them of a decree issued by Hermann Goring on July 28
that applied actually to Prussia only and was merely a recommenda-
tion in other regions of the German Reich What Rust instructed
the directors to do was simply to record and store those examples of
"degenerate" art still in their collections, an operation in which they
were enjoined to stick to the list of artists represented in the Entartete
Kuml exhibition " Most writers on the subject continue to claim that
Gonng's decree formed the basis for the second round of confisca-
tions, but this is untrue Goebbels had already obtained an "order
from the Fuhrer" on July 27 empowering Ziegler to impound "all
those products of the age of decadence" that were "still held by all
the museums, galleries, and collections, whether owned by the
Reich, the individual regions, or the local communities" This decree
was sent out on August 4 and was immediately followed by the
arrival of variously constituted confiscation commissions, whose
members were all from the Propagandaministenum (Ministry of
propaganda) or the Reichskulturkammer Baudissin himself was
therefore not a member but, at best, an observer for the Kultus-
ministerium Goebbels had completely bypassed Rust, in order not
to lose face altogether the minister of education could now only
advise the museums to "support Professor Ziegler's work," while
orders not to alter anything in the collections by selling or exchang-
ing art came from the Propagandaministerium itself, which also kept
a tight control on the entire process of "disposal" of the works that
had been impounded l2

The confiscation commissions set about their task with alacrity
going far beyond the circle of artists who had been represented in
Enlarlele Kunst It is difficult to define the boundaries of what was
described as "degenerate " "Distortion" of natural form, particularly
of the human figure, and "unnatural" colors were the most crucial
arguments Sometimes it was the identity of the artist that was deci-
sive, especially if he or she belonged to the Novembergruppe
(November group), for example, or to similar left-wing associations
Conversely, an early work by one of the Nazi's favorite sculptors,

Arno Breker, was also confiscated Lehmbruck's sculptures were
spared in Halle, whereas in Dresden, by contrast, a number of
impressively realistic works by the painter Robert Sterl were
impounded Approximately seventeen thousand works by more
than a thousand artists fell victim to this operation " A handful of
"degenerate" works in various collections escaped the commissioners'
attention, or else they mysteriously remained ih silu in spite of
appearing on lists of works to be confiscated And sometimes there
was an opportunity especially in the case of works of graphic art, to
remove them surreptitiously from the group to be shipped off and to
replace them with less important works, a ploy used by Willy Kurth,
the curator of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin '4 In principle, how-
ever, between the months of August and October of 1937 German
museums were despoiled of their entire holdings of modern art

The impounded works were taken to Berlin, where Walter
Hoffmann, general secretary of the Reichskammer der bildenden
Kiinste, was initially responsible for their safekeeping During the
second half of September he was able to rent a warehouse on
Kopenicker Strasse owned by the Berliner Hafen- und Lagerhaus
He proposed insuring the works, but Goebbels considered such a
move to be "unnecessary" In October 1937 Goebbels appointed
Franz Hofmann, until then director of the Stadtische Galerie in
Munich, to the Propagandaministerium,15 and it became his job
to deal with the impounded works Hofmann's consultant, ministry
official Rolf Hetsch, began by drawing up an inventory Hetsch
had published a Buch der Frtundschaft (friendship book) for Paula
Modersohn-Becker in 1932 and had planned to publish a book on
Ernst Barlach, modern art was therefore by no means unfamiliar
to him, a point that would be important at a later date when the
works of art were to be disposed of But well before any decision
had been made about the disposition of the works of art, Ziegler,
acting on behalf of the Schlesisches Museum in Breslau, turned over
a portrait of a man by Edvard Munch (which had been impounded
from Breslau) to the Nasjonalgalleriet in Oslo, exchanging it for a
landscape by Caspar David Friedrich depicting the Sudeten Moun-
tains '6 This is the only known instance of such a transaction.

Goebbels visited the warehouse on Kopenicker Strasse in early
November, and on January 13, 1938, he showed the impounded mate-
rial to Hitler, noting in his diary "The result is devastating Not a
single picture finds favor Some of them we intend to exchange
for decent masters abroad "'7 Expropriation was now decided on, and
a "law effecting the confiscation of products of degenerate art" was
passed on May 31, 1938 '" It related specifically to works already
impounded during the summer and autumn of the previous year and
contained hardship clauses allowing for special provisions in individ-
ual cases Two weeks earlier Goring had expressed the idea not only
of exchanging works but also of selling them abroad in return for

Figure 109

Paintings stored in Schloss NiederschSnhauscn, identifiable work is hv l hagall,

Delaunay Ensoi and Picasso

Figure 1 10

Art stored in Schloss Niederschdnhausen. Barlach's Magdeburg Cathedral war
memorial is in the background and a version ol his CVislws und Johannes (Christ
and John I is at right

foreign currency an idea that met with Coebbels's approval "We
hope at least to maki i imi mi mi y from this garbage "" A commis-
sion was set up under Goebbels's nominal chairmanship, "to dispose

ol the products ol degenerate art I he members were I lofmann,
Scholz (at the tune head ol the hue arts department in the "Rosi n
berg bureau"), Schweitzer and Zieglei I leinrich Hoflmann, the
Reich's photographic reporter. ( arl Meder, consultant from the art
trade in the Rcichskammer der hildenden Kunste. art dealer Karl

Haherstock, ami antiquities dealei Max laeuber At the same time
Hetsch drew up a list of "internationally disposable works, and the
first task awaiting the commission members when they met in lune "I
1938 was to look through this list and make whatever additions they
felt were necessary2" That month Goring selected thirteen paintings
from the collection — four each by Vincent van Gogh and Munch,
three by Marc, and one each by Paul Cezanne and Paul Signac —
which he appears to have instructed the art dealer Angerer to sell
on his account 2I A painting by Paul Gauguin was appropriated by
Haberstock, who pocketed most of the foreign currency earnings
by exchanging it for a Rubens that had been supplied to Hitler
although it had been stipulated that members of the commission
should "avoid even the semblance of private dealings on the art
market in order to obviate all harmful propaganda that foreign
countries might use against Germany"22

Meanwhile Hofmann began preparations for the sales campaign
in collaboration with Hetsch One of their main tasks was to move
the "exploitable" stock from Kopenicker Strasse to a place where it
could more easily be kept under surveillance Accordingly 780
paintings and sculptures and 3,500 watercolors, drawings, and
graphic works were transferred to Schloss Niederschonhausen the
following August (figs 106, 109-13, 119-20) 2i On September 12 a
painting and two sculptures that had been denounced in an exhibi-
tion entitled Europas Schicksalskampf im Osloi ( Europe's fateful struggle
in the east), held to mark the NSDAP party congress in Nuremberg,
were demanded in Berlin by Hofmann,24 as (apparently) were a con-
siderable number of works from the version of the Enltirtrtr, Kutist
exhibition currently on view in Salzburg 71 paintings, watercolors,
and sculptures were withdrawn for sale and shipped to Berlin 25

Preparations were completed by September 17, 1938 26 By this
date several offers had already been received from foreign dealers,
although the loss of records prevents us from reconstructing these
offers in detail Among the galleries that appear to have inquired
after possible purchases were the Galerie Zak in Pans and the
Colnaghi Gallery in London Certainly the former later acquired
a number of canvases, while the latter offered to take the entire
collection, writing subsequently to Hitler

We should like to add that we are probably tbe only English firm of any
Size thai has never shown degenerate art from any country nor recom-
mended il lo any of our clients, since the whole of this trend in all its vulgar
dishonesty is heartily repiujnanl to us Only after our return did word

H u N E K E

Figure 111

Sculpture by Lehmbruck and other art <

ed in Schlo^s Niederschonhai

._

1 1

£S^

Ml

A *■

i*^ ":^E'»

II 1

».^|wq

"•■■

Figure 112

The central panel ot Tmil Noldes confiscated altarpiece Lthm Qtrisli (Life of Christ,

figs 321-291 is taken to Schloss Niedersthonhausen lor storage, 1937

Figure 113

Art stored in Schloss Niederschonhai

reach u> from Paris ilmi somebody m lirrlm bad invited two ktvisb
firms from Paris, Wildenstein t I o and Stligmann t ' o but they
were most certainly not acting as you would have wished Youi stana
towards this humbug art is beginning to b»J such widespread ap\ •
abroad that in spite o| efforts by Jewish dealers, tot international market
for such products may start to aim way at any moment ^
I his oiler was rejected, as was a similar one from the Zurich trust
company Hides

Contact had already been established at this time between
Huchholz and the Oslo dealer Harald Halvorscn, who early in 1939
auctioned fourteen paintings by Munch that had been impounded in
Germany, the appraisal was £6,350.28 Buchholz had written to the
Propagandaministerium on August H, I93H

/ have rftfiivd if request jrom (be director of a major American institution
for paintings by Kokoscbka I would most humbly entreat you to let me
know if t/jf pieces formerly in museum ownership Lome up for sale. Over
and above this inquiry, I would also be interested in an inventory of the
entire stock, since my work as a modern art dealer means that I know inter-
ested parties abroad who would be prepared to buy works oj ibis kind -^
Early in October he wrote to the various museums, asking for photo-
graphs of the impounded works from their collections By now he-
was able to add the sentence, "I take the liberty of expressing this
wish since I have been commissioned by the Propagandaministcnum
to help with efforts to sell these pictures abroad ",u

While Buchholz was still concluding initial sale agreements,
other dealers wrote to express their own interest in the sale Gurlitt
asked about paintings by Munch and subsequently reached agree-
ments for more extensive purchases in personal conversations with
Hetsch 3I Until 1930 Gurlitt had been director of the museum in
Zwickau in Saxony where he had begun to build up an impressive
collection of modern art before being dismissed from his post He
was then appointed chairman of the Hamburg Kunstverein (Art
association), finally establishing himself in that city as an art dealer
At the beginning of November Moller wrote to the wife of the Ger-
man foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, following a report
that a decision was about to be made at one of the commission's
meetings concerning a sale of "degenerate" art in Lucerne

Although I cannot imagine that permission will be granted, I should none-
theless like to point out how unfavorable an impression would arise if this
auction were to be allowed to go ahead After all. ibese <ire works by artists
who are world-famous and who are not Jewish From trie point of view of
foreign policy, this auction could be felt as an insult to those states to
tubicb ibf drlisls in question belong If it should prove impossible to
avoid disposing of these things, the German art dealers could still be
entrusted with the task of selling the things to foreign collectors on their own
initiative, without causing loo much of a sensation, and of handing over the
whole of the foreign currency that they receive for them ,2
Thanks to Ribbentrop's mediation, Moller was then promoted into
the ranks of those dealers who were actively involved in this matter

HUNEK!

The meeting that concerned Moller took place on November
17, 1938, and was the first to be held by the "Verwertungskommis-
sion" (Disposal commission), as it was known By then, however, it
was no longer a question of giving permission for the firm of Fischer
to go ahead with the auction in Lucerne, but simply of listing the
works set aside for the auction and specifying their reserve prices
Paintings by Munch and sculptures by Ernesto de Fiori, for example,
were removed from the list for political reasons Similar considera-
tions persuaded Scholz to propose that Munch's works in general
should not be described as "degenerate" art The commission
planned to draw up a press statement to that effect, although, as
noted above, it still gave permission for fourteen of Munch's paint-
ings to be sold by Halvorsen ."

The contract with the Calene Fischer was ready to be signed
by the end of November Hofmann wrote to Goebbels to inform
him of developments, adding that the warehouse on Kopenicker
Strasse containing the "undisposable remainder" of the paintings was
needed to store grain and therefore had to be cleared "I would sug-
gest, therefore, that the rest be burned in a bonfire as a symbolic
propaganda action I myself would be happy to deliver a suitably
caustic funeral oration "14 Although Goebbels had already consid-
ered the possibility of destroying the remaining paintings as early as
December 12, 1938, it was not until the end of February 1939 that
Hofmann received permission to burn them Of the members of the
commission, Haberstock, Scholz, and Taeuber had in vain raised
doubts about the propriety of such an act of destruction, and at least
Haberstock and Scholz asked to be released from all responsibility
in this matter15 On March 20 five thousand works of art were
burned in the courtyard of Berlin's main fire station, albeit without
the propagandist spectacle that Hofmann had hoped to provide ""
That more works were not involved is due principally to Buchholz
and dealer Bernhard A Boehmer, each of whom had removed a con-
siderable number of works from the Kopenicker Strasse warehouse
shortly before for sale on a commission basis In doing so they were
working in close collaboration with Hetsch (it was probably Hetsch
who drew Boehmer into the scheme, since the two men were on
good terms) ,7 Boehmer had been a friend and pupil of Barlach and
lived on the latter's estates in the town of Ciistrow in Mecklenburg
Surviving photographs taken either in or outside Barlach's studio
show works removed for sale,'* including a group of paintings by
Wilhelm Morgner (fig 114), Max Peiffer Watenphul's Blumemtilleben
(Still life with flowers), Dix's Der Scbiitzengraben (The trench, bought
in January 1940 for $200 by Boehmer19 and not burned in 1939,
as has been repeatedly claimed), and Marc's Rote Rebe (fig 115,
described as a "borderline case" and handed back to the Staatsgalerie
in Munich in March of 194040) Buchholz had stored some of the
works from the Kopenicker Strasse warehouse in his rooms on
Leipziger Strasse in Berlin, while others appear to have been housed
in a warehouse on Wilhelmstrasse, where works by Oskar Schlem-
mer and Ceorg Schrimpf, among others, were found 4'

Figure 1 14

Painting by Wilhelm Morgner photographed on the grounds of Barla

in Custrow

:hs studi<

After a series of delays the contract with the Calerie Fischer in
Lucerne was finally signed in March of 1939 The auction, involving
some 125 works, took place on June 30 While preparations were
still underway both Buchholz and Curlitt had made contact with
the director of the Kunstmuseum Basel, Ceorg Schmidt, in order to
negotiate a sale of works of art other than those to be available at the
auction From Curlitt, Schmidt acquired Marc's Tierschicksale (Fate
of animals) and from Buchholz a number of other important works,
including Lovis Corinth's Eccf Homo (fig 31) and Kokoschka's Die
Windsbraul (The tempest, fig 37) Schmidt also had to handle the
Berlin art dealer Wolfgang Curlitt, who was trying to interfere in
the deal currently being transacted with Buchholz and Hildebrand
Curlitt42 Like Valentien in Stuttgart, Wolfgang Curlitt negotiated
only a handful of sales the only transactions he is known to have
arranged were for two paintings by Corinth in 1940 and one by
Henn-Edmond Cross in 1941 4' Something of a special case were the
three exchange contracts negotiated by the Austrian-born, Italian-
based painter Emanuel Fohn with the Propagandaministerium in
Berlin in 1939 He offered a handful of paintings and drawings by
Romantic artists and received in return a respectable collection of
modern art 44

The vast majority of the works were handled by the four dealers
Boehmer, Buchholz, Hildebrand Curlitt, and Moller Works had to
be sold abroad in return for foreign currency, sales to interested par-
ties in Germany were expressly forbidden Nevertheless, all four
dealers sold "degenerate" art to German collectors and private gal-
leries as well as to foreign customers, in some cases they kept the
works for themselves Details of provenance and the number corre-
sponding to each work's entry in the confiscation register (generally
stamped on a small label or written on the canvas stretcher in blue
crayon) were to be removed before the sale (although this was often

Rgure 115

I ran; Star, s Rota RA Red dtrcri m Bariach's studii

not done, so that the numbers are of use to us today in identifying
the works and determining their provenance) The dealers received
their commission in reichsmarks — between 10 and 20 percent —
once the foreign currency had been received Only for those works
from the Kopenicker Strasse warehouse that were more difficult to
sell did they receive 25 percent 45 There may have been the occa-
sional "trick," however, as when Hildebrand Gurlitt asked Basel to
pay his commission on the 6,000 Swiss francs for Marc's Tierscbicksale
to an intermediary in Switzerland, even though the sale price
already included a commission of 1,000 Swiss francs, which Gurlitt
demanded all over again in reichsmarks 4''

When the Nazis declared war in September of 1939 the Propa-
gandaministenum questioned whether the sales should be called off
Hut Hofmann insisted

The question as !o bow the remainder of llir collection m Scfc/oss
Scbbnhausen should be disposed of has now become particularly acute in
view of the need lo obtain the foreign currency that can he raised by tins
means The business negotiations between our German intermediaries and
interested parties abroad, which began to falter for a time during the early
days of the war, have been taken up again in the meantime, in some cases
directly, while in other cases new ways are being sought to sell to Ameri-
can, Norwegian, Swiss, and Dutch customers above all.*7
But it now became increasingly difficult to obtain foreign currency
As a result, the four dealers hit on the idea of exchanging twentieth-
century works for nineteenth-century art Sixteen such exchange
contracts have survived from the period between November 1939
and March 1941 The most drastic was concluded with Boehmer on
July 16, 1940, when a relatively weak painting by Carl Gustav Carus,
Heimkehr der Monche ins Kloster (Monks returning to the monastery,
now in the Museum Folkwang in Essen), was exchanged for six

wi M ks by Karl I lofer, five l>v I le< kel, tour each by Lyonel Feininger
and Muellei three bv Maurice de Vlaminck two
(.loss and NiiUIc and one eai h by < Irosz Kokosi hka, Rudolf Levy,
Heinrich Nauen, Ernst Wilhelm N.iv Si hit mmi i and Paul Adolf

Seehaus, together with ten sculptures by liarlach and one each by
loachim Karsch, Marcks, and Ewald Matare — a total of forty-eight
works of art, many ol them ol considerable importance 4*

It is clear from this transaction how die pne e ol "degenerate"
art had plummeted, spiraling downward under inflationary pressures
It was only now that modern German art began to conquer the
world market, but although the sudden increase in demand helped it
to become better known, it did not result in high prices Paintings by
Mueller and Rohlts, for example, were sold for sums in the region of
$30 in the years around 1940, while works bv I emmger, Heckel, and
Schmidt- Rottluff raised between $40 and $60 each Max Beckmann,
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Hofer, were valued somewhat higher,
with Beckmann's Rugbyspieler i Rugby players) and Holer's Spaziergang
( Promenade) each making $180, while Kirchner's Die Master der Britcke
(The masters of Die Briicke, tig I16i brought in one of the top
prices, $200 Apart from works by French artists, very few other
paintings passed this $200 limit, the main exceptions being Paul Klee
and especially Marc (a watercolor by the latter sold for $800, the
same price as Kokoschka's large oil Dif Wmiis/'riiul), together with
Corinth, Kokoschka, Lehmbruck, Modersohn-Becker, and Nolde
Paintings by lesser-known artists such as Heinrich Campendonk or
Schlemmer brought between $5 and $20 (or up to $50 in excep-
tional cases) Not that these prices were intended to reflect the
National Socialists' contempt for such art Hofmann noted in a letter
to Moller, "In selling works abroad, only the commercial interest is
crucial, regardless of differing views on the German side"4'' Every-
thing points to the fact that the four dealers — especially Boehmer
and Buchholz who, unlike Gurlitt and Moller, concerned themselves
not only with works by the most famous artists — were at one with
Hetsch in their efforts to sell as many of the expropriated works as
possible The burning of the "undisposable remainder " must have
made it clear to them that a similar fate threatened every work that
was not sold

A relatively large number of works found their way to the
United States during these years There were long-established
links here with patrons of modern German art such as William R
Valentiner, Alfred H Barr, Ir, Hilla von Rebay Emmy (Galka)
Scheyer, and I B Neumann, and also with expatriate art dealers such
as Karl Nierendorf and Curt Valentin, both of whom had chosen to
go into exile after 1933 Valentin had run Buchholz's gallery in Berlin
and subsequently opened a branch in New York, the Buchholz Gal-
lery Curt Valentin This, of course, was a ready-made platform from
which Buchholz could sell to America

H1JNIKF

Figure 116

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Die Mmlfr dtr Bruckt (The
on canvas, 168 x 126 cm (66'/. x 49% in ), MuseL
Room 4, NS inventory no 16040

of Die Brucke), 1926/27, i
Ludwig, Cologne Etitarttlt Kunst

In the records kept by the Propagandaministerium relating to
art dealers, the list of works sold to Valentin mentions only the sums
paid 50 It is possible, however, to work out more or less accurately
a number of transactions on the basis of the known dates The first
two contracts with Valentin, dated February and May 1939, came
to a total of $6,945, and although the details of the sales cannot be
reconstructed, they may possibly have comprised one painting
each by Georges Braque, Andre Derain, Kirchner, and Mueller,
three oils and six watercolors by Klee, five watercolors by Mueller,
four gouaches by Beckmann, and seven statues by Lehmbruck,
including a bronze version of his Grosse Kniende (Large kneeling
woman, fig 290) But even this does not exhaust the list51

Among the Klee watercolors sold to Valentin was the Die
Zwitschermaschine (The twittering machine, fig 117) from the Berlin
Nationalgalerie, and thereby hangs a curious tale The work was still
on view in the Entartete Kunst exhibition and was not included in the
original shipment to Buchholz, who sent a reminder at the end of
March 1939 On April 4 it was recalled from the exhibition, which
was currently in Weimar Buchholz followed this up on April 17 with
a letter to Hofmann

/ am writing to ask you if you would be kind enough to sell Die
Paukenorgel (Tlie drum organ) to an American lover of Klee's work for
$75. Tfeis work was included fry mistake in one of the first ma]or consign-
ments in place of Die Zwitschermaschine, since title and subject can,
after all, mean a great many different things In different people where works
of this kind are concerned It now turns out that Die Zwitscher-
maschine is still here and that the work over there must therefore depict
Die Paukenorgel / should like lo think that you might sanction this sale
retroactively, so that Die Zwitschermaschine, which has already been
granted a licence and paid for, can also be included in the shipment.57
Evidently annoyed by the way in which these titles had been mixed
up, Hofmann noted in the margin of the letter, "Get rid of Zu'ifscber-
nwscbiMf & Paukenorgeb"5- {Die Zwitschermaschine is now in the Museum
of Modern Art in New York )

Whereas there is some uncertainty about the two previous con-
tracts, the following agree in every detail with the sums of money
paid in June 1939 $9,720 was paid for two works each by Klee,
Marc, Henri Matisse, Modersohn-Becker, and Nolde, and one each
by Derain, Feininger, and Kokoschka, along with twenty-five water-
colors by Nolde, five by Klee, and two by Marc, and two sculptures
in cast stone of Lehmbruck's Crosse Kniende and Sitzender Jiingling
(Young man sitting, fig 289), in December $2,190 was paid for five
oils by Kirchner, three each by Feininger and Klee, and one each by
Hofer and Kokoschka, in addition to two watercolors by Klee and
one hundred drawings by Kirchner, also in December $400 was paid
for single works by Feininger, Klee, Macke, and Schmidt- Rottluff,
and Heckel's triptych Die Genesende (The convalescent) 54

The next series of sales is again shrouded in mystery Included
in the list is a contract mentioning two other copies of Lehmbruck's
Gross? Kniende and Sitzender Jiingling, but it could not be effected since
these two pieces were not owned by a museum but belonged to the
town of Duisburg, where they were on public display The Nazis had
removed the Crossf Kniende from its position in the Tonhallegarten
and placed it in an office block On April 17, 1940, the city fathers
inquired of the propaganda office in Essen whether the sculpture
could be taken away and melted down, since a campaign was cur-
rently underway to collect metal for armaments As the result of a
misunderstanding, it was assumed in Berlin that the Duisburg statue
was the version that had been shown in the Entartete Kunst exhibition
in Munich and that it had therefore already been expropriated In
consequence, it was offered to Buchholz to sell On May 14 the
propaganda office in Essen wrote again, this time asking if the
Sitzender Jiingling — currently on display in the Duisburg cemetery
and said to be causing offense to members of the general public and
armed forces alike — could be sold as well This was confirmed, and
fourteen months later Hetsch reported that Buchholz had sold both
sculptures in America 55 In fact, they never left Duisburg

Iigure 117

Paul Klec, /)if Zu'/(silifrm.isJtiMf The twittering machine!, 1922, watercolor and

pen and ink on till transfer drawing on paper mounted on cardboard, 64 I x 48 3 cm

(25% x 19 in ), The Museum ol Modern Art, New York, purchase fnlurtrtr Kunsl,

Room C2, NS inventory no unrecorded

A contract of December 1941) with Valentin again tallies only
approximately with a list of works that Buchholz had offered, com-
prising three oils by Schmidt-Rottluff, two each by Campendonk
and Kokoschka, one each by Feininger, Heckel, and Nolde, a
sculpture by Lehmbruck, fifty graphic works by Kokoschka, one
hundred by Nolde, and two hundred by various other artists 5c Of
these, Buchholz retained a number of works for his own collection,
including Heckel's Unicrbaltunt) (Conversation), for which he never-
theless appears to have made his partner Valentin pay $25 Attempts
to follow the trail of works of art are often made more difficult by
fictitious sales of this kind, but it was necessary to go through
the motions of such transactions because "degenerate" art was not
officially allowed to remain in Germany

The last two contracts signed by Valentin in 1941 are again
unambiguous in March he paid $700 for Corinth's Tod und Madchen
1 Death and the maiden I and Kokoschka s Nolre-Dame zu Bordeaux,
and in April he paid $325 for seven oils by Beckmann, including
the Kreuzabnahme (Deposition, fig 164) shown in the Eitdirlflf KhhsI
exhibition The Beckmann oils in particular spent some considerable
time on sale in America ,7 The Kreuzabnahme was one of twenty-three
works by various artists that were shown at the Landmarks in Modern
German Art exhibition held at the Buchholz Gallery Carl Valentin
in New York in April 1940, containing works formerly owned by
German galleries

I he salts t .mipaign ended On lune in 1941 I In final tigures

vary considerably even it we in< lude ill s.ilcs exchange deals, goods
on commission, and works that had already been returned to the

museums, and even if we are generous in estimating the number of
winks in each ol these groups, there are still some live thousand
works of which there is no trace What happened to the remain
ing works in the Sch loss Niedeisc honhausen storage facility is
completely unclear, as is the fate ol the art that was to be sold on
commission but then returned and the works that were returned in
November of 1941 after frtiturlftc Kunsl had ended It is unlikely that
the art dealers handed back to the Nazi authorities all the works on
commission, but they could not circumvent the situation altogether
The Propagandaministerium then handed over the statement of clis
position to the Kultusministenum The only point on which Rust was
able to assert his authority (and he did so repeatedly) was on the
question of compensation following requests by those museums that
had been affected by the various rounds of expropriations Rust had
been assured that compensation would be made, but, in view of the
low prices involved, such payments turned out to be decidedly mea-
ger The Nationalgalene in Berlin, for example, was awarded only
165,000 reichsmarks for several paintings, one of which, by Van
Gogh, had cost 250,000 reichsmarks, Halle received 15,980
reichsmarks, Mannheim 29,800, and Munich 120,285 (this last
figure no doubt inflated by the self-portrait of van Gogh that was
auctioned in Lucerne) "H A handful of museums also received
nineteenth-century works that had been exchanged for art of the
twentieth century although this form of payment, too, was not
remotely commensurate with the losses

Even after the campaign was over, museum holdings were by no
means safe Scholz, for example, who had been appointed director of
the Halle Museum in 1939 in addition to his activities at the "Rosen-
berg bureau," gave instructions in 1941 or 1942 for a painting and a
series of drawings by Liebermann to be sold through Hildebrand
Gurlitt, arguing that the interested client was probably a Jewish
emigre who could take the "painted piece of cardboard" out of the
country without any further ado (This was the same Liebermann
whom Scholz was to describe as a "realistically gripping Impres-
sionist" in 1970 S9) As in so many other cases, the trail of these
works by Liebermann has been lost

Every exhibition whose organizers take up this disrupted trail
and succeed in discovering the present whereabouts of works
believed to have been lost adds to our picture of the art of the first
third of the twentieth century And it is good if German academics
can work alongside them, thus requiting some of the guilt that
accrued under the pretext of "German" attitudes toward individual
artists as well as toward European culture in general during the years
of Nazi domination ■

h u N e k t

Notts

1 Robert Scholz, Archittklm und UUmdt Kunsl 1933-19-15 (Preussisch Oldendorf
Schiirz, 1977), 45-46

2 Robert Scholz's earlier, more favorable opinions appear in 'Herbstliche Kunst
wanderung," SlraJilzrr Anznow, September 30, 1932, and in his feature article on the
Lrbmdc Drulscbr Kunsl (Living German artl exhibition held at Calerie Cassirer, also
published in the Sterilizer Anztujrr, January 24, 1933 His later, negative assessments can
be found in "Kunstbolschewistisches Inferno," Kolliiscrirr Brobucblrr, February 26, 1938,
and 'Der nordische Cedanke in der Kunst" (public lecture delivered on October 21,
1938, on the occasion of the 1938 NorJucbt Wocbt [Nordic week] in Hamburg), 7
Scholz's memorandum of 1933 is mentioned by Joseph Wulf in Dir bildoidot Kunste im
Drillm RricJj Einr Dokummlilion (Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullstein, 1983), 449 n I

3 Bettina Fetstel-Rohmeder, "Was die Deutschen Kunstler von der neuen
Regierung erwarten", cited in An^rifl an} dit Kunsl Dtr/asc/mliscrir BiMrrsturm mr jiitifzig
lahm (exh cat edited by Andreas Huneke, Weimar Kunstsammlungen, 1988), 29

4 See Andreas Huneke, "Der Versuch der Ehrenrettung des Expressionismus als
'deutscher Kunst' 1933 und die objektiven Crunde seines Scheiterns," FunJilioHfH und
Wirfeunowrism drr Kunsl im Sozialismm BmrbatttB Prolokoll (Third annual conference of
the section on aesthetics of the Verband bildender Kunstler der DDR [Association

of visual artists of the CDR], Binz, March 27-30, 1978), 91-100, an abridged version
is in Zunsc/ioi Widmtand md An/wssuni) Kunsl in DfulscMnnu1 1933-19(5 (exh cat by Bar-
bara Volkmann, Berlin Akademie der Kunste, 1978), 51-53

5 Adolf Hitler, speech at NSDAP rally Nuremberg, September 2. 1933, published
in Dir RrJro Hitlrrs am Rncfesfwrtatai im (Munich Franz Eher, 1934), 29-30

6 Klaus von Baudissin, "Das Essener Folkwangmuseum stosst emen Fremdkorper
ab," Milionnl-Zriluni) (Essen), August 18, 1936, see also Paul Vogt, ed, DoJeumrnlnlion zur
GrscJiicblr uVs Musrum Folkmaxj (9I2-39J5 (Essen Folkwang Museum, 1983), 106-13, and
Eberhard Roters, Galirii Ftrdiiumd Mdllrr Dit Gocbicfctt ana Galcricjiir modtmt Kunsl in
DmlscWan.) 1917-1956 (Berlin Cebruder Mann, 19841, 160-61

7 Alex Vdmel, letter to the Museum Halle, November 25, 1936, Aenne Abels,
letter to the Museum Halle, December 11, 1936, Bernhard Grahmann, letter to the
Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste, Halle-Mei-seburg, December 19, 1936, Reichs-
kammer der bildenden Kunste, Halle-Merseburg, letter to Grahmann, February 16,
1937 (Stadtarchiv Halle, 321-4/10, 2-5)

8 Vtrbotm, mfolgt Kumliiitlnlur m l RricJj (exh cat by Barbara Lepper, Duisburg
Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum. 1983), 14-15

9 Ernst Gosebruch, letter to Emil Nolde, 1936 (Seebull, Stiftung Ada and
Emil Nolde), Gosebruch, letter to Johannes Weidemann, June 15, 1937, Bernhard
Grahmann, letter to Weidemann, June 25, 1937, Weidemann, letter to the "Rosenberg
bureau," June 6, 1937, Robert Scholz, letter to Weidemann, July I, 1937, Weidemann,
letter to Gosebruch, July 2, 1937 (Stadtarchiv Halle, 321-4/5, 1-12), see Andreas
Huneke, Die/flscfeislisclw Aklion "Enlartilc Kunsl" 1937 in Halfc (Halle Staatliche Galerie
Montzburg, 1987), 11-12

10 Die Tiigtbucbir ron hapb Gotbbth Sumllicfcr Frai/mrnlr, edited by Elke Frohlich
(Munich K C Saur, 1987), pt I, vol 3, 166, 171, 178, 189

11 Huneke, Dir /nscbisuscfer Aklion, 13-14

12 Ibid, 14

!3 The numbers quoted by writers on the subject differ by as much as five thou
sand works The inventory of confiscated art runs to around 16,500 entries, but some
of these have been left blank, while others cover entire portfolios of graphic works or
a group of several watercolors or oils

14 Alfred Hentzen, Dir Brrlmrr N,ilion,i/-C<llrnf im BiMrrslurm (Cologne Grote,
1972), 39-40

15 Memorandum of September 22, 1937, Walter Hoffmann, letter to Joseph
Goebbels, October 6, 1937, Goebbels, letter to Adolf Ziegler, October 21, 1937
(Zentrales Staatsarchiv Potsdam [ZStA], Best 5001-743, Bl 8, 15-16, and Dir
Tagdriicbcr, pt I, vol 3, 285

16 "Tausch von beschlagnahmten Produkten entarteter Kunst gegen Werke
deutscher Meister des XVIII und IXX lahrhunderts" (Exchange of confiscated
products of degenerate art in return for works by German masters of the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries), Nr I (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Zentrales Archiv,
Nationalgalerie Archiv, Acta Spec 24, Bd 9, 942/40, V d 809)

17 Dir Tajtbiicbtr, pt I, vol 3, 325, 401, 403

18 The "Gesetz uber Einziehung von Erzeugnissen entarteter Kunst," with justifica-
tion and explanation, is preserved in Potsdam (ZStA, Best 5001-1012, Bl 27-321

19 Dir Taj&iidxr, pt 1, vol 3, 445, 494

20 Draft of "Erlass des Fuhrers und Reichskanzlers" (Decree by the Fiihrer
and German chancellor, ZStA, Best 5001-1012, Bl 24), Franz Hofmann, letter to
the "Verwertungskommission" [Disposal commission], June 8, 1938 (ZStA, Best
5001-1020, Bl 49a)

21 The works handed over to Hermann Goring were van Gogh's Ddurndny's
Garden, Wbral Field, and Youm) Loom, Marc's Turn, drr blaum Pftrd, and Drn Rrfcr,
Munch's rjmrr.Kr, Einomttrr by tor Sra, MAandwly, and Show Sbovelen, and Signac's
Port, all from Berlin, Cezanne's Quarry, Essen, van Gogh's Dr GacJjrt, Frankfurt,
and Marc's Hirscfe im Waldc, Halle

22 Haberstock received Gauguin's Horsemen on tbe Brac/i (Cologne, ZStA, Best
5001-1020, Bl 35), see Haberstock, letters to Franz Hofmann, June 5 and June 23,
1939 (ZStA, Best 5001-1020, Bl 53-54)

23 Franz Hofmann, letter to Joseph Goebbels, July 22, 1938 (ZStA, Best
5001-1020, Bl 38-40), "Bestand in Niederschonhausen" (Holdings in
Niederschonhausen, ZStA, Best 5001-1015, Bl 26-50)

24 Franz Hofmann, letter to the Amt Schonheit der Arbeit (Beauty of work office),
September 12, 1938 (ZStA, Best 5001-743, Bl 85, reference kindly supplied by
Chnstoph Zuschlag)

25 "Von der E A K aus Salzburg zuruckerhalten" (Received back from EntarMt
Kunsl in Salzburg, ZStA, Best 5001-743. Bl 75-76)

26 Franz Hofmann, letter to Joseph Goebbels, September 17, 1938 (ZStA, Best
5001-1018, Bl 3-4)

27 P and D Colnaghi, letter to Adolf Hitler, October 19, 1938, cited in Gerhard
Strauss, "Dokumente zur 'Entarteten Kunst," in Karl Ho/rr 1878-1955 (exh cat, Berlin
Staatliche Kunsthalle, 1978), 226

28 Kommission zur Verwertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst, meeting minutes,
December II, 1940 (ZStA, Best 5001-1020, Bl 51, Karl Buchholz, letter to Rolf
Hetsch, September 17, 1938 (ZStA, Best 5001-1017, Bl 49)

29 Karl Buchholz, letter to the Propagandaministerium, August 8, 1938 (ZStA,
Best 5001-1017, Bl 44)

30 Karl Buchholz, letter to the Museum Halle, October 7, 1938 (Stadtarchiv Halle,
Kommunales Tagebuch, April 1951, 48 verso)

31 Hildebrand Gurlitt, letter to Franz Hofmann, October 14, 1938, and letter to
Rolf Hetsch, October 28, 1938 (ZStA, Best 5001-1015, Bl 148, 150)

32 Ferdinand Moller, letter to Madame von Ribbentrop, November 9, 1938 (Berlin,
Berlmische Galerie, Nachlass Ferdinand Moller)

33 Kommission zur Verwertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst, meeting minutes,
November 17 1938 (ZStA, Best 5001-1020, Bl 31-32)

34 Franz Hofmann, letter to Joseph Goebbels, November 28, 1938 (ZStA, Best
5001-1020, Bl 19-21)

35 Dir Tagibuchtr, 547, Franz Hofmann, letter to loseph Goebbels, February 22,
1939, Kommission zur Verwertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst, meeting minutes,
February 20, 1939 (ZStA, Best 5001-1020, Bl 14-18)

36 More recent writers on the subiect have expressed doubts that this auto-da-fe
did in fact take place, but the "good reasons" that they adduce for doubting the events
are never given In favor of the argument that the works in question were burned is the
fact, for example, that the painter Ulnch Ert! asked to be compensated for three of
his works that had been burned along with the others, since they had merely been

on loan to the Lmdenau-Museum in Altenburg, his application was turned down
(Kommission zur Verwertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst, meeting minutes,
May 7, 1940 [ZStA, Best 5001-1020, Bl 8])

37 The first contracts with Boehmer and Buchholz are dated March II, April 15,
and April 18, 1939 (ZStA, Best 5001-1019, Bl 222-39, Best 5001-1017, Bl 8-15)

38 A group of photographs in the archives of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin were
previously believed to have been taken exclusively in the Schloss Niederschonhausen
warehouse In checking them, however, I was able to identify Ernst Barlach's studio
as the background of some of the prints (figs 114-15)

39 Bcrnhard A Bochmci sale COntraCI l.imi.irv 23 1940 ZStA Best 50.01-1019

wblfgang Scl :k Schmldi I leidclberg lus pursued the Fate <>l this

painting in hi*, doctoral thesis

4(i Kommission -or Verwertung der Produkte entartetei Kunst, meeting minutes

December t. 1930 ZStA Besl 5O0I-I020 Bl 12 •• fctei Klaus Schustei ed

Dolrwmrtiliitu'M :um MtioMlsozidfisltsdmi lUUn^utm ,im Mr*:.*"./ Jrt Staatsgaltrit iNOuVnui Kimst
m Milndxn (Munich Staatsgalerie modernei Kunsl 1987-88), 68-71
41 CeorgSchmidl Umj.mj m,i Kunil AusjcwiUtn Scbrif tot mo ihi (Olten Walter.
1966 127 corresponds with the details given by Buchholz concerning those winks

that he sent to Basel on commission, see also Karl Buchholz Angcbotslistc I In

1939 ZStA Hcst 50.01 mi - HI 130

irg krt-is I ntartete Kunst in Basel line Chronik ausserordentlii hei
Ankaute im laluc 1939 Basbi Zritschn/l lur Gesch'CBti unj AilrrtumsktmA 78 1 1978
163 B9 see also the expanded version of this article "Entarlett" Kunsl fiir Basel Die
Hmusfonkrunj pot <»<» Basel Wicsc, 1990), 22-28, 50-54, 62-70
4i Roll Hetsch letter to Wolfgang Curlitt, December 23, 1941, Curlitt, letter
to Regicrungsrat Senior civil servant Hopl Inlv s 1941 <ZStA Best 5001-1015,
111 6 i'i

44 lehiuarv I I'M1' I oil hv lohann C hnstian Remhart and 2 sepia paintings
bv loscph Anton Koch were exchanged lur it mis 29 watercolors, I drawing; and

1 portfolio ol graphit wmks 2 >>i the oils were by ( orinth, 1 each by Dix, Fuhr,
kokoschka Maikc Marc and 4 by Modersohn-Bcckcr of the watercolors 6 were by
Klee and the other 2s by Marc the drawing was bv KollwitZ, and the portfolio of
graphic works by Kubin)

fune 14 1939 18 drawings bv various Romantic artists were exchanged lor

2 tapestries iRohlts and Tagore), 12 oils 1 1 each by Adlcr, Braque, Campigli, de Chi-
inn Coubinc kirchner I e I .mconnier. and Schicle. and 2 each by Faistauer and
bwlensky 127 watercolors and drawings lAdler [3). Beckmann, Chagall, Dix [7],
leininger [6], Fuhr [2j, Gromatre, Heckel [2], lawlensky Kandinsky Kirchner [6],
Klee t Klimt 2 Koster, Kokoschka [8], Kubir
Meidner Modersohn-Bccker [3], Modigliani, Mue
Schiele [ 18], Schmidt -Rottluff |6], and Tagore (2]

December 8, 1939 1 till each by Victor Muller and Friednch Overbeck 1 draw
mg each by Dreber and Joseph Anton Koch were exchanged lor 5 oils (Beckmann,
Dix, Holer, Kokoschka, and Macket, 55 watercolors and drawings (Archipenko 2
( ampendonk, Dix (4), Feminger [3], Fuhr Crosz [4], Heckel [2], Kandinsky [2],
Kirchner (2], Kokoschka [3], Kubin, Macke |5], Marcks [5], Modersohn-Becker [2],
Mueller [3], Noldc (2], Picasso, Rohlfs [7], Schlemmer (2], Schmidt-Rottluff |2|, and
Sevcrmil, and 32 works ol graphic art and 9 portfolios of graphic works 'Staatliche
Musecn zu Berlin, Archiv der Nationalgalene, Acta Spec 24, Bd 9, 942/40, V d 809,
Nr II, III, V)

45 Andreas Huneke, "Dubiose Handler operieren im Dunst der Macht' Vom
Handel mit 'entarteter' Kunst,' in AlfrrJ Fltcbtbdm Sammlrr, fCunsiluWfrr, Vrrliga (exh
cat by Hans Albert Peters and Stephan von Wiese, Dusscldorl Kunstmuseum, 1987),
100-105

46 Hildebrand Curlitt letter to Ceorg Schmidt, August 18, 1939 (Offentliche
Kunstsammlung Basel, Archiv, reference kindly supplied by Ceorg Kreisl, Curlitt,
letter to Roll Hetsch, September 25, 1939 (ZStA, Best 5001-1015, Bl 141), see Kreis,

EnUrirtr Kmst fur Basil. 53

47 Franz Hofmann, letter to Regicrungsrat Hopf, September 21, 1939 I ZStA, Best
5001-1020, Bl 73)

48 Huneke, "Dubiose Handler."' 103-4

49 Franz Holmann, letter to Ferdinand Moller, December 15, 1939 (Berlin, Berli-
nische Calerie, Nachlass Ferdinand Moller), see also Huneke, "Dubiose Handler, "' 103

50 "Aufstellung der Vertrage des Propagandamimsterium, Berlin, uber an Herrn
Valentin gelielerte Wcrke entarteter Kunst und uber dessen Zahlungen" (Inventory ol
contracts with the Propagandaministertum. Berlin, concerning works of degenerate art
delivered to Mr Valentin, and their payments, ZStA, Best 5001-1017. Bl l(,4

51 "Namcn und Daten der vermittelten Vcrkaufe." June 3, 1939 (ZStA, Best
5QOI-10I7 Bl 99-1001

52 Karl Buchholz. letters to Franz Holmann, March 31 and April 17, 1939 (ZStA,
Best 50011017 Bl 178, 1801

[4], Liebermann, Macke III],
Her [6], Nolde[5|, Rohlfs [7],
, and 87 works of graphic art

s< Audi, r Huneki Vf/eg mit Zwitschet el PaulKleeund

die Aktion Entartete Kunst," inPaulfClw Vortriigti khscIm/Ui'cIki

dm ii mix Dambtr csi (Dresden Staatliche Kunstsammlungen 1984 65-70
54 Karl Buchholz letter to Fran: Hofmann, September 12, 1941 Buchhol
to Hofmann November II 1939 Hofmann letter to Buchhol December IE 19 •
(ZStA Besl 5001-1017 "I 143 43 105, 107 respectively

I im i im nr ili< Duisburg Lehmbrucks are preserved in I'"1 d

Reichspropagandaaml Propaganda offlo Essen letter to the Reichskammer del
biidenden Kunste, April 17 1940, Ministerialral Assistant government department
headi Biebrach, letters to Reichspropagandaaml I ssen April 17 and May Is 1940
Rcichspropagandaamt I ssen, letters to Biebrach May 14 and May 21, 1941). Karl
Buchholz, letter to Franz Hofmann, April 19 1940 Roll I letsi li lettt i
propagandaamt, Essen, September 14, 1940 (ZStA Best 5001-1017, Bl 120-29 ei
Siegfried Salzmann, Hihiiti) mil ^rr rsNifmlrM Fm Beitrag zur CescbicbU its Kimstsktutdals
i Duisburg Museumverein, 19HI

56 Karl Buchholz, letter to Franz Hofmann, May 22 1940 (ZStA, Best 50.01 l"l"
Bl 291)

57 Karl Buchholz, sale contract, February 15 1941. Buchholz, letter to Franz
Hofmann, January 27. 1941 'ZStA Best 50.01-1017 HI 270, sin

58 Hentzen, Dir (tVrlinrr N,ilion,il-(„ilrrir, 45 I luneke, Dir fascbisiisdx Minn, IK
Enfurlrlr Kunsl b\scMajmbmcahiimm in ier Slaitiscbm Kmstballe Mmiibein 1937 exh cat
by Hans-lurgen Buderer, Mannheim Stadtische Kunsthalle, 1987' 36, Kommission
zur Verwertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst, meeting minutes, December 6, 1939
(ZStA, Best 5001-1020, Bl II), Dagmar Lott, "Munchens Neue Staatsgalerie im
Dnttcn Reich," in Peter- Klaus Schuster, ed , Dir "Kmslsladt" Mum dm (<u7 Nuliomil-
sozialismus und "Entaruie Kunsl" (Munich: Prcstel, 1987), 297

59 Robert Scholz. Vom Eros dir Kunsl (Munich Turmer, 1970), 29, Biirgermeister
May letter to lohannes Weidemann, September 12, 1941 iStadtarchiv Halle, 321-4/5,
24), see Andreas Huneke, "Werke Max Liebermanns in Halle Zum 50 Todestag des
Kunstlers," Galiriespiytl (Halle Staatliche Galeric Moritzburg 1985 no 2, 8-14

H II N r K I

Figure 118

Marc Chagall, Dii Prist (Rabbitur) (The pinch of snuff [Rabbi]), 1912, oil on canvas, 117 x 895 cm (46V» x 35'/,

Kunstmuseum Basel Eiitorlrtt Kmst, Room 2, NS inventory no 15956, Fischer lot 17

s I II' II A N I I IIAkkiiN

The Galerie Fischer Auction

I

n the spring ot 1938, while the Eiiliirlflf
Kunst exhibition was on view in Berlin,
Reichsmarschall (Reich marshal) Hermann
Coring expressed his interest in selling
confiscated "degenerate" art for foreign
currency Reichsminister hir Volksaufklarting und Propaganda
Reich minister for national enlightenment and propaganda) loseph
Coehhels escorted Adolf Hitler through a warehouse where the
expropriated works were stored, and Hitler's response led Goebbels
to record his own wholehearted support in his diaries "Paintings
from the degenerate art action will now be offered on the interna-
tional art market In so doing we hope at least to make some money
from this garbage"1

The most overt manifestation of the National Socialists' desire
to turn confiscated art into convertible currency was a remarkable
auction ot 125 paintings and sculptures from German museum collec-
tions that occurred in the summer of 1939 at the Galerie Fischer,
an auction house in Lucerne, Switzerland J That auction remains a
milestone in the history of public sales of modern art, due in part to
the high qualitv and the special provenance of the works offered, but
the events connected with the unique sale have not previously been
reconstructed

The works of "degenerate" art that had been seized from
German museums, on Goebbels's instructions, during the summer
and fall of 1937 were divided in August 1938 between two storage
facilities in Berlin 780 of the most valuable paintings and sculptures,
along with 3,500 graphic works, watercolors, and drawings, were
housed in Schloss Niederschonhausen (figs II9-20),1 the remaining
16,000 works were crammed into storerooms rented by the National
Socialists at Kopenicker Strasse 24

In the late spring of 1938 Goebbels had established an eight-
member Kommission zur Verwertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst
Commission for the disposal of products of degenerate art), which
met periodically between that date and 1941 to advise on the disposi-
tion of these valuable assets Goebbels was the nominal chairman of
the commission, which was run by Franz Hofmann, assistant depart-
ment head at the Propagandaministerium (Ministry of propaganda),

assisted by Rolf Hetsch The other members were Karl Haberstock,
a Berlin art dealer, Heinrich (Hoffmann, the Reich's official photo-
graphic reporter, Carl Meder, consultant from the art trade in the
Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste (Reich chamber of visual artsi,
Robert Scholz, head of the department of fine arts at the "Rosenberg
bureau", Hans Schweitzer, Reichsbeauftragter fur kunstlerische Form-
gebung l Reich commissioner for artistic design) and a member ot
the 1937 commission for the confiscation of works of art for Entarkk
Kunst, Max Taeuber, an antiquities dealer, and the organizer of
Enliirlflf Kunst, Adolf Ziegler, president of the Reichskammer der
bildenden Kunste4 The commission authorized four dealers —
Karl Buchholz and Ferdinand Moller of Berlin, Bernhard A Boehmer
of Giistrow, and Hildebrand Gurlitt of Hamburg — to sell works
of "degenerate" art for hard currency The negotiations during
the late 1930s are the subject of Andreas Hiineke's revealing essay
in this volume

At its first meeting on November 17, 1938, the commission
reviewed the Propagandaministenum's suggestion of a public sale of
one hundred twenty-five masterworks selected from the confiscated
hoard As part of its deliberations the commission slightly modified
the ministry's proposed list of objects by withdrawing paintings
by Edvard Munch and Max Slevogt and sculptures by Ernesto de
Fiori Their final list included eighteen paintings and one sculpture-
removed from the Enliirfrlf Kunst exhibition either immediately after
the Munich showing or during the presentation in Berlin Certain
key works were also deemed essential to a lucrative sale, since it was
acknowledged that the international art market placed the highest
value on non-German paintings The most important of these were
Vincent van Gogh's Selj-Portnvt, Paul Gauguin's From Tahiti, and four
works by Pablo Picasso (for information on and illustrations of the
individual works of art sold at the auction, see the appendix to this
essay) The commission discussed the reserve I the minimum bid that
would be accepted) on the van Gogh and made suggestions about
insuring the works to be offered as well as the method of payment
after the sale

Figure 1 I1*

Confiscated "degenerate" art at Schloss
Niederschonhausen, Berlin, work later in the Fischer
auction 1. Gauguin, From Tiihiti (lot 44), 2- Van Gogh,
Stlf-Porlmil (lot 45), 3. Picasso, Head of a Womm (lot
117), 4. Matisse, Still life (lot 94), 5, Picasso, The Sola
Family (lot 114)

Figure 120

Confiscated art at Schloss Niederschonhausen,
work later in the Fischer auction 1, Picasso, The Sola
F,mily (lot 114), 2, Picasso, Two Harlequins (lot 115),
3. Vlammck, Waliaej (lot 124), 4. Lehmbruck,
Mahhakopf (lot 74), 5. Lehmbruck, Torso (lot 75)

Aftei I litlei s rise to powei neutral Switzerland had bet ome
a haven albeit temporarily foi German artists (and collectors,
who emigrated to keep their collections intact) writers musicians,
.mors ilu.nrn.al directors and other political refugees Many set

tied in Swiss titles hoping to pursue their careers with relatively
little disruption Some Stayed only long enough to make arrange-
ments to emigrate elsewhere in Europe or to Palestine or the United
States Some remained permanently, others returned to Germany
alter the war^ Switzerland, an international meeting point, was
a logical and proximate place tor a sale of art confiscated by the
German government, and apparently Swiss law did not prohibit
the proposed auction

In the tall of 1938 Haberstock advised Hofmann that Theodor
Fischer, the well-known Swiss art dealer, might be the best candidate
to conduct such a sale Fischer was the only non-Jewish Swiss dealer
who had both international contacts and extensive experience in
public auctions In the 1920s he had worked in Berlin with the emi-
nent dealer and publisher Paul Cassirer, an early German champion
ot Paul Cezanne, Munch, and the Sezession and Brucke artists, as
well as Ernst Barlach and Kokoschka In 1929 Fischer had established
himself in Lucerne, conducting sales of tine and decorative arts
and antiques The more important auctions, attracting hundreds of
observers — too many indeed for his premises — were held in salons
of the Grand Hotel National, directly across Haldenstrasse

The first letter in the Galerie Fischer archive pertaining to the
proposed sale is addressed to Hofmann and dated October 8, 1938
In it Fischer maintained that an international auction under his aus-
pices would bring the highest return for the National Socialists
He had obviously been contacted prior to this, probably by Haber-
stock, about his qualifications for and interest in such a project6
Haberstock would have made it clear in advance that one of the con-
ditions of any sale would be that the proceeds be deposited in a
foreign -currency account, whence they would be available to the
Reich, Fischer wrote in his letter of October 8 that he foresaw no
obstacle to his compliance with this condition He offered to come
to Berlin to discuss the project and went on to propose that his com-
mission be 15 percent on all objects except the six most valuable —
the Gauguin, van Gogh, and four Picassos — for which it would drop
to 6 percent Furthermore he would cover all costs of the prepara-
tion of the catalogue Eleven days later, on October 19, he wrote to
Haberstock informing him that he was corresponding with Hofmann
and sending to the latter sample catalogues from his gallery as mod-
els On October 24 Fischer wrote that he had negotiated a guarantee
with the Bank of Switzerland for a transfer of auction proceeds to an
account in London, and he offered to undertake the arrangements
for shipping the works from Berlin as well as insuring them with
the Wurttembergische Transport-Versicherung (The issue of
insuring the unsold works for return to Berlin was raised only
the following spring )

On November 18, the day following the first meeting ot the
commission, I lofmann conveyed to I ischer its recommendations for
reserves on the most valuable pictures 7 Three days later Hofmann
was able to send a proposed sale list of sixty-two of the most impor-
tant works stored in the Schloss Niedcrschonhausen depot, with
estimates in Swiss francs established by the commission Presumably
the remaining objects were to come from the storerooms on
Kopenicker Strasse Although Fischer still had no commitment from
the commission that he was to be the official auctioneer and was
anxious to conclude the arrangements in order to have time to orga-
nize the event [Fischer to Hofmann, November 29] i, he nevertheless
asked Hofmann on December 9 for photographs and enough data
(dimensions and provenance) to begin preparations for the catalogue
Only shortly before Christmas did Hofmann inform Fischer, "The
planned auction has now finally been approved by the department
in charge Shortly after the new year I will send you the contract
and the list" (Hofmann to Fischer, December 21 I

At the end of February 1939 Fischer was still uncertain how the
Propagandaministerium wanted to title the auction, and on February
23 he wrote to Hofmann for guidance In his response of March 8
Hofmann stated that he was sending the final list of works via the
German consulate in Bern and instructed Fischer that the title of the
sale should omit any reference to a sale "by order of the Reich " This
was to forestall the conclusion that the works were being sold for the
benefit of a German military effort, several members of the interna-
tional art world were openly critical of a public sale in Switzerland,
and Berlin thought that eliminating mention of the Reich would
allow some people to participate whose consciences might otherwise
forbid it A significant proportion of the art world did ultimately
boycott the auction, unconvinced that the proceeds were not
destined to further Hitler's cause*

On February 19 Fischer had received the first inquiry from
abroad Curt Valentin, writing from America, must have known of
the impending sale from colleagues in Berlin1' He had emigrated
from Germany the year before and opened a New York branch of
Buchholz's gallery (Buchholz being one of the four German dealers
authorized by the National Socialists to sell "degenerate" art)
Quickly establishing himself as the leading dealer in German
Expressionist art in America, Valentin would indeed become one
of the important bidders at the auction

Fischer was eager to receive the contract from Berlin because
he was already feeling the disdain that members of the Zurich
art crowd, competitive dealers, and some local newspapers were
evincing toward him lu The four-page contract between the
Propagandaministerium and the Galerie Fischer finally arrived
in March It made the following stipulations no works other than
those consigned by the ministry could be included in the catalogue,

approximately 40 percent of the works should be illustrated in the
catalogue, the ministry reserved the right to approve the catalogue
contents before it was printed, the sale should be advertised in Tloe
Burlington Magazine (London), the Gazette de {'Hotel Drottot (Paris), and
Art News (New York), previews were to be scheduled in Zurich and
Lucerne, the sale must occur in Lucerne before the end of June The
contract also established the reserve bids, commissions (varying
from 15 to 12'/2 to 7 percent, depending on estimated sale prices),
terms of accounting (within eight days of the sale) and remittances
(to be deposited in London in pounds sterling), and details of the
transportation to Switzerland of works to be sold and the return
to Berlin of unsold works within three weeks after the sale Finally
a Selbstbildnis (Self-portrait) by Lovis Corinth was replaced by his
Bildnis Tnibner (Portrait of Triibner) and Franz Marc's Pferde (Horses)
by his hegender Hund im Scbnee (Dog lying in the snow, erroneously
titled Weisser Hund [White dog])

By the middle of April Georg Schmidt, the newly appointed
director of the Kunstmuseum Basel, had received a copy of Fischer's
auction catalogue " Handwritten annotations in his personal copy
(now in the library of the Kunstmuseum) reveal that he generally
esteemed the non-German works more highly than the German
art Drawing on his memory of objects he had seen on visits to
Germany, he surmised that not all the modern art that had been
confiscated by the National Socialists was being offered in Lucerne,
excellent examples must still be stored in various ministry facilities
During April and May therefore, he maintained a correspondence
with both Buchholz and Gurlitt — evidently unbeknownst to each
other — in which he pondered the acquisition of such works.12
Though neither dealer had ever transacted business with Schmidt,
Gurlitt attempted to elicit the names of artists of interest to the
director, while Buchholz offered to represent Basel in any subse-
quent direct negotiations with Berlin

At the time that Schmidt was making his preliminary selection
from the auction catalogue, Fischer was in Berlin, where he was able
to see for the first time all the art he would be selling At Schloss
Niederschonhausen he observed that many of the paintings were
unframed and authorized Hans Ranft, the manager of the storage
facility to have them framed at his, Fischer's, expense before ship-
ping them, since "framed pictures sell better" (Fischer to Hofmann,
April 17) The framing complete, the 108 paintings and 17 sculptures
were shipped to Zurich on April 26 by Bronner & Cie , a Swiss trans-
port firm, arriving in plenty of time for the preview at the Zunfthaus
zur Meise (fig 121) During the ten-day preview, May 17-27, three
hundred tickets were sold at three Swiss francs apiece.13

Schmidt first visited the preview in Zurich on May 16, the day
before it was opened to the public, and then again on May 23 in the
company of several members of a special art commission appointed
by the city council of Basel A preliminary wish list was agreed
upon As a result, Schmidt was provisionally granted an initial allo-
cation of 50,000 Swiss francs Gurlitt visited Schmidt in Basel on

Ausstellungs-Eroffnung

Gemalde und Plastiken moderner
Meister aus deutschen Museen

AUSSTELLUNG IN ZURICH: Zunfthaus z. Meise am 17.-27. Mai
AUSSTELLUNG IN LUZERN: Galena Fischer, 30. Mai bis 29. Juni
A U K T I O N IN LUZERN: Galerie Fischer am 30. Juni 1939

GALERIE FISCHER, LUZERN

Figure 121

t of the Zurich and Lucerne previews of the Fischer auction

Wednesday May 24, to continue their discussion on purchases for
the museum Schmidt confided that he was eager to see for himself
what might be purchased directly from the works stored in Berlin so
that he might better plan the disposition of his funds at the auction
in Lucerne the following month The next day Schmidt wrote to
Buchholz of his meeting with Gurlitt and announced his plan to
visit Berlin that weekend Before Schmidt's arrival Gurlitt met with
Buchholz, and the two dealers agreed to work together with the
Swiss director, splitting their commissions Buchholz, as the more
experienced of the two, would carry on the negotiations u

Over the long Pentecost holiday weekend, May 27-30,
Schmidt, with the assistance of Buchholz and Ranft, was able to
study the works at Schloss Niederschonhausen He selected twenty-
six for possible purchase, narrowing the list to thirteen before his
departure, instructing Buchholz to reserve them on Basel's behalf
He also asked for reassurance as to how the proceeds from such a
sale would be used Back in Basel to confirm his municipal funding,
Schmidt heard a rumor that Fischer was soon to return to Berlin and
wrote urgently to Buchholz imploring him to keep their negotiations
secret for fear that Fischer would somehow interfere with or even
interdict the deal On June 3 Buchholz reassured his client that the
Propagandaministenum would honor his request and that the pro-
ceeds would be used exclusively for art-related purposes " As soon
as Schmidt secured the commitment of the city council, he approved
the shipment of the thirteen paintings to Basel for a final decision
He was eager that this be accomplished before the auction in the
event that prices there were very high, Basel would already have
secured important examples of "degenerate" art and Berlin could not
change the agreed prices Among the works shipped were Corinth's
Ecce Homo (fig 31), Kokoschka's Die Windsbraut (The tempest, fig
37), and Marc's Tierscbicksale (Fate of animals), all of which Schmidt
eventually purchased for 18,000 Swiss francs (about $4,000)

(inure 122

Theodoi I is hei fat right and colleagues in a salon ol the Grand Hotel National,
Lucerne, before the auction on lunc 30, 1939, identifiable work 1. Matisse Batbm leitb
,i Turtlt (lot 93i, 2. Pechstem GUioloi lot 112 3 Beclsmann DoppdbiUna Kanmal
lot 12 4 Nolde Kubmtlkn lot 108

Although the Neue Zurcher Zeitung. the most influential Swiss
newspaper, devoted only a small article to the preview in its last
days, public and art-world reaction to the impending sale was
mounting In an article of January 1939 Paul Westheim, the eminent
German-Jewish publisher ol Expressionist art and poetry living as a
refugee in France, took issue with the German government's claims
of what it would do with the proceeds l6 In articles in the Die Neue
Weltbuhne ( 1939, nos 24, 28 ) he attempted to discredit the proposed
Schmidt purchases tor the Kunstmuseum

Unfavorable word had reached America as well On June 1
Alfred Frankfurter, editor of Art News and an advisor to the American
art collector Maurice Wertheim, cabled Fischer "To counteract
rumors suggest you cable confidentially not for publication actual
ownership June 30 sale and whether money obtained goes to
Germany stop Believe would stimulate American bids "

The next day Fischer responded "Thanks for cable stop Pro-
ceeds June 30 disregards German government all payments are due
to Gallery Fischer Lucerne stop Funds will be distributed to German
museums for new acquisitions stop Rumors originate from Paris by
big dealer endeavoring trust using political arguments although he
bought directly from Germany for large sums stop Entitle you to
publish this declaration Compliments//Gallery Fischer"

There is in the Galerie Fischer archive a statement, "My Point
of View" written in French by Theodor Fischer on June 19 concern-
ing the impending sale and the cabal he felt was gathering against
him He maintained that a group of dealers was colluding to stop
colleagues from bidding, implying that this ring had begun in Paris
but that its influence had spread to New York, spawning Frankfurter's
cable One or two major dealers who were also doing business with
the Propagandaministerium were the source of the boycott, he
contended

Fischer sent a longer apologia to potential bidders,17 but it had
little effect Museums and private collectors were understandably
ambivalent about participating in the sale On the one hand, many
of the works to be auctioned were of such quality and rarity that
they commanded attention, on the other, sympathy for a boycott
ran high, given the commonplace assumption, Fischer's letter not-
withstanding, that the proceeds were destined to further Hitler's
nefarious intentions ' In fact, in 1941 the Reichserziehungs-
ministenum [Reich ministry of education] did make some meager
compensation to several museums for the hundreds of works that had
been confiscated The monies, of course, could never be used to
replace what had been removed, nor were they sufficient to do so )

Following the Zurich preview the works of art were sent to
Lucerne Midway through the exhibition there (June 1-291 Fischer
learned of the Basel negotiations, and on June 17 he protested angrily
to Hofmann, accusing him of undermining the auction, adding that
in April he had explicitly replied to queries from Schmidt and the
Basel art commission that no works in Berlin could be purchased
prior to the sale in Lucerne

Now I learn that you received the gentleman [Schmidt] and dosed a
transaction with him [in Berlin] You will understand that you did quite
a hit of damage to me I had to assume that even if it was not expressly
stated in tbf cohInjc! that you would not go against ffcf interests of t/jf auc-
tion to which I have given so much time and money I have also treated
another commission from another museum in tbf same way They informed
me of their wishes and gave me their orders These gentlemen canceled their
orders yesterday, and I know they were aware of the events in Basel You
must realize that such actions are worse for me than even the Jewish propa-
ganda, ti>r)ic/j / can fight with important arguments

BARRON

ling Braque's Still Ljr (lot 14 i

A few days later (June 20) Fischer again addressed Hofmann, asking
permission to alter the reserves on three less valuable works — by
Cuno Amiet, Maurice Barraud, and Georges Braque — and request-
ing a margin of 10 to 20 percent in the reserve prices of the six most
important paintings by Gauguin, van Gogh, Marc, and three by
Picasso l8 He also stated his wish to have eight days after the auction
in which to find buyers for unsold works Hofmann responded imme-
diately (June 21), granting Fischer's first request (about the Amiet,
Barraud, and Braque) but denying his second (with regard to the six
masterworks), claiming he could not canvas the commission in time
to get their approval He agreed, however, to Fischer's proposal to
seek buyers for works left unsold after the auction

Fischer soon learned that neither Hofmann nor Hetsch nor
Haberstock would be attending the auction The Propaganda-
ministerium would be represented instead by a Dr Hopf, l9 who
would observe the proceedings and convey the details of the sale
to Berlin (In addition to a full accounting of each transaction,
Hofmann wanted a breakdown by French and German paintings,
he also wanted to know who bought the most important works )

At three o'clock on Friday afternoon, June 30, 1939, in an elegant
salon of the Grand Hotel National overlooking tranquil Lake
Lucerne, auctioneer Fischer mounted the podium to commence the
three-hour sale (fig 123) Among the 350 guests who crowded the
hall, now ringed with sculpture to be sold, were Emil Buhrle and
Gertrud Dubi-Muller, Swiss collectors, Alfred Frankfurter, Pierre
Matisse, the painter's son and an art dealer in Pans and New York,
his client, the young collector Joseph Pulitzer, Jr, of Saint Louis,
with his new bride, Louise Vauclain, Josef von Sternberg, the Ameri-
can film director and art collector, Curt Valentin and his fellow
refugee and New York art dealer, Karl Nierendorf, and Swedish col-
lector Theodor Wolfer Representatives of museums in Antwerp,
Basel, Bern, Brussels, and Liege, as well as American, Belgian,
English, French, Swiss, and even a few German collectors, dealers,
and journalists, were present, along with many elegantly dressed and
curious spectators who filled the remaining seats or stood around the
room (fig 130) Several observers from the ministry also attended
The representatives of the Bern Kunstmuseum had seated themselves
anonymously in the back row, but a Fischer employee, recognizing
them, escorted them to seats in the front of the room 20

The auction was conducted in German, English, and French
The bidding was in Swiss francs Every successful bidder was
required to sign a bidder's card, although, contrary to today's prac-
tice, bidders were not obliged to identify themselves in advance in
order to establish their credit arrangements Many of the bidders
were unknown to Fischer Many in fact, were buying on behalf of
clients who cherished their anonymity at all costs,21 though some
dealers were representing clients who could be identified Pierre
Matisse attended specifically to bid on his father's masterpiece,
Bathers toitb ii Turtle, which Pulitzer wanted for his growing collec-
tion " Frankfurter was bidding for the absent Wertheim, whose
collection in New York comprised works by Impressionists and Post-
Impressionists Some of the successful bidders did not attend the auc-
tion but submitted written bids instead Of the forty individuals who
purchased art at the sale, however, most were present

As the sale began, Frankfurter was summoned to the front of
the room for an urgent telephone call At that time he may have
been informed of the German annexation of the Polish city of
Danzig, one report says he was instructed not to bid because of
German aggression J3 Only when Frankfurter's call had been
completed could the bidding proceed

One of the most eagerly anticipated lots was van Gogh's Self-
Portmit (fig 124), formerly in the collection of the Neue Staatsgalerie
in Munich The painting had been expropriated on March 27, 1938,
for the specific reason that it could be expected to bring a high price
at the auction, and it did, in fact, command the most spirited bid-
ding, with museums and private collectors in contention The presale
estimate was 250,000 Swiss francs When the painting was brought
to the podium, the heightened interest of the spectators was palpable

Figure 124

Van Gogh's Sttf-Portrutt (lot 45 1 on the auction block

In a nearly expressionless voice Fischer announces that he has an order
hid of 145.000 francs [about $29,000] He repents {he number in Ger-
miiM, French, and English It is followed hy a hid of 150,000 francs From
now oh bids will be accepted only in increments of 5,000 francs Quickly
the bidding climbs to 165,000 francs Going once, twice, three times — soli1
Much excitement in the room A man calls out that he had alreaiy bid
(60, ooo francs Place your bets' The play cfoes on to (70,000 francs! is
anyone bidding higher') (75,000 — once, twice, three times America has
won against the Netherlands That Dr Frankfurter who was so urgently
reguested on the telephone has to make out a check with a (5% commission
for over 200,000 francs Pauvre VWnit'24
On behalf of Wertheim, Frankfurter had paid the equivalent of
$40,000 for the picture (still about $8,000 below the estimate)
Immediately after the lot was knocked down, he removed the paint-
ing, placed it in the trunk of his car, and drove away amid a crowd of
curious onlookers 35

Frankfurter's strongest competition had come from the Belgian
delegation, led by Dr lean Buissert of the Musee des Beaux-Arts,
Liege, and Professor Dr L van Puyvelde, director of the Musees
Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels Following the sale Buissert sent a
postcard to Dr lules Bossmant, director at Liege, "There was
nothing to be done Particularly upset about the van Gogh (bought
by an American for 170,000 francs + 15% it will be 240,0000 "26

Figure 125
Fischer (tar ri^ht ,

( in ining I ehmbruck's Torso (lot 75)

BARRON

Figure 126

Emil Nolde, Blumnufcirlm X (Flower garden X), 1926, oil on canvas, 72 5 x 88 cm (28 'A x 34V. in ), Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts

de Belgique, Brussels Edtarttte Kuusl, Room Cl, NS inventory no 16186, Fischer lot 105

Figure 127

Franz Marc, Zmti Koizm BU u«d Crlfc (Two cats, blue and yellow), 1912, oil (

Enhirktr fCimsl, Room 6, NS inventory no 16133, Fischer lot 88

74 x 98 cm (29V. x 38V, in ), Kun'

Bossmant had attended the preview in Lucerne several weeks before
the sale to study the works to be auctioned In a memo discussing
the Strategy ol the Belgian contingent he commented, as Schmidt
had done, that the works being offered represented only a small per-
centage of those that were confiscated Unlike Schmidt, however, he
did not try to deal directly with Berlin Instead, he divided the works
into three groups — non-German artists represented by masterworks
(Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso), other non-German artists,
and Germans — and recommended specific acquisitions from each
category He felt the estimates were fair but said that the bidding
would obviously depend on how well the auction was attended 37

The Belgians ultimately purchased fifteen paintings — Liege
alone bought nine — including some of the most important works
available Chagall's Blaues Haus (Blue house), Corinth's Bildnis Branded
(Portrait of Brandes), Ensor's Masks and Death, Gauguin's From Tahiti,
George Grosz's Bildnis Mcbring (Portrait of Mehring), Karl Hofer's
Tiscbgcsellschaft (Group at a table), Kokoschka's Trancespieler (Hypno-
tist) and Monte Carlo (fig 287), Max Liebermann's Reiter am Strand
(Rider on the shore), Marie Laurencin's Portrait of a Girl, Marc's
Pferde auf der Weidt (Horses in a pasture), Emil Nolde's Blumcngarien X
(Flower garden X, fig 126), Jules Pascin's Seated Girl, and Picasso's
Two Harlequins and Soler Family

Schmidt and representatives of the Basel art commission were
active bidders despite the major acquisitions they had made the
month before in Berlin Now they added eight paintings to their
earlier purchases, including three works that had been on view in
Etil.jrletf Kunst in Munich, Chagall's Winter (fig 183) and Rahhmer
i Rabbi, fig 118) and Marc's Zwei Katzen Blau und Gelb (Two cats, blue
and yellow, fig 127), as well as Corinth's Stdlehen (Still life), Andre
Derain's View from ifcf Window, Otto Dix's Die Eltern des Kunstlers (The
artist's parents), Paul Klee's Villa R , and Paula Modersohn- Becker's
Selbsthildms Of his 50,000-franc budget Schmidt spent 20,000 in
Lucerne Judging from the annotations in his catalogue, he may have
also bid unsuccessfully for James Ensor's Masks and Death and Picas-
so's Soler Family These went to the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Liege

Also changing hands that day were Corinth's Bildnis des Malers
Bernt Grbnvold (Portrait of the painter Bernt Gronvold, fig 188),
Grosz's Metropolis (fig 216), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Das Boskett
(The bosquet) and Im Cafegarten (In the cafe garden, fig 258),
Kokoschka's Bildnis der Herzogm von Montesquieu (Portrait of the
duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac, fig 128), Otto Mueller's Drei
Frauen (Three women, fig 306), and Nolde's Christus und die Siinderin
(Christ and the adulteress, fig 342) and Kuhmelken (Milk cows,
fig 338), all of which had been in the En-turlfte Kwns! exhibition
in Munich

Accounts of the auction were carried in American, Belgian,
British, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Swiss (figs 129-31), and a
few German newspapers The articles, incredulous that the German
government would sell such important works, universally decried
the sale

Figure 128

Oskar Kokoschka, fiiUms der Htrzomn iwn Monlisquitu (Portrait of the duchess
of Montesquiou-Fezensac), 1911, oil on canvas, 95 x 50 cm 37 i 19 in
Cincinnati Art Museum, bequest of Paul E Geier Entartctc Kumt. Room 4,
NS inventory no 16033, Fischer lot 65

BARRON

Immediately following the auction, on July 5, Fischer dispatched
two photographs to Haberstock giving him an impression of the
atmosphere at the sale He also deposited an initial ten thousand
pounds sterling in the special British bank account — named "EK" —
established for the purpose by the Propagandaministerium The rest
followed in a few days He informed Haberstock that the "Jews boy-
cotted the auction Two-thirds of the works were sold " He indicated
that "Frankfurter and Valentin came from America, as well as a few
private collectors Very few people came from London, Paris, or the
Netherlands Someone came from Sweden" (Fischer to Haberstock,
July 5) Later he added information about particular works "The
important French pictures were all sold to Belgians I didn't know
the museum directors" (Fischer to Haberstock, July 12)

The proceeds of the sale totaled 500,000 Swiss francs (about
$115,000) Compared with the prices at contemporary auctions in
London, New York, and Paris, the sums attained at the Fischer auc-
tion were fairly modest 28 Of the 125 lots 38 did not meet their
reserves, though in the following months several were sold by
Fischer, who, contrary to the terms of his contract with the Propa-
gandaministerium, did not return the unsold works to Berlin within
the stipulated eight days Some of these were sold far below their
estimates Fischer accepted 1,250 francs from Nierendorf for Lyonel
Feininger's Zirchow VI, for which a sale price of 2,100 francs had been
estimated, and 2,900 francs from Boehmer for Corinth's Selbstbildnis
of 1914, which had been estimated at 6,300 francs It was not until
1941 that the remaining works went back to Hofmann

Figures 129-31

Scenes from the auction published in Swiss newspapers, the works by Pic

Htadoja Woman (lot 117) and Tuw HarlnfuiBS (lot 115)

I he miisi important work sold alter the auction was Tht Absinthe

Drinka In Picasso lormcrly in (lie collection oi the Hamburgei
Kunsthalle I he pictures original donoi a Mr I )alport, demanded
that he have the right to repurchase the work and contacted the
Swiss government I he painting was not sold at the auction, dur-
ing the subsequent two years ol litigation it hung in the German
embassy in Hern It was finally decided in 1941 that since Dalport
had donated the painting to the Kunsthalle he had no further claim
to it Haberstock subsequently permitted Fischer to sell the work,
after seeking the latter's assurance that the proceeds would reach
Berlin without difficulty (Haberstock to Fischer, July 12)

/ want to avoid .il ill! u'sts a situation i» which our payment will be
blocked i« Switzerland Ij there is any danger of this, the sale dims! be
handled in sued .1 ii'ijy that the painting would first he returned to us,
and the payment would he made directly m Enjlis/i pounds to us at the
Rticbsbank to the account EK Tlie painting would he shipped directly
to tlif purchaser after receiving the payment Your commission could be
withheld directly by you
The painting was sold for 42,000 Swiss francs to the well-known
Swiss collector Dr Othmar Huber of Glarus, who had been pre-
vented from attending the auction by congested traffic on the road
leading to Lucerne29

Fischer tried unsuccessfully to sell the rest of the works of
art In 1941 he sent a group on consignment to Bettie Thommen,
a dealer in Basel, but all were returned unsold Several paintings
were shipped to Boehmer on lune 28, 1941, for a total of
24,000 Swiss francs

Although the June 30 sale was not a resounding success
for Fischer or the Propagandaministerium, the auctioneer and
Haberstock did correspond subsequently on the subject of a second
auction for graphic works i0 Fischer suggested that a Mrs Zelenka
handle the sale, Haberstock preferred Dr August Klipstein, a dealer
and auctioneer in Bern But the sale never took place Fischer never
mounted another public sale for the ministry He continued to han-
dle consignments for Haberstock, Hofmann, Boehmer, and others,
although only a few of the works consigned by the ministry after
1939 were examples of "degenerate" art After the war there was an
extensive examination by the American Office of Special Services
and the Allies of the role played by Fischer in the sale of property
expropriated by the National Socialists, but that is the subject for
another essay one that lies beyond the scope of the present volume

Determining the fate of works sold in Lucerne has not been
easy Many of the purchasers acted anonymously sent representa-
tives, or even used fictitious names The shipping records of the sale
are helpful in some cases, but in others there is no record of how the
pieces left Lucerne Only sixty works were illustrated in the auction
catalogue, and it was not possible to identify all of the others from
the brief verbal descriptions Perhaps the publication here for the
first time of photographs of all but one of the works sold will help in
the location of some currently believed to have been lost or destroyed

The lune -III s.ili ,ii ( ialerie I IS< her is a unique historical event
I lad the prices achieved been more dramatic, the Propaganda-
ministerium might have been encouraged to consign more works for
public sale The auction did provide an opportunity lor enlightened
museums and private collectors to purchase major works ol art that
under normal cm umstant es would never have come on the market
As The Burlington Magazine commented afterward, "Revolutions have-
often in the past led to the dispersal ol art collections and thus
aroused interest in particular schools of art in new quarters There
is little doubt that in the present case new admirers will be found
for these rejected works in an atmosphere free from political
prejudice."33 Antiques remarked in 1941

It is an interesting commentary that in the "New Order' the govern-
ments are so poor that they must steal art masterpieces from their peoples to
tfet foreign exchange with whah to buy raw materials for more guns < )nly
the democracies are prosperous enough to keep their masterpieces and to
preserve (fee old cultural and human values Art, like butter, yields to guns
under fascism "

While the loss to Germany was irreparable and the circum-
stances surrounding the Fischer auction certainly made buyers
uneasy those who did purchase not only greatly enriched their col-
lections but also saved these works from probable destruction The
legacy lives on today in public and private collections in Antwerp,
Basel, Berlin, Bern, Bremen, Brussels, Cambridge (Massachusetts
Chemnitz, Cincinnati, Cologne, Duisburg, Hagen, Halle, Hamburg,
Hannover, Karlsruhe, Krefeld, Liege, Mannheim, Minneapolis,
Munich, New York, Saint Louis, Stuttgart, and Zurich These works
all share a very special provenance ■

Notes

1 Joseph Coebbcls, diary entry for July 29, 1938, see also entries tor May 18 and
December 13 of the same year. Die Tagihikher iron Joseph Goebhel* Samtiicbe Fr.jjmnttr,
ed Elke Frohlich (Munich K C Saur, 1987), pt I, vol 3

2 The Galerie Fischer has been in business continuously at the same address in
Lucerne since 1929 1 am extremely grateful for the cooperation of Mrs Fischer and
her family in enabling me to carry out my research for this essay Marco Cramen,
auctioneer at the Galerie Fischer, had done much preliminary research on the history
of the gallery and the lune 1939 auction, he was extremely generous in making the
extensive gallery archives accessible to me and in sharing his tiles and ideas with me
during the past three years I am most appreciative oi his assistance

All quotations from letters to or from Theodor Fischer in this essay are taken
from the correspondence preserved in the archives of the Galerie Fischer unless
otherwise noted

3 Lists of the works stored in Schloss Niederschonhausen are in the Zentrales
Staatsarchiv Potsdam, Best 5001-1015, Bl 26-50 The list oi graphic works is in the
archives of the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalene, Berlin
-4 Andreas Huneke, "Funktionen der Station Entartete Kunst, '" in Slalwim ie<
Modern lexh cat, Berlin Berlimsche Galerie, 1988' 49

5 Helmut F Pfanner, "The Role of Switzerland for the Refugees," in The Muse
Flee Hitter, ed Jarrel C Jackman and Garla M Borden I Washington Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1983), 243

BARRON

6 Haberstock must have been in direct communication with Fischer about a
sale even prior to the first meeting of the commission Since the former was well
connected to the members of the Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste and the
Propagandamtnistenum, he would have been in a position to indicate to Fischer some
of the works that were being considered for disposal Evidently the commission pro-
posed no other candidate to mount the auction

7 Franz Hofmann, letter to Theodor Fischer, November 18, 1939 "Concerning
the arrangements for the reserves, only in the case of the Stlf-Portrait by van Gogh do
the gentlemen [of the commission] request that an adjustment be made the painting
cannot go for less than £10,000 The other reserves have changed insignificantly
mostly reductions "

8 See the interview with Othmar Huber in R N Ketterer, Dialog Bildende Kunst
Kuttstbandel (Stuttgart Belser, 1988), 132, and Georg Kreis, "Entartete" Kunst fur Basel
Die Herausforderung oon t939 (Basel Wiese, 1990), 20

9 Curt Valentin, letter to Theodor Fischer, February 19, 1939 "I'm not sure if you
will remember me, but our mutual friend Dr Bernoulli can give you information about
me As I hear it, you are planning for May or June an auction of about 125 works for-
merly in the possession of German museums I am extremely interested in this auction
and indeed here one finds many interested as well — as many I imagine, as in your
area Please send a complete list and, if possible, photos or citations as to where
they are reproduced Perhaps you could even send a catalogue proof if you are at
that stage of production It all takes so much time here for an auction Is it possible
that my gallery could be a central place for American bids^ On which basis would
you suggest we might work together"' I have been interested in these affairs for a

long time and am prepared to be a strong bidder myself When you send the list
please include estimates"

10 Kreis, "Entartete" Kunst fur Basel, 27 n 43.

11 Fischer ordered 1,400 copies of the catalogue printed, which seems to be
consistent with the quantity of sales catalogues produced bv the gallery for other
auctions A bill, dated April 30, 1939, from Buchdruckerei Keller & Co for the print-
ing of the "Katalog 'Entartete Kunst " and other catalogues is in the Fischer archives

12 The most extensive documentation on Schmidt's activities with regard to
"degenerate" art is found in Kreis's "Entartete" Kunst fur Basel, which reveals the contents
of restricted files in the archives in Basel and Potsdam

13 Since certain clients of the gallery received complimentary entrance cards with
their copies of the catalogue, it is impossible to ascertain exactly how many people
actually previewed the works in either Zurich or Lucerne The gallery records note
430 paid admissions for the preview in Lucerne during the month of June

14 Kreis, "Entartete" Kunst jUr Basel, 12-13 n 26-27

15 Ibid, 168-69

16 One of the first and most vocal critics of the auction, Paul Westheim had
emigrated to Paris in 1933 In January 1939 he wrote about the "strictly confidential
intention" of the planned auction at the Galerie Fischer in "Die Ausplunderung der
Museen Das Dritte Reich verramscht die Kunst," Neue Vbrwarts, January I, 1939 Later,
just before the auction, he would criticize it again as an attack by the German govern-
ment on German museums and an attempt to obtain foreign currency for the purchase
of arms {Antifaschstiscbe Kumtkntik [Leipzig/Weimar Gustav Kiepenhauer, 1985], 59)

17 Theodor Fischer, letter in English addressed "Dear Sir," June 1939 "We have
been informed by friends that in America there is at present vehement propaganda
in order to boycott this sensational public sale, pretending that the proceeds will go
to Germany for purposes of armament This argument is ridiculous and wrong We
therefore wish to state very clearly that all payments are to be addressed to the Gal-
lery Fischer, Lucerne, and that the German Government has nothing to do with it

It was always understood that the funds will be distributed in favour of the German
Museums so as to enable them to buy other works of art The Gallery Fischer
wants furthermore to state that she is aware that a very important art dealer in Paris
is endeavoring to form some sort of a ring or trust in order to be able to acquire
in Lucerne the best pictures very cheap excluding every competition This sort of
gentlemen have already set an example by buying free-handed from the German
Government high class modern pictures without any scruples regarding the use
of their foreign money'' (Fischer archives, a copy of this letter was received by
Curt Valentin and is among his papers, which are on deposit at the Museum
of Modern Art, New York)

18 Fischer wanted to be able to sell the highly valued works if the final bids were
10 to 20 percent below the reserve It is fairly common to review the reserves imme-
diately prior to a sale and to revise them if necessary

19 This information was conveyed in an illegibly dated postcard sent sometime
in June from Rolf Hetsch and letters of June 22 and 26 from Karl Haberstock to
Theodor Fischer

20 Interview with Margarete Kopp, November 1987, Lucerne Miss Kopp, who
died in 1989, worked for Theodor Fischer and participated in the June 30 auction

21 According to one of the German collectors who purchased art at the auction,
it was too dangerous for Germans to attend the sale, he bought through the dealer
Bernhard A Boehmer (private collector, letter to the author, March 15, 1990) Mrs
Paul Geier, the widow of another buyer at the sale, recalled that her husband, "at age
24, bought the pictures directly from the Galerie Fischer He had earlier received the
catalogue and earmarked two Kokoschkas, a Marc, and a Hofer for his collection"
(Mrs Paul Geier, letter to the author, March 16, 1990) According to the Fischer rec-
ords Geier did not attend the sale, the pictures were purchased by a Mr Steinmeyer
of Lucerne, presumably on Geier's behalf

22 Pulitzer, who had recently graduated from Harvard, was on his honeymoon
in June (939 At Curt Valentin's suggestion, the young couple attended the sale and
authorized Pierre Matisse to bid for them Pulitzer bought two paintings (the Matisse
and a canvas by Otto Mueller) and one sculpture (a Lehmbruck) This information
was communicated in a letter of November 20, 1986, which Mr Pulitzer kindly made
available to the author

23 j OK, "Gemalde und Plastiken aus deutschen Museen unter dem Hammer,"
Der Bund, July 6, 1939, preserved in the Arntz archives (Los Angeles, The Getty
Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Archives of the History of Art,
Wilhelm F Arntz Papers), and Kreis, "Entartete" Kunst fur Basel, 27 n 43

24 J O K, "Gemalde und Plastiken"

25 A clipping from an unidentified Lucerne newspaper describes the scene but
identifies the painting as Picasso's Two Harlequins The latter, however, was among
the Belgian acquisitions sent to the shipper Bronner & Cie in Basel for transfer to
Belgium The shipping records of the Galerie Fischer indicate that the van Gogh
was indeed taken from the premises by Frankfurter

26 Jean Buissert, postcard to Jules Bossmant, June 30, 1939 (Los Angeles, The
Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Archives of the History of
Art, Jules Bossmant Papers)

27 See travel expenses dated June 16, 1939, and a note preserved among the
Bossmant papers (see note 26}

28 After the auction Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., visited the Swiss collector Margit
Hahnloser, who had not been in attendance, and recalls that she was fascinated by
the relatively low prices achieved (Pulitzer, letter of November 20, 1986, see note 22)

29 Ketterer, Dialog, 131

30 Karl Haberstock, letters to Theodor Fischer, July 7 and 13, 1939, Fischer, letters
to Haberstock, July 12 and 15, 1939

31 Berlin provided Fischer with a complete set of photographs, but, as stipulated in
the contract of March 1939, only approximately 40 percent of the works of art were to
be illustrated in the auction catalogue

32 "Fischer, Lucerne," The Burlington Magazine 74 (May 1939) xvi

33 "Guns, Butter, and Art in Naziland," Antiques 40, no I (July 1941) 17

Works of Art in the Galerie Fischer Auction

( .land I Intel National I m erne
lune 50 1939

Theodor Fischer (far ri^hti auctioning BaHach's ScbuxbtHtla Gottval
Hotel National, Lucerne, June 30, 1939

Notf lo llif reader

In the auction catalogue the works of art were listed in order by lot
number On the following pages the works are arranged by artist and
then chronologically The format for each entry is as follows

Artist

Title

Title in Fischer sale, if substantially different

Date, if known

Medium, dimensions

Catalogue raisonne, if applicable (see pp 408-9)

Provenance before Fischer sale

Fischer sale information

Provenance after Fischer sale

• indicates an illustration in the auction catalogue

Rates of exchange on June 30, 1939
I pound sterling (£) = $468
1 Swiss franc (SF) = $0 23

Sale prices include commissions

This list was compiled from material in the archives of the
Galerie Fischer Additional information was provided by the follow-
ing, to whom I am most grateful H Anda-Buhrle, Angelika
Arnoldi-Livie, Sara Campbell, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena,
Dietmar Elger, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Lllrike Fanta, Neue
Galerie der Stadt Linz, Katherine Fleet, Christie's, New York, Stefan
Frey Kunstmuseum Bern, Andrea Firmenich, Kunsthalle Emden,
Gabrielle Geier, Sigrid Godau, Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum,
Hagen, Hans-Jorg Gopfert, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden,
Renate Heidt Heller, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg,
Rainer Hortsmann, Jochen Kronjager, Stadtische Kunsthalle Mann-
heim, Philippe Le Leyzour, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, Ullrich
Luckhardt, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Karin Frank von Maur, Staats-
galerie Stuttgart, Peter Nathan, Jiirgen Ostwald, Kunsthalle zu Kiel
Joseph Pulitzer, Jr, Angela Schneider, Staatliche Museen
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Martin Urban,
Nolde-Stiftung, Seebiill, Johann Winkler, Armin Zweite, Stadtische
Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

Cuno Amict

Ckrysantbmen (Chrysanthemums)

1909

Oil on canvas, 73 x 59 cm 1 28 'A x 23V. in I

Kunstverein, Jena, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot I, est SF 2,500, sold for SF 850

Gertrud Dubi-Muller, Solothurn,

Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Dubi-Muller Collection

Alexander Archipenko

PortMil Fmu Ktimcnw l Portrait of Mrs Ka:

Sold as Frauenkopf ( Head of a woman |

1909

Painted stone, height 39 cm 1 15% in )

Museum Folkwang, Essen, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 2, est SF 850, sold for SF 370

Jans, Lucerne, Albert F Daberkow, Bad Homberg,

Sprengel Museum Hannover, 1955

Ernst Barlach

RwssiscJics Uebespaar ( Russian lovers)

Sold as Hirtaifytiiif (Shepherd couple)

1908

Porcelain, height 20 cm (77. in )

Catalogue raisonne Schult 89

Staathche Skulpturensammlung, Dresden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 5, est SF 850, sold for SF 700

Dr W Jacobi, London, by '

present location unkno

Ernst Barlach

Drr Richer (The avenger)

1922

Wood, 60 x 61 x 23 cm (23V. x 24 x 9 in )

Catalogue raisonne Schult 271

On loan to the Neue Abteilung, Nationalgalerie, Berlin

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 3, est SF 6,300, sold for SF 3,500

Curt Valentin, Buchholz Gallery New York, Hermann

Schulmann, New York, Ceorg Katz, New York, Ernst

Barlach Haus, Hamburg, 1975

Ernst Barlach

Scbwtbender Collvattr (God the Father hovering)

Sold as Sibmbtnder Mann (Hovering man)

1922

Stoneware, height 50 cm (19s/, in )

Catalogue raisonne Schult 276

Stadtisches Museum (Thaulow-Museum), Kiel,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 7, est SF 4,200, not sold

Sold in 1941 for $50 to Bernhard A Boehmer, Gustrow,

present location unknown

I3L

Ernst Barlach

Drr Wartcndt (Mann mil ^r/alldra Handm)

(Waiting [Man with clasped hands])

1924

Wood, height 65 cm (25V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Schult 293

Staatliches Museum, Saarbrucken,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 9, est SF 2,500, sold for SF 1,150

Bernhard A Boehmer, Giistrow;

Walter Bauer, Fulda

Emsi Bariach

Cfcrishu mi lobama (Christ and lohn]

Sold as Das Wnlmthm (The reunion

1926

Bronze, height 48 tm 1 18 7« in )

Catalogue rajsonne* Schult 306

Stadtische Skulptursammlung Frankfurt,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 8 cm SI 2.100 sold lor SI 1.500

Hermann Levin, Zurich.

present location unknown

Ernst Bariach

BiWms WW (Portrait of Wfegener)

1930

Bronze, height 51 cm (20 in )

Catalogue raisonnc Schult 360

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1931, confiscated in 1937

I isi her lot 6, est SF 2,500, not sold

Sold lor $200 to Othmar Huber, Clams,

present location unknown (possibly either the cast

in the Kunsthalle Mannheim or that in the Bayerische

Staalsgemaldesammlungen, Munich

: H.irl.u h

ading

LtsadcMimcbe (Mo

1932

Wood, height 83 cm (32to in

Catalogue raisonnc Schult 42 3

Nationalgalenc, Berlin, 1933, conhscatcd in 1937

Fischer lot 4, est SF 8,400, sold lor SF 4,800

Curt Valentin, Buchholz Callcry New York, Albert

Rothbart, Connecticut, C.alenc Beyeler, Basel.

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesirz,

Nationalgalene, Berlin, 1962

Ma

• Barraud

Halbakl 1 Half-length nudel

Pastel on paper, 58 x 47 cm (227, x I8'A in )

Stadtische Calene, Wuppertal-Elberfeld,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 10, est SF 5,200, sold for SF 820

Certrud Dubi-Muller Solothurn,

present location unknown

Max Beckmann

SrlbslbiUim mil rolrm Scfcal

(Self-portrait with red scarl )

1917

Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm (3I'A x 23V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Copel 194

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1924, confiscated in 1937,

Enljrlrtr Kunsl 1 16026), returned to Berlin after Salzburg

venue, 1938

Fischer lot 13, est SF 1,700, not sold

By exchange to Hildebrand Curlitt, Hamburg

Cunther Franke, Munich, before 1945, Staatsgalerie

Stuttgart, 1948

FVtfurf 162

Max Beckmann

DofifirlbiUnis Kiiriuptil (Double portrait, carnival)

Sold as Maskmbatt (Masked ball <

1925

Oil on canvas, 160 x 1055 cm (63 x 4I'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Cbpel 240

Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt, 1925, confiscated in 1937,

Enliirlrlr Kunsl ( 162261

Fischer lot 12, est SF 2,100, not sold

Hildebrand Curlitt, Hamburg, Or Conrad Doebbeke,

Berlin, Kunstmuscum Dusscldorf, 1953

Fitjurt 166

4

rf ^ifc- Georges Braque

Max

Beckmann

Zicfeoi
Sold
1930

■m Stillrfm
as Blanc Bk

(Still life
mm (Blue

with chicory)
flowers)

Oil on canvas, 27 x 21 cm (10% x 8% in )

Catalogue raisonne Gopel 323

Stadtische Calene, Frankfurt, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot II, est SF 600, not sold

Sold for SF 320 to Fleischmann, Zurich, Calene Aenne

Abels, Cologne, 1958, private collection, Aachen

SlilM-m (Still life)

1924

Oil on canvas, 30 x 65 cm (ll'A x 25% in.)

Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt, 1926, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 14, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 3,300

Pierre Matisse, Pans, Dalzell Hatfield, Los Angeles,

Oliver B James, New York, Emil Buhrle, Zurich,

Mme Buhrle-Schalk, Zurich, 1953

Marc Chagall

Witlta

1911/12

Watercolor and gouache on paper, 48 5 x 62 3 cm

(I91/. x 24'/! in )

Stadtische Calene, Frankfurt, 1925, confiscated in 1937,

Entarlitr Kuml ( 15957)

Fischer lot 16, est SF 2,500, sold for SF 1,100

Kunstmuseum Basel

Figure (83

BU

1920

Oil on canvas, 66 x 97 cm (26 x 38% in.)
Kunsthalle Mannheim, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 15, est SF 3,200, sold for SF 3,300
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

Marc Chagall

sr (The pinch of snuff)
s Rabbmn (Rabbi)

Dit Pr,

Sold a

1912

Oil on canvas, 117 x 895 cm (461/. x 35'A in )

Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1928, confiscated in 19!

Entartttt Ktmst (15956)

Fischer lot 17, est SF 3,400, sold for SF 1,600

Kunstmuseum Basel

Fl^urr 118

Lovis < orinth

BiUra Wilhttm rriifma Fbrtrait of Wilhelm Trubner)

1913

i >il ..11 canvas «J > 4u >m 17 . s 15 I in

( italoguc raisonne' Bercnd <. urmih 599

Calene M C.oldschmidt Frankfurt. Stadtische Calene

Nuremberg 1921, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 30, est SF 8,400 nut sold

Sold in 1941 to Bernhard A Boehmer Cuslrow,

Kunsdlaus Lempertz Cologne, auction October 1958,

lot S3 Dc < .mi .id Doebbekc Berlin, Stuttgarter

Kunstltabinetl Roman Norhc-rt kctterer, Stuttgart,
auction May 1959 lot 160, Wilhelm Weick Antiquitaten,
Herlin W-st Stadtische kunstsammlungen,
Nuremberg, 1960

Lovis t orinth

Tod unj MSicbtn i Death and the maiden

1913

Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm ( 3l'/i x 237, in I

Catalogue raisonnc Berend-Corinth 563

W Doring, Stettin, Stadtisches Museum, Stettin

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 28, est SF 14,700, not sold

Present location unknown

Srl/iilriiMim i Sell portrait

W14

Oil on wood, 73 x 58 cm (28% x 22 - in

( atalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 622

Stadtisches Museum, Stettin, cunhscated in 1937

Fischer lot 20, est SF 6,300, not sold

Caleric Fischer, Lucerne sold in 1941 lor U2o to

Bernhard A Boehmer, Custrow, Staatsgalerie

moderner Kunst, Munich. 1951

St.llrl.rn (Still life)

1920

Oil on canvas, 110 x 150 cm (43% x 59 in )

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 795

Nassauisches Landesmuseum, Wiesbaden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 25, est SF 10,500, sold for SF 5,100

Kunstmuseum Basel

Lovis Corinth

BiUms Wolfing Gur/ni i Portrait of Wolfgang Curlitt

1917

Oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm (43% x 35'/, m I

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 701

Wolfgang Curlitt, Berlin, Nationalgalene, Berlin,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 31, est SF 9,400, not sold

Wolfgang Curlitt, Berlin, purchased with his estate by

the Neue Calerie der Stadt Lmz/Wolfgang-Gurlitt-

Museum, Linz, 1953

66 cm

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 873
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 21, est SF 10,500, sold for SF 3,700
Private collection, Switzerland, I Blodgctt. Portland,
Oregon. Beatriz Schreier, Zurich. 1976, W Krisp,
Murnau, 1985

Note Calerie Fischer erroneously catalogued as lot 21
another painting by Corinth that belonged to the
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, see BiUzyklrn Ztugmvt iYr/rmtrr
Kumt m Dtuhchltmd IS33— IMS iexh cat. Staatsgalerie
Stuttgart, 1987), D22

BARRON

StlfeliiUdis (Self-portrait)

1923

Oil on wood, 685 x 84 cm (27 x 33'/» in )

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 925

Nationalgalerie, Berlin, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 19, est SF 11,500, sold for SF 6,300

Kunstn

Lovis Corinth

Bildtns dn Malm Bfrnl CrornwU

I Portrait of the painter Bernt Gronvold)

1923

Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm (3I'A x 23V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth p 168, pi XX

Kunsthalle Bremen, 1923, confiscated in 1937,

Eittorlrtf KunsI (16149)

Fischer lot 24, est SF 5,000, sold for SF 3,500

Theodor VKjIfer, Malmb, Kunsthalle Bremen

Figure (88

Oil on wood, 128 x 108 cm (50V« x 42'/i in.)
Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth pi XVII
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 26, est SF 12,600, not sold
Private collection, Berlin

Lovis Corinth

SlilMwi mil Frudrtsclwle (Still life

1923

Oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm (27'/i x 35% in )

C atalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 898

Calene Ernst Arnold, Dresden, Neue Staatsgali

Munich, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 18, est SF 12,600, sold for SF 7,500

Kofler, Lucerne, private collection, Switzerland,

collection, Germany, Galerie Arnold! -Livie, Mi

private collection. United States

private
nich,

Lovis Corinth

Kmd m Brtlcfcm (Child in a crib)

Sold as Kmd mil Lm/slallcfcni (Child with small cradle)

1924

Oil on canvas, 83 x 124 cm (32% x 48% in )

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 946

Charlotte Berend-Corinth, Nationalgalerie, Berlin,

1926, confiscated in 1937, Entarlrlr KunsI (I6I50)

Fischer lot 23, est SF 14,700, not sold

Sold for SF 8,085 to Dr Witzinger, Basel, Alfred Nevcn

DuMont, Cologne, 1982

Figur, .85

ban* am Vkmittta Lucw

1934

( i,l on canvas 60 » » cm 23% « :"'- In

C ataloguc raisonne Berend-C orinth ,,s"

Nruc Staatsgalcrie Munich, confiscated

Fischer U ]] est SI IG^SOO not sold

By exchange lor 1275 to Hildebrand Curlitt, Hamburg

Waller Franz, Cologne. Calene Lempertz, Cologne,

auction R84 lot 233 private collection

Lovis< orinth

Rosa Rosm (Pink roses)
1924

Oil on wood, 82 x 65 cm I 32% x 257, in I
Catalogue raisonne Berend-Connth 939
Nationalgalene, Berlin, 1924, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 27, est SF 11,500. sold for SF 6,200
Calerie Fischer, Lucerne, sold to a Swiss dealer, private
collection, Switzerland, Calene Arnoldi-Livie. Munich,
Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Nationalgalene, Berlin, 1983

I .ivis ( .irinth

/iiljnis (,ron) )lr,injrs I Portrait ol ( ,corg Brandcs

1925

Oil on canvas, 92 x 70 cm < 36% x ?

Catalogue raisonnc Berend-Connth 982

Nationalgalene. Berlin confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 29 est SI 7.300 sold foi SF 4,800

koninklnk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

Lovis Corinth

FlifJrr. Anmonm. unJ Katzcbm

(Lilacs, anemones, and kitten I

Sold as Blummstninss I Bouquet of flowers)

1925

Oil on canvas, 105 x 85 cm (41V. x 33ft in )

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Connth 983

Stadtische Kunstsammlung Dusseldorf

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 32, est SF 12,600, sold for SF 6,000

Emil Buhrle Zurich, Dr D Buhrle. Zurich

Blrck am irm Fmslrr (View from the window)

Oil on canvas, 67 x 57 cm (26V. x 22'/i in )

Dr Karl Hagemann, Essen, Museum Folkwang, Essen,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 32a, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 3,200

Kunstmuseum Basel

Deratn

Die Sdlzlricfer con Mattigm (The salt pools of Martigues)
Oil on wood, 73 x 60 cm (28 U x 23' . in
Museum Folkwang, Essen, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 34, est SF 3,400, sold for SF 2,900
Dr Reber Switzerland, private collection, Bern

Otto Dix

Dir Ellrrn Jk Kunsllrrs (The artist's parents)

1921

Oil on canvas, 100 x 115 cm (39Vb x 45% in.)

Catalogue raisonne Lbffler 1921/12

Wallraf Richartz-Museum, Cologne,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 37 est SF 3,800, sold for SF 2,100

Kit

Otto Dix

Nirlzsrlif

1912

Painted plaster, 58 x 48 cm (227. x 187. in )

Stadtmuseum Dresden, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 35, est SF 8,400, not sold

Probably destroyed

Otto Dix

Frtw mil Singling (Woman with infant)

Sold as Mutter und Kind (Mother and child)

1924

Oil on canvas, 75 x 71 cm (29'/i x 28 in )

Catalogue raisonne Lbffler 1924/6

Stadtische Kunstsammlungen, Kbnigsberg,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 38, est SF 3,400, not sold

Bernhard A Boehmer, Giistrow, Sachs, Ha

Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1947

lburg,

James Ensor

Mmknt u«d drr Tod (Masks and death)
Oil on canvas, 78 x 100 cm (30 V. x 397. in.)
Kunsthalle Mannheim, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 39, est SF 10,500, sold for SF 6,800
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

Otto Dix

Anita Btrbtr

1925

Tempera on wood, 120 x 65 cm (47 'A x 257. in )

Catalogue raisonne Lbffler 1925/6

Stadtische Calerie, Nuremberg, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 36, est SF 2,500, not sold

Swiss dealer, Otto Dix Stiftung, Vaduz, on loan to the

Calerie der Stadt Stuttgart

■

Lyonel Feininger

Zircbow VI

1916

Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm (317; x 39V» in )

Catalogue raisonne Hess 162

Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst und Kunstgewerbe

(Montzburg), Halle, 1928, confiscated in 1937, Entartrtt

Kunst (16081)

Fischer lot 41, est SF 2,100. not sold

Sold for SF 1,250 to Karl Nierendorf Gallery New

York, present location unknown

Lvoncl fcintnger

fOanssaikrck ( hurch ..I the ft»i (.lares

( )il mi canvas 100 \ BO cm <'>'- x 31V, in I

Stadtischc Kunstsammlungcn, Kassel,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer kx 40 est SF 2.100, not sold

Sold for SF l,2su to Karl Nierendorl Calfery New

V.rk Kill Bomar, Fort Worth, private collection,

Switzerland, Cialcric Thomas, Munich, private

collection, Zurich

..niguin

Aus Tahiti (From Tahiti)
1903

Oil on canvas, 91 x 73 cm (357. x 28'A in )
Stadtischc Calcrie I rankfurt confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 44 est SI 63,000, sold for SF 50,000
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

Srlf'stfioriMt iSell portrait

1888

Oil on canvas, 62 x 52 cm 24'. , II

Neue Staatsgalene, Munich, expropriated in 1938

Fischer lot 45. est SF 250,000 sold for si 175,000

l)r Allied Frankfurter for Maurice Wfertheim, New

York Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University

Cambridge, 1952

Mrlropota or Bficlt m dtr OossttiJl i View of the big city)

Sold as Grosstjiit (Kig city

1916-17

Oil on canvas, 102 x 105 cm (40'/» x 41 in

Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1924, confiscated in 1937,

Entjrlrlr Kuml -16194)

Fischer lot 42, est SF 600, sold for SF 700

Curt Valentin, Ruchholz Gallery New York, Hermann

Schulmann, New York, George Grosz, Huntington,

New York, Richard L Feigen and Company, Thvssen

Bornemisza Collection, Lugano

Figuri 2(6

George Grosz

Porfraf Mr/triMJ I Portrait of Mehnng)
1926

Oil on canvas, 108 x 78 cm (42'/j x 30'i in I
Hamburger Kunsthalle, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 43, est SF 600, sold for SF 280
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

BiMim At Scbwntrr (Portrait of the artists sister

1920

Oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm ( 31'/] x 27' in

Museum Folkwang, Essen, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 48, est SF 1,200, not sold

Present location unknown

Erich Heckcl

Da Pflugtr (The ploughi

1923

Oil on canvas, 83 x 96 cm (32% x 37 !A in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1923/4

Kaiser- Fnednch- Museum, Magdeburg,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 46, est SF 1,700, not sold

Sold for $75 to Ferdinand Moller, Berlin, Staatlich

Calerie Montzburg Halle, I94S

Amaryllis

1927

Oil on canvas, 71 x 56 cm (28 x 22 in.)

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1927/21

Behnhaus, Liibeck, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 47, est SF 850, not sold

Sold for $50 to Bernhard A Boehmer, Custrow,

private collection, Hamburg

Karl Hofer

rnmkme (Drunke

1925

Oil on canvas, 106 x 81 cm (4lV« x 317. in )
Stadtisches Museum, Ulm, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 54, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 950
Bohlmann, Switzerland, Emil Buhrle, Zurich,
present location unknown

Karl Hofer

Mint BaillMcfet

1926

Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm (39% x 3I'A in )

Nationalgalerie, Berlin, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 56, est SF 6,300, not sold

Sold for $500 to Wolfgang Gurlttt, Berlin, purchased

with his estate by the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz/

Wolfgang-Gurlitt-Museum, Linz, 1953

B/ummsl.lltfco. (Floral still life)
Oil on canvas, 41 x 37 cm 06'/» x I4'A in )
Thaulow-Museum, Kiel, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 51, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 950
Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, present location unkn

Karl Hofer

lilumatwafmtle Mtidcbat (Girls throwing flowers)

Sold as Am Faisla (At the window)

Oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm (47'A x 35% in )

Stadtmuseum Dresden, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 52, est SF 5,000, sold for SF 5,000

Emil Buhrle, Zurich, Galerie des Arts anciens et

modernes, Liechtenstein, Staatsgalene Stuttgart, 1967

K.irl Hofcl

BOm «mJ Riidi I Esther and Ruth

Oil on canvas, 81 x 90 cm ill n J5% In

Galene Alfred Flcchthcim, Berlin. Paul Rusch

Dresden, Staatlichc Ccmaldctjalcrie. Dresden, 1923,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 55, est SF 4,200, not sold

Bernhard A Bochmcr, Custrow, private collection.

»51 present location unknown

Karl Holer

SclbilbiUmi (Self-portrait)

Oil on canvas, 45 x 40 cm 17 'A x 15* in

Nationalgalenc, Berlin, conhscated in 1937
Fischer lot 53, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 2,500
Steinmcycr, Lucerne, for Paul I Ceier; C inunnati
1939, private collection

Karl Hofer

Tuchtimlhckift i Group at a table!

Sold as Aljmifr am Ttscrj siizrruf I Men sitting at a table)

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Stadtische Kunstsammlungen, Kassel,

conhscated in 1937

Fischer lot 57 est SF 8,400, sold for SF 4,100

Koninkliik Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

Karl Hofer

Tropm-hrs Bad (Tropical bath)

Oil on canvas, 64 x 74 cm (2514 x 29'/. in )

Wallraf Richartz-Museum, Cologne,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 49, est SF 4,200, not sold

Bernhard A Boehmer, Custrow, present location

unknown

Karl Hofer

Wnssnikircfcni (White churches)
Oil on canvas, 80 x 73 cm (3l'/> x 28!A in )
Thaulow- Museum Kiel, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 50, est SF 2,500, not sold
Present location unknown

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Pferde auj dct We,de (Crazing horses)

1907

Oil on canvas, 71 x 80 cm (28 x 31'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 23

Kunstverem, Chemnitz, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 60, est SF 600, sold for SF 600

Prof Max Huggler, Bern, for Hedy Hug-Ruggle

Marianne Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, private collectic

Paris

v ftm

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Dili Bmkelt (The bosquet) or

Plalz in Dresden (Square in Dresden)

191!

Oil on canvas, 120 x 150 cm (47% x 59 in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 198

Joseph Feinhals, Cologne 1912, Wallraf-Richartz-

Museum, Cologne, confiscated in 1937,

Enlurlrlr Kuml (16137)

Fischer lot 62, est SF 600, sold for SF 300

Peter and Alexander Zschokke, Basel

/m Cajegarlen (In the cafe garden) or

Damoi im Caje (Udies at the cafe)

1914

Oil on canvas, 705 x 76 cm (27V* x 297, in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 374

Ludwig and Rosy Fischer, Frankfurt, Stadtisches

Museum fur Kunst und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg),

Halle, 1924, confiscated in 1937, Enlartele Kuml (15992)

Fischer lot 61, est SF 1,000, sold for SF 750

Dr Ernst Schlager, Basel, Calerie Aenne Abels,

Cologne, Kunstverein, Berlin, 1966, Brucke-Museum,

Berlin

Figure 258

BP^P^r^^l^"^' ikkfei

Ss v' ''""ri~r^ 'f^^ll^M^B

k ^y^JEi

BL B§ Elii ^1 fife*!

. ■ k HA

"M

Paul Klee

Klostergartm (Monastery garden)

1926

Oil on canvas, 94 x 66 cm (37 x 26 in )

Staatliche Gemaldegalerie, Dresden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 58, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 3,100

Clara and Emil Friedrich-lezler, Zurich, destroyed by

fire, 1940

Paul Klee

Hubs am Weg (Villa R ) (House on the path [Villa R ])
Oil on cardboard, 27 x 20 cm (10% x 77. in )
Pauline and Joseph Kowarzik, Frankfurt, Stadtische
Calerie, Frankfurt, 1926, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 59, est SF 1,700, sold for SF 850
Kunstmuseum Basel

Oskai Kokoschka

Tnmcapitla 1 1 lypnotist)
1908

Oil on canvas, 84 x 65 cm i »3tt K
C ataloguc raisonne' Wingler s

Schlesischcs Museum dcr bildcnden Kuns(, Bri
confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 63, est SF 4,200, sold foi Si 3 100
Musics Royaux d'Art et d'Htstoire, Brussels

Oskar Kokoschka

Zu'fl Kinder I Two children)

1909

Oil on canvas, 73 x 108 cm (28 'A x 42'/> in I

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 19

Dr Stein, Vienna P), Adolf Loos, Vienna, Staatliche

Cemaldegalerie, Dresden, 1927, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 71, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 2,000

Theodor Wdlfer, Malmo, Galerie Aenne Abels,

Cologne, Wilhclm I.ehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg,

1954

Oskar Kokoschka

Bildrm in Htrzoifin com MoMtfitfuifu

(Portrait of the duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac)

1911

Oil on canvas, 95 x 50 cm (37Vr x 19V, in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 33

Museum Folkwang, Essen, 1926, confiscated in 1937,

EnUrltlr Kunsl ( 16033 1

Fischer lot 65, est SF 3,400, sold for SF 3,000

Steinmeyer Lucerne, lor Paul E Geier, Cincinnati,

1939, Cincinnati Art Museum, bequest of Paul E Ceier,

1982

Fiifurr 128

Oskar Kokoschka

Dr Hrnrulnn SthwarzwaU

Sold as hWirnMrm (Dr S)

(Portrait of a gentleman [Dr S])

1911

Oil on canvas, 90 x 65 cm (35% x 25'/, in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 50

Hermann Schwarzwald, Frankfurt, 1911, Stadtische

Galerie, Frankfurt, 1917, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 66, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 2,100

Meister, Basel, Ernst Beyeler, Basel, Staatsgalene

Stuttgart, 1951

Oskar Kokoschka

FraumBUlWomanmbluel

1914

Oil on canvas, 75 x 100 cm I 29'/, x 19' - in

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 126

Staatliche Cemaldegalene, Dresden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 68, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 1,700

Meister, Basel, Ernest Beyeler, Basel, Staatsgalene

Stuttgart, 1953

Oskar Kokoschka

KalhrJralr zu Bordrm

x (Cathedral of Bordeaux'

Sold as Notrr-Damr

zu Bordraux (Notre-Dame of

Bordeaux]

1924/25

Oil on canvas, 80 >

60 cm (31'A x 23V. in )

Catalogue raisonne

Wmgler 175

Nationalgalene, Be

rlin, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 64, est SF 4,200, not sold
Private collection, Basel, private collection, London,
Marlborough International Fine Art, London, Musee
des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, 1983

Oskar Kokoschka

Montr Carlo

1925

Oil on canvas, 73 x 100 cm (28% x 39% in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 191

Stadtische Galerie, Frankfurt, c 1926, confiscated i

1937, EnlurWf Kimsf (16125)

Fischer lot 70, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 2,500

Musee d'Art moderne, Liege

Fiowr 287

fm

M - - ~- _.r

ii ft -

Li tt\it-

^ p \ * ■"'•>

u/ '*jfSjn

m

'#*

V

*^HC^

^T/'A

v ilu

•■V'^ '

\ v

UKyAfi a^ * ■**,

Oskar Kokoschka

Towrr Br\dgr im London

1925

Oil on canvas, 76 x 128 cm (297s x 50V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 198

Hamburger Kunsthalle, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 67, est SF 8,400, sold for SF 7,200

Josef von Sternberg, his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries,

New York, November 22, 1949, lot 90, Putnam Dana

McMillan, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, bequest, 1961

Oskar Kokoschka

Co./rrs« (Lake Ceneva)

Oil on canvas, 64 x 95 cm (25% x 37V. in )

Calerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1924, Fritz Hess,

Berlin, 1924, Stadtisches Museum, Ulm, 1931,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 69, est SF 6,300, sold for SF 3,500

Steinmeyer, Lucerne, for Paul E Geier, Cincinnati,

1939, private collection

Wilhelm Lehmbruck

SiizrnJrs Mudi l"<< Seated girl

1913/14

I,,,., cotta II ■ 19 i i" I2K a I9K in

Staal gal "< Stuttgan i onfis, iti d in 19

Fischei 101 72, est SI KSd -.,,1,1 l,„ SI I Mill

Pierre Matisse fbi loseph Pulitzer, lr Saint Lou

present location unknown

iUijMwiMiW i Portrait ol a girl)

1913/14

Oil on canvas, 64 x 53 cm (25% x 20 in

Stadtisches Museum Lllm, confiscated in 1937

I, scher lot S( est Si 4 20(1 sold lor Si s.KKl

Musee des Beaux-Arts Liege

Wilhelm Lchmbruck

Torso (GmriiJIrr Frdrwilorso)

(Torso [Torso o( a bending woman]!

1913

Terracotta, height (including base) 93 cm 1 3nV„ m I

Lubeck, museum unknown, conhscated in 1937

Fischer lot 75, est SF 1,200, sold lor SI I 200

Ray W Berdeau, New York, present location unknown

wmim

Wilhelm Lehmbruck

lunges MaJcben i Young girl I
Oil on canvas, 95 x 60 cm (37V» x 23V. in )
Kunsthalle Mannheim, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 73, est SF 1,200, sold for SF 650
Prof Fehr, Bern, present location unknown

Madcbntkopf (Smtitnit) (Head of a girl [Contemplation]

Terracotta, height 45 cm (I7V< in )

Nassautsches Landcsmuseum, Wiesbaden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 74, est SF 850, sold for SF 1,400

Ray W Berdeau, New York, present location unknowr

Rudolf Levy

StrlM>r» (Still life)

1911

Oil on canvas, 65 x 80 cm (25V. x 31'/= in I

Wallrat-RichartzMuseum, Cologne,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 77, est SF 1,200, sold for SF 610

Dr Ehert, Lucerne, present location unknown

•

Note In the Calerie Fischer catalogue this image was

incorrectly captioned as Drr Tisc/j

BARRON

< Liebermann

Rnlrr ,m Strand { Rider on the shore)

1904

Oil on canvas, 46 x 54 cm (18 'A x 21% in )

Neue Staatsgalene, Munich, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 79, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 3,200

Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

Rudolf Levy

DnThcb (The table)

Oil on canvas, 63 x 49 cm (24'/, x I9'A in )
Staatsgalene Stuttgart, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 76, est SF 1,200, not sold
Private collection, Wiesbaden

Max Liebermann

BiMim Otto Braun (Portrait of Otto Braun)
Oil on canvas, 120 x 95 cm (47,4 x 377, in )
Nationalgalene, Berlin, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 78, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 1,100
Lutolf, Switzerland

August Macke

Garlcttmtawant (Garden restaurant)

1912

Oil on canvas, 81 x 105 cm (31% x 41!A in )

Catalogue raisonne Vriesen 353

Herwarth Walden, Berlin, 1913, Emma Gottschalk,

Dusseldorf, 1926, Stadtisches Suermondt- Museum,

Aachen, 1927, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 80, est SF 1,000, sold for SF 900

Hermann Rupf, Bern, by written bid, Kunstmuseum

Bern, Hermann and Margit Rupf Collection

Franz Marc

P/rrJr auj itr WtiJr (Horses in a pasture I

1910

Tempera on paper, 63 x 83 cm (24 'A x 32'A in.)

Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 4!4

Hamburger Kunsthalle, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 92, est SF 3,400, sold for SF 2,300

Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

LifjJrnJrr Huni m Schntr (Dog lying in the snow)

Sold as Ufcstr HutiJ (White dog)

1910/11

Oil on canvas, 62 5 x 105 cm (247. x 41'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 133

Maria Marc, Reid, Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt, 1919,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 85, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 3,200

Ray W Berdeau, New York, Galerie Beyeler, Basel,

Stadelscher Museums-Verein, Frankfurt, 1961

DkimmloiPftrJt I he three red horses

I'MI

( HI on . invu 120 - 180 cm 17 ix70Tt In
t italogue raisonne' I inkheil 131
Museum Folkwaruj Essen confiscated m 1937
Rschei I.. i B7 esl si 21,000 sold fai si $000
Stelnmeyci Lucerne t.>i Paul I Geier, t incinnati,
1939 Mrs Paul I Geiei on loan t" the ( indnnati Art
Museum and the Busch Reisingei Museum I Ian ird
University C amhndge

lluml Katzt, Hud Fucbs (Dog cat and fax)

1912

( )il on canvas, 80 x 105 cm (3I'A x 41V. in )

< atalogue raisonm I ankht 11 169

Galerie Caspari Munich Kunsthalle Mam

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 89, est SI 6,300, not sold

Returned in 1940 by the Rcichspropaganda

to the Kunsthalle Mannheim

I ranz Marc

Ztvn Kiitzra liiiu wnd (,clb (Two tats, blue and yellow

1912

Oil on canvas, 74 x 98 em (29% x !8'A in |

Ruhmeshalle, Barmen, 1427 confiscated in 1937,

Extciritir Kunsi (16133)

I ischer lot 88, esl SI 8,400, sold lor SF 4,100

Kunstmuseum Basel

Fitjurt ill

Franz Marc

Ebtr und Situ ( Boar and sow >
Sold as Wiukchwthu (Wild boars)
1913

Oil on canvas, 73 x 56 5 cm (28 'A x 22% in )
Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 202
Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst und Kunstgewerbe
Montzburgl. Halle, 1924, confiscated in 1937,
En !,i r Mr KumsI (16141)
Fischer lot 86. est SF 6,300, not sold
Hem Corny and Brandenburg, Berlin, Galerie Gerd
Roden Berlm, Calerie Aenne Abels, Cologne, Wallraf-
Richartz-Museum, Cologne, gilt of Autohaus
Fleischerhauer 1954, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Fi^urr 2M

VSgd (Birds)

1914

Oil on canvas, 110 x 100 cm (43% x 39% in )

Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 226

Maria Mart, Reid, Staatliche Gemaldegalenc, Dresden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 90, est SF 5,000, sold for SF 2,500

Ray W Berdeau, New York, Collection Hasselblad,

Goteborg, 1961, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus,

Munich, 1983

B,i,W< Madeira (Girls bathing)
Oil on canvas, 100 x 140 cm (39% x 55% in )
Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 121
Werner Duecher, Dusseldorf, Stadrische
Kunstsammlungen Dusseldorf, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 91, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 3,300
Emil Buhrle, Zurich, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery
London, Norton Simon Foundation, Los Angeles

«^ *?5

Ewald Matare

Liegende Kub (Cow lying down)

Wood, 22 x 50 cm (8% x 19% in.)

Catalogue raisonne Schilling 27

Nationalgalene, Berlin, before 1928, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 81, est SF 400, sold for SF 480

Hermann Rupf, Bern, by written bid, Kunstmuseum

Bern, Hermann and Margit Rupf Collection

Ewald Matare

Wmdkuh (Wind cow)
Sold as Stebatdt Kuh (Cow standing)
Bronze, 187 x 31 8 cm (7% x \Th in )
Catalogue raisonne Schilling 15a
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 82, est SF 400, sold for SF 230
Curt Valentin, Buchholz Gallery New York, Mu
Ludwig, Cologne

Gerhard Marcks

Jostfund Maria (Joseph and Mary)

Wood, 104 x 40 x 30 cm (41 x 153A x 11'/. in )

Staatliche Skulpturensammlung, Dresden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 84, est SF 1,000, sold for SF 510

Curt Valentin, Buchholz Gallery New York, Calene

Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, Galerie Nierendorf, Berln

Heinz vom Scheldt, Leverkusen

mm

Henri Matisse

btgaiJt (Reclining woman)

1907

Fired clay, 34 x 47 cm (13% x 18'/: in )

Museum Folkwang, Essen, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 95, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 1,020

Theodor Wolfer, Malmd

He

i Maris

Fliaslmdscbajt (River scene)

1907

Oil on canvas, 73 x 59 cm (28V. x 23% in )

Museum Folkwang, Essen, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 96, est SF 10,500, sold for SF 5,100

Max Mueller, Ascona, Kunstmuseum Basel

Henri Matisse

Baiters with a Turtle

Sold as Dm Frauen (Thn

1908

Oil on canvas, 1791 x 2203 cm (70 'A x 86V. in )

Karl Ernst Osthaus, Hagen, 1908, Museum Folkwang,

Essen, 1921, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 93, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 9,100

Pierre Matisse for Joseph Pulitzer, Jr, Saint Louis, The

Saint Louis Art Museum, gift of Mr and Mrs Joseph

Pulitzer, Jr, 1964

1 Itnri M.it

SHlUfn Still life

Oil on canvas, 93 x 81 cm !6% x 31 in
Robert von Hirsch. 1917, StSdtische I lalerii I
1917, confiscated in 1937
Rschei lot M est SF 4,200, sold for si sunn
Ray W Berdeau. New York, Calerie Beyeler, B;
Stadelsches Kunstinstitut und Stadnsche Calcr
Frankfurt, 1967

SdbstbiUnis (//.i/lulti mil BmHlrififeitrJ

(Self-portrait [Half-length nude with amber chair

1906

Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm (23% x 19 > in

KestncrMuseum, Hannover, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 97, est SF 1,200, sold for SF 2,300

Kunstmuseum Basel

Amedeu Modigliam

DjmmMiiMis (Portrait ut ,i woman

Oil on canvas, 47 x JO cm ' 18! \ II '. in

I Netter, Cans, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris,

Riccardo Cualino, Pans, Nationatgalerie, lierlin,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 98, est SF 6,300, sold for SI 6,600

Lorenz Lehr, Switzerland, Christie's, London, auction

December 3, 1984, lot 21, private collection

Otto Mueller

Zu'fi MiiAhmithr (Two nude girls)

c 1919

Tempera on canvas, 874 x 706 cm (34 V. x 277. in )

Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1936 (on deposit), confiscated

in 1937, Enterfrtr KuhsI (159951

Fischer lot 101, est SF 850, not sold

Sold for $50 to Hildebrand Curlitt, Hamburg,

Dr Josef Haubrich, Cologne. 1942, Wallraf

Richartz-Museum, Cologne, gift of Dr Haubrich,

1946, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1976

Fitfurr 309

Otto Mueller

Dra Frautn (Thi

c 1922

Tempera on canvas, 1 195 x 88 5 cm 147 x 347. in

Calerie Dr Coldschmidt, Dr Wallerstein, Berlin,

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Krefeld, confiscated in

Enlarlrlr Kumt 115972)

Fischer lot 100, est SF 600, sold for SF 310

Pierre Matisse for loseph Pulitzer, Jr, Saint Louis,

The Saint Louis Art Museum, 1958, Christie's,

London, auction April 30, 1989, lot 24, Brucke

Museum, Berlin, 1989

Figure 306

)

1927,

1917

Otto Mueller

DiimmMtiim < Portrait of a lady)

Oil on canvas, 96 x 68 cm 1 37 'A x 26'. in

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 99, est SF 600, not sold

Hildebrand Curlitt, Hamburg, present locatu

BARRON

Em.l Nolde

Tanzmdi Kinder (Kindcrreigen)

(Dancing children [Children in a ring]

1909

Oil on canvas, 74 x 88 cm 129'/. x 347. in

Catalogue raisonne Urban 314

Landesmuseum, Oldenburg, 1925, confisc

Fischer lot 103, est SF 3,000, not sold

Sold for SF 1,317 to Erhard Arnstad, Zuri

Emil Nolde

Kubmtlkn (Milk cows)

1913

Oil on canvas, 86 x 100 cm (337b x 39V« in.)

Catalogue raisonne Urban 583

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Krefeld, 1928, confiscated

in 1937, Entarittt Kunsl (16098)

Fischer lot 108, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 2,000

Richard Doetsche-Benzinger, Basel, Kaiser

Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, gift of

Mr Doetsche-Benzinger, 1949

Figurt 338

Emil Nolde

Roir Abaidsannc (Brandling) (Red sunset [Breakers])

1913

Oil on canvas, 87 x 102 cm (3414 x 40'/. in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 557

Rudolf Ibach, Barmen, 1921, Stadtische

Kunstsammlungen Dusseldorf, 1935, confiscated in 193:

Fischer lot 106, est SF 6,300, not sold

Private collection, Galerie Crosshenning, Dusseldorf,

private collection, Switzerland

Emil Nolde

r garden X)

lilumenijtirten X (Flo

1926

Oil on canvas, 72 5 x 88 <

Catalogue raisonne Urba

Kunsthalle zu Kiel, 1929, ,

Enlarltlr Kunst (16186)

Fischer lot 105, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 2,100

Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels

Fi^urt us

■n (287i x 347. in )

1025
onfiscated in 1937,

Emil Nolde

Ojrislus und dit Sutidtrin (Christ and the adulteress)

1926

Oil on canvas, 86 x 106 cm (33% x 40'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 1038

Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1929, confiscated in 1937,

Enlartrlr Kunst (15934)

Fischer lot 104, est SF 3,800, sold for SF 1,800

Prof Fehr, Bern, private collection

Fi>rt 342

Emil Nolde

Scnncnhlttmcn

1926

Oil on canva

Catalogue ra

Staatliche &

Wind (Sunflowers in the wind)

74 x 89 cm (29'A x 35 in )

>nne Urban 1030

laldegalene, Dresden, confiscated i
1937, Enlarlrlc Kunsl (16130)
Fischer lot 102, est SF 4,200, sold for SF 3,500
Private collection, Switzerland

(mil Nolde

lit^mm n't um J ,idl< Red and yelkm begonias)
< ill on canvas W v 100 cm 29K \ <l>'- in
C atalogue raisonnl Urban ion?
Stadtisches Museum Erfurt confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 107, est SF 4.20Q sold fot SI 1 '

Hans Lutgens Swicseriand private collection,

Switzerland

Sitznia Maicbm (Seated girl)
1908

Oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm (28^ x 23'A in
Staatliche Ccmaldegalerie, Dresden, confiscated
in 1937

Fischer lot 110, est SF 2,100, sold for SF 1,700
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

lules Pascin

frukiutt I Breakfasti

t923

Oil on canvas, 82 x 65 cm i 32'', x 25V- ,,,

Kunsthalle Hremen, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 109, est SF 1,200, sold for SF 2,400

Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

Max Pechstein

Mor^rmlunifr I Morning hour)

Oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm (27V, x 3 1 in

Stadtisches Museum, Leipzig, confiscated in

Fischer lot 113, est SF 1,200, not sold

Sold in October 1939 for £10. present locati

unknown

1937

Max Pechstein

Drrfcuucfcrr (The smoker)

1917

Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm (25% x 19V. i

Kaiser- Friednch- Museum, Magdeburg,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot III est SF 600, not sold

Present location unknown

Max Pechstein

GUidiolm (Gladiolas)

Oil on canvas, 118 x 90 cm (46'/i x 35V, in )
Nationalgalene, Berlin, confiscated in 1937
Fischer lot 112, est SF 1,700, sold for SF 820
Dr Ehret, Lucerne. Wolfgang Ketterer, Muni
sale May 1988, private collection, Pans

BARRON

Pablo Picasso

Absmtbtrmkerm (la buvaat assoapit)

I Absinthe drinker [The dozing drinker])

1902

Oil on canvas, 80 x 62 cm (31 'h x 24% in )

Catalogue raisonne Zervos 120

Dalport, Hamburger Kunsthalle, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 116, est SF 73,500, not sold

Sold (or SF 42,000 to Othmar Huber, Clarus, 1942,

Foundation Huber, on loan to the Kunstmuseum Bern

Pablo Picasso

Familimbili (Lt Jijntm sur Ihrbt it \a fam.llt SolrrJ

(Family portrait [Soler family luncheon on the grass])

1903

Oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm (59 x 78% in )

Catalogue raisonne Zervos 204

Wallraf-RichartzMuseum, Cologne,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 1 14, est SF 63,000, sold for SF 36,000

Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege

■ .^t^^. i

Br ~*4 J

^^mw

E'liP-

1

wlJffi

{W ]

'

Pablo Picasso

Zu'n Harlekmt (Acrofwlf tt jatm arkqum)

(Two harlequins [Acrobat and young harlequin]}

1905

Couache on cardboard, 105 x 75 cm (41 V. x 29'A ii

Catalogue raisonne Zervos 297

Stadtische Calerie, Wuppertal-Elberfeld,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 115, est SF 105,000, sold for SF 80,000

Roger Janssen, Brussels, Christie's, London,

November 28, 1988, private collection, Japan

Pablo Picasso

Frauenkopj (Busif Jr/rmmf ) (Head of a woman)

1922

Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm (18'/. x 2IV, in )

Catalogue raisonne Zervos 396

Stadtisches Calerie, Frankfurt, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 117, est SF 12,600, sold for SF 8,000

Dietz, by written bid, present location unknown

Chn

, Rohlfs

tanttscbafi (Landscape)

Sold as MobnjrU (Poppy field)

1898

Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 cm (187. x 23% in.)

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 179

Stadtisches Museum, Stettin, confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 120, est SF 2,500, not sold

Returned to Berlin, December 1939, present locatit

No known photograph

Christian Rohlfs

Rosm (Roses)

1926

Oil on cardboard, 70 x 51 cm (27'A x :

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 707

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 118, est SF 2,500, not sold

Present location unknown

I lit

k.4iii-

lui^i m Ascoim I an in Vscona

S..UI ,h sif.i,.f ,„ \ ,,n.j Street in Astoria'

i Ml on canvas, 75 x 60 cm 29' K 23 in
Catalogue raisonne' \fagt ~42
Natkmalgalerie Berlin confiscated in 1937
Ffcchei lot ii" est SF 1,700 not sold
Sold lor $150 to Dr Hans Peters, Bad Hon™
Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, I lagen 1950

landscape)

Karl Schmidt RottluH

Hnbsllaxdtcbaft (Auti

1910

l )il .in canvas, 87 x 95 cm I MX \ !7%

Stadtische Kunstsammlung, C hemnita

confiscated in 1937

FiSChet lot 121, est SI 400, not sold
Present location unknown

Karl Schmidt Rottlull

SrlfiiifiiMnn mil /:injl,n I Self-portrait with monocle

SoldasftUm: R Set

(Portrait of R| Sell po

1910

Oil on canvas, 84x76 5 cm

Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Frankturt Stadtisches

Museum tur Kunsl und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg),

Halle, 1924, confiscated in 1937, Enljrlrlr Kunsl 16052

Fischer lot 123, est SF 400, not sold

Sold for $25 to Ferdinand Moller Berlin I rau

Millci I ..amy Cologne, Staatliche Musecn

Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nattonalgalerie, Berlin,

gift ot Frail Mollcr-Garny 1961

Figure 171

Karl Schmidt Rottluff

Lupmcn m Kisr i Lupins in vase)

Oil on canvas, 73 x 65 cm (28* » 25% in

Staatliche Gemaldegalerie, Dresden,

confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 122, est SF 400, sold for SF 310

Prof Fehr Bern, Calerie Ferdinand Moller, Cologne.

1956, private collection, Switzerland

Flussumilscbafj i River landscape)

Oil on canvas, 64 x 80 cm (25'A x 31 '/i in )

Stadtisches Museum, Wuppertal-Elberleld.

hscated in 1937
Fischer lot 125, est SF 1,700, sold for SF 850
Theodor Woller, Malmd

Ma

rdeVIa

WaUmtj ' Woodland path

Oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm 23% x 28% in

Wallral-Richartz-Museum, Cologne,
confiscated in 1937

Fischer lot 124, est SF 850, sold for SF 560
Beltie Thommen, Basel, present location unknown

Figure 133

The vilification of jazz in the exhibition Enlartrlr Mmik, Kunstpalast Ehrenhof,

Diisseldorf, 1938

Mil I I A I

M I V I k

A Musical Facade for the Third Reich

The Third Reich was festively inaugurated on
March 21, 1933— "Der Tag von Potsdam"
i Potsdam Day) Ludwig Neubeck's choral
work Deutscbland composed lor the occa-
sion, was heard on national radio, and the
celebrated conductor Wilhelm lurtwangler was asked by Adoll
Hitler personally to perform Richard Wagner's "German" opera,
Dl> Alrislcrsmi/rr von Niimbert) iThe mastersingers of Nuremberg), at
the Berlin Staatsoper that evening German musicians everywhere
contributed to the solemnity In Hamburg the Reich's chief ideo-
logue Alfred Rosenberg, spoke at the Staatsoper, where an
enthusiastic supporter of the Nazis, general music director Karl
Bohm, conducted Lohengrin, the magnificent Wagnerian opera that
had impressed Hitler as a youth and with whose hero he shared the
mystery of origin and identitv

Music and politics: Collaboration

In accordance with the tradition of performing at state functions in
exchange tor official patronage, the musical establishment helped
legitimize the new government, which in turn justified itself by
its avowed commitment to cultural renewal and full employment
Indeed, many musicians looked to the regime to increase its financial
support of the arts and to create more jobs — not surprising in view
of the disastrous economic situation and the incredibly high rate
of unemployment for musicians at 46 percent and for singers and
voice teachers at 43 5 percent (compared to 28 percent general
unemployment, as reported on June 16, 1933) ' Nazi totalitarianism
complemented the musicians' authoritarian habits and their need for
security and recognition

Gollaboration was not due exclusively to opportunism Many
beneficiaries of a "business as usual" attitude and official largesse
identified with the cultural policies of the new regime and the prom-
ised regeneration They believed that the new state shared their dis-
approval of the condition and direction of modern music, which they
held to be alienated from its tradition and the public Traditionalists
reiected the critical art of the former era — the caustic texts of Bertolt
Brecht, the "decadent-degenerate" sounds of Kurt Weill, the "high-
art" atonality of Arnold Schoenberg, and "primitive" jazz — upholding
instead an art that confirmed and elevated German nature, native

tradition, and the sociopolitical order it served These sentiments
accorded with the idealistic features of National Socialism custom-
arily associated with the volkisch (national, in the sense of pure
German) movement, of which Richard Wagner had been the most
important artistic representative To Wagner — the creator of the
Gnamtkunstioerk (the "total work of art" that reintegrated all the arts
into one ritualistic expression), the romantic nationalist, the pre-
eminent subject of Nazi musicology and the maior intellectual in-
fluence acknowledged by Hitler — music, indeed, all art, had to be
rooted in folk and native tradition in order to be a genuine expres-
sion of the national community it would thus help revitalize

Music and race

Music's redemptive qualities were promoted most vociferously by the
composer Hans Pfitzner, whose alarmist reaction in the 1920s to the
disintegration of tonality — dissonance, twelve-tone theory, and alien
jazz — clearly accorded with less stridently articulated conservative
ideas Pfitzner spoke for many and anticipated an important argu-
ment of the National Socialists, when he attributed this "musical
chaos," a symbol of threats to civilization itself, to an active anti-
German international conspiracy His radical conservative defense
of traditional harmony melody and inspiration (all claimed as char-
acteristically German) and his attack on subversive atonality and
jazz (identified with Bolshevism, Americanism, and lews) were
reformulated in racialist terms by the Nazis with little violence to
the original

In 1932 the schoolteacher and Untersturmfuhrer (SS deputy
commander) Richard Eichenauer established the basis of a new
racialist musicology with his book Musik und Riissf (Music and race),
wherein he associated "degenerate" modern music with the Jews,
who were "following a law of their race " Music was assumed to
reveal fixed, racially defined German characteristics and their Jewish
opposites Eichenauer deplored the excessive Jewish presence on
German concert stages, at the concert agencies, in the press and
educational institutions, from the academies to the Preussisches
Ministenum fiir Wissenschaft, Kunst, und Volksbildung (Prussian
ministry of science, art, and popular education), where Leo Kesten-
berg was in charge of music Yet, ultimately "the lew" played a role
independent of actual lews as a manipulated demonic principle in a

Figure 134

Hans Hinkel (center) a! a lectu

: by Joseph Goebbels, November 15, 1935

society of anti-Semitic assumptions, a mythical abstraction associ-
ated with all "degenerate" aspects of the music of Jews and Jewish-
influenced Aryans alike, regardless of their particular musical orien-
tation In fact, Jews were too small a minority to explain music's
alleged crisis the professional census of June 1933 listed 1,915
religious Jews among 93,857 career musicians — a percentage of 2 04,
which music historian Fred Prieberg allows to have been doubled at
the most during the late Weimar Republic, before Jewish emigra-
tion2 Ironically these Jewish musicians and audiences actually shared
their persecutors' traditional views of their own art as largely classi-
cal, late romantic, and folkloristic This is revealed in the programs
of the segregated Judischer Kulturbund (Jewish cultural league),
which was established in 1933 under the supervision of one of the
most important arts organizers in the Third Reich, state commis-
sioner for education and Obersturmfuhrer (SS chief commander)
Hans Hinkel (fig 134) Nonetheless, music journalists and musicolo-
gists joined Nazi cultural policymakers in concentrating on "the Jew
in German music," using Wagner's well-known essay by that title for
his analysis of the Jews in an alien culture in justification of Nazi
purges

The musical "revolution"

Upon the Nazi assumption of power in early 1933 the Kampfbund
fur deutsche Kultur (Combat league for German culture), which
had been founded in 1928 by Rosenberg, applied the conservative
"olkisch-racialist principles under Hinkel's leadership and initiated a
"revolution in the streets " Members of a large and very active music
chapter including orchestras, choral groups, and other ensembles,
prominent musicians such as violinist Gustav Havemann, composer
Paul Graener, music journalist Fritz Stege, Wagner scholar Otto
Strobel, leading educators, and public officials joined the SA (Sturm-
abteilung, storm troops) in disrupting concerts of "enemies,"
issued militant manifestos, pressured institutions into coordination
(Qeichschaltung) with the new political order, and purged musical
personnel and the concert repertoire, while promoting their own
careers The word was out that party members would be hired first,
would be favored for promotion, and would have their compositions
performed and aired on the radio While hundreds of defamed
musicians, including conductors Carl Ebert, Fritz Busch, Otto
KJemperer, Bruno Walter, and Hermann Scherchen, were chased
from German stages and out of the country others — the young and
ambitious Herbert von Karajan, for example — joined the party and
secured places in the new musical order More and more musicians
demonstrated nationalist sentiment, denounced colleagues, com-
peted for vacant jobs, assumed positions in the new cultural orga-
nizations that carried out the purges, and contributed thousands
of solidarity proclamations, performances, articles, and compositions
with Nazi texts dedicated to Hitler While the world was becoming
aware of the resurgent might of the German state and army the
cultural realm was equally impressive for its apparent unity state
support, and vitality

The "spontaneous revolution" of the local party units, the SA,
and the Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur was in fact manipulated to
serve the totalitarian ambitions of the regime Hitler's parallel "legal"
measures, comforting to many people in the civil service and the
cultural professions, actually undermined the Constitution to a
greater degree than street action, even though these measures were
based on presidential emergency powers defined in Article 48 of the
Weimar Constitution Two days after the ceremonial "Potsdam Day"
the Ermachtigungsgesetz (Enabling law) of March 23, 1933, abol-
ished the Reichstag (Parliament) and established the dictatorship
of the new "national" government, thus binding those who had
acquiesced to and even endorsed each step in this terrorist-legalistic
thrust toward dictatorial power3 Henceforth, the shell of a Reichs-
tag was ridiculed as the world's best-paid choral society because
its members continued to draw salaries for meeting once or twice
a year to listen to a speech by Hitler and to sing DtutscMand iiber
al/es and the Horst-Wessel Lied, an SA song commemorating an early
Nazi martyr sung on all festive occasions

I iguxe 1 iS

A display in the exhibition Entartett AlusiA- denigrating "the lew Arnold Schonberg-
.is koktm hka saw him "

Figure 136

A Hitler lugend songtest, Berlin, August 1935

I he government meanwhile, pursued its ami Semitic and total-
itarian policies It organized an official boyi "it ol lewish stores foi
April, 1933 The Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamten-

t ti ms 1 1 'ml ess ii ma I civil seivu e restoration act) of April 7, with its
denial ol jobs to "non-Aryans," Communists and others "who cannot
be trusted to support the national state without reservation foi
malized the bloodletting within musical ranks This crucial law
reassured the beneficiaries of Nazi patronage and revealed to anxious
victims the true nature of the regime Bureaucrats issued question
naires to members ol public institutions, and a wave ol dismissal
notices soon followed In the music department of the prestigious
Preussische Akademie der Kunste (Prussian academy of the arts, in
Berlin professors Schoenberg and I ranz Schreker were notified of
their dismissals Schoenberg, the formulator of the twelve-tone sys-
tem and an acknowledged leader of contemporary musical thought,
found it impossible to make a living in Germany s A giant to his
admirers, a lew and "destroyer of tonality" to the Nazis ' fig I3S ,
Schoenberg represented music's crisis, the embodiment of all the
anathemas within the realm of serious music — what Pfitzner had
identified as "the aesthetics of musical impotence "" Although in the
eyes of later historians Schoenberg' s departure created a serious gap
in the landscape of German music, the Nazis viewed his expulsion as
a precondition for musical reconstruction along volkisch lines In this
situation, as in many others, the promise of a revitalized national
community and culture was formulated legally and implemented
organizationally while contradictions were rationalized and excessive
ruthlessness dismissed as necessary and temporary

In the early months of the Third Reich Hitler never lost sight
of the need to secure popular legitimacy by broadening the base of
support for his minority regime Music contributed significantly by
propagating the romantic-Dolfeiscfc component of National Socialism
in thousands of awe-inspiring Hitler hymns, cantatas, oratorios, and
other patriotic choral works, in addition to traditional and newly
composed folk songs and military and political fighting songs These
were sung by children at school and on hikes, the Hitler lugend
i Hitler youth, fig 136), student organizations, the SA, the army
popular choral societies such as the Deutscher Sangerbund (German
choral association), Kraft durch Freude (Strength through joy) —
the recreational organization of the gigantic Deutsche Arbeitsfront
(German labor front) — and every other conceivable group at their
festivals, party congresses, and on every possible official and recrea-
tional occasion The promise of volkisch idealism was indeed realized
in "the singing nation," especially among German youth — a most
effective means of indoctrination that would intoxicate and inculcate
a sense of belonging, identity and mission 7 Yet this expression of
manipulated popular culture was also promoted to inspire the com-
posers of serious music German "high culture" was meant to
rediscover its roots in native tradition and song

Goebbels and the enlistment of the arts

All government ministries and party agencies collaborated in the
projection of popular enthusiasm for the new order, but leadership in
the endeavor was exercised by the brilliant producer and manipulator
of images, ideas, and sounds, Reichsminister fiir Volksaufklarung und
Propaganda (Reich minister for national enlightenment and propa-
ganda) Joseph Goebbels In March of 1933 President Hindenburg
had announced the creation of a Propagandaministerium (Ministry of
propaganda) for the purpose of disseminating among the people the
ideas of the government and the national revolution The organiza-
tional mechanism, a Reichskulturkammer (Reich chamber of culture
[RKK]), installed by a law of September 22, included chambers of
literature, journalism, radio, theater, music, film, and visual arts An
implementing ordinance designated Goebbels president of the RKK
and instructed him to appoint individual chamber presidents who
were to report to him Membership in this representational (but also
controlling and censoring) agency was made compulsory for all pro-
fessionals who were engaged in the production and dissemination of
public information and artistic expression

Largely nationalized, the press, radio networks, and film indus-
try became effective instruments of propaganda Newspaper editors
received daily instruction at official press briefings Radio program-
ming was managed by Nazi personnel, and a growing audience was
secured by the production of cheap radios — jokingly called Goeb-
bclsscbnauzai (Goebbels snouts) — and encouragement to tune in as a
patriotic duty The film industry produced eleven hundred feature
films during the Third Reich, only one-sixth of which were devoted
to overt propaganda (supplemented by many documentaries, news-
reels, and so-called Tendenzjilme [literally, "films with a purpose,"
which illustrated but did not mention National Socialism]), while
more than half were simply entertainment, which assumed an
increasingly important role in Goebbels s refined understanding of
propaganda Composers such as Norbert Schultze of "Lili Marlene"
fame, creator of many other songs and a popular opera, Der scbwarze
Pittr (Black Peter), which premiered in 1936, contributed music for
films and newsreels including catchy hit tunes and marching songs

The Nazi revolution was also evident in music journals in early
1933 Milos and other progressive publications were purged, dis-
solved, and reconstituted Those journals that had already sympa-
thized with the "German viewpoint," such as the Zeilschnft fur Musik
(Journal of music), expressed confidence in the new order and repre-
sented government policies Apolitical journals gradually suffered
G/f/cfcscfcaltMH^ The respectable Die Musik (Music) identified with "the
new Germany" in its edition of June 1933, in which Goebbels himself
addressed the reader "If art wants to shape its time, it has to con-
front its problems German art of the next decades will be heroic,
hard as steel and romantic, sentimental and factual, natural with

great pathos, and it will be binding and demanding — or it will not
be" The Nazi composers Hans Bullerian, Paul Graener, and Max
Trapp agreed, they attacked the proponents of the avant-garde,
defined "native" and "racially alien" music, and theorized about a new
order of musical creativity and a prospective national or "people's"
opera A bulletin section in this issue, as in all subsequent ones,
listed the many personnel changes taking place in German music
The latest developments in music were also reported in the party
press, especially the Volhscber Beobacbter, which Goebbels selected
to be the official organ of the RKK and, toward the end of the year,
an official bulletin of the Reichsmusikkammer (Reich chamber of
music [RMK]) The party also founded new music journals, such as
Deutsche Musikkultur (German musical culture), which was committed
to the uo/fa'scfc-Nazi position in music Music critics were included in
the personnel lists of the Reichspressekammer (Reich chamber of
journalism), finalized in 1936, the year in which a weekly cultural-
political press conference was added to the daily briefings at the
Propagandaministerium

Professional musicological journals were also transformed The
Zeiischrift fur Mustkwissenschaft (Journal of musicology) continued at
first in traditional format under the editorship of the renowned musi-
cologist Alfred Einstein No issue was published in the fall of 1933,
however, and in January 1934 the issue that appeared concentrated
in its introduction on the impact of politics on scholarship "The
Deutsche Musikgesellschaft [German musical association] under-
stood the call for national unity and solidarity" Max Schneider had
replaced Einstein, who emigrated to the United States Henceforth,
musicologists would contribute their prestige to the support of Nazi
musical policy by helping to define standards of acceptable native
"Aryan" [arkigene) and "alien" (artfremde) or "degenerate" (ottartek)
music in cultural and racial terms They rewrote the musical past in
accordance with these new categories to evaluate German musicians
as heroes, possible precursors and prophets, while the words, deeds,
and musical achievements of Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Schiitz,
Schumann, and especially Bruckner and Wagner were cited in con-
firmation of Nazi ideals and thus distorted to help project the
ideological basis of a new music for the Third Reich

At his speech inaugurating the Reichskulturkammer on Novem-
ber 15, 1933, Goebbels had attempted to capture the new spirit with
the catchy and frequently cited expression "stahlerne Romantik"
(steel romanticism), which journalists and scholars turned into a pos-
tulate for genuine "German" music The gap left by the purges of
"degenerate" and "Jewish-dominated" music was to be filled by this
new expression of National Socialist realism A people's opera was
sought to replace the purged symbols of "cultural Bolshevism" Alban
Berg's Wo2Zeck, Ernst Krenek's Jcrnny spiell auf (Johnny strikes up),
and Weill's Die Dreijfroschenoper (The threepenny opera) Thousands
of choral works with patriotic texts were submitted to the many
party- and state-sponsored competitions, festivals, and traditional
performance halls by the six thousand composer members of the

Figure 137

Wilhelm Furtwangler lelt and Richard Strauss at the opening of the

Rcichskulturkammer. Berlin. November 15, 1933

Reichsmusikkammer, including George Blumensaat, ( aesai Bresgen,
Hans Bullerian Hansheinrich Dransmann, lohannes Ciinthei
Friedrich lung Gerhard Maase Helmut Majewski, Heinrich Sputa
and Richard I r ii iik tn name .1 few I lopes wen- high for tin- enter-
gence ol a musical genius who might convey the spirit of the time in
a new form Some thought most promising the talent of the voting
Gottfried Mullet; whose "Deutsches Heldenrequiem" (Requiem foi
a German hero), dedicated "into the hands ot the Rihrer" in 193 I

excited even distinguished critics Others looked to young compos-
ers of opera, especially Werner F.gk, whose Ihc Ztiubtrgagt (The
enchanted hddle) of 1935 was well received lot its lolk tunes and
libretto, as well as its traditional harmony — he spoke of "steel dia-
tonic" in an obvious reference to Goebbels's "steel romanticism" — in
spite of an orchestral score that was suspect, to Nazi critics, lor its
dissonances

Centralized music: The Reichsmusikkammer

Music was integrated into the new order legally organizationally
and ideologically and it prospered, albeit in manipulated form the
Reichsmusikkammer represented musicians, but it also controlled
them Gradually however, Nazi leadership was supplanted by
Nazihed members of the profession Gontinulty was provided by its
distinguished leaders — Richard Strauss, Germany's greatest living
composer, was president, and Furtwangler, the most authoritative
personality in German music, was deputy president (fig 137) —
a governing council, and the more than 150 absorbed professional
associations, through which individuals joined and were screened via
questionnaire until 1936 when the membership list was closed At
that point the RMK began to function as a virtual ministry that even
began to represent musicians abroad in concert with the manipulated
foreign service A network of offices at the local level and of 1,140
representatives in each community with over 5,000 inhabitants
ensured compliance with national policy and economic stability for
the more than 170,000 professional members (as of 1939), who bene-
fited from generous state and party subsidies, an expanding market
for music at all levels of German society, and the increasing avail-
ability of specialist positions in the many party offices and ensembles
such as the Nationalsozialistes Reichssymphonieorchester (National
Socialist Reich symphony orchestra [NSRSO]) under the batons of
Franz Adam and Erich Kloss, which performed at home and abroad
in their brown tuxedos designed by Hitler himself Goebbels also
managed to incorporate the popular amateur choral associations,
most significantly the gigantic Deutscher Sangerbund of nearly
800,000 members, whose patriotic tradition invited Nazi manip-
ulation and made it too important to be left out of the formal
machinery of propaganda

Music was thus centrally controlled, and conservative tradi-
tionalists who had looked forward to the reconstruction of an
authoritarian administration of culture, dedicated to the interests of
professional musicians and viilkiscb principles, were reassured by the

Reichsmusikkammer Yet the institutionalized revolution violated the
sense of security, comfort, and certainty, the official principles of
leadership invited arbitrariness and competition Denunciations, ter-
ror, pressure to conform, dismissals, and power struggles continued
to intimidate a captive profession The concentration of power in
Coebbels's hands threatened institutions, traditional authorities,
and rival leaders Alarmed by the purges and threats to musical
standards, Furtwangler, the custodian of the honored symphonic
tradition, wrote an article on April 7, 1933, in defense of musical
standards and integrity including its Jewish component "Men like
Walter, Klemperer, and Reinhardt, and the like, must be able to have
a voice in Germany in the future" Again, in late 1934, he challenged
the state directly by demonstrating on behalf of the defamed com-
poser Paul Hindemith, an action that resulted in Furtwangler's resig-
nation from all official positions and his temporary withdrawal from
public appearances8

Strauss was also forced to resign as RMK president in 1935 after
the Gestapo intercepted a compromising letter to his long-time Jew-
ish librettist Stefan Zweig, to whom he excused his collaboration
with the Nazis as "miming" the role of president, the letter only
aggravating an already strained relationship with the authorities
Even his successor, the conductor Peter Raabe — far more sympa-
thetic to Nazi policy and willing, unlike Strauss, to sign dismissal
notices based on the "Aryan" paragraph of the civil service restora-
tion act — ran into difficulties when he resisted interference in the
programming of the music festival of the venerable Allgemeiner
deutscher Musikverein (General German music association) in
1936, over which he presided

Goebbels apparently did not trust his own appointees at the
RMK Personnel lists, compositions, and programs had to be submit-
ted for approval through a music office at his ministry run by the ex-
conductor Heinz Drewes, who became increasingly important as his
special music advisor In addition to Coebbels's violation of central-
ization and delegated authority in his own realm, other Nazi leaders
and ministers vied to influence German music Not only Hermann
Goring and Rudolf Hess, but also labor leader Robert Ley and edu-
cation minister Bernhard Rust joined Hitler and Goebbels in issuing
instructions to musicians Coebbels's authority was most seriously
challenged by his enemy Rosenberg, who could always be counted
on to insist on ideological purity Yet by 1936 the conflict was essen-
tially over, and Coebbels's pragmatism set the general tone in the
Olympic year, when all Germany was turned into a stage The
Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur had been absorbed by Rosenberg's
larger and more disciplined Nationalsozialistische Kulturgemeinde
(National Socialist cultural community), which, in turn, was sub-
jected to Reichskulturkammer regulations Hinkel's shift from
Rosenberg to the RKK was symptomatic of the priority of propa-
ganda over the implementation of volkiscb ideas in music While the
Nationalsozialistische Kulturgemeinde continued to stage musical
events and satisfy the interests and goals of its I'dlfascb-Nazi followers,

Figure 138

Furtwangler takes a bow after a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic on May 3, 1935,

among the notables in the front row are Hermann Goring, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph

Goebbels

the musical establishment under Coebbels's direction and patronage
proved more useful in 1936 as an instrument of policy designed to
promote an image of cultural vitality and standards (just as the
government had realized that it needed the regular army rather
than the SA for its planned war)

Music was enlisted in the campaign to enhance Germany's
international prestige and to counter international boycotts and
mounting foreign and emigre hostility over racist legislation, acts
of brutality aggressive international posturing, and continuing
Glticbscbaltmg measures While foreign musicians were invited to
contribute to this cultural facade, German performers went on for-
eign tours to demonstrate German cultural excellence and the
regime's generous support of the arts After years of conflict with
the Austrian government, a modus viomdi was worked out in 1936 to
permit Germans to participate in Austrian musical life Bohm con-
ducted in Vienna in early 1936, and Furtwangler and actor Werner
Krauss were allowed to perform at the Salzburg Festival in 1937''

Furtwangler had indeed been rehabilitated, he returned to the
podium as an "apolitical" artist, even though he continued to violate
ideological standards, for which he was attacked by the Rosenberg
crowd While he made himself useful by leading the Berlin Phil-
harmonic (the preeminent German orchestra under Goebbels's
authority, fig 138), conducting at the Bayreuth Festival (which
enjoyed Hitler's personal affection and protection), signing a con-
tract with Coring's Berliner Staatsoper, and leading tours abroad,

he withheld hi*, participation on ,inv occasion deemed bv him to
be explicitly political and he refused to perform Nazi music
Mom disturbing to his Nazi detractors were his intercession for
and association with the victims ol persecution 1 he value of his
remaining and performing in Germany outweighed ideological
inconsistency however his birthday on lanuary 25, 1936, was for-
mally acknowledged with a silver- framed, personally dedicated
portrait of the luhrer and a gold and ivory conductor's baton with
a flattering greeting from Coebbels

Strauss also bounced back from official disgrace to lend his
prestige to the cultural facade He remained the most performed
living opera composer in Germany during the 1935-36 season His
opera Fritdenstag (Day of peace) was premiered in Munich in 1937
He composed, participated at official functions, and continued to
preside over the Standiger Rat fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit
der Komponisten (Permanent council for international cooperation
among composers i, a propaganda vehicle created to replace the
German chapter of the defamed International Society for Contempo-
rary Music

Music's resurgence

The regimes need for a cultural facade clearly benefited musicians
who had survived the purges and made the necessary adjustments
Unemployment dropped from 23,889 in 1933 to 14,547 in 1936 In the
held of composition the traditional order celebrated a comeback
After three years of intimidation, purges, and the imposition of
extramusical standards on composition many composers began to
interpret Goebbels's "steel romanticism" not as the crude functional-
ism of an explicit Nazi program but rather as the expression of a
music more consistent with the tradition of autonomy and its assump-
tions of intrinsic musical tension The influential editor of Die Musik,
friednch Herzog, referred to National Socialism as a vital force not
explicitly imposed but nonetheless expressed in new musical forms

Goebbels himself admitted that the state could not produce
art but had to restrict itself to its promotion Goring and Hinkel
expressed similar opinions about sentiment, which, however valu-
able, was no substitute for good art Shortly after the first cultural-
political press conferences in July of 1936 the Propagandaministerium
informed the select assembled feuilleton editors that the government
no longer encouraged Nazi open-air festivals, and one year later it
officially acknowledged failure in its attempts to foster this unique
art form, known as Tbwt)-Tbeater (Assembly-theater),1" which was
to have expressed the Nazi revolutionary experience This was
a significant revision of official policy and a concession to artistic
professionalism and competence that could better serve the pro-
pagandists needs of the regime than volkisch sentiment The latter
continued to be supported, but not in the place of high art

Goebbels's later sensational ban on art i including musii
icism — that is, its replacement by commentary" — announced on
November 27, 1936, might even be construed as a defense of the arts
from the petty attacks ol ideologists In practice, music criticism
continued unabated in the professional journals The great masters
were also protected from zealots who probed their racial background
and librettos, as in the case of Handel's Old Testament oratorios,
where Judtis Maccabeus was renamed Der FeUherr iThe general'

Although the ideal of a people's opera was still promoted, no
Nazi opera with a Nazi text was performed on a German stage dur
ing the Third Reich The musicologist Eugen Schmitz allowed for the
dramatic rendering of the life of Horst Wcssel, "but as an operatic
tenor," he wrote, "this sort of hero could easily deteriorate into that
form of nationalistic kitsch denounced by the National Socialist state
and forbidden on cultural grounds' n Traditional opera, on the other
hand, remained popular and a major social event, as before and after
the Nazi period Reich dramaturg Rainer Schlosser encouraged Ger-
man theaters to offer at least one new work each season, and 164
operas were indeed premiered during the Third Reich, including
works with modernist features By 1935-36 a younger generation of
promising composers such as Werner Egk, Ottmar Gerster, Her-
mann Reutter, and Rudolf Wagner-Regeny achieved breakthroughs
with operas that incorporated musical elements denounced by the
party press and parts of the public as reminiscent of Hindemith,
Schoenberg, and Igor Stravinsky but operas that were performed
and also praised " Reutter's Faust was performed at the 1936 Allge-
meiner deutscher Musikvercin festival in Weimar over the objection
of the fanatics Hans Severus Ziegler and Otto zur Nedden, who
would stage the Entifrtrtf Musik (Degenerate music) exhibition in
Diisseldorf two years later It is a measure of music's resistance
against political pressure that even a Nazi like Raabe, president of
both the Reichsmusikkammer and the Allgemeiner deutscher Musik-
verein, rejected outside interference

Typically in 1936 cities and traditional musical societies com-
peted with party leaders and party organizations in announcing
competitions, hosting about seventy major festivals, and offering
prizes, subventions, commissions, and other support for compositions
and special performances There were typical opera performances
and premieres, festivals devoted to the masters — Bach, Beethoven,
Handel, Mozart, Strauss, Wagner and others, city festivals, local and
international festivals for new music and for volkisch choral associa-
tions; Reich festivals of the Nationalsozialistische Kulturgemeinde
and the Hitler lugend — a season of a tremendous range of tradi-
tional, i>olfascfc-Nazi, and even "new" musical offerings

The major event of the summer was, of course, the Olympics,
an occasion to advertise Berlin as an international music center as
well The RMK staged an international competition for composers
of music expressive of Olympic and athletic ideals After national
committees selected finalists from a paltry nine (out of forty-nine)

participating countries, an "international" jury stacked with German
musicians of clear Nazi persuasion — including major Nazi musical
organizers Craener, Havemann, Heinz Ihlert, Raabe, Ceorg
Schumann, Fritz Stein, and Trapp, as well as two sympathetic
foreigners, Yrjo Kilpinen of Finland and Francesco Malipiero
of Italy — awarded gold medals to Paul Hoffer for his choral work
"Olympischer Schwur" (Olympic oath) and to Egk for his officially
commissioned and well-known "Olympische Festmusik" (Olympic
festival music), silver medals to Kurt Thomas for his 'Kantate zur
Olympiade 1936" (Cantata for the 1936 Olympics) and to the Italian
Lino Liviabella for his "Der Sieger" (The victor), and a bronze medal
to the Czech Jaroslav Kncka for his "Euch Fliegern" (To you, fliers)
As in the athletic competition, the Nazi state sported an interna-
tional look, but it wanted to win and overwhelm in a demonstration
of German superiority

Musicians contributed heavily to the Olympic pageantry with
performances and compositions, including festival music by Strauss
and the young Carl Orff, who was the beneficiary of other commis-
sions such as that for 5,000 reichsmarks from the city of Frankfurt for
"Aryan" incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nitjht's Dream,
one of forty-four efforts during the Third Reich to produce a sub-
stitute for the classic by the lew Mendelssohn Outside the Olympic
festivities, foreign musicians such as the Vienna Boys Choir, the
London Philharmonic, established chamber ensembles, and interna-
tional stars Fyodor Chaliapin, Marie Costes, Claudio Arrau, and
Alfred Cortot, among others, performed in Berlin, which helped to
justify the city's claim to internationalism

The cultural facade even included promotion of the activities of
the Jiidischer Kulturbund, neatly segregated from German culture
but manipulated in 1936 to impress the world with Nazi ideological
consistency as well as generosity Supervisor Hinkel deplored the
lack of publicity about the Kulturbund, with nearly 40,000 members
in Berlin alone, forty to fifty weekly events (fig 139), and an annual
audience of about 600,000 He suggested to ten newspaper editors
that they attend some of these performances, which included grand
opera in Berlin, and conduct interviews with its president, Dr Kurt
Singer, and other leaders To counter foreign attacks on Nazi policy
Hinkel allowed the famous Rose Quartet, a member of the Kultur
bund, to appear abroad, and he permitted mention of "exceptional
Jews," such as the composer Leo Blech, in German concert life
Foreigners were assured that segregation fostered each people's
indigenous talents The Nazis invited the world to observe the sepa-
rate but culturally flourishing activity of Jews in Germany14

Music festivals continued to flourish after the year of the Olym-
pics Here was an opportunity to display the full range of "Aryanized"
music Party leaders sponsored these events, they attended and iden-
tified with "this profoundest expression of the German spirit —
German music " Their announcements of competitions proliferated
to such an extent that eventually Goebbels insisted on approving

any award over 2,000 reichsmarks A full complement of festivals was
hosted in 1938 In addition to the traditional offerings, Hitler con-
centrated on the holy of holies at Bayreuth, where on May 22 he
commissioned a new research center in commemoration of Wagner's
125th birthday Much contemporary music was offered that year,
encompassing the rolfascb-Nazi variety at the Nationalsozialistische
Kulturgemeinde and the Hitler Jugend festivals, traditional, and
"new" sounds Baden-Baden, Stuttgart, and Wiesbaden hosted inter-
national festivals

The Allgemeiner deutscher Musikverein, which had been
founded in 1859 by Franz Liszt, had continued to offer "progressive"
music at its festivals during the Third Reich, even though its orga-
nizers were forced to remove works of Anton Webern and Walter
Braunsfeld from the program in 1934 President Raabe had to defend
its integrity in 1936, he lost the fight against Gleicbschaltung in its last
year, 1937, now noted for the presentation of Orff's Carmina Buraita
In 1938 the Reichsmusikkammer took over its function and prepared
for the first Reichsmusiktage (Reich music festival) under its own aus-
pices and the close supervision of Goebbels and Drewes in
collaboration with Kraft durch Freude

Figure 139

The chorus of the ludischer Kulturbund, under the direction of Berthuld Sander,

Berlin, February I, 1936

The Reichsmusiktage May 22-29, 1938

I Ik culmination ol Nazi musical politics and the model for music and
musk Festivals in the Future the Rcicbsmusiklagt opened on May 22 in
Diisseldoif the city of another Nazi martyr, Albert Leo Schlageter

killed in 1923 by the French occupation authorities in the Ruhr),
and the site ol the Mationalsozialistische Kulturgemei tide's national
conventions — "the bastion of German art," in the words of Gauleiter
(District leader) Karl Friednch Flonan This inspiring event, labeled
a "musical ( llvmpics" and a "military parade of German music," fea-
tured RMK members as well .is I litler Intend and student musical
camps, the NSRSO under Adam's baton, the Deutscher Gemein-
dctag (Organization ol German municipalities), musical offerings by
military and labor units, professional and amateur ensembles and
choral groups, who performed in formal settings as well as in open
forums and industrial plants The festival provided Goebbels with a
platform to demonstrate his hegemony over German music and the
success of his policy of integrating the full range of German musical
expression with the principles and organization of National Socialism
and of balancing the products of the past with achievements of the
new order His proclamation at the Tonhalle on May 28 was the high
point of the festival While he lectured on the nature of German
music, whose essence he found in melody, he also announced new
national prizes of 10,000 reichsmarks for the most promising young
violinist and pianist

The Reichsmusiktage offered thirty musical programs, including
three symphonic performances of traditional and contemporary
works by the Dusseldorf Stadtische Orchester (City orchestra) under
the direction of general music director Hugo Balzer Three operas
were performed Arabella by Strauss, Don Juans Iftztes Abenteuer (Don
Juan's last adventure) by Graener, and the premiere of Simplicius
Simp/icissimHs by Ludwig Maurick The musical highlights consisted
of Pfitzner's cantata Von deutscher Seele (From the German soul), per-
formed bv Balzer and the Dusseldorfers, and Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony, played by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of
Hermann Abendroth — works that were to symbolize German iden-
tity and community (in the case of the Ninth Symphony a distortion
of Beethoven's appeal to all humanity) The traditional component
included other works of the past by Brahms, Handel, Haydn,
Schubert, and Wagner, in addition to more music by the older con-
temporary composers, Graener, Pfitzner, and Strauss It was another
measure of the profession's resurgence that contemporary music pre-
dominated, especially that of the younger generation Among the
latter — approximately twenty-five contributors — Egk stood out with
his well-received cantata for bass and chamber orchestra, "Natur —
Lieb — Tod" (Nature — love — death) Heinrich Kaminski's string
quintet, Theodor Berger's Capriccio, and Joseph Marx's piano con-
certo Caslelli romam (Roman countryside) contained "objectionable"
modernist elements, while Boris Blacher's work for violin and
orchestra occasioned the most controversy, with some press com-
ments alluding to similarities to that "noisemaker" Stravinsky The

generally positive reviews ol this "festival ol the German musical
community'' were punctuated by attacks on symptoms of a bygone-
age "dissonanci constructivism," and "experimentation"

The festival did indeed offei a i ross section ol German music
beyond works endorsed by Nazi theory, but in accordance with
Goebbels's concessions to the establishment and the understanding
of the creative process he occasionally evinced In spite ol the party
hymns, consecration fanfares, military marches, and volkisch Nazi
invocations, the formal part of the program suggested continuity
with the past and Goebbels's pragmatism I his was the cultural fac-
ade tor a state that had terrorized the population into submission and
was about to launch its imperialist war

As musicians performed in the limelight of a nation worried
over a deteriorating international situation, specialist musicologists
convened to assess the state of their art Having gradually left the
ivory tower to respond to the state's totalitarian demands for their
input, some musicologists had begun to offer lectures and papers on
the German folk song, German and alien qualities in a variety of
musical expressions and, ultimately the application of race theory to
the categories and methodology of musicology By the time of the
festival the profession was prepared to contribute to the discussion
of what constituted native German music Some of its foremost
members gathered on May 26-2H to deliver approximately twenty-
five papers at five panels I ) "German Music," chaired by Josef
Muller-Blattau, whose paper reflected the orientation of his newly
published book, 2) "German Masters," chaired by Theodor Kroyer
from Cologne, a musicologist otherwise little involved in politics
who spoke on German stylistic qualities in music, while others —
Walter Vetter in a paper about "Folk Characteristics in Mozart's
Operas" and Rudolf Gerber on "Nation and Race in the Work and
Life of Brahms" — more pointedly "Germanized" the masters of the
past, 3) "The State and Music," led by Heinrich Besseler, a well-
known professor at Heidelberg, whose session included papers by
Ernst Bucken, Gerhard Pietzsch, and Rudolf Steglich paying tribute
to National Socialism for attempting to overcome music's alienation
from the community and to restore music's role in the education of
the nation as in the ideal Platonic state, 4) "Musicological Research,"
under Werner Korte, who recommended a "subjective" musicology
in place of "obiective" scholarship, and 5) the key session, "Music
and Race," chaired by Friedrich Blume, who also delivered a careful
analysis of the new musicological methodology relative to biological
determinants Though anxious to remain scholarly, the presenters
propagated Ddlfascb-racialist values and methodology, they not only
Germanized the masters and their music but in some cases even lent
support to Hitler's imperialism with references to concrete political
events, such as the annexation of Austria, and to the qualities of
music that transcended the temporary division of the German people

Figure 140

Gallery view in Etilarlitt Mu

opera ionwy s/iiflt <juf

ik, Dusseldorf, 1938, at right is a poster for Ernst Kreneks

The "Entartete Musik" exhibition

While the festival featured the broad spectrum of German music,
the exhibition Entartete Musik (Degenerate music, fig 140) opened to
the public on May 24 to document the musicians and music that had
already been purged and vilified during the past five years in count-
less speeches, a vast literature including authoritative dictionaries
and encyclopedias, and, more recently on lists prepared by a
Reichsmusikprufstelle (Reich music censorship office) at the Propa-
gandaministerium under Drewes's direction and published in official
RMK bulletins Redundant, considered a concession to the Rosen-
berg circle, and not attended by the musical elite, the exhibition
climaxed efforts of Drewes and party friends from Weimar the main
organizer, Staatsrat (State councillor) Dr Hans Severus Ziegler,
director of the Weimar Nationaltheater and head of the National
Socialist Gaukulturamt (District cultural office) for Thunngia, and
Dr Otto zur Nedden, a dramaturg, musicologist, and former Kampf-
bund fiir deutsche Kultur leader The singular fanaticism of these two
had resulted in purges in Thuringia even before 1933, and in 1936
they had attempted to remove from the Allgemeiner deutscher
Musikverein festival in Weimar the music of Wolfgang Fortner,
Hugo Hermann, Lothar von Knorr, and Heinz Thiessen, as well
as Reutter's Futist, as expressions of "cultural Bolshevism " Unsuc-
cessful at that time because of Musikverein president Raabe's resis-
tance, they enlisted the support of Dr Herbert Gerigk of the Rosen-
berg bureau in preparation for the 1938 exhibition

The visual component of this exhibit was organized under sec-
tional headings emphasized by familiar ideological slogans, self-
incriminating quotations by the maligned musicians and their asso-
ciates, defamatory characterizations by Hitler and other party
spokesmen such as the influential music journalist Fritz Stege, many
photos, portraits, and other representational paintings, nasty carica-
tures and posters — the most sensationalist being the distorted
program poster of Krenek's Jonny sptell auj, which featured a black
saxophonist wearing instead of a carnation a Star of David (fig 141)
All areas of music were covered, from composition and performance
to education, musicology criticism, and promotion There were sec-
tions on defamed books and music theories by Paul Bekker, Hermann
Erpf, Hindemith, Schoenberg, and Adolf Weissmann, among others,
on the despised journals of "musical Bolshevism," Melos and the
Musikbkttter iifs Anbruchs, on music publishers, such as Universal-
Edition, on the "era of Kestenberg," who had allegedly promoted his
"Jewish brethren" while at the Prussian ministry of education; on
"German youth in the grip of liberal educators" such as Fritz lode,
an Aryan who had suffered from an especially vicious campaign
against him early in the Nazi era, on "lews who are looking at you"
and "Jews against Wagner" such as Klemperer, whose production of
Tamthauser in February of 1933 had infuriated the traditionalist-
nationalist crowd, on the musical scores of "degenerate" composers
of serious music, especially Berg, Ernest Bloch, Hindemith, Krenek,
Schoenberg, Schreker, Stravinsky Ernst Toch, Webern, and Weill,
on the representative composers of "alien" entertainment music and
"Jewish operetta" Paul Abraham, Leo Ascher, Heinrich Berte,
Edmund Eysler, lean Gilbert, Hugo Hirsch, Victor Hollaender, Leon

Figure 141

The cover of the intarltU Mmilr exhibition guide

Figure 142
Hans Seve
Ehrenhof,

rus Ziegler delivering a lecture at the opening of EnlarMi Musik, Kunstpalast
Dusseldorf, May 24, 1938

Jessel, Rudolf Nelson, Mischa Spoliansky Oscar Straus, and others
There were attacks on jazz (fig 133), swing, and expressions of
"musical-Bolshevist" opera — the Brecht Weill collaborations, Berg's
Wozzeck, and Krenek's Jonny — as well as examples of "degeneracy"
attributed to the effects of association with Jews, epitomized by the
disgusting Nazi slogan, Wer vom Juden isst, stirbt damn (You perish from
Jewish food), applied particularly to Hmdemith, whose opera Neues
vom Tage (News of the day, 1929) offended Hitler on moral grounds

The displays were supported by musical samples piped into
booths upon request — a "witch's sabbath," in the words of keynote
speaker Ziegler, who summed up the objectives, background, and
scope of the exhibition (fig 142) The public would know what
music to avoid in the future Ziegler settled accounts with the repre-
sentatives of "cultural Bolshevism ', he reversed the "triumph of the
subhumans [UntematschmUm] and arrogant Jewish insolence"

This orgy of negativity was on view in Dusseldorf into June and
then traveled throughout the Reich jointly with the £nliirlc(f Kunst
exhibition (fig 79, see the essay by Christoph Zuschlag in this vol-
ume) as a link in the continuing vilification of the "new music" of the
twentieth century jazz, the political left, and especially lews, whose
ordeal began in 1932 with the publication of Musik und Rasse and
included the authoritative Lexikon der Juden in der Musik (Dictionary of
Jews in music) of 1940, edited by Gerigk and Theophil Stengel of the
Reichsmusikkammer Except to the victims of the purges and those
who deplored the vulgarity of the entire festival — Furtwangler
stayed away and Bela Bartok protested the absence of his works from
the "degenerate music" exhibit — the monumental Reicbsmusiktat)e
were an organizational success

The festival was to be repeated annually in Dusseldorf, which
was intended to be the musical center of the Reich, but due to the
war the 1939 gathering was the last of its kind, another impressive
event for which 1,121 scores were submitted, including 36 operas and
431 symphonies Egk's Peer Gynl was performed and Goebbels again
addressed the assembled profession

War introduced another chapter in the musical life of the Third Reich
Unemployment was nearly eliminated as musicians were drafted
Music was performed for the troops — in fact, its entertainment
function increased, undermining even further the volkiscb ideals of
the ideologists A Wunscbkonzert (concert of requested hit songs) was
instituted for the army on the radio, and a film by that name was
made about the popular institution in 1940 Schultze and others
wrote music for films that at first celebrated the Blitzkrieg victories
and later distracted from war and defeat The cultural facade at the
home front continued to involve the entire musical establishment

After the flames of war had burnt away the Hitler dedications
and the Nazi texts of the musical scores, it was time to change uni-
forms and commitments once again Against the background of jazz
emerging from basements during the "rubble years," Germans gradu-
ally regained contact with the international musical community ■

"hkrkk Kunst i bhkk Flvsik
Hand in Hand

CI H.I- i .l.„k.-J-

P.J Kl.., .M.„l.l„d.. Ko-oJ,.

nblldl

.-m. J..

Aulls

D—. S

■n9 nidil nut in d«. Mv.llt, I

,„..k.id ,„ SJ.„»b.-,. 1....-PI.-

B.„k.„,i., CU« S*l.-~.

•.p. ,D>. ,IU<HA. H..J- a

Figures 143—44

Two pages from the guide to the exhibition fnlarlrfr Musik, the
illustrations and captions ridicule paintings by Karl Hofer and Paul
Klce, the music and philosophy of Ernst Krenek and Anton Webert
and a set design by Oskar Schlemmer

Nolrs

I Ins essay resulted from many discussions with Leonard Stem, director of the Arnold
Schoenberg Institute, I us Angeles I )i Stein and the author have lointly organized
the music section of the exhibition Ikqmrralr An Thr Fair 0/ ibr Avtinl-Gardl m Nazi
Germany and related perlormances

1 FredK I'neberg, Musik ,m NS-Slaal iFranklurt Fischer Taschcnbuch 1982
263, this is the most detailed book about music in the Third Reich See also Michael
Meyei Tbr Politics 0/ Music in ibr Timd Rncb 1 New York Peter Lang, 1990)

2 Pneberg, Musik im NS-Slaal, 47-48

3 Karl Dietrich Hrachcr, Tbr Grrman Dictatorship Thr Otijiny Slruclurr, and Ejjrcli 0/
National Socialism, trans lean Steinberg I New York Praeger, 197(1 197

4 KncbsjrcrlzMall I 1 1933), 175, Use Stall, ed, /ustiz im Drillrn Rncb Einr Dokumrnla-
lion (Frankfurt Fischer Bucherei, 1964), 64-65 See also Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey
Pridham, Oocumrnls on Nazism, (9(9-1945 (New York Viking, I974i, 230, this volume
includes documentation of cultural affairs

5 Schoenberg left the country, fought over breach of contract and the fee
imposed on emigres (Rricbsjlucblslmrr) — also contested by Otto Klemperer upon his
departure for Vienna — returned to the Jewish faith in a synagogue in Paris, and con-
tributed by his presence to the status of Los Angeles as a center of contemporary
music

6 "Die neue Asthetik der musikalishen Impotenz," in Hans Erich Phtzner
Grsammrlir ScbriflM (Augsburg B Filser, 1926)

7 Vernon L Lidtke, "Songs and Nazis Political Music and Social Change in
Twentieth-Century Germany" in Gary D Starck and Bede Karl Lackner, eds , Essays
on Cullurr and Socirry in MoaVrn Grrmany I Arlington University of Texas/College Sta-
tion Texas A8.M University Press, 1982), 167-200

8 See Fred K Pneberg, Kra/t/irobr Wilhrlm FurUeStiflcr im Drilloi Rncb (Wiesbaden
F A Brockhaus, 19861, and Meyer, "Wilhelm Furtwangler Collaboration and a
Struggle of Authority" in Thr Politics 0/ Music

9 Stephen Gallup, A History 0/ ibr Salzburjf FrstiDa! 1 London Weidenfeld and Nic-
olson, 1987), 90, the book includes a superb account of the Nazis' relationship to the
famous festival

10 Elke Frohlich, "Die kulturpohtische Pressekonferenz des Reichspropagan-
daministenums," Virrtrljahrnbrjlr /ur Zritcttscbicbtr 4 (October 1974) 347

11 loseph Wulf, Musik im Dritloi Rncb Einr Dokumrnlalion (Gutersloh S Mohn
1963), 181 See also Nicolas Slonimsky Music since 1900, 4th ed (New York Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1971), 635, this book lists many musical and musical-political events
in Nazi Germany

12 "Oper im Aufbau," Znlscbri/l /ur Musik, April 1939, 38

13 Hans-Cunter Klein, "Viel Konformitat und wenig Verweigerung Zur Komposi-
tion neuer Opern 1933-1944," in Hanns-Werner FHeister and Hans-Gunter Klein, eds ,
Musik und Musikpolilik im /ascbisliscbrn Drutscb/ana1 (Frankfurt Fischer, 1984), 145-62, this
essay lists opera premieres during the Third Reich, and the book contains valuable
essays on a variety of topics dealing with music in Nazi Germany

14 Accounts of the ludischer Kulturbund are found in Meyer, Thr Politics 0/ Music,
Pneberg, Musik im NS-Slaal, and Wulf, Musik im Drilloi Rtich

Figure 145

Dust jacket of Film-'Kunst," Film-Kohn, Fiim-Korruption, the Nazis' attack <

"degenerate" film

Willi A M MORI I Z

Film Censorship during the Nazi Era

At the time the National Socialists took
power, in March 1933, the world admired
German filmmaking both for its bold experi-
mentation and for its brilliant technical and
artistic finish
Germany had pioneered avant-garde him as early as 1921 with
the abstract animations of Walther Ruttmann, Viking Eggeling, and
Oskar Fischinger and had produced revolutionary social commen-
taries distinguished by their imaginative editing and adventurous
photography such as Ruttmann's Berlin (1927), Erno Metzner's Poli-
zabtricbt Uberjall (Police report Accident, 1928), Hans Richter's
Inflation i 1928 1, and the documentary Menscben am Sonntag (People on
Sunday, 1929), created by Eugene Schufftan, Robert Siodmak, Edgar
G Ulmer Billy Wilder, and Fred Zinnemann, all "amateurs" who
soon after achieved prominence in the German him industry and
later in Hollywood

In the realm of feature films Germany had excelled not only in
such expressionistic fantasies as Robert Wiene's Das Kabinett des Dr
Caligari (The cabinet of Dr Caligari, 1920, fig 146), F W Murnau's
Nosferatu 1 1922), and Fritz Lang's Metropolis ( 1927) but also in his-
torical pageantry — Ernst Lubitsch's Madame DuBarry ( 1919) and
Kurt Curtis) Bernhardt's Dtr Rebell (The rebel, 1932), mystery
and adventure— Lang's Dr Mabuse (1922) and M (1931) and G W
Pabst's Die weisse Hblle vom Piz Palu (The white hell of Piz Palii,
1929), musicals — Wilhelm Thieles Die Prwatsekretann (The private
secretary, 1930) and Erik Charrel's Der Kongress tanzt (The congress
dances, 1931), penetrating social criticism — Pabst's Westjront (9(8
(1930), Phil Jutzi's Berlin Alcxanderplatz (1931), and Bertolt Brecht's
Kuble Wampe ( 1932), witty social comedies — Reinhold Schunzel's
Der Himmel auf Erdtn (Heaven on earth, 1927), Alex Granowsky's
Die Koffer des Herrn O F (The luggage of Mr O F, 1931), and Max
Nosseck's Der SMcmtbl (The schlemihl, 1931), romances — Hanns
Schwarzs Die wunderbare Luge der Nina Petrovna (The wonderful lie of
Nina Petrovna, 1929), Paul Czinner's Ariane (1931), and Max Ophuls's
hebelei (Flirtation, 1933), and that particularly German, moody tragi-
comedy typified by E A Dupont's Varitlt (Variety, 1925), Pabst's
Die Buchse der Pandora ( Pandora's box, 1929) and Die Dreigroscbenoper
(The threepenny opera, 1931 ), and the American Josef von
Sternberg's Der blaue Engel (The blue angel, 1930)

The Germans were famous for technological innovations such
as the moving camera (noteworthy in Karl Freund's fluid camera-
work for Murnau's Der letzte Mann [The last man, released in English-
speaking countries as Tlif List Laugh, 1924]), complex editing on
action (by which dozens of brief, moving closeups are seamlessly
joined to give the sense of a whole scene, as in Pabst's melodrama of
the Russian revolution, Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney [The loves of Jeanne
Ney, 1927]), and special effects (like the Schufftan process, which
allows the seamless integration of miniature sets and paintings with
live actors) Germany had also produced the first animated enter-
tainment feature, Lotte Reiniger's Die Abenteuer des Prwzen Acbmed iThe
adventures of Prince Ahmed, 1926) and through Julius Pinschewer's
advertising agency raised the commercial film to an art form So
highly regarded were such achievements, in fact, that many talented
German hlmmakers had been induced to work in Hollywood, includ-
ing directors William Dieterle, Paul Leni, Lubitsch, and Murnau,
performers Marlene Dietrich, Emil lannings (winner of the first
Academy Award for best actor in 1928), and Pola Negri, and
cinematographer Freund

All of this began to change with Hitler's appointment of Joseph
Goebbels as Reichsmmister fur Volksaufklarung und Propaganda
(Reich minister for national enlightenment and propaganda) on
March 13, 1933 Goebbels recognized that film could realize its
potential as the most effective means of mass indoctrination only if
it remained a fascinating popular entertainment He was also mind-
ful of film as a vital source of dollars, pounds, and francs earned
through foreign distribution of German films, not to mention marks
earned at German box offices Goebbels fancied himself something
of a film connoisseur and believed he could make German film work
for him

The repressive principles of the National Socialist regime,
however, militated against Goebbels's success, just as surely as did
his own racial prejudice and homophobia Before the end of March
1933 thousands of Communists, Socialists, and homosexuals,
arrested in sweeps of known gathering places and raids on private
homes, had been sent to newly established concentration camps at
Dachau and at Oranienburg near Berlin The first boycott against

Figure 146

A still from Da! Kabwrll in Dr Caligari, 1920

Figure 147

Renate Muller in Viktor and Viklona, 1933

Jewish-owned businesses as well as new restrictions against the
employment of Jews in entertainment, schools, and public services
began on April 1 and were quickly followed by such manifestations
against modern art as the closing of the Bauhaus and dismissal of
museum directors and curators The destruction of the headquarters
of the Communist party, the Socialist party and the homosexual
liberation movement followed in May along with the burning of
books and the dismissal from academies and universities of all
"radical" artists and professors

Though exit visas were hard to obtain and restrictions applied
to the export of material goods and currency (emigres could take no
more than ten marks out of the country), more than fifteen hundred
people working in the German film industry did flee to other coun-
tries,1 most during the first few months of National Socialist rule,
though the exodus continued over the next half-dozen years People
with no foreign connections or prospective incomes, with limited
language skills or large families, however, often found it impossible
to go Later, as Nazis marched across Europe, a number of refugees,
including actors Max Ehrlich, Kurt Cerron, Fritz Grunbaum, and
Otto Wallburg, and the him critic Alfred Rosenthal, who signed
himself Aros, were captured and died in concentration camps

Goebbels, desperately eager to continue production of superior
and successful films, wooed any talent that he thought might con-
tribute to his goal When Lang, for instance, refused to make films
for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAR
National Socialist German workers party) on the grounds that he
was Jewish, Goebbels allegedly snapped, "I'll decide who's Jewish1"
Similar hypocrisies protected others, including director Reinhold
Schunzel, a Jew, whose satirical musicals Viktor una Viklona (Victor
and Victoria, fig 147) and Amphitryon were top money-makers
in 1933 and 1935, and such homosexuals as the celebrated actor
Gustaf Griindgens and the flamboyant Max Lorenz, one of the few
Heldentaioren (heroic tenors) the National Socialists could find to
sing Wagnerian roles at Berlin and Bayreuth

The entire film world operated under Goebbels's control
capricious as it was No film could be imported without a govern-
ment censor's certificate of approval, and none could be distributed
or projected, even privately, without a similar permit Almost all
films produced in Germany before 1933 were effectively forbidden
simplv bv the refusal to grant them new certificates, simultaneously
disposing of the problem of explaining away distinguished contribu-
tions by now-forbidden talents while increasing the audience for
current films, the only ones available

New films, both domestic and imported, were subject to
rigorous scrutiny by a division of Goebbels's ministry and often
mutilated scenes were cut, acceptable dialogue dubbed over cen-
sored lines, and names of stigmatized talents clipped from credits
Of the American studios that continued to export films to Germany
until 1941, some obligingly produced expurgated credits, "export
titles," which omitted the names of known Jewish participants

(.'•iK-hlx-ls's i rrtcnn lot censorship were ostensibly moral Flying
Doioti lo ku< the American musical that introduced I red Astaire and
Cingei Rogers as dancing partners was banned because "I its depk
Hon "I immoral behavior including immodest dress Scarfact was
banned lor its alluring depk tion ol a life ol crime although the
censors in that case may have had a hidden agenda concerning the
participation ol .1 lewish screenwriter, Hen Hecht, and star, Paul
Muni1 The German him Em Km./ mi Hum/ cm Uiiiiil'iiiid (A liny a
dog 1 vagabond, 1914), directed bs' Arthur Maria Rabcnalt, was
denounced as "cultural Bolshevism and banned because' ot .1 pre
sumed "gay clique involving its star, Viktor de Kowa : De Kowa's
popular appeal was too great to permit total suppression of the dim
so it was released after six months, having suffered many small cuts
and gained a new title Vielleicbt war's mir an Traum (Maybe it was only
a dream I Langs brilliant D.is Tfstiimftil .Irs Dr Mabuse (The last will
of Dr Mabuse, 1933), with its expressionistic distortions in the man-
net ot Wienes ( ,ili,/,in and its spectacular orchestration of speed,
crowds, and catastrophic events, was banned as contrary to public
standards because ol its thrilling depiction of crime, while Wiene's
own spy adventure Taifun (Typhoon, 1933) was prohibited for show-
ing Asians outwitting, outmatching, and generally appearing more
competent than their German counterparts 1 Taijun was subsequently
"corrected" and released as Pohznakk poo [Police file 909] once the
director, a lew, had fled Germany, his name was removed from the
credits 1 Such censorship continued through the last year of the
war when Helmut Kautner's expensive color film Crosse Freihat Nr 7
(Great Freedom Street no 7, 1944) was suppressed for depicting
military personnel in Hamburg's red light district, despite its star,
Hans Albers, Germany's most popular performer

Since him production was controlled at every stage, the
need for such censorship was a source of embarrassment to the
Reichshlmkammer (Reich chamber of film), the government Him
board All personnel had to be registered with the board, facilitating
the monitoring of their actions Every script was submitted for
review (and often exhaustive revision) before shooting could begin
An observer from the board remained on the set throughout filming
to make certain that unauthorized alterations were not shot Editing
was similarly supervised, and the final cut submitted to the board —
sometimes to Goebbels himself or even to Hitler — before any pre-
view could be held or publicity circulated

With so much intervention, it is little wonder that the results
tended to be rather lame Most National Socialist films lack subtlety
and irony — qualities anathema to censors — and often seem to be
missing key scenes or details (some obligatory confrontation or piece
of background information to explain a given character or event),
usually as the result of the censor's cuts Stereotyped characters,
especially the Kinder-Kjrcbe-Kiiche (children-church-and-kitchen)
woman and the self-sacrificing sidekick, and moralizing speeches
play a prominent role in the average National Socialist film

. Death, confronts Sybille Schmitz in Ftib;

Figure 149

The backht Fita Renkhoff in Amphtryon, 1935

M o R I T Z

While only about 10 percent of the thirteen hundred features
made in National Socialist Germany can be claimed to have substan-
tial propaganda content,' only about 10 percent — a different 10
percent — can be claimed as masterpieces of filmmaking The flight
of talented filmmakers seriously weakened the industry so despite
the participation of Austnans and Hungarians imported for the pur-
pose and perhaps because of the promotion of extras to the ranks
of stars and of actors to the ranks of writers and directors, many
films lack evidence of genuine talent and its hallmarks wit, pace,
and perspective

The few filmmakers who did triumph over this restrictive sys-
tem did so by dint of native ability abetted by clever strategy most
often the strategy of setting their films in mythical locations After
NSDAP condemnation of his 1933 film Anna und Elisabeth (Anna and
Elisabeth), about faith-healing in a contemporary German village,
Frank Wysbar set his Fabrmann Mana (Ferryman Maria, 1936, fig
148) in a picturesque, quasi-medieval village Told in the manner of
an old Germanic legend, the story centers on a mysterious stranger
(Death) stalking passengers as they cross the river until the ferry
pilot (Maria) vanquishes him in her effort to save a wounded youth
struggling to return to his homeland and its fight for freedom In
theory Wysbar filmed a script that was perfectly congruent with
National Socialist ideals and, what is more, cast Aribert Mog, one of
the few actors who was actually an NSDAP member, as the youth
Accordingly the film was rated "artistically valuable and educa-
tional " In practice, however, Wysbar presented a subtly troubled
atmosphere, coaxed an enigmatic and sensual portrayal of Maria
from Sybille Schmitz, and carefully preserved the ambiguity of such
vaunted Nazi symbols as Heimat (homeland), which he undercut by
portraying it as subjugated and bringing death to its young heroes,
creating an electrifying, thought-provoking experience that defies
NSDAP principles Nazi critics lambasted the film as decadently
emotional and racially impure since the blond hero returns home
with Maria, a dark-haired, dark-eyed foreigner Wysbar ultimately
fled to America, where, in addition to hundreds of television dramas,
he remade Fabrmann Maria as The Strangler of the Swamp

Schiinzel's setting of his musical Amphitryon in ancient Greece
similarly allowed him to mock National Socialist prudery — back-
lighting the charming Fita Benkhoff so that her figure is revealed
through her costume (fig 149), delighting in the amorous intrigues
of the gods, or flaunting suggestive dialogue, such as grandmotherly
Adele Sandrock's, "Have you been molesting the livestock again?" —
as well as National Socialist pomposity — in his grotesquely monu-
mental sets and decor, tiresome parade of soldiers, and comment on
a tyrant's speech: "Well, sure, when you're talking to so many peo-
ple, it's easy to say things you don't even believe yourself afterwards"
(a line the censor would later cut)

Figure 150

i Laid Air btbt, 1937

Figure 151

Film actress Marianne Hoppe

In Dir Eni/liu/ir Heiuil i 1 he I nglish marriage, I'Hl Schunzel
cast Great Uritam as [Ik- 'mythical" country where the love allau ol
,vi eltete I nglish nobleman and a Cerman auto mechanic, overseen
by an overbearing Family matriarch (Sandrock again), challenges
National Socialist prejudices about gender roles, just as his Vifclor
HHd Viktoria did

Schunzel s hnal him before escaping to America Land Aer Liebt
(Land ol love, 1937 tig 150), was a Graustarkian operetta in which a
pompous king and his incompetent ministers are parodied ruthlessly
but so subtly and ironically that the censors did not notice until the
him had already been scheduled lor a public showing, a most embar-
rassing situation The him had to be withdrawn tor several months of
alterations belore it was finally released Meanwhile the scandal and
Schunzel s flight made the front page of the Los Angela Times for May
II, 1937 "Goebbels Reviews Nazi him and Producer Hees for Life"

The use of such subversive subtlety was carried to extremes by
Kautner, a director who worked in Germany throughout the war In
his hlms Auj Wiedersehen, Franzuka1 (Goodbye, Franziska1, 1941) and
Ronwnzr in Moll (Romance in a minor key, 19431 he encouraged the
great actress Marianne Hoppe (fig 151) to unleash her vibrant pas-
sion and nervous tension, defying all the underlying assumptions of
Nazi sentiment In place of the stoicism of the faithful woman send-
ing her man to war, Hoppe in Auj WieJerseheii. FranzisktV boldly
communicates the unalloyed torture that abandoned women suffer

A unique solution was manifested in the case of Zarah Leander
(fig 152), the glamorous Swedish musical comedy performer whose
very nature subverted National Socialism Her first two German
films, Zu neuen Ujern (To new shores, 1937), as a convict exiled to
Australia, and Lii Habanera ( 1937), as a Swede married to a Puerto
Rican. both directed by Detlef Sierck (Douglas Sirk later in Amer-
ica), proved such box-office sensations that even Goebbels's personal
distaste for her could not justify her ejection from the film scene
Retaining her Swedish citizenship and traveling to Germany only to
shoot, she demanded her substantial salary be paid directly into her
Swedish bank account and required a secluded villa near Berlin be
maintained for her exclusive use What could Goebbels do^ Die Grosse
Lebe iThe great love), her 1942 film, earned more money than any
other German film of the National Socialist era, partly because of its
unusual mix of the glamorous and the mundane, partly because of its
frank portrayal of its heroine resorting to the safety of a bomb shel-
ter (when the government was still pretending that Allied air raids
weren't serious), partly because of several hit songs Leander sang,
but mostly because the divine Zarah proiected an irony unavail-
able in most other films Although in certain lighting with certain
makeup Leander could be made to look like Garbo and her husky
voice was in some ways superior to Dietrich's, Leander was actually
a big, often awkward woman, more unusual than beautiful and by
her own admission not of the caliber of her Hollywood counterparts
However, as Rosa von Praunheim pointed out in his obituary of her,4
she had exactly what was lacking in National Socialist film in a

Figure 152

Zarah Leander in a publicity still forDir ^rossr htbt. 1942

MOIITZ

morally prudish era she sang and acted like a sensual, passionate,
sexually liberated woman, in a conservative, uniformed society
she wore sequins and feathers and outrageously camp costumes,
in a rigid, fascistic time she projected a quintessential^ ironic and
ambiguous image with her man's voice and her almost grotesquely
voluptuous body Little wonder that it was Leander in Die Grosse Liebt
who inspired the escapist fantasies of the homosexual prisoner in
Kiss of the Spiderwoman

Nineteen thirty-seven, the year of Zarah Leander's first German
films, marked a turning point for the NSDAP With the success of
massive public works projects like the construction of the Autobahn
and revenues from the Olympics of the previous year they were on a
sounder financial footing, with four years of intensive indoctrination
of the young and gullible, they had a hard core of devoted followers
In the fall of that year, while the Entartete Kunst exhibition was still
on view in Munich, and a few months before the Entartete Musi);
(Degenerate music) exhibition in Dusseldorf, the NSDAP issued its
equivalent of a "degenerate film" catalogue A scurrilous book of
almost two hundred pages, Filtn-"Kunst, " Film-Kobn, Fdm-Korruption
(Film-"art," film-Cohen, film-corruption, fig 145) attributes to
the Jews everything that was allegedly base in German film and
depraved among German filmmakers — and ultimately throughout
German society — cocktails, cocaine, pornography and even
homosexuality and sadomasochism A lecture tour of Germany
(and Austria and Czechoslovakia after their annexation) by Curt
Belling, one of the book's three authors, was accompanied by a
program of clips extracted from numerous feature films

By 1940 the government had mandated the production of the
infamous anti-Semitic films Jud Stiss (lew Suss, 1940), directed by
Veit Harlan, and Der ewige Jucte (The eternal Jew, 1940), directed
by Fritz Hippler Many other features also contained anti-Semitic
sequences Hans Steinhoff's Rembrandt (1942), for example, maintains
that the painter's problems originated from the schemes of Jewish
moneylenders who encouraged Aryan Dutchmen to speculate in
paintings

With the war in progress the National Socialist film became
(with notable exceptions) a parody of itself Harlan's Die goldene Stadt
(The golden town, 1942), like his Jud Suss, is so crude in its identi-
fication of the Aryan and bucolic with Good, the Slavic and urban
with Evil, that today it is hard to conceive of anyone taking it
seriously Yet it was immensely successful, possibly because of its
color photography and the presence of the cloyingly sentimental
but widely adored Kristina Soderbaum By comparison, Kautners
Anuscbka (1942), shot in the same location — Prague — and at the
same time but with a more subtle actress, Hilde Kxahl, in the lead,
remains an interesting and moving film

Besides Kautners films, the few other interesting films of the
war years include Josef von Baky's spectacle Miincbkausen (1943) —
from a script by the banned writer Erich Kastner, made with little

harassment as a joyous celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of
UFA (Universum Film A G ) studios — and the two troubled German
wartime films of Pabst Pabst, detained in Austria during a tempo-
rary return from American exile, was compelled to resume working
in Germany Komodianten (Actors, 1941) and Paracelsus (1943), both set
in historical times, deal with rebellion against civil authority but in
such unresolved, cryptic fashion as to defy simplistic interpretation

Harlan directed Goebbelss last major production, the monu-
mental color historical film Kolberi), designed to exhort the German
citizenry to fight to the death to preserve their cities — a film as
reductive and hollow as the ideology — and repression — that
fostered it

No chronicle of film censorship and repression during the Nazi
regime would be complete without mention of such equivocal figures
as Gustav Ucicky and Lilian Harvey or such tragic artists as Joachim
Gottschalk and Herbert Selpin

Ucicky the son of Gustav Klimt, began making films in 1919
and became an excellent director of action/adventure films, such as
Morgenrot (Dawn, 1932) and Fliicbtlnuje (Refugees, 1933), which were
perhaps too greatly admired by Goebbels Ucicky attempted to
retreat into period comedy with a 1937 film of Heinnch Kleist's play
Der zerbrocbene Krut) (The broken jug), for instance, and fled to Austria
before the annexation, where he made a fine film of Aleksandr Push-
kin's novella Der Postmaster (The station master, 1940) His 1943 Am
Ernie der Welt (To the ends of the earth), a version of the Blue Angel
story was completely prohibited by the Nazis Although an Allied
panel later exonerated Ucicky of complicity with the Nazis, nine
of his films were banned, including three pre-Nazi items

Lilian Harvey one of the top musical stars of pre-Nazi Ger-
many tried her luck in Hollywood in 1933 and London in 1934, but
none of her non-German films proved a great success Finances
forced her to return to Germany where she made eight relatively
innocuous musical comedies before fleeing once again in 1939 to
France and America In Hollywood she found no work in films
and spent the remaining war years as a hospital orderly

Matinee idol Joachim Gottschalk, star of Die schwediscbe
Nachticjall (The Swedish nightingale, 1941), refused to divorce his
Jewish wife With their son, the couple committed suicide under
Goebbelss threat of arrest and deportation

The talented director Herbert Selpin, whose black comedy
HeirafssclmWIfr (Marriage con man, 1938) is one of the best, if
atypical, of 1930s films, while filming Titanic (1943) lost patience
with the on-set Reichsfilmkammer observer and angrily made com-
ments about the Nazis, which he later refused to retract and for
which he was imprisoned and executed Titanic was completed
by other hands but subsequently banned in Germany

These sad tales are representative of many others

Rgure 153

A salvaged tramc from Bertold Bartosch's

inn. uc, I Saini Frantpii 1939

—xvia*-

Figure 154

A publicity •■till from Oskar I ischingers color abstract him Komposriion m lila

In the realm ol experimental him and animation the hlmmakers
experienced as much control and restriction, and many Hed Yet
those who did leave Germans as in the case of the live-action film-
makers were not always safe Lotte Remiger went to Fngland, was
deported as an enemy alien, fled again to Italy and was forcibly
evacuated by German soldiers to Berlin Bertold Bartosch, who had
collaborated with Remiger on Dir Abmtaur its Prmztn Achtnti, escaped
to France, where he made an animated antiwar Him, Lliit (The idea,
1932), and a second animated him Stfinl Francois i Saint Francis, 1939,
hg 153 I, which also carried a pacifist message When the Nazis took
Paris, German soldiers sought out and destroyed the original nega-
tives of both Hlms While L'Utt has been reconstructed from existing
prints no trace of Saml Francois has been found, so it must be
counted as a casualty of war

The Fischmger brothers, Oskar and Hans, were most successful
at defying the Nazi prohibition against modernist abstract art In
December 1933 Oskar Ftschinger managed to release a color abstract
him Krtist (Circles I, by appending a commercial end title proclaim-
ing, "Tbe Tolirag Agency reaches all circles of society" A second
color abstract him the 1934 Quadrate (Squares!, which had no such
commercial connection, was denied permission to be printed and
distributed, and since the him was designed for a now obsolete film
copying mechanism, it, like Saini Francois, must also be counted as
a victim of the Nazi era A year later Fischmger managed to release
KomposHion in Blau (Composition in blue, hg 154 i, another color
abstract film, following a carefully coordinated press campaign in
collaboration with the Venice Film Festival, where the Him received
such enthusiastic reviews that it could not easily be suppressed
Before full advantage of his successful defiance could be taken,
Fischinger fled to Hollywood, where, beginning in February 1936,
he was to work for Paramount, MGM, Disney Orson Welles,
and on his own hlms

Fischingers younger brother, Hans, had apprenticed to Oskar
on four of the black-and-white Studies produced in 1932 When
the Nazis came to power, Hans retreated into "inner emigration,"
retiring to a family home in the countryside There he designed
a color organ that could produce abstract light shows without
benefit of censorship The government patent control board,
however, refused a patent or a license to construct the machine

Following Oskar's emigration and the 1937 denunciations of
"degenerate" art, music, and film, the same group ol critics and
theater owners who had helped Oskar launch Komposilion in lilau
promised to help Hans if he would make an abstract him In the fall
of 1938 he completed the eight-minute Tanz ier Far/ini i Dance of the
colors), which the Waterloo Theater in Hamburg premiered on Feb-
ruary 26, 1939, with prearranged rave reviews, including a page-one
headline in the trade paper Film Kuntr The government reacted
swiftly and cleverly to quash the film the state-owned Tobis him
production and distribution company bought the distribution rights,
then simply declined to show the film in Germany — recouping its
entire investment in Holland That effectively ended avant-garde
filmmaking in Nazi Germany

The only remaining short film with a glimmer of resistance is
Drr Schttcmatm (The snowman, 1943!, the peculiar but lovely cartoon
by Hans Fischer- Kosen, which tells of a snowman who, wanting to
experience spring, hides in a refrigerator until luly when he leaps
out and melts among the flowers — a fitting elegy for the German
avant-garde ■

Nolrs

1 Ronny Loewy Von [iabthbtrg nach HollyuW FAmmitttiirten jus NiiziJculsMand
Frankfurt Deutsches Filmmuscum, 1987), 7-22

2 Arthur Maria Rabenalt, Joseph CotbbiU unJ drr "Groswleuhcht Film | Munich
Hcrbig, 1985), 54

3 David Stewart Hull, Film m \bt Third Rncfc (Berkeley University of California
Press, 1969), 8

4 Rosa von Praunheim, "Die Bassamsel smgt nicht mehr." Drr Spitgd. June 29,
1981 158-59

M O R I T Z

-•"teg**.

Figure !55

Entrance to the exhibition Entartttc Kumt, Archaologisches Institut, Munich, 1937

The Works of Art in
Entartete Kunst Munich 1937

Note to the reader

On the following pages is a lis! ol all known paintings sculptures,

and graphic works displayed in the exhibition Entiirkte Kmni held in
nine r ns ol the Archaologisches Institut, Munich, from luly 19

through November M), llH7 Hooks and photographs not included
here are listed in the tables in the essay hy Mario-Andreas von
Luttichau on pages 45— K 1 of this volume The exact placement ol
the art in each gallery can also be found in Luttichau's essay

The works of art are arranged alphabetically by artist, within
each artist's oeuvre unique works I paintings in all media, sculptures
and drawings) are listed in chronological order, followed by prints,
also arranged chronologically

Biographies are provided for all artists whose work is repre-
sented in the exhibition "Degenerate Art" Tix Fate of ifcf Ai'titil-Gnra'c in
Nazi Ctrnuiny Authors of the biographies are

D G Dagmar Grimm

P G Peter Guenther

P K Pamela Kort

S B Stephanie Barron

Places of birth and death are in Germany unless otherwise indicated

Each entry is arranged as follows

Title

Alternate title, if any

Title in Ent<jrMf KhhsI, if substantially different

Date, if known

Medium, dimensions

Catalogue raisonne, if applicable I see pp 408-9)

Provenance immediately before Ewltirlctf Kunst

Location in Enlarlrtf Kwnst installation, National Socialist inventory

number, lot in Fischer sale, if applicable
Current location or commissioned dealer* and last recorded location
Illustration reference, if work is extant

■ indicates inclusion in both venues of the current exhibition
i) indicates Los Angeles only
a indicates Chicago only

' Four German art dealers were authorized by the Nazis lo dispose of "degenerate"
works on the art market They were Bernhard A Boehmer, Giistrow, Karl Buchholz,
Berlin, Hildebrand Gurlitt, Hamburg, and Ferdinand Moller Berlin isee the essay by
Andreas Huneke in this volume i

Jankel Adler

Tuszyn, Pol

Died 1949
Aldbourne,
England

National Socialist politics profoundly
affected Jankel Adler's life He not only fled
Dusseldorf in 1933, leaving behind his wife
and daughter,1 but after the end of the
Second World War he discovered that all
nine of his brothers and sisters had perished
in the Holocaust When Adler left Germany
he was barely at the midpoint of his career,
nevertheless, he had already firmly estab-
lished himself in the German art world
His reputation did not follow him into exile,
however, and the next ten years were filled
with economic deprivation and social root-
lessness An excerpt from a document of
1942 provides a rare glimpse of the artist's
reaction to National Socialist cultural poli-
tics "When the present war for the painter
has begun in 1933, he has perhaps a different
view from those whose war began in 1939 "2
It was not until Adler went to London in
1943, only six years before he died, that he
again found a community of intellectuals in
a country in which he wanted to make his
permanent home

In the years prior to his departure
from Germany Adler was a Communist
sympathizer and active member of liberal
artists groups in Lodz, Berlin, Cologne,
and Dusseldorf It was his Jewish ancestry
however, rather than his political activism,
that was responsible for his denunciation
by the National Socialists In the Entartete
Kunst exhibition three of his paintings were
exhibited alongside works by other Jewish
artists Lasar Segall, Marc Chagall, Hanns
Katz, Cert Wollheim, and Ludwig Meidner
The very different aesthetic and political
positions of these artists were invalidated
when their works were lumped under the
slogan, "Revelation of the Jewish racial soul "

Adler was brought up in a Hasidic
household in Poland and first came to Ger-
many in 1913 to enter the Kunstgewerbe-
schule (School of applied arts) in Barmen
Contradictory accounts make it difficult to
reconstruct his status and location during
the First World War In 1918 he established
contact with the Dusseldorf artists' group
Das lunge Rheinland (The young Rhine-
land) After the war he visited Poland and
helped to found Ing Idisz (Young Yiddish),
an association of Jewish painters and writers
He returned to Germany in 1920 and lived
for about a year in Berlin, where he was in
contact with a variety of artists' groups,
including the Socialist artists who contrib-
uted to Die Aklton (Action) and those who
were affiliated with Herwarth Walden's
Der Slurm (The storm) Contacts with the
Aktivistenbund 1919 (Activist league 1919),
a group of progressive artists in Dusseldorf,
may have drawn him to that city late in
1921, he remained there until 1933 and
formed ties with a number of other artists'
groups involved in leftist politics In 1922 he
developed a close friendship with Otto Dix
In the same year he was a founding member
of the Berlin Utopian Communist artists'
group Kommune (Commune) Adler also
helped to organize the Union fortschritt-
licher internationaler Kiinstler (Union
of progressive international artists) and
participated in the union's conference in
Dusseldorf on May 29-31, 1922 He sent
work to the Internationale Ausstellung revolu-
tionism Kiinstler (International exhibition
of revolutionary artists), which opened
in Berlin on October 22

Adler also had ties to the Expressionist
art world In 1923 he helped found the
Rheingruppe (Rhine group) in Dusseldorf,
and he also exhibited with the November-
gruppe (November group) in 1923, 1929,
and 1931 (Although he never joined the lat-
ter group, he was later named as a member
of this "red" artists' organization in Wolfgang
Willrich's antimodernist Sauberung des Kmist-
tempeli [Cleansing of the temple of art])

In 1929 Adler joined the circle of the
Gruppe progressive Kunstler (Progressive
artists' group) in Cologne The same year
a reviewer in Der Cicerone cited him as
the artist with the most potential in the
Hannover Kestner-Gesellschaft exhibition
Zebn juiule deutscbe Maler (Ten young German
painters) ' Just four years later, however,
Adler's work was ridiculed in Kultur-
bolscbewistiscbe Bilder ( Images of cultural
Bolshevism), an exhibition organized by
National Socialist cultural officials at the
Kunsthalle Mannheim One of the works
included, Mutter und Tochter (Mother and
daughter, fig 157) of 1927, was later shown
in the Entartete Kunst exhibition

In February 1933 Adler signed the
"Dringende Appell" (Urgent appeal), an
anti-Fascist placard posted throughout
Berlin by the Internationale sozialistische
Kampfbund (International Socialist combat
league) during the Reichstag (parliamentary)
elections 4 A few months later he left the
country, upon arriving in Paris he was at
first so disturbed by the events in Germany
that he was unable to work Later that year
he told an interviewer that he viewed his
exile "as an active struggle against the Fascist
regime in Germany" Nevertheless, his
paintings remained devoid of overt political
reference In the same interview he com-
mented, "A revolutionary painter is one who
creates a revolutionary form The subject
has absolutely no meaning"'

Adler's Polish passport enabled him to
return to his homeland in 1935 Late in April
an exhibition of fifty-eight of his works cre-
ated since 1920 was organized in Warsaw
by the Warsaw Committee to Aid Exiles
and eventually traveled to his hometown
of Lodz The art was brought from Barmen
and Dusseldorf with the help of the archi-
tects Helena and Szymon Syrkus and the
Polish consul in Essen Despite the exhibi-
tion, Adler was dissatisfied with the art
scene in Warsaw and complained about
the art establishment's lack of interest in
the financial needs of contemporary
artists "You know, I am so fed up with
everything' What kind of value does a

>^B

V 1^ fe

j

w^ J?

iflir nut '^^

Mi 1 ^

1 )

|Hh la J

■fj

J 1 ■

iji

BW^^ r-^TTS .J

}i yi

Figure 157

Adler, Multer unj Tockfr

Mother and daughter), 1927

Figure 156

Adler Kabaizikbttr Cat breeder

human being have here"- I want to go to
Spain There the editor ot Rolen Fabm [Red
flag], Jaszunski. is righting in the Dabrowski
brigade "" As the political situation wors-
ened, it became too dangerous for Adler
to remain in Poland, and he returned to
Paris in 1937

In lulv of that year Adler was repre-
sented in the Enlnrlrtr Kunsl exhibition by
four paintings (twenty-five of his works
were eventually confiscated from German
collections) Four months later two other
works, Chassid (Hasid) and Stdleben (Still life),
were included by the National Socialists in
the exhibition Der turijjc Jude iThe eternal
few held in the library of the Deutsches
Museum in Munich 7 The headline of a
report on the exhibition in the Bfiimlftt

Ztilung declared "The eternal lews are those
people with a destructive effect upon politics
and culture," and a photograph of Chassid
was reproduced below the denunciation "
Seven years before, when this painting had
been shown at the Kronprmzenpalais in
Berlin in an exhibition that focused on new
acquisitions of modern art at the National-
galerie, a reviewer had praised Adler as
"certainly the strongest [painter] among
the young Rhinelanders "M

In January 1938 the Paris-based Freier
Kunstlerbund (Free artists' league) attempted
to draw Adler into its circle However,
despite his previous political engagement,
he refused to loin this anti-Fascist group

Later that year Adler moved to Cagnes-
sur-Mer and remained there until 1940,
when he joined the Polish Army of the
West in France and trained as a gunner He
was released from the army in 1941 because
of health problems and went to Glasgow
There he joined the recently founded New
Art Club and took part in its forum of
weekly discussions and monthly exhibitions
of modern art By mid-June he had an
exhibition of twenty-four paintings that
was both commercially successful and well
reviewed by the press l0

Adler left Glasgow in the fall of
1942, briefly loined an artists' colony at
Kirkcudbright, and early in 1943 moved to
London During that year he established a
friendship with Kurt Schwitters and joined
the Ohel Club for Jewish intellectuals

Ernst Barlach

Adler never returned to Germany and
refused to exhibit there In 1947 he had an
exhibition at the Galerie Gimpel Fils in
London, the Galerie de France in Paris, and
Waddington Galleries in Dublin, the next
year he had a show at the Knoedler Gallery
in New York Adler had applied for British
citizenship but learned late in April of 1949
that he had been turned down by the Home
Office ' ' A few days later he died unex-
pectedly of a heart attack at the age of
fifty-four (P K)

Note

1 Adler's daughter, Nina, survived the war I have
been unable to locate information about the fate of his
wife, Betty Kohlhaas

2 Michael Middleton, "Jankel Adler," in Memorial
Exhibition of the Works oj Jankel Adler m95-i949 (exh cat,
London Arts Council of Great Britain, 19511, 4

3 "Hannover," Drr Curfew 21 119291 86

4 Quoted in lurgen Harten, ed , Jankel AMrr (895-
I9J9 (Cologne DuMont, 1985), 28

5 lankel Adler, in Litmrisck Blrltr 38 ( 1933 ) 614,
quoted in Harten, Jankel Adler, 29

6 Marian Minich, Szalona galena (Lodz, 1963),
quoted in Harten, Jankel Adler, 32

7 Karl-He.nz Meissner, "'Munchen ist ein heisser
Boden Aber wir gewmnen ihn allmahlich doch'
Munchner Akademien, Calenen und Museen in Aus-
stellungsjahr 1937," in Peter-Klaus Schuster, ed , Die
"Kumhladt" Munchen 1937 Nalionahozialimus und Entartete
Kumt" (Munich Prestel, 19781, 51

8 Beamlen ZnluiuJ, no 24, November 21, 1937 615,
the article and accompanying photograph are illustrated
in Harten, Jankel Adler, 33

9 P W | Paul Westheim], "Neuerwerbungen der
Nationalgalene," Dai Kumtblatt U (1930) 155

10 Dennis Farr, "Art and Artists in Wartime
Glasgow," Apollo 88 (1968) 122

11 Ibid, 124 n 7

Work in Entartete Kunst

Born 1870

Handler (Merchant)

Ohthandler l Fruit merchant)

1924

Watercolor, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Stadtische Kunstsammlung Dusseldorf

Room G2, NS inventory no 16293

Destroyed

Kalzenzuchter (Cat breeder)

Cleron, der Kalzenzuchter (Cleron the cat breeder)

1925

Oil on canvas, 110 2 x 70 3 cm (43 'A x 27% in i

Catalogue raisonne Krempel 16

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtische Kunstsammlung

Dusseldorf

Room 2, NS inventory no 15952

Staatsgalene moderner Kunst, Munich

Figure 156

Mutter und Tochter I Mother and daughter)

Zwei Madchen I Two girls)

1927

Oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm I 59 x 39V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Krempel 27

Acquired in 1930 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room 2, NS inventory no 15953'

Collection Kuge!

Figure (5 7

Musikanten (Musicians)

M.iri<folmms(>irltr (Mandolin player)

1929

Painting, medium unknown,

166 x 121 cm 165% x 47V. in I

Acquired in 1931 by the Stadtische

Dusseldorf

Room 2, NS inventory no 15955

Location unknown

Sculptor and dramatist Ernst Barlach began
his artistic studies at the Kunstgewer-
beschule (School of applied arts) in
Hamburg in 1888 and continued them in
Dresden, Paris, and Berlin His early work
was influenced by lugendstil, but after a trip
to Russia in 1906 he developed an expres-
sionists style During his Russian sojourn
he discovered that an artist possessed the
power to express "the uttermost, the inner-
most, the gentle gesture of piety and the
rude gesture of rage — because for every-
thing, be it paradise, hell, or one in the
guise of the other, there is expressive form "'
After his return to Germany his subject mat-
ter frequently included Russian beggars and
farmers, who in his hands became symbols
of human existence

Barlach and the dealer Paul Cassirer
signed a contract in 1907 that allowed the
artist to work full-time on his art After
almost a year in Florence at the Villa
Romana, he withdrew in 1910 to Gtistrow
in Mecklenburg to lead an unpretentious
and reclusive life He was forty-two in 1912
when his first play was published and forty-
seven when his first important exhibition —
twenty wooden sculptures and graphic
works — was mounted at the Galerie Cas-
sirer in Berlin

Barlach produced his first wooden
sculptures in 1907-8 Their massive, block-
like forms were also characteristic of his
bronze figures, which were commissioned to
commemorate the dead of the First World
War Although Barlach had served in the
infantry only two months, his memorials
were powerful antiwar statements The artist
presented the Giistrower Ehrmnutl (Gtistrow

wai memorial I t>> the congregation ol ( liisi
hiu ( .ltluxlral in 1927 The sculpture,
which was suspended from the cathedral
ceiling was a life-sized human limine with

the peaceful stylized visage of Barlach's

friend Kathe Kollwitz i which the artist
claimed was unintentional I In 1928 the
Univcrsitatskirche i Llniversitv church) in
Kiel commissioned Geistkampjtr (Warrior of
the spirit), a fifteen-toot high angel bearing
a sword and poised on the haunches of a
wolflike creature For the cathedral in
Magdeburg in 1929 Harlach cast six figures
framing a cross inscribed with the dates of
the war lour of the figures were soldiers
(one a skeleton) in helmets and uniforms,
they were accompanied by two grieving
figures, pathetic souls, the face of one
covered by a hood, all tragic victims of
an irrational fate

Barlach's work was well received in
Germany both publicly and privately In
1930 he was given a retrospective exhibition
at the Preussische Akademie der Kiinste
(Prussian academy of arts I, of which he had
been a member since 1919, and he partici-
pated in the Venice Biennale At the peak of
his success, however, he became the target
of National Socialist art criticism In a letter
dated December 27, 1930, to publisher
Reinhard Piper, Harlach anticipated the
problematic future he would face he wrote
that the National Socialists "are instinctively
my enemies They will make short shrift
of me when the hour comes "J Barlach's
critics denounced his often pessimistic imag-
ery of humanity and found him "alien" and
"eastern," overly influenced by his trip to
Russia in 1906 Because he was represented
by the Jewish dealers Cassirer and Alfred
Flechtheim, rumors were initiated that he
was also Jewish and of Slavic descent (author
Adolf Bartels thought Barlach's name
sounded Jewish and was convinced that he
was foreign because "German dramatists
don't succeed as easily ") ' In Giistrow in
1932 Fascist thugs broke his windows, and
from 1933 onward his mail was censored and
the police watched the home of this most
unpolitical artist About two months after

Adult I litlei I" i mi' i li II' it. Barlai h

again wrote to Piper, "My little boat is sink
mg last I h<- loudei the Hah roar, instead "I

cheering and raising my arm in Roman atti

tudes, the more I pull my hat down over

my eyes "*

Following an uncharacteristic public
statement, a radio address Barlach gave in
lanuary of 1933 protesting the expulsion
ot Kollwitz and Hemrich Mann from the
Preussische Akademie, he was forced to
give up the house he had built in 1930 in
Giistrow, ostensibly because the building
permits had been declared null and void
and were withdrawn

In 1935 a cast of OjmsIhs und Johannes
(Christ and John, fig 158) was removed
from view at the museum in Schwerin, and
despite the successful opening of his drama
Die echten Sedemunds (The genuine Sedemunds)
in Altona, subsequent performances were
forbidden His works were removed from
the 1936 exhibition of the Preussische Aka-
demie with those of Kollwitz and Wilhelm
Lehmbruck, and a volume of his drawings,
ready for distribution, was confiscated

Nonetheless, Barlach remained in Ger-
many, although he was forbidden to exhibit,
even privately after 1937, and his public
sculptures and monuments were destroyed
Figures sculpted for the niches of the
Kathannenkirche (Church of Saint Cather-
ine) in Liibeck were removed in 1936, the
war memorial for Giistrow Cathedral was
dismantled in 1937 and melted down for
scrap metal The monument in Kiel was cut
into three parts in 1937-38 (a cast survives
in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts), and
owing to the protests of right-wing mem-
bers of the congregation, the sculpture in
Magdeburg Cathedral was moved to the
basement of the Nattonalgalerie in Berlin
The head of the Kampfbund fur deutsche
Kultur (Combat league for German culture),
Alfred Rosenberg, described the Magdeburg
memorial as "figures [that] were small, half-
idiotic undefinable types of humanity
with Soviet helmets, "s and Paul Schultze-
Naumburg, National Socialist ideologue and
author of Ktotst und Rasse (Art and race),

I igure ish
Barlach ' >••

mi lohmnrs (( hn.t and Id

declared Barlach's works "unheroic and
"racially undependablc "''

It became difficult for Barlach to sell his
work A commission for a Piela was rejected
upon submission by the city of Stralsund, as
was another work in Malchin By August of
1937, 381 works by Barlach had been seized
from museums and churches and removed
from public view Only the Mater Dolorosa in
the Nikolaikirche (Church of Saint Nich-
olas) in Kiel and the wood carving Der Hirl
im Gewtter (The shepherd in a storm) in
Bremen remained The spiritual kinship
that Barlach had developed with suffering
humanity and his eloquent rendering of
hope and despair were perceived by his
critics as alienation from nature and a per-
petration of Bolshevism and a cult of the
subhuman His pacifist — some said defeatist
— themes, which were considered an insult
to the German spirit, and his frequent por-
trayal of "inferior racial types" earned him
inclusion in the Enlartete Kutisl exhibition
Only one of his works was displayed
another cast of Cbristus und Johannes, "purged"
from the museum at Kiel This moving
depiction of an encounter between Christ
and Saint John was described at the exhibi-
tion as the portrayal of two monkeys in
nightshirts Adolf Ziegler and his committee
judged the work to be a "mockery of the
Divine" and placed it in the third gallery,
the largest on the upper floor Ironically a
Swiss woman attempted (unsuccessfully to

Rudolf Bauer

buy the sculpture out of the Munich exhi-
bition 7 By the time Entiirtete Kuttst traveled to
Nuremberg the bronze had been removed
After he was informed that he would
no longer be allowed to exhibit, Barlach
became ill and his health declined rapidly
He died in October 1938, approximately one
year later Permission to place a memorial
plaque on the house where he was born was
denied, and his death notices in the news-
papers were limited by the authorities to ten
lines of factual material only Das Scbwarzi
Korps (The black corps), the periodical pub-
lished by the SS, however, "eulogized" the
artist as un-German, Slavic, unbalanced,
and a lunatic 8 (D G )

Notts

■York

1 Alfred Werner, Ernst Barlach (Ne
McGraw-Hill, 1966), 8

2 Ernst Barlach, letter to Reinhard Piper, Decem-
ber 11, 1930, published in Ernst Barlach Dtt Brieji 1888-
1938, ed Friednch Dross (Munich R Piper, 1968-69),
vol 2, 245

3 Carl Dietrich Carls, "Hitler wollte sie aus-
merzen," Saarhrucktr Zatung, June 8, 1987

4 Ernst Barlach, letter to Reinhard Piper, April li,
1933, published in Die Bnt/r, vol 2, 345

5 Alfred Rosenberg in Vblhscbtr BroPncMrr, no 187,
July 7 1933, quoted in Paul Ortwm Rave, Kuratdiklatur
m Driltm Rnch (Hamburg Gebruder Mann, 1949), 60

6 Karl-Ludwig Hofmann, 'Antifaschistische Kunst
in Deutschland Bilder, Dokumente, Kommentare," in
Wulirstantl sl<ill Anpaaung Drutscfer fCunst m WiimUnti
gcgm dot F.jscinsmHs (9tt-i945 (exh cat , Karlsruhe
Badischer Kunstverein, 1980), 47

7 Ernst Barlach, letter to Reinhard Piper, Septem-
ber 25, 1937, published in Ernst Barlach Lcbm mi Wert in
sfinen Bne/ot, ed Fnednch Dross (Munich R Piper,
1952), 235

8 Werner, Ernsl Barlach, 42

Work in "Enlartete Kunst''

ConstHS und Johannes (Christ and John)

Dds Witdersehen (The reunion, Meeting again)

1926

Bronze, 478 x 19 x 12 cm (187. x Th x 4'/, in )

Catalogue raisonne Schult 306

Acquired in 1931 by the Kunsthalle zu Kiel

Room 3, NS inventory no (6245

Location unknown, this version Munson-Williams-

Proctor Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, New York

Fi>r, .58

Born (889
Lindmwald, Silesia

Died 1953

Deal New Jersey

To Hilla von Rebay the director of the
Museum of Non-Objective Paintings, as the
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum was
known in its early stages, Rudolf Bauer was
the most significant painter of dramatic non-
objective painting represented in the collec-
tion ' Bauer met Rebay at the Galerie Der
Sturm in Berlin in 1916, and they developed
a stormy but close relationship From 1915 to
1921 gallery owner Herwarth Walden had
Bauer under contract to deliver oils, water-
colors, and drawings to Der Sturm on a
monthly basis Bauer was also employed at
the gallery itself, where he was exposed to
the works of Expressionists, Futurists, Cub-
ists, and other modernists He preferred
Wassily Kandinsky above all and adopted
the Russian painter's formal approach -
Bauer, along with others from Der
Sturm (The storm), was a founding member
of the Novembergruppe (November group),
although he never exhibited with them J
With Rebay and Otto Nebel, a painter,
poet, and another member of Der Sturm,
Bauer founded Der Krater (The crater), an
artists' group whose published manifesto
was based on those of the Dadaists and
Futurists He subsequently began to call
himself Bautama (probably a conflation of
his name with that of Gautama Buddha),
which is also the title of his lithograph in
the Bauhaus Portfolio III of 1921, displayed in
one of the ground-floor galleries of Entartete
Kunst 4 The work clearly demonstrates
Kandinsky's influence, and abstract art
was not favored by the National Socialists,
who rejected it as decadent, meaningless
scribbling, not in keeping with the
artistic ideology of the Third Reich

•Z.<*sj$»is. ' f\

Figure 159
Bauer, Mint.

Except for a portfolio of dance prints
by Bauer and the manifesto, Der Krater pro-
duced little as a group (Nebel went to the
Bauhaus in 1924) The project did give Bauer
and Rebay impetus for future museum proj-
ects, however Bauer established a museum
in a rented villa in Berlin, exhibiting works
by Kandinsky, Rebay and particularly him-
self (he claimed he was keeping his work
together for a museum in the future) He
was able to fund this enterprise with money
he received from Solomon Guggenheim
through Rebay who was collecting Bauer's
paintings on her patron's behalf On March
I, 1936, Bauer went to Charleston, South
Carolina, for the opening of an exhibition of
the Guggenheim collection, on view were
27 works by Kandinsky 5 each by Albert
Gleizes and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy 2 by Fer-
nand Leger, 1 by Paul Klee, and 61 by Bauer
When the Guggenheim Foundation was
established in June of 1939 there were 215
paintings by Bauer in its inventory The

Philipp Bauknecht

Otto Baum

Guggenheim Museum first opened at 24
East 54th Street in New Ybrk ( ity was
called tin- Hanoi I Litis In Max I inst '

Guggenheim helped Bauei emigrate
from Germany and he arrived in New Vuk
on August J i1'-!'' wild all Ins pictures and

possessions I le was installed in a house Out

side New York and Rebay acted as intei
mediary and consultant in the signing oi a

contract wherein' Hauei was to provide all

his paintings to Guggenheim in exchange
tor kill financial support Bauer did not speak
English and had to rely on Rebay S transla-
tions I le ultimately became dissatisfied with
the arrangements felt betrayed by Rebay
and stopped painting Finally in 1945 Bauer
terminated their relationship Rebay con-
tinued to show his pictures during her last
years at the Guggenheim but in fewer num-
bers When lames lohnson Sweeney became
director in 1952, the Bauer works were
placed in storage * iD G)

Bom issi
Barcelona Spain

Ihdl I " 1 1

Davos. Switzerland

Work in Entartete Kunsf

Work in Entartete Kunst

rin

■ herdsi
nkru

Dm Hir

1910

Painting, medium i

80 x 96 cm (3l'/i x 17'. in

Acquired in 1924 by the Staatsgale

Room 3, NS inventory no 16004

Location unknown

: Stuttgart

Mtidchm Ethnics 'Standing girl)

1930-31

Bronze, height 65 cm '25V. in

Acquired in 1911 by the Nationalgalc

Room 3, NS inventory no 16241

Location unknown

Notts

1 Susanne Neuburger Rmlolf Riwr isso-1953

i Vienna Museum moderner kunst Museum des 20
lahrhunderts, 1985), 20

2 Ibid 24

3 Ibid 44

4 Mario-Andreas von Luttichau, "Rekonstruktion
der Ausstellung Entartete Kunst." in Peter-Klaus
Schuster, ed , Dir "KimskUutt" Mumben 1937
NatioHaUozuiltmus uttd fjnltirlrlr Kunsl' (Munich Prestel,
1987), 170

5 Neuburger, RMj Bam. 80

6 Ibid 24

Work in Entartete Kunst

Bautama

Plate I from Bauhaus Portfolio III

c 1921

Lithograph, 398 x 31 5 cm 1 15V. x 12'. in

Catalogue raisonne Wingler III 1

Acquired bv the Wallral Richartz-Museum Cologne

Room C2, NS inventory no 162841

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbinati

(Gallery

Fljurl ISO

Willi Baumeister

The National Socialists dismissed Willi
Baumeister from his professorial post at
the Stadtische Kunstschule (Municipal art
school) in Frankfurt in March 1933 Bau-
meister reacted with the following entry in
his diary "I was never politically active —
should I undertake something against the
dismissal^ No — it is directed against my
Bolshevist art,' which has been created out
of spiritual freedom What can there be that
is Bolshevist about it'"1

One month later Baumeister returned
to his hometown of Stuttgart, where he
began to work as a commercial graphic
designer He also continued to paint, though
privately, in a locked room in his in-laws'
home Baumeister's refusal to work in an
officially acceptable style, his development
of an increasingly abstract pictorial lan-
guage, and his shift to collage technique
during the early 1940s suggest aesthetic
decisions conditioned to some degree by
contemporary cultural politics 2

Baumeister's career as an artist began
in 1905, when he entered the Stuttgart
Kunstakademie (Academy of art) to study
painting Between November 1914 and
December 1918 he served in the German
army returning to the Kunstakademie in
1919 During the next four years he created
a series of relief "wall paintings" partially
inspired by Constructivist forms In 1921 he
contributed to the third Bauhaus Portfolio
his lithograph Abstrakte Silzfigur (Abstract
seated figure, fig 161) was later included
in the Entartete Kunst exhibition

Figure 160

Willi Baumeister, Figur mil Stm/m m] Rosa /// ( Figure
with pink stripe 111), 1920, oil, plywood, and sand on
wood, 66 x 39 2 cm 126 x 15% in I, Archiv Baumeister
Stuttgart This work, although not in the Munich
exhibition, was illustrated on the -last page of the
EtilarMe Kunst exhibition guide (see p 390)

Baumeister went to Paris in 1924, where
he met Le Corbusier, Amedee Ozenfant,
and Fernand Leger He found a receptive
public for his work, and the next year he
was given a large one-man show at the
Galerie d'Art contemporain

At the same time his reputation devel-
oped in Germany In 1927 Tiscbifeseilschaft
(Group at a table, 1925) was acquired by
the Kunsthalle Mannheim (this work was
later included in the defamatory exhibition
Kulturbolschcwistischt Bilder [Images of cultural
Bolshevism] held in Mannheim (fig 7) and
Munich in 1933, as well as in Entartete Kutisl)
Baumeister was appointed to the post at the
Stadtische Kunstschule in Frankfurt in 1928

A year later he exhibited at the Galerie
Flechtheim in Berlin and the Galerie Kahn-
weiler in Frankfurt When Atelier was
purchased by the museum in Frankfurt in
1929, the acquisition was satirized in the
conservative Frankfurter Nachrichteti: "The
work should be exposed to general public
judgment to advance the modern art edu-
cation of the Frankfurt taxpayer"' In the
same issue Baumeister's work was criticized
as "proof of the spiritual and artistic aber-
rations of a period without discipline and
culture "4 Similar accusations were brought
against Baumeister seven years later
in the Entartete Kuml exhibition guide
(p 390), in which one of his works (fig.
160) was reproduced next to paintings by
Johannes Molzahn and Max Ernst under
the slogan, "The ultimate in stupidity or
impudence — or both'"

In the wake of the attack on his work
in 1930, Baumeister began to reassess the
significance of abstraction Part of his
theoretical reflection took the form of an
intensive investigation of archaic art, par-
tially stimulated by the work of archae-
ologist Hans Miihlestein 5 Baumeister was
one of several artists asked in 1931 by the
editors of the Parisian art journal Cabiers
d'art to respond to current debates about the
validity and durability of an abstract style
In his reply Baumeister posited the eternal
value of his abstract paintings, which he

felt he mc .1 relationship to mankinds Mist ait

istk experiments.' ["his stance continued
to inform his exploration ol abstraction
throughout his period ol "innei exile."

When the Entartttt Kunsl exhibition
opened in 1937 Baumeistei fifty one of
whose works wen eventually seized, visited
it and the (,nme /)rul«/ir Kunstaussttllunj)
(Great German art exhibition) In his diary
he commented about his own paintings
from the 1920s "All four paintings no good,
at that time not expressive enough,
posterlike "7

Baumeister went to the second Grosse
Dtulscbt Kunstausstellung in 1938 and pur-
chased the catalogue Sometime late in 1939
or early in 1940 he began using reproduc-
tions from the publication to create collages,
which he pasted onto small postcards and
sent to friends These "corrections" of works
by Adolf Ziegler and Arno Breker were
another form of Baumeisters dialectical
engagement with officially sanctioned
National Socialist art The technique not
only evoked Dadaist aesthetics, which had
been particularly attacked in Enlarlele Kunsl,
but brought to the surface fissures in the
new; ostensibly coherent national style
championed by the National Socialists *
Baumeisters satirical cultural commentary
did not escape censorship The postcards
were seized by the authorities, and he was
called to Gestapo headquarters

/ was confronted by the Gestapo censor with
my fHlirf correspondence for the last year and
a half Thank God that Hitler in the electric
chair [a collage he had sent to an
American newspaper] was not among
the intercepted letters I extricated myselj
by writing a long report to tfce Gestapo,
explaining that these were plans jor a book
dealing with color modulation and patina.9
Baumeister was in fact collaborating on
a book that aimed at a scientific analysis and
evaluation of painting techniques since the
beginning of history The project was part
of his duties at Kurt Herbert's lacquer fac-
tory in Wuppertal, where he had been

f igure 161

Raumeister, Abslraktt Silzjijui Abstract seated figure),

c 1921

employed since 1938 The book, Anfange der
Malerei (The origins of painting), was pub-
lished in 1941, although the names of its
authors — Baumeister, Molzahn, Georg
Muche, and Oskar Schlemmer — were prob-
ably omitted because their "degenerate"
status would have resulted in the book being
banned

Baumeister did not exhibit in Germany
after 1933 In 1950 he described his feelings
about his forced "inner exile" "The dismissal
was bad, but the social ostracism that fol-
lowed was worse After the war started,
things became especially uncomfortable
because one had to show that one was work-
ing I had no public No one knew that I
continued to paint"10

He lent four works to the 1938 exhibi-
tion 20th Century German Art in London at the
Burlington Galleries A year later he showed
at the Galerie Jeanne Bucher in Paris on the
occasion of his fiftieth birthday The press
was asked not to review the exhibition in
order to avoid negative ramifications for
Baumeister in Germany"

Baumeister nevertheless salvaged some-
thing positive from the experience In 1942
he noted that because he had to remain
independent from official organizations his
own art took on a greater autonomy and, in
a sense, became purer.13 In 1943 he began
his theoretical work about abstraction, Das
ilnbekiinnte in der Kunsl (The unknown in
art), published in 1947, a year after he was
reinstated as a professor at the Kunstaka-
demie in Stuttgart (P Kl

Notts

1 Willi Baumeister, diary entry March 31, 1933
(Stuttgart, Archiv Baumeister), cited in Feltcitas Karg-
Baumeister and lochen Canobbi, "Biographie," in Willi
Baumeister GemaUi (exh cat by Angela Schneider,
Berlin Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
1989), 42

2 Concerning the motivation lor Baumeisters
abstraction and Dada collage technique, see Peter
Chametzky "Marginal Comments, Oppositional Work
Willi Baumeisters Confrontation with Nazi Art," and
Rene Hirner, "Anmerkungen zu Willi Baumeisters Hin-
wendung zum Archaischen, both in Willi liaumasttr
Zeicbnundm. Gouacben. Collagen (exh cat, Stuttgart
Staatsgalene, 1989), 266-68 and 47-48, respectively

3 "Die Aufgaben der Kunstlerhilfe, in Frankfurter
Nacbricbttn. no 28, supplement I, January 28, 1930,
quoted in Christine Hoplengart, "Baumeister und die
Offentlichkeit," in Willi Baummter Gemalde, 117

4 frant/urttr Nacbncbltn. no 28, January 28, 1930,
cited in Hirner, "Anmerkungen," 47

5 Ibid

6 "De Ian abstrait. III Reponse de Willi Baumeis-
ter," Cahiers dart 6, no 4 11931] 215-16

7 Willi Baumeister, diary entry August 18, 1937
(see note I), cited in Karg- Baumeister and Canobbi,
"Biographie," 45

8 Chametzky "Marginal Comments," 259, 263, 268

9 Willi Baumeister, oral communication to Hellmut
Lehmann-Haupt, November 18, 1950, published in
Lehmann-Haupt, Art under a Dictatorship (New York
Oxford University Press, 1954), 87

10 Baumeister to Lehmann-Haupt (see note 9)

It Zwxscben Widerstand und Anpassund Kunsl in Deutscb-
land mj-t945 (exh cat, Berlin Akademie der Kunste
1978), 94

12 Willi Baumeister, letter to Heinz Rasch, June 20,
1942, cited in Zunscfcm Widerstand und Anpassuna. 94-95

Herbert Bayer

Max Beckmann

Work in Entartete Kunst

Gelbtr KonVr (Yellow body)

c 1918

Painting, medium unknown,

90 x 80 cm (35% x 31'A in I

Donated in 1921 to the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

Room 5, NS inventory no 16068

On commission to Buchholz, location unkno

Handstand

1925

Painting, medium unknown,

116 x 78 cm (45% x 30V, in I

Catalogue raisonne Grohmann 271

Acquired in 1926 by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16055

On commission to Buchholz, April 1939, location

Tiscbgesellscbajl (Group at a table)

1925

Painting, medium unknown,

140 x 95 cm (55'A x 37J/s in )

Acquired in 1927 by the Kunsthalle Mannhi

Room 5, NS inventory no 16064

On commission to Buchholz, location unkn

Dm Motitrwrf (Three mechanics)

1929

Painting, medium unknown,

129 x 99 cm (50>/< x 39 in )

Catalogue raisonne Grohmann 261

Acquired in 1930 by the Nationalgale

Room 5, NS inventory no 16067

Lost

Afeslrnitr Sitzfgur (Abstract seated figure)

Plate 2 from Bauhaus Portfolio III

c 1921

Lithograph, 38 7 x 275 cm (1514 x I07« in )

Catalogue raisonne VCingler 111/2

Acquired by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Room G2, NS inventory no I629P

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbinati

Gallery

Born 1900

Hiuul Upper Austria

Died 1985
Sanla Barbara,
California

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Landschafi im Tesmt (Landscape in Ticino

1924

Painting, medium unknown,

32 9 x 62 7 cm 113 x 24% in)

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Es1

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16179

Location unknown

New York New York

Upon hearing the broadcast of Hitler's
speech at the opening of the Haus der Deut-
schen Kunst in Munich on July 18, 1937,
Max Beckmann finally comprehended the
unmistakable professional and personal
implications of National Socialist art policies
He recognized himself as one of the so-
called Kunstzwerge (art dwarfs) that Hitler
derided in his tirade

Beckmann had already experienced
ramifications of the regime's art politics in
March 1933 he was dismissed from Frank-
furt's Stadelschule/Kunstgewerbeschule
(Municipal school/School of applied arts)
Also in 1933 a gallery devoted to his
paintings, which had been opened the
previous year at the Kronprinzenpalais
(Nationalgalene), Berlin, by the director
Ludwig Justi, was closed by Justi's Nazi-
appointed successor, Alois Schardt Works
by Beckmann were included in a Stuttgart
SchandaussteUuttg (abomination exhibition)
entitled Novembertjeist Kunst mi Dienste der
Zersetzung (Spirit of November Art in
the service of subversion), and a scheduled
Beckmann exhibition at the museum in
Erfurt was canceled

This was unaccustomed treatment for
an artist who had often "been raised to
Mount Olympus,"1 as a Frankfurt critic later
observed By age twenty-two, in 1906, he
had already received recognition from the
Berlin Kunstlerbund (Art association) and
his painting Junge Manner am Meer (Young
men at the seashore) was honored with a
prize that included a stipend to study at the
Villa Romana in Florence In 1913 Beckmann
was given a solo exhibition at the Calerie
Cassirer in Berlin, Hans Kaiser wrote
the first Beckmann monograph, and the

respected critics K.ul Schefflei ( urt Clasei

and Max ( (shorn praised Ins work

Beckmann enlisted as a medical orderly
in the German army in 1915, and the misery
and carnage thai he witnessed provoked a
nervous bieakdown As a result ol his war
experiences and his breakdown his style
changed completely angular tonus and Hat
color replaced the romantic painterly com-
positions of the prewar years His new work
was hrst exhibited in Frankfurt in 1919 and
critics again responded positively Directors
Georg Swarzenski and I ritz Wichert pur-
chased his Kmaabnabmi (Deposition, tig 164)
and ( ItinIks umi Jie Ehibrccherm ( C'hrist and
the adulteress, rig 163) for the art museums
in Frankfurt and Mannheim, respectively

The years 1924-30 marked the height
ot Beckmann's popularity A second mono-
graph, written jointly hy Glaser, lulius
Meier-Graefe, Wilhelm Fraenger, and
Wilhelm Hausenstein was puhlished in
1924 The dealer I H Neumann signed
Beckmann to a three-year contract in July
1925, guaranteeing him an income of 10,000
reichsmarks per year against sales, and
three months later the artist was engaged
as a master teacher at the Stadelschule
in I rankturt In 1928 the first museum
retrospective of his work was organized
in Mannheim by Gustav F Hartlaub, and
the Nationalgalerie in Berlin purchased his
Sclbstbilanis im Smoking (Self-portrait in tux-
edo) Beckmann received fourth honorable
mention at the Carnegie International in the
United States in 1929, in 1930 another retro-
spective followed in Basel and Zurich, and
his first solo exhibition in Paris opened at
the Calene de la Renaissance with the Ger-
man ambassador in attendance The critic
for Li Fijiiro dubbed him a "German
Picasso"

Beckmann did not begin to understand
the extent of the changes that would be
effected by National Socialist art policies
until 1932 The culmination of those policies
was, of course, the Entartttc Kuiisl exhibition
of 1937 Cbristus umi Jn Ehebrecberin and
Knuzabnahme were among the first paintings
encountered by visitors as they entered the

Figure 162
Beckmann, SelbstbMn

ill rotrnt Scfcal (Sell-portrait with red scarf), 1917

Enljrltlr Kunll

first room, which was devoted to pictures
with religious themes Hitler had reached a
concordat with the Catholic Church in July
1933 and was sensitive to any affront to
Christianity The malformed, emaciated fig-
ure of Christ that dominates the Kreuzab-
nabme exemplified to the authorities a
heinous disregard for the sanctity of the sol-
emn moment depicted Concomitantly the
subject of Christ forgiving an adulteress was
deemed an unfit topic the breaking of the
marriage contract and the undermining
of the family were not in keeping with
National Socialist ideology which stressed
the family as central in the rebuilding of
Germany

The subject of Pariscr Fastnacht (Parisian
carnival, fig 95) was a favorite theme for
Beckmann Here threatening sexual imag-
ery dominated the representation of the
secularized Lenten celebration In the fourth
room of the upper floor was the Selbstbildttis
mil rolem Scbal (Self-portrait with red scarf,
fig 162) of Beckmann in his studio in Frank-
furt, with the spires of the Dreikonigskirche
visible to the left The painting had been
purchased by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in
1926 for 3,000 reichsmarks and was con-
signed to the Calerie Fischer auction in
Lucerne after its display in Entartete Kuitst
It did not meet its reserve, was privately
acquired for 55 Swiss francs after the
auction, and returned to the Stuttgart
museum in 1948

The imagery of the artist's Stilleben mil
Musikmstrumenten (Still life with musical
instruments, fig 167) was autobiographical
Beckmann had become interested in Amer-
ican jazz, the rage in Germany during
the 1920s The saxophone on the left is
inscribed "Bar African," a reference to the
origins of jazz, that on the right bears the
words "[exhibition New York" (Beckmann's
first American solo exhibition had opened at
Neumann's New York gallery in April 1926)
To the National Socialists the painting repre-
sented references to an "inferior race" and
exemplified the spirit of Weimar Germany
which they continually endeavored to dis-
credit Nearby was hung Das Nizza in

Frankfurt am Mam (Nizza Park in Frankfurt
am Main, fig 165) Despite its benign sub-
ject, the spatial organization of the work
did not meet National Socialist aesthetic
standards and was attributed to defects
in the artist's vision or to charlatanism

There were eleven lithographs and
etchings by Beckmann in the galleries on
the ground floor The portfolio Berliner Reise
(Berlin journey) was represented by Die Bet-
tier (The beggars, fig 173), which addressed
the predicament of the war-wounded and
disparaged military conscription, Enttauschte
II (The disappointed II, fig 174), depicting
the apathy of the Germans after the murders
of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg,
and Nackttanz (Striptease, fig 176), which
suggested the implicit conflict between the
classes as represented by performers and
audience Litbespaar I (Lovers I, fig 170), an
illustration of brutality depicted in "degen-
erate" art as inherent in male-female
encounters, was from the portfolio Gesichter
(Faces), and amoral carnality was also the
theme of the etching Umamutij) (Embrace,
fig 177)

Beckmann's inclusion in the Entartete
Kumt exhibition signaled the end of his
career in Germany His pronounced ide-
ological differences with the new regime did
not allow for compromise On the opening
day of the exhibition Beckmann and his wife
fled to Amsterdam, and he never returned to
Germany

After the difficult war years in Holland,
Beckmann determined to emigrate to the
United States, and in 1947 he accepted a
temporary teaching position at Washington
University in Saint Louis In 1949 he was
invited to become a professor of painting
and drawing at the Brooklyn Museum
School of Art in New York, where he
remained until his death on December 27,
1950 (D G)

Note

I H T Wust, "Damn wir nicht vcrgessen, was

fruher gewesen ist," Frankfurter Volhsblatt, July I, 1939,
reprinted in Joseph Wulf, Die biUmdm Kumte m Driltra
Reicb Erne Dokummtation (Frankfurt/Berlm/Vienna
Ullstein, 1983), 365

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Oislus utid die Bbebrecberm

(Christ and the woman taken in adultery)

1917

Oil on canvas, 149 2 x 126 7 cm (58V, x 497, m )

Catalogue raisonne Copel 197

Acquired in 1919 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room 1, NS inventory no 15936

The Saint Louis Art Museum,

bequest of Curt Valentin, 1955

Figure 163

Knuzabnabmt (Deposition, Descent from the cross)

1917

Oil on canvas, 151 2 x 128 9 cm (59 'A x 50!A in )

Catalogue raisonne Copel 192

Acquired in 1919 by the Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt

Room I, NS inventory no 15933

The Museum of Modern Art, New York,

Curt Valentin Bequest, 1955

Stlbstbildnis mil rotm Sc/wl (Self-portrait with red scarf)

1917

Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm (3I'A x 237. in )

Catalogue raisonne Cope! 194

Acquired in 1924 by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Room 4, NS inventory no 16026, Fischer lot 13

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1948

Figure 162

Nizza (Nizza Park)

Das Nizza m Frankfurt aw Mam

(Nizza Park in Frankfurt am Main)

1921

Oil on canvas, 1005 x 655 cm (39'A x 25'/< in )

Catalogue raisonne Copel 210

Acquired in 1922 by the Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt

Room 5, NS inventory no 16097

Offenthche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum, 1939

Figure (65

Doppetbildnis Karneval (Double portrait, carnival)
Maskmball (Masked ball)

Max B mil Qwppi (Max B with Quappi)

1925

Oil on canvas, 160 x 1055 cm (63 x 41'/] in )

Catalogue raisonne Copel 240

Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtische Calerie, Frankfu

Room C2, NS inventory no 16226, Fischer lot 12

Kunstmuseum Diisseldorf, 1953

Figure 166

' I

4-Q

sv

r.^Tvj

Q>

.**

feckmann ( brishe mi&it Bbdmcbirm ( hrisl and the
adultery), 1917

taken

In

Figure 164

Beckmann, Krtuzabnahme I )eposition 1L'I7

Figure Ib6

Beckmann, /)o/»MmMhis fGiniawl (Double portrait carnival 1925

Figure 167

Beckmann, SlilMwi mil Munhmlrummlm I Still life with musical instruments), 1926

Figure 168

Beckmann, Ocfesmsta/I (Ox

} igure 169

Rcckmann Badtkabine Huh cubicle 1928

^

Sllflcfm mil Muiilrimlrummlril

Still lite with musk i| instrui

1 I 257
Acquired In 1927 by ib>- Su
Room 5 Ns Inventory no k I I
Stadtlsi hi i lak rli Im StaoV iichei * ui
I rankfurl im Mali I

/i.ji... M

...; iii. i„.„ i,

1427

Painting medlun i now n

173 ■ 1 68 « 118% m

C atalogui i H h l ii 'p. I 2t,7

V quired in 1427 bv the Stadnsth. I
Room 4, NS inventory no 16031
Location unknown

Figure 170

Beckmann. Lnbr,paar I l Lovers I), 1916

IU,Umu (Bath cubicle)

1928

i 'il on i anvas, 70 x 85 cm (27'/, x 33K in

( atalogue raisonne' Copel 297

Acquired in 1930 by the Neue Staatsgalerie Mun

Room 6, NS inventory no 16135

Bayerische Staatsgcmaldcsammlungen, Munich,

Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst Munich 1947

Figure t69

Piimer FiislmKhl i Parisian carnival

1930

Oil on canvas, 214 5 x 100 5 cm 34 t 39

Catalogue raisonne Copel 322
Acquired in 1912 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin
Room 3, NS inventory no 16002
Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich, 1974
Fiqurt 95

Ocfesmslii/ (Ox stall

1933

Oil on canvas, 86 x 118 cm (337. x 46Vi in )

Catalogue raisonne Copel 375

Acquired by exchange in 1914 by the Nationalgalene,

Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16128

Museum Wiesbaden, Verein zu Forderung der

bildendcn Kunst in Wiesbaden e V, Sammlung Hanna

Bekker vom Rath, 1987

Litbtipaar 1 1 Lovers 1 1

Exhibited as iiwchtungmei Paar (Embracing couple

Plate 4 Irom the portfolio (irsicrilrr (Faces I

1916

Etching, 23 3 x 296 cm 19'. x IP. in

Catalogue raisonne Hofmaier 88

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room C2, NS inventory no 16451

Location unknown, this print Alan Frumkin,

New York

FljKlf 1711

Kreuzabnabme (Deposition)

Plate 1 1 from the portfolio Gesicker ( Faces)

1918

Etching, 30 3 x 25.5 cm (11% x 10 in.)

Catalogue raisonne Hofmaier 131

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory nos 16361 and 16450

Location unknown, this print Collection of the

Crunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, University of

California, Los Angeles, gift of Mr and Mrs Stanley I

Talpis I Los Angeles only); Alan Frumkm, New York

(Chicago only)

Figure 171

Gardtwbt (Dressing room)
Exhibited as Paar (Couple)

Plate 2 from the portfolio Drr iahrmarh (The annual

fair)

1921

Etching, 207 x 147 cm (8'A x 5!A in )

Catalogue raisonne Hofmaier 192

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room G2, NS inventory no 16453

Destroyed, this print Los Angeles County Museum

of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for German

Expressionist Studies, M 82 28819b (Los Angeles

only), Alan Frumkm, New York (Chicago only)

?«,«« ,72

Die Celt/rr I The beggars)

Plate 7 from the portfolio Berliner Rrise (Berlin jou

1922

Lithograph, 465 x 335 cm (181/, x 1314 in )

Catalogue raisonne Hofmaier 219

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16448

Destroyed, this print Alan Frumkm, New York

Figure (73

Dii Fnllamcklm H (The disillusioned II)
Plate 6 from the portfolio Btrlinir Rt.se (B
1922

Lithograph, 48 x 38 cm ( 187. x 15 in )
Catalogue raisonne Hofmaier 218
Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Bei
Room C2, NS inventory no 16313
Destroyed, this print Alan Frumkm, Ne
Figure 174

rlin lourney)

Figure 171

Beckmann, Krtuzabnabme (Deposition), 191)

Figure 172

Beckmann, Garderobr (Dressing room), 1921

Figure 174

Beckmann, Die Enttamcblen 11 (The disillusioned II), 1922

Figure 173

Beckmann, Die Beltler (The beggars), 1922

Fastnacht Mardi |

1 ■ ';

1922

I tching 321 x 245 cm (12

I atatogui raisonru I lofmaii i 131

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room (.: NS inventory no if>4^2

I > m Jin in unknown, this prinl < ollei tion ol the

Crunwald C enter foi thi I iraphii Arts, University <>\

California, Los Angeles gifl ol Mi and Mrs Stanley I

lalpis I os Angeles only Man I rum kin, New York

( In. i; nly)

Figure m

I igure 175

Beckmann, Fastnacht (Mardi gras), 1922

Nackttanz (Striptease)

Plate i from the portfolio Berliner Rose I

1922

Lithograph, 475 x 375 cm ' in ' , x 14 ,
Catalogue raisonne I fofmaier 216
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresdcr
Room C,2 NS inventory no 16314
Location unknown, this print Alan In
New York
Figure 176

Herlm journey]

Figure 176

Beckmann, Nackttam Striptease ©23

Figure 177

Beckmann, Umarmun* (Embr;

Unuimunij I Embraced

1922

Etching, 42 x 24 5 cm (16V: x '»' i in

Catalogue raisonne Hofmaier 236

Acquired by the kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16402

Location unknown, this print Alan I rumkin

New York

Figure (77

Unidentified print exhibited as ( hristus uiui Titon.

(Christ and Thomas I

Etching, dimensions unknown

Acquired bv the kupterstichkabinett Dresden

Room C2, NS inventory no 16350

Location unknown

Unidentified print exhibited as Drehorttelnuntt

(Hurdy-gurdy man'

Medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Original location unknown

Room G2, NS inventory no 16449

Location unknown

Two unidentified graphic works

Medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Original location unknown

Room C.2, NS inventory nos 16454 and 16455

Location unknown

Rudolf Belling

Born 1886
Berlin

Died 1972
KraiUng

After his schooling and several jobs, Rudolf
Belling apprenticed with a Berlin company
specializing in small, three-dimensional
decorations while he attended night classes
in drawing and sculpture He worked inde-
pendently from 1908 onward, completing
commissions for theater owner and producer
Max Reinhardt and other theatrical patrons
In 1912 he began to study with the sculptor
Peter Breuer at the Kunstakademie (Acad-
emy of art) in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and
in 1914 he exhibited in the Crosse Berliner
Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin art exhibition!

After the First World War, into which
Belling was drafted in 1915, he became one
of the original members of the revolutionary
Novembergruppe (November group) in 1918
and a member of the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst
(Workers' council for art) He had significant
solo exhibitions in 1919 at Calerie Curlitt in
Berlin (where a plaster version of Dreiklang
[Triad, fig 178] was shown), Galerie
Flechtheim in Diisseldorf in 1920, and
Galerie Goyert in Cologne in 1921

On a more exotic note, Belling made
the mask for the main character of the film
Der Goletn (The golem), designed the first
kinetic fountain, made three-dimensional
advertising structures with architect Wassili
Luckhardt, and designed decorations for the
Scala Casino in Berlin In 1924 he received a
one-man exhibition at the Nationalgalerie,
which acquired a version of Dreiklang in
wood A number of his commissions at
this time, until 1932, were from German
and Dutch labor unions In 1931 he was
elected to membership in the prestigious
Preussische Akademie der Kiinste (Prussian

Figure 178

Belling, Drtiklang (Triad), 1924

Paul Bmdel

academy <>l .uis and Ins work was repre
sented in exhibits in New York and Zurich

Belting's teaching abilities made it
possible lor him to leave Germany when
the artistic climate worsened In 1935 he
exhibited and taught at the Anot Art School
in New York and in ilH7 through the inter
vention ol (he audited Hans Poelzig, he
emigrated to Turkey and taught at the Acad-
emy of Art and the Technical University in
Istanbul until 1965 While he was in Turkey,
his studio in Berlin containing many models
tor Ins work was destroyed in a bombing
raid

A number ol Bclling's works were con-
fiscated and destroyed in Germany in the
late 1930s Ironically, his two works in EnUir-
lete KuhsI, the Cubist-influenced Drtiklanti
and Kopf (Head, fig 1791, both impounded
trom the Berlin Nationalgalerie, were
quickly removed from tde exdibition when
it was pointed out that his bronze of the
boxer Max Schmeling was on view at the
same time in the officially approved
Croat Deutsche Kunstausstaluni) (Great
German art exhibition)

In 1955 the Federal Republic of Ger-
many awarded Belling a medal, and he was
reinstated in the Preussische Akademie In
1961 he received Berlin's city art prize He
returned to Germany from Turkey in 1966
and settled in Municd, wdere de was given a
major retrospective exdibition in 1967 and
an donorary doctorate by the Technical
University1 (PC)

Note

I Sec Will. Woltradt, Die ntut Plaslik, 3d cd

(Berlin E Reiss, 19201, J A Schmoll gen Eisenwerth,
"Turn Werk Rudolf Belling," in Rwiolj Brllimj (exh cat
by Helga Dorothea Hofmann, Munich Calerie Wolf-
gang Ketterer, 19671, Waldemar Crzimek, Drulscbr
BiM/wurr Jn zu'ilrtzitfstm !,ilir/ium(rrls Libnt, Sckkloi,
Wrrtuiuio! (Munich Heinz Moos, 1969), and Winfried
Nerdinger, Rudolf BtUint] und Jit K'uwshtromundni in Berlin
(<X8-(MJ (Berlin Deulscher Verlag fur kunst
wissenschaft, 1981)

Figure 179

Belling, Kopj (Head). 1925

Work in "Entartete Kunst

%

Hon: 1894

Magdeburg

Death dale

Ulll(HOII'H

Work in Entartete Kunst"

Kmibt mil Lampion Boy with paper lantern

MartilKJundt I Martinmas bov

1925

Painting, medium unknown,

77x73 cm (30 V. x2SV, in I

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtische Kunsts;

Dusseldorf

Room 7, NS inventory no 14166

Location unknown

DrakUmg i Triad I

1924

Wood, height 90 cm 135% in.)

Catalogue raisonne Nerdinger 20

Acquired in 1924 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no 15029

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Berln

1949, this version bronze, cast after 1950, private

collection

Fit/urr 178

Kopj I Head I

Porlral Tom FrrcJm I Portrait of Ton! Freeden)

1925

Brass, 383 x 22 5 x 22 cm (I5V« x 87. x 8V. in

Catalogue raisonne Nerdinger 49

Acquired in 1928 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no 15047

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Berhi

1949, this version Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

gift of the T B Walker Foundation

Fijiirt 179

Theo Briin

Max Burchartz

Fritz Burger Muhlf eld

Born (887
Elberfeld

Died 1961
Essm

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Dfr Scbauspitlet (The actor)

1927

Wood, height c 60 cm 1 23''. in I

Acquired by the Stadtisches Museum, Hagen

Room 3, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

SlilMim mil zuiei K.iniifii (Still life with two jugs)

1921

Painting, medium unknown, 74 x 56 cm (29'/. x 22 i

Acquired in 1923 by the Landesmuseum, Hannover

Room C2, NS inventory no 16221

Location unknown

The son of a factory worker, Fritz Burger-
Muhlfeld attended the Kunstgewerbeschule
(School of applied arts) in Munich in 1899
and then studied with Franz von Stuck and
Gabriel von Hackel at the Munich Kunst-
akademie (Academy of art) In 1909 he
began teaching a class in graphics at the
Werkkunstschule (Craft school) in Han-
nover He enlisted in the German army
in 1914 and served at the front in France,
Belgium, and Russia

m ■

m

tj±

ft

% -

* BURSfUS!!*.'

Burger-MuhHeld, Abstraktc Komposition (Abstr,
composition), 1923

Paul Camenisch

Heinrich Campendonk

Upon In-, return in 1916 Bui
Muhlfeld cofounded the I lannoversche
Sezession Hannover secession and began
to partk ipate along with Otto ( lleichmann,
in the Sezession's exhibitions In 1918 he was
appointed professor at the Vverkkunstschule
I It developed his partk ulai style ol painting
geometi i< t ompositions on glass at this time.
he exhibited these works in 1923 at Her-
warth Walden's Galerie l)er Sturm in Berlin
I lis work was also included in exhibitions
ol the Berlinei Sezession Berlin Secession
and was acquired by several museums

Two of Burger-Mtihlfeld's paintings,
Abilraktt (Composition -Abstract composition,
tit; Is'1 and /m flbMtw (In the theater) were
seized in 1937 from the Provinzialmuseum
in Hannover Abstrakll Komposition, oil on
glass, and another painting, Kreiscnac Formen
(Circling forms), from an unspecified col-
lection, were included in the Errdirlefe Kuiisl
exhibition

Burger Muhlfeld served in the army
of the Third Reich on the Russian front in
1942 On the occasion of his sixtieth birth-
day in 1963, he was given an exhibition at
the Augsburger Schaezler-Palais ' 'S B

1 See Werner Schumann, /Wr-AMI/fU

Cottingen Musterschmidt Verlag, 1967)

Work in Entartete Kunst"

Kmsm&t Formm i Circling forms)
Exhibited as Abstmkk KomposilioH
Vbstracl composition)
1922

Oil on glass 43 \ ]4i cm 16 ■ 9 il
Original location unknown
Room 7 NS inventory no unrecorded
Location unknown

AbUraktr Kompostltoti 'Abstract composition

Gtstajftlta k.ium 1 Layered space)

1923

( 'il .in glass, 46 x 27 cm US'- x 10 in

Acquired in 1929 by the Provinzialmuseum Hannover

Room 7 NS inventory no 1421 1

Private collection

Figure 180

Bom 1893

Zurich Switzerland

1 in. 11 i" 1

Basel Switzerland

Work in Entartete Kunst

m&msln Bilibaum Htrmam Scbew

l'< in r. nt of the soil plot I le 1 tn. 1 nn Si herei
1926
Painting, medium unknown, 114 x 791 cm

44 - s II1. Ill

Acquired by the Museum lolkwang I ssen
Stiftung von i: L Kirchner
Room 3, NS inventory no 15968

C ampendonk was an Expressionist from

the Rhineland a former pupil of the Dutch
painter, mosaieist and stained glass designer
Ian Thorn-Prikker at the Kunstgewerbe-

Schule School ol applied arts in kit l< Id
( ampendonk became the youngest member
of the Bltfitt Ktiter 1 Blue Rider- group in 1911
At the invitation ol August Macke he moved
to Sindelsdorf in Bavaria to be close to
Franz Marc and to participate in the two
Blaue Keiler exhibitions at Galerie Thann-
hauser and Calene Coltz in Munich
Emulating the styles of Marc Chagall,
Wassily Kandinsky and Marc, Campendonk
developed his own decorative style of paint-
ing, depicting images of idyllic scenery in
which he placed fairy-tale people and ani-
mals He participated in the Enter deutscher
Herbstsalon (First German autumn salon in
1913 at Herwarth Walden's Calerie Der
Sturm in Berlin, initiating an association
that would come to haunt him later in life
Campendonk's commercial success before
the First World War was sporadic He told
Walden that before the war the Frankfurt
dealer Alfred Flechtheim had taken all his
pictures, and whenever something sold he
gave the artist 75 reichsmarks per month '

After the war Campendonk became
a member of the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst
1 Workers' council for art), another affiliation
that was hurtful to his career when the
National Socialists came to power a few
years later In 1921 his contact with
Katherine Dreier's Socicte Anonyme pro-
vided for his first exhibition in the United
States he would succeed Kandinsky as vice-
president of the Societe in 19441 The 1920s
marked a series of successes for the young

Campendank

Figure 181

Campendonk, Btrgzitgtn (Mountain goats), 1917

artist an appointment to the municipal
theater in Kxefeld in 1922 as a stage designer
was followed immediately by an offer from
the kunstgewerbeschule in Essen in 1923 In
1926 he accepted a position at the Diissel-
dorf Akademie as successor to his teacher,
Thorn-Prikker, who had been so important
in the development of modern art in the
Rhineland The academy was under the
leadership of Dr Walter Kaesbach, who was
creating a center for modern art Kaesbach
also hired Paul Klee, whom Campendonk
had met during his Blaue Rater days In addi-
tion to teaching in Dusseldorf Campendonk
worked mainly on stained-glass windows in
Thorn-Prikker's style for churches and other
public buildings In early 1933, however, an
attack that virtually destroyed his atelier sig-
naled the beginning of the end of the artist's
success in Germany

The enactment of the Gesetz zur
Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums
(Professional civil service restoration act)
on April 7, 1933, prepared the way for the
dismissal of any art professional on either
political or racial grounds Campendonk
received the news of his termination at the
Dusseldorf Akademie while he was on vaca-
tion in Norway in the summer of 1933 He
did not return to Dusseldorf but fled to
Amsterdam by way of the Ardennes and
Ostend in Belgium Within weeks examples
of his work appeared in the exhibition
Spiegtlbildcr des Verfalh m der Kuml (Images of
decadence in art), which opened in Dresden
on September 23, 1933 A review of the
exhibition in the December 16 issue of the
illustrated journal of the National Socialist
party Ulustriertcr Beobachter, mentioned his
Badende (Bather) of 1920-21, which was
judged degenerate because of Campendonk's
use of color and dissolution of form Badmdt
reappeared in the Entartcte Kwiist exhibition,
one of six of his works culled from eighty-
seven that had been removed from public
collections and museums in Germany His
painting Sprinjettdes PJerd (Leaping horse) of
1911 was displayed in the same exhibition
with the explanatory word Dada appended
to it It was immaterial to the National

Socialists thai Campendonk's work was not
at all socially critical or revolutionary, a fact
thai was patently obvious from Ins imagery
ot shepherds ami animals m bucolic settings

I lis association with W'aldcn's Galerie Der
Sturm was enough to brand him a "cultural
Bolshevist" Ironically, at the same time he
was defamed in his native land, C ampen-
donk was awarded the grand prize for a
three-part window design at the Exposition
HiniYrsfllf in Paris

On May 10, 1940, Holland was
occupied by the German Reich With the
help of Thorn-Prikker — and against con-
siderable resistance from Dutch artists —
Campendonk had been appointed to a
position as professor at the Riiksakademie
(National academy i in Amsterdam in 1935
Now; to avoid persecution, he withdrew and
hid at the home of friends until the end ot
the war Records in the state archives in
Koblenz demonstrate that his was a wise
decision By 1942 Nazi surveillance had
caught up with him on August 8 National
Socialist headquarters in The Hague
requested from Dusseldorf any derogatory
information that might be on record about
the artist The Reichskulturkammer (Reich
chamber of culture i had been instructed to
censure every activity of Campendonk in
Germany because he had been promoted
primarily by the "Communist" periodical Der
Sturm (The storm! and because he had been
a member of the Roten Arbeiterrates fur
die kunst i Red workers' council for art)
Again, on August 27, the Gestapo wrote to
Dusseldorf for any information, specifically
of a criminal or political nature, that might
be on record about Campendonk On Sep-
tember 1 1 Dusseldorf issued a response "As
far as can be determined, as an artist Cam-
pendonk followed Communistic ideas and
was a promoter of degenerate art " More
information was sent on September 24, to
the effect that in the years after the First
World War, at the beginning of his career,
Campendonk s work was not in harmony
with current artistic standards, although
it appeared that his creations were less an
expression of his political leanings than

a product of the times Campendonk's

success, and that ot his students outside
Germany was also mentioned The report
concluded that it could not be determined
from the personnel records at the Rhein
ische Kunstakademie ( Rhenish academy
ot art) in Dusseldorf whether Campen-
donk was negatively perceived at the
academy because of his political beliefs, it
was only recorded that he was dismissed
under the terms of the Gesetz zur Wicder-
herstellung des Berutsbeamtentums -1 The
defamatory methods employed by the
Gestapo relied on insinuation and impu-
tation, against which the artist had no
recourse The persecution caused trauma for
Campendonk, as it did tor many other exiles
in similar situations, even years after the
actual experience

Campendonk remained in Amsterdam
after the war, fulfilling a number of stained-
glass commissions for public institutions in
several cities, including Bonn, Dusseldorf,
Essen, and Munster In 1956, a year before
his death, he was awarded the Quellinus
Prize by the city of Amsterdam (D G )

Nolrs

1 Theda Shapiro, fiinilm ,md Politics Thr Europran
Aomt-GaiJt and Socnty (New York Elsevier, 1976), 75

2 Vrrbolm. mjolgl Kumttliklatw m j Rticfc (exh cat
by Barbara Lepper, Duisburg Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-
Museum, 1983), 68-71

Work in Entartete Kunst

S(irini)mJr- /'("J I raping h

c 1912

Painting medium unknown

in
C atalogue raisonne' Firmenich 144
Donated in 1924 to the Natkmalgale
Room \ NS inventory no IS'iX-l
Location unknown

/WniJr Fmuoi mil Fisih I Bathing women with lish

Exhibited as [itiJtnJt Mcmptibcba Bather mermaid

1915

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Catalogue raisonne Firmenich 502

D Stegmann, on loan to the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16199

Location unknown

BtigzitQm I Mountain goats

Exhibited as Blumm u»i Ttcrr i Flowers and animals!

1917

Oil on canvas, 74 3 x 489 cm (29% x I9M in

Catalogue raisonne Firmenich 692

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16 198

A Alfred Taubman

Fidun mi

Tint uiJ Hirlr (Animals and herdsman'

SirMslorj

1920

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Catalogue raisonne Firmenich 834

Donated in 1921 to the Kunsthalle Karls

Room 3, NS inventory no 15981

Location unknown

Im Ijtbirjt I In the mountains

Exhibited as fflumni uiiJ Titrt I Flowers and animals

1922

Oil on canvas, 98 x 140 cm (38'/! x 55V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Firmenich H4|

Acquired in 1922 bv the Stadtische Galenc, Frankfurt

Room 5, NS inventory no 16090

On commission to Buchholz, sold 1940, location

unknown

Zu'fi Frauen m rmrm Trick (Two women in a pond)

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknov,

Original location unknown

Room Cl NS inventory no 16200

Location unknown

Karl Caspar

Born (879
\' Friedricbsbafm

Died (956
Brannenbun)

Karl Caspar was the only artist based in
Munich who was included in the Entarlete
Kims! exhibition A well-known figure in
the city's artistic life and a professor at the
Munich Akademie, where he had held a
chair since 1922, Caspar was particularly
admired, especially by the progressive
clergy for his religious paintings, which
abstained from the sweetness and sentimen-
tality that was dominant at the beginning of
the century His multipartite altarpiece of
1916 depicting the Passion of Christ, now in
the crypt of the Liebfrauenkirche (Church
of Our Lady) in Munich, was well received
and led to a variety of commissions from
that church '

Caspar cofounded the Neue Miinchner
Sezession (New Munich secession) in 1914
and as a two-term president was instrumen-
tal in promoting a number of important
exhibitions, including the work of Lovis
Corinth and large collections of modern
art He served on the presidium of the
Deutscher Kiinstlerbund (Association of
Cerman artists) Caspar had a number of
national and international exhibitions and
in 1927 received a prestigious commission
to paint the choir of Bamberg Cathedral
The cities of Munich and lllm organized
large retrospective exhibitions in honor
of his fiftieth birthday in 1929

The persecution of Caspar by the
National Socialists began in 1932, although
as early as 1928 the party paper, Vblkhcber
Beobachler, had printed insulting remarks
about the artist and his work He began to
receive derogatory postcards from anony-
mous writers criticizing his painting More
publicly in the June 15, 1932, issue of the
Volkiscber Beobachler, critic Franz Hofmann

Figure 182

Caspar, Auferstebunjj (Resurrection), 1926

described Caspar's pictures as looking "as if
they have been painted with elbows dipped
in paint "2 In 1933, after he refused to sign a
protest against author Thomas Mann in one
of the Nazi-initiated "signatory actions"
trumped up to discredit well-known enemies
of the regime, Caspar was informed that his
Cerman sensibilities were clearly not reli-
able He was also told that it appeared that
he neglected to teach form properly in his
classes and that he would have to learn to
paint differently in keeping with the new
spirit In order to continue working, Caspar
became a member of the obligatory
Reichskammer der bildenden Kiinste (Reich
chamber of visual arts) in 1934, nonetheless,
his design for a stained-glass window for
Augsburg Cathedral was rejected

In February 1935 Caspar was required
to submit documentation of Aryan ancestry
for himself and his wife, the painter Maria
Caspar-Filser One of her works, accepted
for the exhibition 50 Jabre Miinchner Land-
schaftsmalerei und Bildnisplastik (Fifty years of
Munich landscape painting and portrait

sculpture) at the Neue Pinakothek in 1936,
was removed by Adolf Wagner, National
Socialist leader for the Munich district,
because it was deemed "degenerate " In May
1937 the Caspars exhibited their work for
the last time at the Kunsthaus Schaller in
Stuttgart That year Caspar was put in the
position of having to guide Adolf Hitler
through various artists' studios in Munich
and had to listen to the Fiihrer's comments
even about his own work On one such
occasion Caspar reportedly told the chan-
cellor, "Excellency you don't understand
anything about this"3

Caspar and his wife were represented
in the seventh gallery on the upper floor of
Entartete Kunst, along with faculty members
of several other major Cerman academies
of art, under the heading, "These are the
masters who have been teaching Cerman
youth'" His three paintings — Aufersttbutu)
(Resurrection, fig 182), Drfi Frauen am Grabe
[Ostersonne) (Three women at the tomb
[Easter sun]), and Jacob ringi mit dem Engel
(Jacob wrestling with the angel) — were seen

Maria Caspar-Filser

lor only a few days Room 7 was closed to
tin public shortlv after the exhibition
opened muc« was possible by special pei
mission perhaps because the gallery also
contained a work by I dvard Munch and
protests had been received from the Nor-
wegian embassy '

Despite his inclusion in Entartett KuhsI
(, aspar was not dismissed from hts chair at
the Akademie In August 1937 he asked for a
leave of absence until his position was Jar
ified, not until December did he receive an
answei granting the leave One month later
Ins former student Hermann Kaspar was
appointed by the National Socialists to take
over his classes There was obvious confu
sion in the press and some documents as a
result of the similarity of the names, and
Caspar was also confused with the sculptor
Ludwig Kaspar upon whose death Maria
Caspar-Filscr received a letter of condolence
from the Akademie, calling Kaspar "one of
our own "s

Caspar began to fear for his lite, and
after he experienced a physical breakdown,
he and his family withdrew in 1939 to their
country house in Rrannenburg, where he
was able to build a studio addition the
following year The torbidden painting
materials he was able to obtain with the help
of friends he gave to his wife, however, and
confined himself to drawing until the end of
the war He was restored to his post at the
Akademie in 1946, where as a representative
of the defamed modern period he attracted
large numbers of students Caspar resumed
his role in the art-politics of Munich but
met with a series of disappointments in his
efforts to transcend the tendency toward
mediocrity that characterized the postwar
activities of rebuilding and restoration His
proposal that Max Beckmann, Otto Dix,
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Edwin Scharff be
appointed to the Akademie was defeated on
a secret ballot Perhaps his greatest disap-
pointment was the rejection of his design
for the crypt of Munich Cathedral as "too
daring" in 1953,-" four years before his death
Caspar's work was still considered provoca-
tive and shocking7 (D G, P. C)

Nolo

1 werner Haftmartn, Banned ami Pmmttal I M toloi
ibip of Art under Hitler u.ms Eileen Martin I ologni
DuMont I9M <<<

2 Armin /went "I ran2 I lofmann und die Stadt
is. h. i lalerie 1937," in Peter Klaus Schuster, ed, D«

Kunststail Muii.l'oi 1937 NalionalsozuUsmu unJ "EnlarttU

K i Munich Prestel 1987), 265

< K.nl I leinz Meissnei Munx hen ist ein heii ■ [
Boden \bei wit gewinnen ihn allmahiich doch,'" in
Schuster Di< Kmslstadi Miincben, 47

4 Zwcite, "Franz Hofmann," 275

5 Haftmann, Bamtd and Pmeattti 265

t> Eduard Hindelang ed Karl Caspar am mt

Langcnargen Museum I angenargi n C "'' ">

7 Sec also Ham, Ernst Drr Mala Karl < asfai
Munich Akademie der Kiinste 1953 Karl Caspar
Das aidmeriscbe Kirk (exh cat, Reutlingen Hans
Thoma-Cesellschaft, 1973), Peter-Klaus Schuster
ed , "Miincbai Icucbtete" Karl Caspar und dtt Emeuerung
c/jrisllicrrrr Kunst in Munchm urn 1900 (exh cat, Munich
Haus der kunst 1984), and Karl-Heinz Meissner,
Ofut'rf Vbrza'dntis drr GrapbU K.nl ( .isiur (forthcoming)

Work in Entartete Kunst

latch ringt mil dm Emlrl i Jacob wrestling with the angel

1917

Oil on canvas, 110 x 87 cm (4314 x 34% in

Acquired in 1918 by the Neue Staatsgalene, Munich

Room 7, NS inventory no 14262

On commission to Boehmer 1939, location unknown

Dm Fraum am Grabr (Three women at the tomb)

Osttrsoime (Easter sum

1919

Oil on canvas. 95 x 77 cm (37% x 30% in I

Acquired in 1924 by the Neue Staatsgalene, Mun

Room 7 NS inventory no 14260

On commission to Boehmer, 1939 location unkn

AujtrstAmj (Resurrection

Ostein i Easter)

1926

Oil on canvas, 97 x 80 cm ( 38'/. x 31' : in

Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtische Calene in

Lenbachhaus, Munich

Room 7 NS inventory no 14261

Stadtische Calene im Lenbachhaus, Munich

FiJurr is2

Dial i""s
Braimcnburg

Work in Entartete Kunst

laniscbafl h« BaUrn Landscape "ear Baldern

Wmltrlaitiscbafi (Winter land api

1932

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Neue Staatsgalene Munich (on

deposit by the artist

Room 7 NS inventory no 154 19

On commission to Boehmer rHM location unkn

Pol Cassel

Marc Chagall

Born (892
Munich

Died 1945
Kisckinjow, Russia

Work in Entartete Kunst

Mannlicba fii/dim ( Portrait of a man)
Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtmuseum Dresde
Room Gl, NS inventory no 16163
Location unknown

Born 1887

Vitebsk, Russia

Died 1985
Venct. France

The two paintings and two watercolors
by Marc Chagall that were included in the
£nlijrlflf Knits! exhibition of 1937 in Munich
were an indication of the Nazis' fear of
imagination and their hatred for anything
Jewish or Eastern European The charming
but powerful translations into visual imagery
of the artists childhood memories of the
ghetto in Vitebsk and the tales and fables
he heard there caused Andre Breton to hail
him as the rediscoverer of the metaphorical
content of painting

Chagall began his art studies in
Vitebsk in 1907 and later went to Saint
Petersburg, where for three months he
attended Leon Bakst's school In 1910 a law-
yer who had bought two of Chagall's early
paintings provided him with the means for a
trip to Paris, where he saw all the contem-
porary artistic innovations, from Fauvism to
Cubism, each of which left its mark on his
works He was able to stay in France until
1914, because writer Blaise Cendrars per-
suaded the dealer Malpel to offer Chagall a
contract that would pay him 250 francs per
month in return for seven small paintings

During an evening in the home of the
poet Cuillaume Apollinaire, Chagall met
Herwarth Walden A few of Chagall's works
had been exhibited at Walden's Galerie Der
Sturm in Berlin in 1913 in the famous frslfr
deuischer Herbstsalon (First German autumn
salon), in 1914 Walden put on Chagall's first
one-man show, with more than two hundred

Figure 183

Chagall, Wmttr, 1911/12

works mi view ( hagall went to Berlin foi .1
short time to view Ins exhibition and then
traveled on to Vitebsk to see Ins Future first
wile Bella

When wai broke out in 1914 ( hagall

was drafted into tin- Russian army and had
a disk job in Saint Petersburg He had a
small exhibition with a group called lack
of Diamonds After the revolution he was
appointed art commissar for Vitebsk, a posi-
tion he lost when some of the art professors,
under the leadership of Kasimir Malevich,
rebelled Moving to Moscow, he painted sets
for the newly founded lewish State Theater
When the freedom of artists was curtailed,
Chagall left Russia, returning in 1922 to
Germany where according to correspon-
dence from his friend, poet and essayist
Ludwig Rubiner, he had become famous
during the war, in 1917 the Calene Der
Sturm had organized another one-man
exhibition included his paintings in many of
its group exhibitions, and published a book
on his work ' Chagall's imaginative, meta-
phorical images had a liberating influence
on many of the German Expressionists and
influenced the development of Surrealism

After Chagall arrived in Berlin in 1922,
a bitter argument with Walden ensued when
the artist was offered compensation for the
works that had been sold during the war
in nearly worthless inflation currency His
anger subsided, however, as Walden con-
tinued to exhibit his work and published
a second edition ot the book in 1923 The
Berlin art dealer and publisher Paul Cassirer
commissioned Chagall to make a series of
prints to accompany his autobiography, the
text was later abandoned and the illustra-
tions published as a portfolio, as well as
being sold as single prints The Galerie Lutz
in Berlin gave Chagall another one-man
exhibition Despite his success in Germany
Chagall returned to France in 1923 and
remained there until the war He received
a one-man exhibition at the Galerie
Barbazanges-Hodebert in Paris in 1924

The inclusion of a Russian/French artist
in Entiirtrfr Kunst was probably due to the
fact that Chagall had achieved fame in

Figure i«4

( hagall Parm or Dnfszmt (Village

Germany through the Galerie Der Sturm
exhibitions and the reproduction of many of
his works in German journals Three ol the
four works in the exhibition, the paintings
Dorfszoif (Village scene, fig IH4 : Die Prise
iRabbmer) (The pinch of snuff [Rabbi],
fig 118), and Winter (fig 183), were from
early in his career (1911/18) and were hung
in the Jewish" gallery 1 Room 2 ' on the
upper floor

In 1941, shortly before the Nazis
occupied France, Chagall accepted an invi-
tation from the Museum of Modern Art to
come to New York, where he remained until
1946, except for a six-month stay in Mexico
He then returned to France and settled in
Saint-Paul-de-Vence Among his works, his
stained-glass windows in New York and
Jerusalem and his illustrations for the Bible
and Nicolai Gogol's Dead Souls gained him
international acclaim : (P G)

Note

1 Mar, Chagall, Sturm-Bilderbuch, no I (Berlin
Der Sturm, 1917, 2d ed 1923)

2 See Marc Chagall. Ma Vk, trans Bella Chagall
(Pans Stock. 1931). Waldemar George, Marc Chagall,
Les peintres francos nouveaux, no 31 (Paris Libraine
Callimard, 19281, lames lohnson Sweeney Marc Chagall
(exh cat , New York The Museum o( Modern Art,
1946), Franz Meyer and Hans Bolligcr, Marc Chagall His
Grapbc Work (London Thames and Hudson, 1957),
Meyer, Marc Chagall Ltbcn und Wcrk (Cologne DuMont
Schauberg, 1961), Walter Erben, Marc Chagall, trans
Michael Bullock, rev ed (New York Praeger 1966)

Work in Entartete Kunst

Wmln

1911/12

Watercolor and gouache on paper, 48 5 x 62 3 cm
I 19'/. X 24'': in

Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtische Calene Frankfurt
Room 2, NS inventory no 15957, Fischer lot 16
Ottentliche Kunstsammlung Basel
Kupferstichkabmett 1939
Ftgurt is l

DiePrist (The pinch of snufl

Rahhmcr i Rabbi i

1912

Oil on canvas, 117 x 895 cm 16

Acquired in 1928 by the Kunsthallc Mannheim

Room 2, NS inventory no 15956 Fischer lot 17

Kunstmuseum Basel, 1939

Fulwt lis

Purm

Dorfszcm (Village scene)

l lOlh is

Oil on canvas, 50 5 x 72 cm

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang Essen

Room 2, NS inventory no 15949

Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louis E Stern

Collection

Figure isi

Maimer mil Kuh (Men with cow
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired bv the Museum Folkwang,
Room C2, NS inventory no 16429
Location unknown

Lovis Corinth

Born (858

Tapiau, East Prussia

Twelve years after the death of Lovis Cor-
inth seven of his paintings were included
in the Entarlck Kunsl exhibition While he
was not the only Impressionist and former
member of the Berliner Sezession ( Berlin
secession) to be defamed, the National
Socialists did pay him singular attention In
Der My thus des 20 Jahrhunderls (The myth of
the twentieth century, 1930) Nazi ideologue
Alfred Rosenberg credited Corinth with a
certain robustness but criticized him for
favoring the "slimy pallid mongrelization
that characterized the new Syrian Berlin "'
Hans Adolf Buhler, the organizer of the 1933
exhibition Retjieruntfikunst (9(8-1933 (Govern-
ment art 1918-1933) in Karlsruhe, included
paintings by Corinth Entartcte Kimst
organizer Adolf Ziegler used him as an
example of the degenerate artists whose
work museum and gallery directors had
been inclined to exhibit prior to the advent
of the National Socialist regime and went
on to imply that Corinth had only become
interesting to this group after his stroke,
when he could only produce sick, obscure
smears 2

Emblazoned across the wall on which
Corinth's paintings were exhibited was the
legend, "Decadence exploited for literary
and commercial purposes," and under two of
the works were labels reading, "Painted after
the first stroke" and "Painted after the second
stroke"' Corinth's style had indeed been
transformed in 1911, when, at the age of
fifty-three, he became ill Deeper emotional
intensity and a nervous restlessness thereaf-
ter characterized his work From 1912 until
his death he produced almost five hundred
paintings and about one thousand graphics

Figure 185

Corinth, Kind m Brtlcfcni (Child in a crib), 1924

in the new style — about half his life's work
Not until the advent of the National Socialist
government was his late style seen as a
pathological mirror-image of his illness

Corinth's first change in style — from
the "realism" he adopted under the tutelage
of academic painters William Bougereau and
Tony Robert-Fleury in Paris to one influ-
enced by Jugendstil and Arnold Bocklin
in Munich in 1893 — had been far better
received As a member of the Mtinchner
Sezession (Munich secession), founded in
1892, Corinth rejected academicism and the
techniques of the salon painters that he had
studied at the Academie Julian in Paris His
first great success came in 1895 with the sale
of his KreuZabnahme (Deposition), which had
won second prize at the exhibition at the
Munich Glaspalast In 1898, simultaneous
with a move to Berlin, he abandoned the
Jugendstil influence The newly founded
Berliner Sezession and the Calerie Paul Cas-
sirer were frequently exhibiting the work of

Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van
Gogh, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet,
Georges Seurat, and Paul Signac, with Max
Liebermann and Max Slevogt, Corinth
became one of the main representatives of
German Impressionism He opened an art
school in 1902 that attracted as its first stu-
dent Charlotte Berend, who became his
wife, and, beginning in 1907, August Macke
When the Freie Sezession (Free secession)
was formed in 1913 with Liebermann at the
head, Corinth took over the leadership of
the Berliner Sezession, whose membership
consisted of the younger generation 4

At this time Corinth achieved great
fame as a portrait painter and continued to
paint pictures of his friends and acquain-
tances after his stroke In 1924 a portrait of
the Weimar Republic's president, Friednch
Ebert, hinted at Corinth's interest in poli-
tics, as did a death-mask drawing of the

I i^inc 186

i orinth Dai Injamscbt Pjtri I [Tie Trojan horse 1924

Figure IH7

Corinth, VicrwaliiWimti

, Nai I'm. (Li,) I ake Lucerne in the afternoon 1924

Corinth, Bildnii da Malm Brnil GrimvoU I Bortrail o( the

painter hcrnt Grdnvold1) 1923

revolutionary Karl Liebknecht in 1920 A
portrait of Liebknecht as an orator appeared
in Corinth's Gesammellen Scbrijten (Collected
works! in 1920, with the caption, "Long live
world revolution "5 A self-portrait engraved
on November 10, 1918, was titled simply
Revolution Included in Entarlele Kunsl was
another of Corinth's portraits, a hollow-
eyed, ghostlike depiction of the painter
Bernt Gronvold (fig 188), a friend from his
student days, painted in 1923

Two hundred ninety-five works by
Corinth were confiscated from public
institutions, only seven of these were
exhibited in Entiirtete Kunsi Three paintings
were from the Berliner Nationalgalene Kind
im Bellcben (Child in a crib, fig 185), sold at
the Calene Fischer auction in Lucerne in
1939, Das trojanische Pferd (The Trojan horse,
fig 186), described by gallery director Lud-
wig lusti as "loosely composed of spots of
color," which was returned to the gallery
with the proviso that it not be shown with-
out special permission, and Ecce Homo (fig
31), now in the Kunstmuseum Basel Cor-
inth finished Ecce Homo at Eastertime in
1925, three months before his death, having
worked on it for more than ten years The
painting was bought for the Nationalgalerie
by lusti, who placed it in an exhibition
room specially prepared for it6 In 1931 the
respected art journalist Karl Scheffler called
the work "academic art in a state of patho-
logical dissolution "7

The National Socialists condemned
Corinth's late work as degenerate because of
its "lack of technical and artistic skill "8 In
January 1958, twenty-one years after the
Enlarkle Kunsl exhibition, the Nationalgalerie
sponsored a retrospective of Corinth's paint-
ings, featuring precisely those works
produced after 1911 (D C)

Figure 189

idscbafl (Walchensee landscape), 1924

Notts

1 Reinhard Merker, Die bildmdm Kunsle im
Nationalsozialismus (Cologne DuMont, 1983), 63

2 Ibid, 145

3 loseph Wulf, Dir bildmdm Kmsti im Drill™ Rcicb
Em, Dokummlalwn (Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullstein,
1983), 48

4 Mechthild Frick, Lows Corinth (Berlin Henschel,
1984), 5-12

5 Frick, Lovis Corinth, 1 1

6 Ibid, 10

7 Georg Bussmann, "Lovis Corinth The Late
Works," in Cmmin Art m ibt 20ll' Cmtury Painting and
SciW/tlurf 1905-1985 (exh cat , London Royal Academy
of Arts, 1985), 436

8 Ibid

Work in "Entartete Kunsl"

ivold)

Bildms de> Malm Bern! Cr0.1l.0W

(Portrait of the painter Bernt Cn

1923

Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm (3I'A x 237. in )

Catalogue raisonne: Berend-Connth p 168, pi XX

Acquired in 1923 by the Kunsthalle Bremen

Room 6, NS inventory no 16149, Fischer lot 24

Kunsthalle Bremen

Figure 188

Kcgmstimmung am Walchaatr

(Rainy mood on Walchensee)

Walcbcnsalandicbajl (Walchensee landscape)

1923

Painting, medium unknown, 70 x 100 cm

(27'A x 397, in )

Catalogue raisonne Berend-Corinth 928

Acquired in 1935 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 6, NS inventory no 16153

On commission to Gurl.tt, sold 1941, location

unknown

Heinrich
Davringhausen

Walter Dexel

Kind i m Bmdm s hild in a crib

Exhibited as Kind imLmJstall < hild in II

1924

I HI on canvas S3 (124cm 13 «48 in
I atalogue raisonn^ Berend-C orinth 946
Acquired in 1926 by the Nationalgalerie Berlin

K n 6 Ns Inventor] no I6I5Q I isi hi i lot !3

Vlfred Neven Durvlont ( ologne 1983

h<lut( M •

Dm Irojmixbt Pfiri (The Trojan horse)

1924

Oiion canvas 105 k 135 cm n. < ^^, in

Catalogue i.nsonne Berend-( orinth 960

Donated in 1926 to the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room t. Ns inventory no 1615 '

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesirz,

Nationalgalerie Berlin, 1953

FljHff IHft

■

IfoniMUslaltarsre .im Nacbmittag

Lake Lucerne in the afternoon)

1924

Oil cm canvas, 57 x 75 cm (22ft x 291 in

Catalogue raisonne Berend-( orinth 95!

Acquired m 1925 bv the Ncue Staatsgalene, Mi

Room 6 NS inventory no 16155

Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1951

Figurt is7

Bom ivn

Aih Iitii

/ )ied 1970

Nil i l rim' i

Bom 1890
Munich

Did 1973
Braunschweig

Work in Entartete Kunst

Monddurchs Foistn (Moon through the window)

1922

Oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm i 27", x 31ft in I

Catalogue raisonne Heusinger von Waldegg 102

Acquired in 1922 by the Ruhmcshalle

Barmen/Wuppertal

Room 5 NS inventory no 161 17

Location unknown

Work in Entartete Kunst

Loltomoliiir i Locomotive

c 1921

Oil on canvas, 70 x 82 Cm l 27V, x 32'/. I

Acquired in 1922 bv the Ruhmeshalle

Barmen Wuppertal

Room 3, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

AfistrtiJclr Komfwilion 'Abstract composition
Oil on glass, 347 x 46 cm (13 - ■ is in
Acquired in 1929 bv the Landcsmuseum, Hannover
Room 5, NS inventory no unrecorded
Location unknown

rf,ilJ'oisrrl.iii.isJ',i/l W'alchensc-c landscape)
Da kebbcrgam Watcbema
Hi, lochberg on Walchensee)
1924

Oil on canvas, 65 x 88 cm 25 ■ \ ^4 , in
Catalogue raisonne Berend-Connth 95H
Acquired in I92X bv the Kunsthalle Mannhcu
Room 6, NS inventory no 16154
Museum Osideutsche Calerie Regensburg
Fijiirr ik<j

Eccf Homo

1925

Oil on canvas. 189 x I4S cm I.74V4 x 58'A in )

(atalogue raisonne Berend Corinth p 182

Acquired in 1929 bv the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room n, NS inventory no 16151

Kunstmuseum Basel 1939

Fijiirf II

Johannes Diesner

Otto Dix

Birth date unknown
Death dale unknown

Work in Entartete Kunst

Blinder (Blind man)

Plaster, dimensions unknown
Donated in 1921 to the Schlesiscl
bildenden Kunst, Breslau
Room 5, NS inventory no 8350
Destroyed

Otto Dix was the commander of a machine-
gun unit during the First World War and like
many of his compatriots was unable to forget
his war experiences His art in subsequent
years was ammunition aimed at the contem-
porary world and an indictment of mili-
tarism Dix's attack on bourgeois society
and its morality took the form of grotesque
erotic imagery, grim humor characterized
his depiction of sexual perversion Because
of Diis Madchen vor dem Spiegel (Girl in front of
the mirror), exhibited in Berlin in 1923, he
was brought to trial on a morals charge for
the dissemination of obscene pictures The
artist Max Slevogt testified on his behalf,
and he was acquitted '

Dix's objective documentation of war
undermined the German idea of heroism It
destroyed the naive illusions of his country-
men, whose misguided belief in an honor-
able death for the fatherland failed to take
the reality of that death into account The
painting Kriujskriippel (War cripples), for
example, included in the first Dada exhibi-
tion at Galene Burchard in Berlin, shows
a macabre parade of maimed survivors
His series of fifty pacifist etchings, Der Krieg
(War), based on wartime sketchbooks and
completed six years after the war's end,
illustrated the daily life of the soldier and
the horror of combat Der Schiitzentfraben
(The trench) was the centerpiece of an
exhibition mounted by the group Nie
wieder Krieg (No more war) and sent
from city to city in Germany2 The
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum's attempt
to buy the painting in 1925 was thwarted
by pressure exerted by Conrad Adenauer,
then mayor of Cologne, who found the
painting offensive to German sensibilities '

Figure 190

Dix, Km^ikrupttel (War cripples), 1920

Figure 191

Dix ScfcwM Skull from the portfolios Do- Kr/« (War),

1924, 257 x 195 cm (IO'/« x 77. in )

I i«uri- 192

Dix, Tolrr. S.nni ( lAnrnl (Dead man Sainl ( lemen

from Do Kr«i, 294 x 2S9 cm (ll"S x Id1/, in

I igure 193

I lis rrmsplmMion ■ skin gr.ili from Ikt Kritf,

I4H x 14.9 mi i"1, x 5 '- m

Figure 19-1

Dix MaWzol m d« S.ifiJ>r. torrllolwfcr (Mealtime in the trench, Loretto heights) fr

Drr Krir,,, 196 x 29 cm (7V, x I IV. in

Figure 195

Dix, I'rru'iinJrlcr, Htrbsl mi>. ftifkiumr (Wounded I

Drr Krry, 197 x 29 cm (77, x I IV. in )

utumn 1416 Hapaumei from

^^S. \ Jw'mti

ta^T

Hi jZJm1£

Eajnfl

jr~ >.™^^_ 3

Mil

d_wE^L* v

Figure 196

Dix, P/mMU„iYr i Horse cadaverl from Drr Krir*), 14 5 x 197 cm (5% x 7V, in )

Figure 197

Dix Sliirmlrufifir Jrl'l unltr G<!S ix>r iShock troops adv

196 x 291 cm (7V. x II in

rider gas Irom Drr Kny,

After the war Dix continued his
studies at the Kunstakademie (Academy of
art) in Dresden While there, he joined the
Dresdner Sezession Cruppe 1919 (Dresden
secession group 1919) and the Rote Cruppe
(Red group) in Berlin,4 which comprised
intellectuals pledged to ultraradical politics
He became a member of the Internationale
Arbeiterhilfe (International workers' aid)
in 1921 and participated in the Erste deulsche
allgemeine Kunstausstellung (First general Ger-
man art exhibition) in Moscow in October
of 1924 Russian critics found his work insuf-
ficiently clear and intelligible to be socially
useful "What can an Otto Dix offer against
the decay of the bourgeoisie and mass pros-
titution1" asked one writer5 Dix nonethe-
less continued to produce socially engaged
art that was well received by a large
audience in Germany In the autumn of
1925, at the suggestion of his dealer, Karl
Nierendorf, Dix moved to Berlin By 1926
his commercial success seemed assured The
Akademie in Dresden named him a pro-
fessor in the fall of that year, less than five
years after he had been a student there

By 1930, however, the National Social-
ists were finding Dix's work to be subversive
A mural commissioned for the recently
completed Hygienemuseum (Museum of
hygiene) in Dresden was hacked from the
wall, and the architect, director, and scien-
tific staff all fell out of favor6 In 1933 party
member Richard Muller, faculty head at the
Akademie, became jealous of Dix's success
and launched an attack on him, pointing out
that in 1924 a monograph about Dix had
been written by the Jew Willi Wolfradt 7 An
official statement regarding Dix's dismissal,
which had been instigated by Muller, indi-
cated that "among his pictures are some that
offend the moral feeling of the German
people in the gravest way and others are
calculated to prejudice the German people's
fighting spirit "a Dix's advanced students,
some of whom were Communists, were also
expelled and arrested In May 1933 Dix was
asked to withdraw from the Preussische
Kunstakademie (Prussian academy of art)

Figure l
Dix, So,

,„/„,m„ (Sun

In September 1933 the freelance artist
Willy Waldapfel, a city councillor in Dres-
den, organized the exhibition Spiegclbilder
des Vcrfalh in tier Kunsl (Images of decadence
in art) in the courtyard of the Neues
Rathaus, one of the earliest instances of
the systematic abuse of artists The press
raged against "Jewish-Bolshevist trash" and
especially against Dix Krie<)skriippel and
Die Schiilzeni)raben were the focus of the
exhibition, which later moved to Hagen,
Nuremberg, Dortmund, Regensburg,
Munich, Darmstadt, and Frankfurt The
paintings traveled through Germany as
"witness to the undermining of the German
people's determination to defend them-
selves " After the outbreak of the war Die
Schuizmjrabm was stored in Ernst Barlach's
studio in Gustrow and then disappeared
Perhaps it was burned at the main fire
station in Berlin shortly before the
end of the war with other examples of
"degenerate" art g

Dix remained in Germany but left
Dresden in the fall of 1933 In 1934 he was
forbidden to exhibit his art, and he moved
to FJemmenhofen, near the Swiss border,
in 1936 As an habitual city-dweller he felt
banished "I painted landscapes That was
tantamount to emigration"10

Approximately 260 of his works were
impounded from collections throughout
Germany, 26 examples — paintings in oil,
watercolor, and tempera, as well as port-
folios and individual graphic works — were
included in the Endirtele fCimsl exhibition in
1937 According to the exhibition guide, Dix
fell into the category of "barbarism of repre-
sentation the progressive collapse of
sensitivity to form and color, the conscious
disregard for the basics of technique and
the total stupidity of the choice of subject
matter '" Dix was variously described as
inept, an intentional bungler, an imbecile,
or as suffering from eye problems Some
months later, when the exhibition traveled
to Frankfurt, FH T Wiist wrote in the Frank-
furter Volksblatt "Only when one sees the
individual works does one grasp the degree
of decadence art is prostituted and the
prostitute becomes the ideal of this art
At its peak stands Otto Dix with his vulgar
derision of the war-wounded He is repre-
sentative of the highest contemptuousness "n

Dix sent works to the protest exhibi-
tion intended as a response to £nl<iriele Kunsl
that was staged at the Burlington Galleries
in London in 1938 by art historian and critic
Herbert Read and other supporters of mod-
ern German art Several of his paintings
were included in an exhibition at Galerie
Wolfberg in Zurich the same year, and in

1939 a number of works were ottered for sale
at the t ialene I ischer auction in Lucerne.
including Die Ellem da Kiinstlm I In- artist's
parents, 1921 1 and Amid Bttba (1925) The
collector Emanuel Fohn acquired Hugo Erfurth
(1925), Nelly (1924), and the drawing Die
IiJiJk, (The lizard, 1912) from the I'ropa-
gandaministerium (Ministry of propaganda)
in Berlin Fohn sent these to Italy for safe-
keeping and later presented them to the
Neue Staatsgalerie in Munich

Dix was arrested in 1939 during the
action against "unreliable intellectuals" after
an attempt on Hitler's life in Munich and
spent a week in police custody in Dresden
A note in the artist's personal dossier, writ-
ten by the minister-president of Saxony
Manfred von killinger, asked, "Is the swine
still alive, then?"13

In 1945 Dix was inducted into the
army He was taken to Kolmar as a prisoner
of war and lived in deprivation until his
identity was ascertained Reassigned to the
artists' detail, he painted large pictures of
General de Gaulle for exhibition in the
streets Later he became a car sprayer for
a local man named Diirr, who gave him
a studio to work in Dix accepted commis-
sions from the fall of 1945 until his release
in 1946 l4

The city of Dusseldorf offered Dix a
teaching position at its Akademie in 1948,
but the offer was withdrawn after officials of
the Kulturministenum (Ministry of culture)
for the Rhineland and Westphalia examined
the work that had so offended the German
people under the National Socialists During
his remaining twenty years Dix continued
his work and received a variety of honors
both at home and abroad but was not
invited to return to the faculty of the
Dresden Akademie (D G)

Nolo

I Fritz Loftier, Olto Dix Li/« ani Work, trans K I

1 lollingdak I New York Holmes and Meier, 1982), 67

2 Ibid, 65

3 Fliedrich Heckmanns, "Dm lunt)i Rbrtnlani in
Dusseldorf 1919-1929," in Stephanie Barron, ed I \tmm
Expressionism (W-1925 TV Seioni Grnrralion !cxh cat,
Los Angeles Los Angeles County Museum ol Art,
1988), 92

4 Henry Grosshans, Hitler ani iht Artisls (New York
Holmes and Meier, 1983), 51

5 Ida Katherine Rigby An all, Kihalkrl War—
Rroolution— Wnmar Geman Prints, Draomfs, Pesters, and
Periodicals jrom tbt Robert Gor< Ri/kmd Foundation (exh
cat, San Diego University Gallery San Diego State
University 1983), 64

6 Loftier, Olto Dix, 94

7 Lothar Fischer, "Ich habe das gemacht, was ich
wollte," in Olio Dix (exh cat, Hannover Kestner-
Gesellschaft, 1987), 28

8 Lbffler, Otlo Dix, 94

9 Ibid, 65

10 Hans Kinkel, "Begegnung mit Otto Dix," in
Olio Dix (exh cat, Hannover Kestner-Gesellschaft,
1987), 21

11 Ausstcllmpfiibm Enlarlrlr "Kumt" (Berlin Verlag
fur Kultur- und Wirtschaftswerbung, 1937), 6, 8, see
the facsimile and translation in this volume

12 H T Wust, "Damit wir nicht vergessen, was
(ruher gewesen ist," Frankfurter VilksWall, July I, 1934,
reprinted in Joseph Wulf, Dit btldmden Kunste m DrMen
Rncb Einr Dokumenlalion i Frankfurt/Berlm/Vienna
Ullstein, 1983), 365

13 Loftier, Olto Dix, 96

14 Ibid. 112

Work in Entartete Kunst

Sonnenaujgang Sunrise
Landscbajt nil aufgebtnitr Sonic
(Landscape with rising sun
1913

Oil on cardboard, 51 x 66 cm '20'/. x 26 in |
Catalogue raisonne Loftier 1923/25
Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresdc
Room ( .1 NS inventory no 16158
Private collection, Germany
Fijurf l"n

Kricgshiippel (War cripples

1920

Oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm 159 x 78 'A in )

C atalogue raisonne Loftier 1920/8

Donated to the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 3, NS inventory no 16000

Destroyed

Da Scbulzmlrabrn (The trench

Exhibited as Drr Kritg The war

1920-23

Oil on canvas, 227 x 250 cm 83 . x 98% in

Catalogue raisonne Loftier 1923/2

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum und Gcmaldcgalcne

Dresden

Room 3, NS inventory no 16001

On commission to Bochmer, 1940, location unknown

Arbnter iw Fafcrik I Workers in front of a factory

1921

Oil on canvas, 78 5 x 575 cm (307. x 22V. in I

t atalogue raisonne Loftier 1921 5

Acquired in 1923 by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Room G2, NS inventory no i62l9

Private collection, England 1987

Bi'Uhis in Jult'clirrs Karl Krall

(Portrait ot the jeweler Karl Krall)

1923

Oil on canvas, 905 x 605 cm 36 '- \ 23 ■ in

Catalogue raisonne Loftier 1923/9

Acquired in 1923 by the Nationalgalcne, Berlin

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16196

Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, 1961

Figure .*>

Ma&cbmbAims (Portrait of a girl)

c 1923

Watercolor on paper, 51 I x 374 cm 120'/. x I

Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16306

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,

Kupfersttchkabinett, Berlin

Figure 201

BiUm JVs DicbUrs Hrrfxrt Euleuberg

i Portrait of the poet Herbert Eulenberg)

1925

Tempera on wood, 100 x 68 cm (39% x 26V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Loftier 1925/9

Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtische Kunstsammlunge

Dusseldorf

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16197

Location unknown

Die Wilwi (The widow)

1925

Tempera on wood, 84 x 100 cm (3314 x

Catalogue raisonne Lolfler 1925/3

Acquired in 1925 by the Kunsthalle Ma

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16184

On commission to Buchholz, location i

BiH»is Franz RaiziwiW (Portrait of Franz Radziwilll

1928

Mixed media on canvas, 80 x 60 cm

(3l'/i x 23V. in)

Catalogue raisonne Loftier 1928/12

Acquired in 1928 by the Stadtische Kunstsammlungen

Dusseldorf

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16181

Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, 1958

Figure 200

Diaistnuidchni (Maidservant)

Arfceilerni im Somiliijslclntf i Worker in Sunday dress)

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Catalogue raisonne Loftier 1920/2

Acquired by the Ruhmeshalle, Barmen/Wuppertal

Room C2, NS inventory no 16218

Location unknown

Figure 199

Dix, Bildmi des Juwehen K,irl Krail (Po

ait of the leweler Karl Krall), 1923

I igure 200

Dix, BiUi.il Fra« R*fc

■ill I', it Iran ,.l rr.ni; Radziwilll, 1928

UnidentiAed waten oloi exhibited .is Sapfmkop)
Sap head

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseun

Room Gl Ns inventor) n<

Nought in 1941 by Ctnl itt location unl

Unidentified watercolot exhibited .is S.iMioito(i/

Sap hi id

Acquired by the Stadtmuscum Dresden
R.Mim C2 NS inventory m
Location unknown

fnmirruHd an Sfiiri/rlsillr OOtl /irussf/

Memory ol the halls ol mirrors in Brussels
1920

Drypoini engraving, 2S I x |Q| cm II1. x 7'h in )
Catalogue raisonne Karsch 10 l-ll
Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden
Kunst, Hreslau

Room C2. NS inventory no 16435
Location unknown

Flmc/irrldJot I Hutcher shop

1920

Drvpomt engraving, 29 5 x 258 cm 11% x 10'A in

( atalogue raisonne Karsch 7

Acquired by the Schlesixchcs Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16432

Location unknown

Kntt/sbupprl I War cripples

1920

Drypomt engraving. 254 x 396 cm 10 x 15'. in

Catalogue raisonne Karsch 6

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Hreslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16434

Location unknown, this print The Museum

of Modern Art, New York, Abby Aldrich

Rockefeller Lund

Figure 201

Dix. AUJwiM,/ Portrait ol a girl),

Schwangm (Pregnant l

1920

Drypoint engraving, 258 x 167 cm I 10'A x 67* in I

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16436

Location unknown

Slrasst (Street)

1920

Drypoint engraving, 248 x 22 3 cm (9'A x 8V< in )

Catalogue raisonne Karsch 5

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16433

Calerie der Stadt Stuttgart

Lmtmord (Sex murder)

From the portfolio Tod unJ Aujerstihmu)

(Death and resurrection)

1922

Etching, 435 x 468 cm (17 'A x 18V, in I

Catalogue raisonne Karsch 44

Acquired by the Kuplerstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16400

Location unknown, this print The Art Institute

of Chicago, gift of the Print and Drawing Club

Fi^urf 203

iconic

Exhibited as Dtrnmkopf (Head of a prostitute)

1923

Color lithograph, 49 x 39 cm I '19% x 15% in )

Catalogue raisonne Karsch 58 l-lll

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16353

Location unknown, this print Collection of the

Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Univers

of California, Los Angeles, gift of Mr and Mrs

Stanley I Talpis

Figure 202

Do- Krieg (War)

Portfolios l-V

1924

50 etchings with aquatint

Catalogue raisonne Karsch 70-119

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16483

Location unknown, these prints Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 5la-55j

Figures 191-97

Figure 202
Dix, Leotm, 1923

Figure 203

Dix, Lustmonj (Sex murder), 1922

Hans Christoph Drexel Johannes Driesch

Heinrich Eberhard

Bora 19cm

Born issi

Krjtli

Ellwangen

Died ID30

Ditd SUlenbuck

Erjuri

dull Unknown

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

B/i4wir»i/rju 1 1, iwi i w man

1927/28

Painting medium unknown (13 x 102 cm

11 k40 in
Acquired in 1936 bv the Nationalgalcric, Bcrlu

on deposit

Room C2, NS inventory no 16228
Location unknown

tfejfa/esl Popular festival)

1927

Oil on canvas, c 80 x 100 cm (31% x 39% in )

Acquired in 1931 by the Museum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte. Lubeck

Room C2, NS inventory no 16223

Location unknown

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Staatliche Kunsihallc Karlsruhe
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16193
Location unknown

Landscbafl I ands< apt

Painting, medium unknown, 77 x 105 cm

n .,n

Acquired bv the Museum Folkwang, Essen
Room 5. NS tnventory no 16092
Location unknown

Max Ernst

Hans Feibusch

Lyonel Feininger

Died 1976

Pons, France

Living m Londi

Born (87(
New York City

Died 1956
New York Gty

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Enchajjmj da Era (Creation of Eve)

B,lk Sarimm

1923

Oil on canvas, 147 x 115 cm (577, x 45% in )

Catalogue raisonne Spies 615

Acquired in 1929 bv the Stadtische kunstsammlung

Diisseldort

Room 3, NS inventory no I59«6

Probablv destroyed

MuscfcrlMmm (Shell flowers!
c 1928

Oil on canvas, dimensions unkno
Acquired by the Nationalgalene
Room Gl, NS inventory no 1619
On commission to Boehmer, I.

Zwei xhwihrndt Fttjurai (Two floating figures)

ScfeiptrWr (Floating)

1932

Oil on canvas, 50 x 100 cm 1 19 V« x 39V, in l

Acquired by the Stadtische Calene, Frankfurt

Room 2, NS inventory no 15959

Destroyed

The confiscation of 378 of Lyonel Feminger's
works from public collections in Germany
and the inclusion of eight paintings, one
watercolor, and thirteen woodcuts in the
Entiirfcff Kunst exhibition reveal some salient
incongruities of National Socialist cultural
politics Joseph Goebbels's 1937 decree had
empowered Adolf Zieglers committee to
seize works of art by German artists
Feininger, however, was an American citizen
who had come to Germany in 1887' The
large number of appropriated works reflects
Feminger's commercial success in Germany
which began in 1919, when he was invited
by Walter Gropius to become the first
Bauhaus master3 Although in the early years
of his career Feininger produced almost two
thousand social and political caricatures par-
odying Wilhelm Us foreign and domestic
policies and Wilhelmine society these and
his evident liberal leanings were not the
focus of the National Socialists' attack on his
work His long-term tenure at the Bauhaus
and his semiabstract "cubist" painting style
were considered more politically
inflammatory3

Feininger went to Hamburg at the age
of sixteen with the intention of studying
music, but within a month he decided to
enter the Kunstgewerbeschule (School
of applied arts) A year later, in 1888, he
moved to Berlin and in October passed the
entrance examination for admission into
the Berlin Akademie He produced his first
illustrations for Humoristiscbe Blatter in 1890
and in 1894 began to create caricatures
for the satirical weekly journal Ulk, an
enclosure in the Berliner Tagcblati He soon
became friendly with Franz Mehring, a

sociologist and historian of Marxism, then

On the staff ol the Ikrlma TtUlebLlI ' I Vspitc
our knowledge ot these activities, a sufrK ient
critical assessment of the artists politics
has not yet been written

Feininger's reputation as a painter
developed slowly <>\<.r the next years When
the I irsl World War broke out, Feininger,
who had retained his American citizenship
was placed in a detention camp near Berlin
as an enemy alien Through the intervention
of Herwarth Walden — who gave him his
first one man show at the Calerie Der Sturm
in Berlin in 1917 — Feininger was able to take
regular furloughs to Berlin s Even so, he
wrote to his wife, Julia, on August 8, 1917
During these last three years of war I have,
at times, been driven almost mad by the
limitation of my freedom Not being per-
mitted [to go] whenever and wherever I
wanted this, combined with many other
impediments, has stunted my powers"6

At the end of the war the first broadly
Socialist Expressionist artists' groups, the
Novembergruppe i November group) and
the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst (Workers' council
for art), were founded in Berlin Feininger
loined both although he soon resigned from
the Novembergruppe In December 1919 the
Arbeitsrat fur Kunst issued its publication
Jal Sttmnwi Jfs Arbalsrals fur Kuml m Berlin
(Yes1 Voices of the workers' council for art in
Berlin) with Feininger's woodcut Diis Ratbaus
(The city hall) as the cover illustration

Feininger had begun to experiment
with woodcuts in 1918 and by 1919 had
produced more than one hundred In May
of that year he took over the printmaking
workshop at the Bauhaus, which he directed
until 1925 Under his supervision the
Bauhaus press published a series of port-
folios, Ncue europcincbe Grapbik (New
European graphics), as well as individual
collections of graphic works by Oskar
Schlemmer and Wassily Kandinsky
Feininger's own portfolio of twelve woodcuts
(figs 208-9), completed in 1921, was later
exhibited in the Enlartete Kunst exhibition
His woodcut Dir K.iflifiir.jlf <i« Soznibmus

Figure 204
Feininger Drr Tur

ubtr drr Sudt. H.illf The tower above the

(The cathedral of Socialism) of 1919, created
for the Bauhaus manifesto published that
April, suggests Gropius's Utopian vision that
architecture would unify and lead the arts in
the building of a new type of community
modeled on the Gothic cathedral 7

Gropius's appointment of Feininger
had been criticized from the outset by con-
servatives B Although neither Gropius nor
Feininger advocated radical political change,
the pedagogic reforms they initiated were
soon linked to revolutionary politics On
May 23, 1919, Feininger wrote to his wife,
"This evening there will be a meeting of
our antagonists, and they have announced
a fight with daggers drawn These now are
the protectors of the fatherland,' and the
Pan-Germans' And although our affair
concerns art only they are dragging party
politics into it "9

Enlarttti Kunil

Feininger

Figure 205

Feininger, Gtlmroli HI, 1917

Feininger remained a member of the
Bauhaus faculty until the school closed in
1933, but he broke in 1923 with Cropius's
new orientation for the school, embodied in
the theme of the exhibition held during that
summer, "Art and Technology — A New
Unity"1" When the school moved from
Weimar to Dessau Feininger stayed on staff
but no longer conducted courses Neverthe-
less, neither he nor his artwork was exempt
from National Socialist campaigns against
the school, which continued throughout the
1920s and picked up in the early 1930s A
little more than a month before the Dessau
Bauhaus was closed, Feininger wrote to
his wife on July 10, 1932, "Anything is to be
expected from the present German govern-
ment What a Cod-sent opportunity
tor the Nationalists to make short work of
objectionable modern art, to quash it""

Alois Schardt, the director of the
Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst und Kunst-
gewerbe in Halle, was an important early
supporter of Feminger's work and remained
a lifelong friend In 1933 Schardt was
appointed by National Socialist party offi-
cials as the provisional director of the
Nationalgalerie in Berlin Shortly thereafter,
in an effort to defend modern art, he reorg-
anized the installation of the museum's
holdings instead of closing the modernist
section, he supplemented the already rich
collection with important loans from other
German museums, including Feininger's
Halle cycle of eleven paintings, which
Schardt had commissioned and acquired
between 1929 and 1931 Two of these, Mar-
ienkircbt mil dem Pfeil. Halle (Church of Saint
Mary with the Arrow, Halle, fig 206), and
Der Turin uber der Stadt, Hulle (The tower above
the city Halle, fig 204), and two others,
Zirchow VI and Vollersroda III, which Schardt
had purchased for the Stadtisches Museum
earlier, were later included in the Entartete
Kunst exhibition

Despite his unemployment after the
closing of the Bauhaus in 1933, Feininger did
not finally leave Germany until mid-1937
Certainly his age was a factor Although
modernist art had been banned since

Figure 207

Feininger, Scbtiuunstrasst Streel

olba

1914

mid-1933, Feininger continued to paint In
1935 he wrote to his wife "About my work,
other than the fact that I work, I want to
say nothing I believe it is better to remain
silent I will only say, that I hope l"13
In the same year Feininger, who had been
accused of being Jewish, was required to
produce papers proving his Aryan descent "

In May of 1936 Feininger returned to
New York for the first time since 1887 On
June 12 he met with his West Coast dealer,
Calka Scheyer, in Los Angeles, and during
that summer he taught a course at Mills Col-
lege in Oakland With these activities he
laid the groundwork for his final move to
America l4 In August he returned to Ham-
burg, where, a month earlier, the annual
exhibition of the Deutscher Kunstlerbund
(League of German artists) had opened
under the innocuous title, Deutsche Kunsl im
Olymfnii/iilir (German art in the Olympic
year) Works by Feininger, Schlemmer, and
Paul Klee were among the entries submitted
by the membership Ten days later the
exhibition was closed and the group, which

had been in existence since 1905, was out-
lawed On June 11, 1937, Feininger boarded
a ship for New York, where he arrived with
two dollars in his pocket l5

A month later EnlarMe Kunsi opened
in Munich Feininger's works were hung
in several areas of the exhibition, the most
prominent being a series of seven prismatic
architectural views in Halle and small towns
around Weimar These works were near a
large group of paintings by Kandinsky"'
The intention was apparently to remind the
viewer of Feininger's Bauhaus years and to
suggest that these artists' very different
interests in abstraction amounted to nothing
more than a jumble of canvases filled with
meaningless smudges

In the summer of 1937 Feininger taught
once again at Mills College He took up
permanent residence in New York City
the next year In 1944 he had his first large
exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art,
where he had a joint show with Marsden
Hartley (P K.)

Notts

1 See Bcrthold Hinz, An in the TlmJ Reiih tram
Robert and Rita Kimber i New York Pantheon 1979
39, for a list of other non-German artists whose work
was confiscated by the committee Feininger's name is
missing Irom the list, however

2 Joan Weinstem, The End o/ Ex/Vrssioimm Art jnj
the November Rewlutwn in Germany. l9tH-t9t9 (Chicago
University of Chicago Press, 1990), 88

3 See U I rich Luckhardt, Lyontl Feininger Dir
tXariluturen und J.n ai'dmcr/sctx FriibwerV Munich
Scaneg 1987 7 in and I I Schund am Pranger"
Ainu iteri J'er Anzetger, luly 22, 1937, quoted in loseph
Wuli, Die hUenJen Kumte m Dnltoi Rod) But Dohmenta
fion( Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullstein 1983), 372

4 Lothar Schreyer, Lyonel Ftiitmgcr DoVumente unj
Viiionen • Munich Albert Langen & Ceorg Mullcr
1957), 6

5 Lothar Schrever Frinnenmjen an Murm urnl Riunuus
(Munich Paul List 1966

u Lyonel Feininger letter to lulia Feininger August

8, 1917, quoted in lune L Ness, ed , Lyonel Fcminga
New York Praegcr 1474 ss

7 On the title of this woodcut, see Orrcl Reed, Jr.
in German fjx/irnsiomsl Art The Robert Con Rt/linJ Collec-
tion exh cat . Los Angeles University of California,
Los Angeles Frederick S Wight Art Gallery 1977;,
cat no 395

8 "At the time of the first appointment by
Gropius — of the ( ubist Feininger — I expressed my
astonishment to him Gropius had presented me with

Feininger

Figure 208
Feininger, Gr/m

a program that to me appeared a little radical but was
quite acceptable in its essentia! points And then he
started right off with the appointment of Feiningeri"

I Wilhelm von Bode, letter to Baron von Fritsch,
January 13, 1920, quoted in Hans Maria Wmgler,
The Baubaus Weimar. Dessau, Berlin, Chicago, trans
Wolfgang Jabs and Basil Gilbert [Cambridge MIT
Press, 1983], 33)

9 Lyonel Feininger, letter to Julia Feininger, May
23, 1919, quoted in Ness, lyonel Femmger, 100

10 Lyonel Feininger, letter to Julia Feininger, August
I, 1923, quoted in Wmgler, TV Bauhaus, 69

II Lyonel Feininger, letter to Julia Feininger, July 10,
1932, quoted in Ness, Lyonel Fiimiujtr, 214

!2 Lyonel Feininger letter to Julia Feininger, 1935,
quoted in Entortttc Kunst BiUenturm vor 25 Jabren (exh
cat, Munich Ausstellungsleitung Haus der Kunst,
1962), n p

13 Lyonel Feininger, letter to Dr Johannes K Klein-
paul, August 3, 1935, quoted in Diether Schmidt, ed , /ii
lelzfer Stun* KiitKtltrschriJtat 1933-1945, vol 2 of Scbnjlm
deutscber Kunstlrr Jes zuunzufsieii Jahrbmdtrlt (Dresden
VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1964), 74

14 Lyonel Feininger, letter to Dr Johannes K
Klempaul, April 3, 1936, quoted in Schmidt, In lilztrr
Slmdi, 76

15 Lyonel Feininger, letter to Alois Schardt, 1942,
quoted in Enliirleie Kumt BMenturm, n p

16 The group included a painting by Klee, Der Geisl
der Don X, mislabeled as a Kandinsky In his documenta-
tion of the works in Enldrfrle Kunst, Luttichau incorrectly
identifies a work by Kandinsky Ar<<lied, as a Klee,
Mario-Andreas von Luttichau, "Rekonstruktion der
Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst,"' in Peter-Klaus Schuster,
ed , Die "Kunststadt" Muncben 1937 Nationalsozialismus umi
"Enlartcli Kunst" (Munich Prestel, 1987), 148

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Scbeunmsfrasse (Street of barns)

1914

Oil on canvas, 125 x 100 cm (49% x 39V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Hess 125

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16083

Arnold A Saltzman Family

Figure 207

Vollmroda 111
1916

Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm (31V: x 39% i
Catalogue raisonne Hess 164
Acquired in 1928 by the Stadtisches Mus
and Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle
Room 5, NS inventory no 16087
Location unknown

ZircW VI

1916

Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm ( 3I'A x 39V, in i

Catalogue raisonne Hess 162

Acquired in 1928 by the Stadtisches Museum fur

and Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16081, Fischer lot 41

Ex-coll Karl Nierendorf, New York, 1948,

location unknown

Figure 209

Feininger, Regentag am Strand (Rainy day at the beach), 1921

Figure 210

Feininger, Der Ceiger (The fiddler), 1918

Conrad Felixmuller

i<i ///

1917

invas 100 ■ SO < m 19 - II In
t atalogue raisonne' I less II I
Acquired in 1925 b) the Stadtmuseutn Dresden
Room 5 Ns Inventor) no 1609 I
Private collei tion Ne* Viik

■

/V. (,r„i,r rhefiddlei

1918

\\ in n oloi and ink 219 s »06 cm 9V, x 12 in.)

\cquired b) the Museum Folkwang Essen

R ii l 12 N's inventor) no 16430

l'n\ it. collection Hamburg courtesy of Hauswedell
S. Nolle I lamhurg
Fmuir 210
■

Ttlhw II
wis

( hi on . anvas « 125 cm 59 ix49K in

Catalogue raisonne' I less 185

Acquired in 1921 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room S NS inventory no 16084

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Nationalgalerie 1949

Hopjgculm

Exhibited as Ttllow

1920

Oil on canvas 65.5 » 82 5 cm 15% * 32 in

( atalogue raisonne1 Hess 215

V quired by the Museum der bildenden Kiinste,

Leipzig

Room i Ns inventor) no 15980

The Minneapolis Institute ol Arts gift ol Friends and

family in memory ol Catharine Roberts Seybold

I unr, 29

Mariukinbe mil imPfeil Halt

i Church of Saint Mary with the Arrow Halle

1930

Oil on canvas, 1007 x 85 cm I 39V. x 33'A in

Catalogue raisonne Hess 333

Acquired in 1931 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kun

and Kunstgewerbe i Moritzburg), Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16085

Staatliche Calerie Moritzburg Halle. 1957

f iJurr 2iio

Dn I. IwrAi Slail IIM

I Ik towei abovi tbj i it) I lalli
I KhibitedasMnrimferd,f« hurchol Sainl Mar)
1931

Oil on canvas B8 x 124 cm ; I • 18 in
( atalogue ' aisi mm I less 341
Acquned hi 1931 by the Suddsihes Museum Kir Kunst

ind Kunstgi wt rbe Moritzburg I lalli
Room 5 Ns inventory no 16086
Museum 1 udwig, C ologne
Figure 204

Boiz
1919

Woodcut, 233 x 29 cm (914 K II'. in
Catalogue raisonne Prasse NX' 149
Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
Room (.2, NS inventory no 16404
Location unknown (other prints exist

Zwol] Holzscbuiltt vm Lyoncl Feininget
(Twelve woodcuts bv Lyonel Feiningcr
Portfolio

1921

C atalogue raisonne Prasse S 262

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst Breslau

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16273

On commission to Boehmer, exchanged, location

unknown, these prints Philadelphia Museum of Art,

gift of Mr and Mrs Carl Zigrosser

Title page

1921

109 x 158 cm (4% x 6'A in I

Catalogue raisonne Prasse W 236

■

Rrdmldij .irn StttitiJ i Rainy day at the beach i

1921

138 x 21 3 cm 15% x 8V» in I

Catalogue raisonne Prasse W 39 I

Figurt 2op

■

Gtlmmia

1921

218 X 172 cm 18V, x 6'/, in I
Catalogue raisonne Prasse W 89 I
Fitjurt 208

Conrad Felixmuller was a Wunderkind at the
age "f fifteen, after a short period of study
with Ferdinand Dorsch in a private art
school, he was admitted to the Akademie in
Dresden to study with Carl liantzer Moved
by a performance of Arnold Schoenberg's
Pierrot Lmitim in 1913, he translated his
impressions into his first portfolio of ten
graphic works In 1914 a second portfolio
of woodcut interpretations of Else Lasker-
Schuler's Hebriiische Balladm (Hebrew ballads;
and a portrait etching of Schoenberg led
to his first graphics exhibition in I B
Neumann's gallery in Berlin Here he
befriended Ludwig Meidner, began his
collaboration with Herwarth Walden's
Der Sturm (The storm) and, more impor-
tantly with Franz Pfemfert's Die Aktion
(Action I, and established friendships with
many of the individuals who wrote for
these journals

In January of 1917 the artist, together
with Felix Stiemer and Heinnch Schilling,
founded the Dresden journal Menschcit
(Mankind), where Felixmuller published his
expressionistic theory of art as well as many
of his woodcuts A group of his friends
began to meet in his studio in Dresden
in 1917 and formed the Expressionistische
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dresden I Expressionist
working group) where poets, Walter Rheiner
and Raoul Hausmann among them, read
their works and where discussions on art and
politics strengthened the participants' anti-
war attitudes In the same year the Calerie
Arnold presented an exhibition of the work
of some of the artists in this group Peter
August Btickstiegel, Felixmuller, Otto
Lange, and Constantin von Mitschke-
Collande

Figure 211

Felixmuller, Ersir Scbritli (Fh

Felixmuller was drafted in 1917 but
refused to serve, and for four weeks he
was confined to a mental institution He
returned to Dresden and in 1919 became
a member of the Communist party (until
about 1926) He founded the Dresdner
Sezession Cruppe 1919 (Dresden secession
group 1919), which he left in 1920, and for
a short time joined the Novembergruppe
(November group) in Berlin

Felixmuller enjoyed a period of consid-
erable success in the 1920s and early 1930s
He designed costumes and stage sets for
Friedrich Wolf's drama Das hist du (That is
you) for the Staatstheater Dresden A cata-
logue of his graphic work was published in
1919, and he subsequently published a num-
ber of portfolios of graphics His work
was exhibited in Dresden, Hannover, and
Hamburg, among other cities, and he won
prestigious prizes for his paintings in 1920,
1928, and 1931 In the mid-1920s his early,
ecstatic Expressionism, with its strong,
socially committed themes, underwent
moderation, leading to a romantic realism

In 1933 forty of his Expressionist works
were branded "degenerate" by their inclu-
sion in the Spiegelbdder des Verfalls in dtr Kunsl
(Images of decadence in art) exhibition in
Dresden Faced with this defamation, he
moved to Berlin, but shortly thereafter he
was also dismissed from the Verein Berliner
Kiinstler (Society of Berlin artists) He was
represented by six works in Entartete Kunst
in Munich in 1937 four paintings, Mann
irn't Kind (Man with child), Das Paar (The
couple), Stadtmenscb (Urban man), and
a self-portrait, a woodcut, Ersif Scbritte
(First steps, fig 211), and a pen draw-
ing, RjCDolution/Nachtlicber Bergarbeiterslmk
(Revolution/Miners' strike at night) A total
of 151 of his works were confiscated, and
many of them were destroyed by the Nazis '

During the Second World War Felix-
muller was drafted, taken prisoner by the
Russians, and finally returned to Berlin in
1945 An exhibition of forty of his works was
shown in that year in the museum in Alten-
burg He published more portfolios of

woodcuts, designed the stage sets for Wolf's
Wie Ti ere des Waldes (Like animals in the for-
est), and in 1949 was appointed professor at
the Martin-Luther-Universitat in Halle, a
post he held until 1962 Other exhibitions in
Altenburg, Bologna, Leipzig, and Rome pre-
ceded a major retrospective in the former
Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 1973 and in
Dresden in 1975 He received a gold medal
at the fourth International Graphic Biennale
in Florence in 1974 7 (P G)

Note

1 Felixmuller's papers are preserved in the archives
of the Cermamsches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Many ol his graphic works are in the Kupfer-
stichkabinett, Berlin, Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, and
Staatltches Lmdenau-Museum, Altenburg

2 See C H Herzog, ed , Conrad Frlmnulln
[.fdnidm 1912-1976 (Tubingen Ernst Wasmuth, 1977);
Cerhart Sdhn, ed, Conrad Fthxmuttn Von dm. uba ,h«
(Dusseldorf Edition CS, 1977), Conrad Fc/rxmiil/tr Wtrki
mid Dokumtntt (Nuremberg Archiv fur bildende Kunst,
Cermanisches Nationalmuseum Niirnberg, 1981),
Dieter Cleisberg, Conrad FdixmuiUr Ltbtn nnd Wrrk
(Dresden VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1982), Peter Barth,
Conrad Fdixmulltr Dit dmdntr Jahrt. ml-im lexh cat,
Dusseldorf Galerie Remmert und Barth, 1987), Sbhn,
ed , Conrad Fflixmullrr Das drapbiscbt Wtrk (912-1977,

2d ed (Dusseldorf Edition CS, 1987), and Conrad
Fffrnniilltr Conaldr. Afuartllt. Zncbnuno/m. Drucigrapbik.
Stulfilurra lexh cat edited by Christian Rathke,
Schleswig Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum,
Schloss Cottorf, 1990)

Otto Freundlich

Xaver Fuhr

Work in Enlartete Kunst

M.mn mil KmJ Man with child)

»20

i III on canvas B5 « 65 cm B! k 25 - in

Acquired in 1922 In' (he Ruhmeshalle Barmen

wuppertal

Room 4 NS inventory no 16015

Lot atlon unknown

Born II t
Stolpi Pomerank

Died 1943

Uiblm-Maidamk

Poland

Dos Ami [Tie couple)
GliicHicifElx Happy marriage)
c 1920

Painting medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1924 bv the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room ( il NS inventory no 16170
Location unknown

Rnvlwtipn rVacbllicbff Bergarbtiterslmk

Resolution Miners strike at night
1921

Pen and ink. 64 5 x 5(1 2 cm 1 25V. x 19V. i
Acquired bv the Nationalgalene, Berlin
Room C2, NS inventory no 16312
Destroyed

StUnlbUim Sell-portrait

1922/23

Oil on canvas, c 70 x 45 cm (27 'A x 17V, in I

Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 3. NS inventory no 15979

Location unknown

Sfddlmoiscri i Urban man

1922/23

Oil on canvas, 75 x 95 cm (29'/. x 37% in I

Acquired in 1924 bv the Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Room 3, NS inventory no 15983

Location unknown

f rslr Scfcnllr I First steps)

Aluiirr unJ Kmi i Mother and child)

|4|4

Woodcut, 36 x 1 1 5 cm ( I4V» x 4'/) in )

Catalogue raisonne Sohn 170

Acquired in 1919 by the Kuplerstichkabinett, Dre

Room G2. NS inventory no 16354

Location unknown, this print Ludwig and Rosy

Fischer Collection

Ftilltif 2U

Work in Enlartete Kunst

Drr ntue MoucB l The new man )

1912

Plaster cast, height 139 cm (54 V. in

Acquired in 1930 by the Museum fti

( .ewerbe Hamburg

Ground floor lobby NS inventory r

Location unknown

KlfinrrKt.fi/ 1 Small head)

W 16

Plaster, height 32 cm (12%
Acquired in 1930 by the Mu
Gewerbe, Hamburg
Room 3, NS inventory no I
Lost.

The summer of 1927 was a turning point in
the career of Xaver Fuhr The director of the
Kunsthalle Mannheim, C'.ustav Hartlaub,
who had bought some of the artists water-
colors in 1920, helped convince the city of
Mannheim to provide a studio to Fuhr as
well as a monthly stipend This was to
enable the painter to function only as an
artist, to prevent his having to continue
working in a Daimler-Benz factory, a job
he took after his military service in the
field artillery in the First World War

Recognition quickly came his way An
exhibition including lour of Fuhr's works at
the Berlin Akademie in the fall of 1927
received positive reviews in the Dculscbc
Allgemeint Ztitung and drew such favorable
attention to the young artist that in 1928 he
had exhibitions in four other German cities
and participated in three more exhibitions
in Berlin In October 1928 he was given
a solo exhibition in the Calerie Neumann-
Nierendorf in Berlin, an important center
of avant-garde activities, again to positive
reviews The Kunsthaus Schaller, a gallery
in Stuttgart, presented an overview of Fuhr's
work in April 1930, and he received an
award from the Preussische Kunstakademic
(Prussian academy of art) later in the year
Two of his paintings, litrt/kircht (Mountain
church) and Gilltlrye, were accepted tor the
thirtieth Carnegie Art International in 1931
and he received the Villa Romana prize for
his painting Prozrssion (Procession) In 1932
the city of Frankfurt awarded Fuhr its
annual art prize, recognizing the graphic
qualities of his work

Despite this recognition, Fuhr's per-
sonal financial situation was very bad
because of the economic problems in Ger-
many He came from an extremely poor
lower-middle-class family who could provide
no financial help, and he was evicted from
his city-provided atelier because he was
unable to pay a monthly contribution of ten
reichsmarks toward its upkeep Although the
city of Mannheim forgave Fuhr's nonpay-
ment of taxes in January 1933, he never
forgot his eviction and refused to exhibit
in Mannheim again

In April 1933 the newly named National
Socialist director of the academy and
museum in Karlsruhe, Hans Adolf Buhler,
opened an exhibition entitled Regicrungskunst
(918—33 (Government art 1918-33) showing
works by "degenerate Bolshevists," including
Fuhr Mannheim also included Fuhr's work

among the "degenerate" art in the exhibition
Kulturbolschewistische Bilder (Images of cultural
Bolshevism), which opened the same month,
but, ironically, one of his still lifes was dis-
played in a Musterkabinetl (model gallery) of
"good" art to be emulated Early in 1934
the city leaders advised the Kunsthalle to
remove all works by Fuhr from view This
ambivalent attitude toward the artist con-
tinued for some time Fuhr turned to Franz
Lenk, an artist and member of the executive
committee of the Reichskammer der bil-
denden Ktinste (Reich chamber of visual
arts), who was also represented by the
dealer Nierendorf "I ask you to help me
[protect myself] against invisible obstruc-
tionists and slanderers to arrange to have
my works reinstalled at Mannheim, since I
do not appreciate undeserved disciplinary
action "' Lenk responded that a decision in
Fuhr's case would be made soon but that

those concerned were overburdened In the
meantime the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Han-
nover opened a Fuhr exhibition consisting
of twelve paintings and twenty-five water-
colors It ran until 1935 and was well
received, as was another exhibition of his
work at the Galene von der Heyde in Berlin
in April 1935 Finally in January 1936, the
mayor of Mannheim informed Fuhr that the
Kunsthalle was being allowed to rehang his
pictures, only to rescind permission a few
days later when county officials asked the
mayor to wait until they consulted with the
regional government in Baden

Announcements appeared in the local
press that Fuhr was not a member of the
Reichskammer and was therefore forbidden
to work as an artist The Gestapo arrived at
varying times during the day and night in
order to attempt to surprise him at work;
the officials searched for paintings and
checked to see if his brushes were wet
Fuhr built a shelter in the cellar where he
executed watercolors so as to avoid the
smell of oil paint

Fuhr did not have enough food or heat
because of his financial problems, which
were now exacerbated by the National
Socialists, and he became physically and
emotionally ill Since he was not actually
forbidden to exhibit, however, the Galene
Nierendorf Gallery included his work in
group and solo exhibitions in 1936 and 1937,
respectively Favorable reviews remarking
on the artist's continuing development were
forthcoming, with the exception of criticism
in the Volkiscber Beobachter, the National
Socialist newspaper, which found Fuhr in
profound disagreement with the artistic
ideology of the time 2

Although Fuhr was vilified in Enfurtfle
Kunst in July 1937 by the inclusion of his oil
Caji-Terrasse (Cafe terrace, fig 212), which
had been acquired by the Nationalgalerie in
1929 for nine hundred reichsmarks, ' Joseph
Nierendorf included his work in an exhibi-
tion in Berlin that month When Nieren-
dorf was stopped, he sent Fuhr's works to
his brother Karl in New York The dealer
Gunther Franke also continued to represent

Ludwig Gies

Werner Gilles

Fuhr in Munich Suddenly in 1940, tor no
apparent reason the artist was informed
th.u Ik- was admitted to the Reichskammer
and could again work openly only tci be
denounced to the secret police in ilM2 tor
having made comments ol .1 political nature
critical ol the government ' Influential

Friends interceded, hut his home was
bombed, and he moved to Nabburg,
where he remained until 1950

After the war I uhr's work was again
in demand and was exhibited in all of the
maior Cicrman cities In 1946 the artist
accepted a professorial position at the
Munich Akademie and in 1949 was the sub-
ject of a monograph by Adolt Behne Fuhr
moved to Regensburg in 1950 but continued
to commute to the Akademie in Munich
until I9()(> An exhibition on the occasion
ol his seventieth birthday was a critical and
financial success, and the Nationalgalerie
in rierlin purchased Der Grosse Platz (The
large square, 19641 for sixteen thousand
reichsmarks s The last exhibition before
Fuhr's death took place at the Museen
der Stadt Regensburg in September 1973
in honor of his seventy-fifth birthday
(D C)

/!<ir>nss7

Munich

Ditd ('""

( olognt

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Kruzijfxui (Crucified ( Christ
Exhibited as Cferislus ( hrist

c 1921

Wood, dimensions unknown

Lubcck Cathedral, acquired in 1922 by the Museum

fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Lubeck ion deposit by

the artist!

"Sonnwatd" Pbatttastiscbtr Voijrl

1 'Sonnwend'' fantastic bird

Inhibited as Pbantastiscbtt GrMoV i fantastic creature)

Watercolor, 48 x 63 cm (187. x 24'. in

Acquired by the Nationalgalerie Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 1631 1

Location unknown

Room I, NS 1
Probably destroyed

162323

Notts

1 Axel Hubertus Ziemcke, Xaivr Fuhr fS98-t973
(,nn>ildt und Aqtuirtllr Recklinghausen Aurel Bongers,
I9H4 24

2 Ibid, 26

1 Mario-Andreas von Luttichau, 'Rekonstruktion

der Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst,'" in Peter-Klaus
Schuster, ed , Dif "Kmststadt" Muncrm mi
NttUonahoZMltmm und Enttutett Kunst (Munich Prestel,
1987), 154

4 Zienicke, X,iwr Fuhr. 30

5 Ibid, 38

Work in Entartete Kunst

Cajt-Tmassr ( Cafe terrace )

c 1928

Oil on canvas, 68 x 78 cm (26'i x 311 1 in

Acquired in 1929 by the Nationalgalerie Berln

Room 5, NS inventory no 16095

Private collection

Figure 212

Otto Gleichmann

Rudolph Grossmann George Grosz

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in "Entartete Kunst"

Dit Brant (The bride)

1925

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1925 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16185

Location unknown

Geslij/lm im Fmai (Figures outdoors)

Etching, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildende

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16438

Location unknown

The fame of George Grosz rests largely on
his satirical drawings published in a series
of portfolios and books during the Weimar
years by the radical Malik Verlag, headed
by his friend Wieland Herzfelde The series
included Das Gesicht der herrscbendm Klasse
(The face of the ruling class), 1919, £ccf
Homo, 1922, Spiesserspiegel (Mirror of the
bourgeoisie), 1924, and liber Alles die Liebe
(Love above all), 1931 These works were
exhibited by the Hans Goltz and Alfred
Flechtheim galleries in Berlin

Grosz's work attracted both admirers
and detractors In 1920 the artist was
arrested and hned five thousand reichsmarks
for attacking the army in his portfolio Go!l
mil uhs (God with us) Again in 1923, after
publication of £ccf Homo, he was brought
into court, this time on a charge of defam-
ing public morals, and fined six thousand
reichsmarks, while twenty-four plates were
confiscated from the unsold copies of the
portfolio ' In 1928 two images in the port-
folio Hmtergnwd (Background), Grosz's
illustrations for laroslav Hasek's play Schwejk,
were deemed offensive one plate depicted
a German pastor balancing a cross on his
nose, the other the crucified Christ in a gas
mask Grosz and Herzfelde were found
guilty of blasphemy and sacrilege The fine
was two thousand reichsmarks each, but
during the next year the state court in Berlin
reversed the conviction, stating that the
artist had "made himself the spokesman
of millions who disavow war, by showing
how the Christian church had served an
unseemly cause that it should not have
supported "3

( .ins.- considered himsell a propagan
ilisi .it the social revolution I le not only
depicted victims ol the catastrophe ol the

I list Win Kl W'.u tin.- disabled crippled,
and mutilated — he also portrayed the col-
lapse ol capitalist society and its values I lis
wartime line drawings -.how him to be a
mastei ol caricature In a 1925 portfolio ol
(Mints < irosz ridiculed I litlei by dressing
him in a bearskin a swastika tattooed on his
lett arm Until 1927 he also painted large
allegorical paintings that focused on the
plight ol Germany l ount Harry Kessler, a
leading intellectual and collector, called
these "modern history pictures"'

Crosz was called by some the "bright-
red art executioner,"4 and indeed his political
radicalism was well known He had joined
the German Communist party in 1922
Although a trip to Russia later that year dis-
illusioned him, he continued to work with
Malik Verlag Feeling out of step with Rus
sia's politics, Crosz resigned from the party
in 1923, but the next year he became a
leader of Berlin's Rote Cruppe (Red group),
an organization of revolutionary Communist
artists that prefigured the Assoziation revo-
lutionarer bildender Kiinstler Deutschlands
(ASSO, Association of revolutionary visual
artists of Germany)

By 1929 the political climate in Ger-
many had shifted to the right, and, at best,
Grosz's work was considered anachronistic
The periodical Kunst und Kiinstkr (Art
and artists) commented, on the tenth
anniversary exhibition of the founding ot the
Novembergruppe i November group I "Dix's
Barrikadt [Barricade] and Grosz's Winter-
miirchen [Winter tale] are now curiosities that
only have a place in a wax museum, com-
memorating the revolutionary time One
doesn't make art with conviction alone""
In a somewhat more positive light, Grosz
was described as a historical figure in the
periodical Eulmspitiitl in 1931 "No other
German artist so consciously used art as a
weapon in the fight of the German workers
during 1919 to 1923 as did George Grosz
He is one of the first artists in Germany
who consciously placed art in the service of

.

Figure 214

Crosz, Am Kauai (At the canal), 1915/16

Figure 215

Crosz, Erttmtrung an Nni' York l Memory ol New York

1915/16

society His drawings are worthwhile not
only in the present but also are documents
of proletarian-revolutionary art"6 These
comments were more indicative of the maga-
zine's editorial stance than the tenor of the
times, however More in keeping with popu-
lar sentiment, Deutsche Kunst Mini Dekomtion
(German art and decoration) described
Crosz as one-sided and pathological, "too
obstinate, too fanatical, too hostile to be
a descendent of Daumier" Although
according to the magazine's art writer
he was a master of form, his social point
of view was wrongly chosen 7

Crosz's reputation as a political activist
and deflator of German greatness was no
secret Menacing portents and premonitions
of disaster began to haunt him A studio
assistant appeared in a brown shirt one day
and warned him to be careful, a threatening
note calling him a Jew was found beside his
easel A nightmare he recounted in his auto-
biography ended with a friend shouting at
him, "Why don't you go to America?"*
When in the spring of 1932 a cable arrived
from the Art Students League in New York,
inviting him to teach there during the sum-
mer, he accepted immediately After a short
return to Germany where he was advised
that his apartment and studio had been
searched by the Gestapo, who were looking
for him, the artist emigrated in January 1933
He became an American citizen in 1938

In the meantime Grosz was among
the defamed artists whose works had been
included in two Scbandausstcllungen (abomina-
tion exhibitions) in Mannheim and Stuttgart
in 1933 In a letter of July 21, 1933, Grosz
wrote that he was secretly pleased and
proud about this turn of events, because his
inclusion in these exhibitions substantiated
the fact that his art had a purpose, that it
was true 9 The polemical articles about
modern art, "art on the edge of insanity"
as the official Nazi newspaper, the VoWiischtr
Beobacbter called it, also regularly included
Grosz, with particular attention paid to his
portraiture A portrait of Max Hermann-
Neisse (fig 213), later to appear in the exhi-
bition Entartete Kunst, was singled out for the

Figure 216

Crosz, Metropolis, 1916-17

Figure 217

Figure 218

Figure 219

Crosz, Slras

mbild (Street scene),

Grosz, Kajfcehaus (Coffee house),

Crosz, Caji, 1915/16

1915/16

1915/16

"degenerate loathsomeness ol the subject '"
A total "i 285 ol ( irosz's works were cd
lected from German institutions five
paintings two watercolors and thir-
teen graphk works win- included in
Enl.irfrtr Kunsi

I ,kis.- participated in an anti Axis dem-
onstration in New York in llMO and revealed
his reac tion to the I iihrer in an interview
with Rundfunk Radio in 1958 When Hitler
came, the iecling came over me like that ot
a boxer, I telt as it I had lost All our efforts
were for nothing

Crosz returned to Germany perma-
nently in 1958, somewhat disillusioned with
his American interlude He had wanted a
new beginning and had tried to deny his
political and artistic past, but he was appre-
ciated in America primarily as a satirist, and
the work from the period after the First
World War was perceived as his best The
biting commentary that marked this early
work was that of a misanthropic pessimist,
not what he had become an optimist
infatuated with the United States Crosz
was unable to understand the American
psyche to the degree that he had the Ger-
man, and he returned to his homeland in
an attempt to regain the momentum he had
lost He died in Berlin in an accident six
weeks after his return D G

Note

1 Eva Ingersoll Catling, George Grosz Work m ( M

(exh cat. Huntington N Y Heckscher Museum,
1977), 9

3 fohn I H Raur Grow Gro,z New York

Macmillan, 19541, 22

3 Catling, George Grosz, 7

4 Verboien. verjoUl KunsUlileMur m 3 Rncb (exh cat
by Barbara Lepper, Duisburg Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-
Museum 1983 1, 94

5 Catling, Groror Grosz, 174

6 Ibid, 176

7 Ibid, 174

8 Baur, Grorof Grosz, 22

9 George Crosz, letter to Felix J Weil, July 21,
1933, published in Uwe M Schneede, Grar^ Grosz
Do- Kunsllrr m inner Gfsrl/sc/w/l I Cologne DuMont,
ls>X4 H)2

10 Armin Zweite, "Franz Hotmann und die
Stadtische Calerie 1937, " in Peter Klaus Schuster,
ed , Die "Kmabtadt" Munthen 1937 Nationd/sozwlismus
unj "Entflrtrtt Kunst 1 Munich Prestel, 1987), 274

Work in Entartete Kunst

Afcoftnim Adventurei
1916

Painting medium unknown dimensions unknown
V quired In 1921 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room 3, NS inventory no 15973
By exchange to Bochmei luly \6 1940.
location unknown

Metropolis

Blulr ih die Grontadt 1 View ot the big 1 itj

Exhibited as GnrssiVuil I (Jig city)

1916-17

Oil on canvas, 102 x 105 cm 1407. x 41% in

Acquired in 1924 from the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16194, Fischer lot 42

Thvssen-Korncmisza Collection, Lugano, Switzerland

Figure 216

DrrBoxrr (The boxer)

c 1920

Painting, medium unknown, c 120 x 90 cm

(47% x 35 V. in

Donated in 1923 to the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 5, NS inventory no 16066

Location unknown

BiUms Max Herrruinn-Neisse

1 Portrait of Max Hermann-Neissel

1925

Oil on canvas, 100 x 101 5 cm 1 39V. x 41

Acquired in 1925 by the Kunsthalle Mar

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16195

Stadtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1950

Figure 2,3

Menschen I Mankind'
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresde
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16257
Location unknown

7r<j/>czfcunst/rr (Trapeze artists1

Exhibited as Da Scillimzer (The rope dancer)

1914

Etching. 168 x 12 I cm (6% x 4% in )

Catalogue raisonne Duckers E 16

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room C2, NS inventory no 16365

Location unknown, this print The Art Institute ot

Chicago, Print and Drawing Club

Fi^urr 22r

G<JM0ttH I'l

..lasN.nl. Jem SuiUbad
(After (he chalytx at

1915

I ithograph («'< x 3D cm (7'A x 7 . in

( atabgue raisonne Duckers I 27

Acquired in 1929 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room ( .2, NS invent irj no 16* 64

Peter M Crosz Collection

Fiourr 222

■

Am Kjiwl 1 At the canal)
Hauler am Katul t louses on the canal)
Exhibited as Am (Co, | Along the quji
Plate 3 irom the Frstr George Grosz-Mappe
lust George Crosz portfolio)
1915/16

Lithograph, 264 x 22 2 cm 1 107. x 8% in )
Catalogue raisonne Duckers M I s
Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin
Room C2, NS inventory no 16394
Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for
German Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 71c
Figure 2M

Cafe

Plate 10 from the Klrmr Grosz Mappe

(Little Grosz portfolio,

1915/16

Lithograph, 195 x 13 cm 177. x 5V. in

Catalogue raisonne Duckers M II, 10

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room C2, NS inventory no 16363

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies. M 82 28872)

Fiijurr 21"

Fniwerung an Mu' York i Memory of New York)

Crosstab in USA (Big city in the USA)

Plate I from the Frstr George Grosz-Mappe

(First George Grosz portfolio)

1915/16

Lithograph, 378 x 296 cm ( 147. x 1 1 . in

Catalogue raisonne Duckers M I, I

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16392

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M 82 28871a

Figure 21s

Kajjeebaus (Coffee house)

ZecbgeUyfe im Cafcbaus (Drinking spree in the cafe)

Plate 4 from the Kkint Gro^z Mappe

( Little Crosz portfolio)

1915/16

Lithograph, 21 8 x 138 cm (85A x 5V« in )

Catalogue raisonne Duckers M II, 4

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16396

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center fo

German Expressionist Studies, M82 288 72d

Figure 2*8

Strassmbild (Street scene)

Strassenbild mil Mond (Street scene with moon)

Plate 3 from the Kldnc Grosz Mappt

(Little Crosz portfolio)

1915/16

Lithograph, 234 x 14 cm (9% x 5'h in )

Catalogue raisonne Duckers M II, 3

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16395

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M 82 28872c

Figure 2(7

Figure 220

Grosz, Texasbtldfiir meinen Freund Cbingachgook (Texas

picture for my friend Chmgachgook), 1915/16

Figure 221

Grosz, Trapczkiinstltr (Trapeze artists), 1914

TexasbildfUr meinen Freund Cbintfacbtfook

(Texas picture for my friend Chingachgook)

Wildwest

Plate 2 from the Erste George Grosz-Mappe

(First George Crosz portfolio)

1915/16

Lithograph, 269 x 271 cm (10% x I0V» in )

Catalogue raisonne Duckers M I, 2

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16393

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 71b

Figure 220

Germanenkopjt (Teutonic Heads)

1919

Etching, 33 x 53 cm (13 x 207« in.)

Catalogue raisonne Duckers E 58

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16397

Location unknown

Figure 222

Grosz, Gejangene (Prisoners), 1915

Figure 223

Grosz, "Maul bulten und writer dicnm" ("Shut up and do your duty"), 1927

Hans Grundig

Rudolf Haizmann

SlMSSflUZflW (StTCCl

1919

Lithograph <n" \ 26.5 cm I I5M \ 10 In

I ii itogw raisonm I Kit ken i 6*0?

Acquired b) the Kupferstichkabineti Dresden

R i * ..' Ns Inventory no 16428

I .k. iin in unknown otto i pi im 1 1 nisi

Arbahlo\t i Unemployed '

Slrdssmszoir mil Kruppel i Street scene with cripples)

1920/2!

Lithograph, 22 x 175 cm (8% x 6 - in

( atalogue raisonne Duckers I 67

Acquired by the Schlesischcs Museum der bildenden

Kunst Hrcslau

Room C.I, NS inventory no 16269

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided bv Anna King Arnold, Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds, 831 85i

Bom (893

Vtllimjrn

(he J (963

Nitbull

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Knabe mil gebrochmm Arm (Boy with broke
c 1928

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtmuseum Di
Room Gl, NS inventory no 16167
Location unknown

/ i:iw 1 igure

1928

Marble, dimensions unk

Acquired by the Museu
r famburg

Room 3, NS inventory i
Probably destroyed

i tur Kunst und Cewcrbe,

"AIjm/ bttlten unJ writer Jirtirw '

( "Shut up and do your duty")

Der GekmtzujU (Crucified

Plate 10 from the portfolio Hintergrund (Background]

1927

Etching, 15 2 x 181 cm (6 x 7% in )

Catalogue raisonne Duckers M V!, 10

Acquired bv the Kupferstichkabmett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16413

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bing Arnold. Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds. 83179)

Figure 223

Two unidentified works

Possibly watercolor, dimensions unknown

Original location unknown

Room Gl, NS inventory nos 16264 and 16265

Location unknown

Ah i Nude i

Print, medium unknown, dimensions unknown

C atalogue raisonne Duckers E32-34, E73-74

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabmett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16298

Destroyed

BiMNr 22896// (Image no 22896/1)

Etching, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildende

Kunst, Breslau

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16260

Destroyed

Unidentified print exhibited as Zwei Afoe i.Two nudes)

Etching, dimensions unknown

Acquired bv the Kupferstichkabmett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16406

Location unknown

Raoul Hausmann

^

iv

Born (886
Vienna, Austria

Died 1971
Limoges, France

In 1900 Raoul Hausmann came to Berlin,
where he studied painting and sculpture His
first artistic ties were to Expressionist artists
and writers in 1912 he joined Der Sturm
(The storm), in 1916 he became a regular
contributor to the journal Die Aktion
(Action), and a year later he joined the
Expressionistische Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Dresden (Expressionist working group
of Dresden)

Hausmann opposed the First World
War from its outbreak and in 1917 took part
in the illegal distribution of the so-called
Lichnowsky Brochure, which blamed the
Germans for the war This undertaking
marked his earliest collaboration with Franz
Jung, who was then living with Titus Tautz,
one of the organizers of the Lichnowsky
project During the next few years Haus-
mann became increasingly involved with the
circle of anarchist intellectuals who edited
and contributed to the journal Freif Strasse
(Free street), including Jung and Otto Cross '

In April of 1918 Hausmann attended the
first "Dada evening," when Richard Huelsen-
beck read the German Dadaist manifesto
Hausmann joined the group and with this
act aligned himself with the Dadaists' con-
demnation of the Expressionists Although
he had previously affiliated himself with
them, he now accused the Expressionists of
being middle-class Philistines whose work
lacked social meaning and had become
a luxury item in a capitalist art market
Following the 1920 Crosse Internationale
Dada Messf (Great international Dada fair)
Hausmann became even more critical of
Expressionism in June of 1921 he signed an
open letter in Der Qegner (The opponent) to
the Novembergruppe (November group)

decrying the failure of these Expressionists
to live up to their alleged revolutionary
goals This letter was later cited in
Wolfgang Willrich's 1937 Sauberung des
Kunsttempels (Cleansing of the temple of art)
as evidence of the signatories' consummate
Bolshevist commitment 3

By late 1919 the Berlin Dadaists were
themselves polarized into two groups
While Johannes Baader, Hausmann, Hannah
Hoch, and others opposed official party
affiliation, the Communist sympathies
of George Grosz, John Heartfield, and
Wieland Herzfelde resulted in their pro-
duction of socially engaged artworks that
empathized with the proletariat Despite
Hausmann's reluctance to join the Commun-
ist party he continued in 1919 and 1920 to
publish explicitly political essays in the
journal Die Erde (The earth) attacking the
majority Socialist government Although his
political orientation had originally been
inspired by the anarchist tradition of Mikh-
ail Bakunin and Max Stirner, as early as 1916
he began to focus on psychosexual issues
rather than on class struggle ' His idea of
revolution was greatly influenced in that
year by Otto Gross's essay Vom Konjlikt des
Eignen und Fremden (On the conflict between
what is one's own and what is strange to one-
self), which he had read in Freie Strasse 4
In the June 15, 1919, issue of Die Erde
Hausmann published an essay "Zur
Weltrevolution" (On the world revolution),
in which he called for the liberation of
women He argued for the "development of
a feminine [weiblicb] society which would
lead to a new promiscuity and, in connec-
tion with that, to Mother Right" (as opposed
to the characteristic male features of pater-
nal family right) 5 With these views he
began to move away from his Dada convic-
tions, and within a year he was holding
anti-Dada soirees with Kurt Schwitters

June 15, 1919, was also the date of the
first issue of Hausmann's journal Der Dada,
a short-lived publication of three numbers
In the second issue, published in December
of the same year, Hausmann's lead article
emphasized the need for social revolution

.V2

DER

Preis 1 Mark

dada siegff

C^/h /'/'/"'/" fiet.

Figure 224

Hausmann, title page of Dfr Dada, no 2,

December 1919

Figure 225

Grosz, Hausmann, and Heartheld, title page of

Drr Dada, no 3, April 1920

Guido Hebert

Vuu s.iv .111 is in dangei how SO? Art
doesn't exisl any longei It is dead We

ilu not want to know about spun or art

We want to ordei economics and sexuality
rationally We wish the world to be
Stirred and stirring, unrest instead ol rest '
I lausmann joined the progressive art-
ists group Kommune ( ommune) in 1922

and in October exhibited in the /ritrriiiilion<ilr
Aussttllung revolutionam Kiinstler (International
exhibition ol revolutionary artists) In 1926
he started work on a novel, Hylr, and a few
years later began exploring the medium of
photograph)

At the National Socialist party con-
vention in 1934 Hitler promised that both
political and aesthetic revolutions had come
to an end in Germany' He identified the
saboteurs of art" who posed a moral danger
to German culture as the "Cubists, Futurists
and Dadaists * When the EntiirMf Kunst
exhibition opened a few years later,
Hausmann who had only one work appro-
priated bv Adolf Ziegler's committee, was
represented by the title page of the second
issue of Drr Diiiiii (fig 224) and the first
sheet of the third issue (fig 225) of the jour-
nal These were tacked up on a partition on
which the installers had created their own
"Dada" collage of paint, modernist artworks,
and slogans, surmounted by George Grosz's
words "Take Dada seriously' It's worth it "

Hausmann left Germany in March of
1933 Little is known of his political stance in
exile He went first to Ibiza, where he
remained until the outbreak of the Spanish
Civil War in 1936, and then to Amsterdam
Zurich, and later to Prague He arrived in
Paris in 1938 and fled to Peyrat-le-Chateau
in the south of France in 1939 In 1944 he
moved to Limoges, where he resided until
his death in 1971 P K !

Nolo

1 Hanne Berglus Das Lacbm Daiai Dicbtrlhm
Dadaislm mi ibn Afar'otrm (Ciessen Anabas 1989 i ' !

2 Wolfgang Willi uli SmbtruHj dn KunsllmptU: Eini
kiiHSlpolilisclH Kampjscbrifi :m CamiuHj iwtscber Kumt m
Crista mrdiscbti Art (Munich I I Lehmann, 1937), 43

J Walter I Shnderc and Martin Re< tor; Link-
radikalimu! mi Ltlrralur UittmHchmja znr Gacbicbtt ia
rozulislrsdxir Li'lcralur in in Weimam Rtpublib i Reinbek
Rowohlr, 1974), vol 1, 249

■1 Timothy O Benson, R,loul Hiimmmn ,mj Hrrlm

Dada (Ann Arbor UMI Research Press, 1987), 69

5 R.ioul Hausmann, "Zur Wcltrevolution," Dit hit
12 i lune 15, 1919) 170

6 Raoul Hausmann, "Der deutsche Spiesser argert
sich ," in Drr Dada 2 (December 1919) (I)

7 Berthold Hinz, Art m the Third Rnc/l, trans
Robert and Rita Kimber (New York Pantheon,
1979), 35

8 Hildegard Brenner, Dit Knnsrjiolirilr da
Nationalsozialisnm (Reinbek Rowohli, 1963), 82

Work in Entartete Kunst

Title page of Drr Dada, no 2

December 1919

Lithograph, 29 x 23 cm 111% x 9 in )

Published by Malik Verlag, Berlin

Room 3, NS Inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown, this copy Getty Center for the

History of Art and the Humanities, Resource

Collections

Fi^urr 22<

(with George Crosz and John Heartfield)

Title page of Drr Dada, no 3

April 1920

Lithograph, 29 x 23 cm i 1 1% x 9 in )

Published by Malik Verlag, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown, this copy Getty Center for the

History of Art and the Humanities, Resource

Collections

Figure 225

Bom i i "on
Drrsdrn

Drolb ia\t

KIlltHOtl'H

Work in Entartete Kunst

Biidtlil A1nm Bmdtr Portrait my brother
Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtmuscum Dresden
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16165

Location unknown

SrHKlfciUms (Self-portrait)

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtmuseum Dresde
Room Gl, NS inventory no 16172
Location unknown

Erich Heckel

Born (883
Dobeln

Died 1970
Radolfzell

For eight years in Dresden, and then in
Berlin, the artists' group known as Die
Brucke (The bridge), founded in 1905 by
Erich Heckel with Fritz Bleyl, Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt- Rottluff, spon-
sored exhibitions and provided a rallying
point for artists of the avant-garde Heckel
was an architectural student in Dresden
when he and his friend Schmidt-Rottluff,
whom he had met as a schoolboy in Chem-
nitz, organized Die Brucke, soon to include
Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein and in 1910
Otto Mueller Heckel's participation in the
group's activities shaped his artistic style
and launched his career as a painter

Heckel's first solo exhibition was held
in 1913 at Fritz Gurlitt's gallery in Berlin
Two paintings from that year, Die Genesende
(The convalescent), a triptych bought by
the Museum Folkwang in Essen and now
in the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard
University and Glasernen Tat; (Classy
day) are among his most famous He had
earlier been hired along with his colleague
Kirchner to paint the chapel in Cologne
erected by the wealthy collector Karl Ernst
Osthaus to hold windows commissioned
from the stained-glass artist jan Thorn-
Prikker By the time he volunteered for Red
Cross duty in 1914, Heckel had become a
well-known and respected artist

Heckel's unit in the First World War
was under the command of Dr Walter
Kaesbach, an art historian whom he had
met in 1912 Kaesbach prescribed a work
schedule for his charges of twenty-four
hours on duty and twenty-four hours off,
which allowed Heckel to continue to pro-
duce paintings, watercolors, and graphics
during the war His work did not depict

scenes of war, however the landscapes
and seascapes dating from this period are
a summary of the context rather than the
content of his experiences

Heckel was sent to Flanders with
Kaesbach's group in 1915 There in
Roeselare he met Max Beckmann, who was
serving as a medical orderly at the front
Heckel encountered James Ensor at his next
assignment, Ostend, where he decorated a
room that was used as temporary quarters
for sick and wounded soldiers and painted
the Madonna von Oslende (Ostend Madonna)
on a tarpaulin for a sailors' Christmas party
(This work was among the first to be
acquired in 1919 by the Nationalgalerie in
Berlin for its modern section, the Neue
Abteilung ) In 1916 Heckel began to contrib-
ute to Paul Cassirer's pacifist review Der
Bildermann (The picture man) and many oth-
ers of the short-lived periodicals published
before and after the war, including the left-
leaning Der Sturm (The storm), Die Aktwn
(Action), and Die role Erde (The red earth)

After the war Heckel returned to
Berlin and spent the following years travel-
ing throughout Germany and to England,
France, Italy, and Scandinavia He joined the
Novembergruppe (November group) and
the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst (Workers' council
for art) in 1919, but his art at this time did
not overtly testify to his dedication to the
revolutionary cause ' In 1914, in response to
a survey by the journal Kunst und Kiinstler
(Art and artists), Heckel had said, "The
unconscious and the involuntary are the
sources of artistic power"2 A direct, pro-
grammatic approach was not in keeping
with his mode of expression It has been said
that, as was the case in so much postwar
art, Heckel created a spiritualized apocalyp-
tic atmosphere in his work,' that his figural
images of the early 1920s were visions —
people like marionettes, without expression 4

In the early 1930s Heckel's figures took
on an ornamental character, and there was
not much change in his work after the Nazis
came to power, except for his abandonment
of circus themes and still lifes before the end
of the decade He was slow to realize the

implications of Adolf Hitler's art-related pol-
icies As late as August 1934 Ernst Barlach,
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Nolde, and oth-
ers signed a appeal to support Hitler, with
the hope that they might be able to con-
tinue to work in peace, if not with honor5
Heckel also signed, despite a recent ugly
confrontation at a lecture given by Paul
Schultze-Naumburg, in which the writer
stated that all Expressionists were Jews
When Heckel objected, two members of the
SA (Sturmabteilung, storm troop) made it
clear that there was to be no disagreement 6

Painters and critics who were not pro-
ponents of the approved wlkisch (popular
national) art continued to argue that works
by Heckel (and Barlach and Kirchner) were
truly German and had even been prophetic
of the increasing power of the National
Socialists The poet Gottfried Benn pub-
lished an article in November 1933 in
Deutsche Zukunft (German future) wherein he
called German Expressionism the "last great
resurgence of art in Europe" and declared
that the "antiliberal and irrational aspects
of such art qualified modern painters and
sculptors to contribute to the National
Socialist cultural program "7

There was for a time a certain
ambivalence in the treatment of Heckel by
the National Socialist authorities one of his
paintings was removed in 1935 from a
Munich exhibition of contemporary art
from Berlin, yet in 1936 he was inducted
into the Reichskammer der bildenden
Kiinste (Reich chamber of fine arts) without
applying for membership, upon the dissolu-
tion of the union {Wirtschaftsvcrband) to
which he belonged Soon thereafter, in 1937
Heckel was declared "decadent" and was
forbidden to exhibit, and 729 of his works in
public institutions were impounded because
he "destroyed the sense of race "*

Paul Ortwin Rave, then a curator at the
Nationalgalerie, was assigned to accompany
Adolf Ziegler's commission on its visit of
July 7, 1937, to the Neue Abteilung in the
Kronprinzenpalais for the purpose of
confiscating works for the Entartele Kunst
exhibition "Discussion especially about

uds by the

shop 191

[Hcckel's] picture Syh." he noted, "criticized
by [commission member Hans Schweitzer]
for its lack of aerial perspective, Ziegler
deemed it not suspicious enough but did not
like the painting technique in FIhssI.iI mil
JWfmfoi (River valley with bathers] Com-
ments [were made] regarding a Heckel
painting seized the previous day in Cologne,
Goleborg, which had been bought in 1935
for RM 5000, to the shame of the director
there "9

In all, seven oils, four watercolors, and
two graphics by Heckel were displayed in
Enliirlflf KumsI Among those seized were two
that purportedly glorified idiots, cretins, and
paralytics at the expense of healthy Aryans
Bern Vorkim (Reading aloudi, exhibited as
Untcrbaltunt) (Conversation', and SilZfwifr
Mann Seated man) Also drawing indignant
onlookers was the nude Madcben mil Rose
(Girl with rose), exhibited as Ruhemies
Madchat 'Girl resting', labeled to show that
it had been purchased with "the taxes of the

German working people" by the Landes-
museum in Hannover in 1923 for one
million marks "'

Heckel led a quiet existence in various
rural locations from 1932 to 1939, from 1940
to 1942 he lived in Austria In January 1944
his atelier in Berlin, in which he had worked
since 1919, was destroyed by bombs, and
many works, especially drawings, were lost
He became Otto Dix's neighbor in Hem-
menhoten on Lake Constance before the
end of the war and encountered Kaesbach
again, who had lived there since 1933 In
1949 Heckel became professor of visual arts
at the Kunstakademie (Academy of art i in
Karlsruhe, where he remained until 1955

Heckel and Schmidt- Rottluff were the
longest surviving members of Die Briicke
and were instrumental in founding the
Briicke-Museum in Berlin Before his death
Heckel gave many of his own works as well
as portfolios prepared by the group to the
fledgling institution (D G )

Noirs

1 Biographical information can be found especially
in Paul Vogt, EnJi HtM (Recklinghausen Aurel
Bongers, 19651 and Emli HrcM 1883-1970 Gemalit
Aifiumllc, Ztidmmiga mi GrupMticxh cat edited

by Zdenek Felix, Essen Museum Folkwang 1983

2 Ida Katherine Rigby "Ah Mi Kilnsllerl" War—

RavlutlOM — Wamar GrrmilH Ex/irrssiomst Prmh Draumuj]
Poslrrs, mi Pmoiicaii from the Robert Corf Rtflmi Fomia-
tion [each cat, San Diego Umvcrsitv Gallery San
Diego State University 1983 B0

3 Erich Hickrl (Museum Folkwang J~

4 Theda Shapiro, Painttn and Politics Tht Euwptm
Aoant Garit (New York Elsevier, 1976), 88

5 Remhard Merker, Die hlirndrx Kumit in
NalioiKilsozmlismus Kulturiimlodie, Kutturpolitik.
KMurproiltklion (Cologne DuMont, 1983), 56

6 Vogt, Ericfc HiM. «6

7 Henrv Grosshans, Hitler mi llir Artists : New York
Holmes and Meier, 1983), 73

a Vogt Ericfc HicM, 87

9 Paul Ortwm Rave, Kumliikuilur im Dnllm Rmr>.
rev ed , ed Uwe M Schnecdc ' Berlin Argon,
1987), 143

10 Vogt, Ericfc Hrckil. 87

Wilhelm Heckrott

Work in Entarlete Kunsl

Madcbrn mit Rose iCirl with rose)

Rubmdes Miidcben (Cirl resting!

1909

Oil on canvas, c 76 x 90 cm (297s x 35% in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1909/7

Acquired in 1923 by the Landesmuseum, Hannover

Room 3, NS inventory no 15996

Location unknown

Gebolz am Meer ( Woods by the sea)

1913

Tempera on canvas, 72 5 x 80 cm (28'/a x 31V: in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1913/57

Acquired by the kunsthalle Bremen

Room 6, NS inventory no 16142

Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Hagen, Sammlung Berg

Figure 227

■

Landscbafi mil Muble (Landscape with mill)

1913

Painting, medium unknown, 81 x 94 cm (31% x 37 in I

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1913/35

Acquired (donation"1) in 1923 by the Landesmuseum,

Hannover

Room 5, NS inventory no 16109

Location unknown

Brim Vorksai (Reading aloud)
Untcrbaltunt) ( Conversation )
1914

Oil on canvas, 95 x 80 cm (37% x 31'A i
Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1914/4
Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Mu
und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle
Room 4, NS inventory no 16047
Private collection, Germany

Flamische Femilit (Flemish family)

1916

Oil on canvas, 110 x 77 cm (43% x 30% in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1916/4

Acquired by the Stadtische Calene, Frankfurt

Room 4, NS inventory no 16027

Location unknown

Barbimlubc (Barbershop!

Brim Frisatr (At the hairdresser's)

1917

Oil on canvas, 95 2 x 71 8 cm (37'A x 28%

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1912/25

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtisches Museu

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room C2, NS inventory no 16222

Staatliche Calerie Moritzburg Halle, 1948

Figure 226

Work in "Entartete Kunst"

Maicnkonigin (May queen)

1919

Oil on canvas, dimensions unk

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadt

Room I, NS inventory no 15942

Location unknown

Selbslportrat (Self-portrait)

Exhibited as Kopj (Head)

1913

Ink and opaque color, 461 x 339 cm (18'/h x 13% in !

Acquired in 1927 by the Kupferstichkabmett, Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16315

Location unknown

Zwet Akte ipw Atflifr (Two nudes in the studio)

Watercolor, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16169

Location unknown

Sttzender Mann (Seated man!

1913

Oil on canvas, 1 10 x 70 cm (43 'A x 27% in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1913/24

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 4, NS inventory no 16049

Location unknown

Badende am Meer ( Bather by the see)

1914

Oil on canvas,- c 90 x 55 cm (35% x 21 % ir

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 1913/25

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 4, NS inventory no 16017

Location unknown

Jacoba van
Heemskerck

Hans Siebert
von Heister

I In [ lutch paintei and graphic artist lacoba

van I Iccmxkcrck studied in The Hague, in
Hilversum at the I aren School and with
F Hart Nibbng for a vear she worked
in the Atelier Eugene Carriere in Paris and
exhibited in Amsterdam, Brussels, London,
and Pans A meeting with Rudoll Sterner,
lounder ot the Anthroposophical Society,
was ol great importance lor her, Sterner' s
Ihcosophv kosicrucianism, and other
occult concepts were important sources
(or abstract artists Another, less exotic
influence was Paul Scheerbart's book
G/dsarcoitfklur (Glass architecture), which
inspired her to design stained-glass windows

Heemskerck became well known in
Germany while remaining nearly unrecog-
nized in her native land Her woodcuts and
linocuts appeared regularly in the journal
Drr Sturm The storm) after she had been
discovered by the editor, Herwarth
VCalden ' She was represented in the Erslrr
deutschcr Herbshalon (First German autumn
salon ol 1913, and in 1914 the Galerie Der
Sturm exhibited her work with that of
Marianne von Werefkin, followed by a ret-

rospective in 1916 I leemskert k received a
total ol ten exhibitions at I )ee Sturm, more
than any othei aitist, and Walden even
tried to organize an art school for her, the
Sturmschlile fur I lolland "Sturm" school
for Holland), in the Netherlands

Heemskerck was represented in
the famous 1926 exhibition of the newly
founded Internationale Veremigung der
I xpressionisten, I uturisten, Kubisten, und
Konstruktfvisten International association of
Expressionists, Futurists, Gubists, and Gon-
structivists) in Berlin Since she was not
German (and since she had died fourteen
years earlier), her inclusion in Enlarkk Kunst
was probably due to her association with
Der Sturm and Impressionism in general
her abstract linocut of about 1921, Kompost-
tion (Composition, fig 228), was included in
the Bauhaus portfolio Neue europaiscbe Grufik
Deutsche Kiinstlcr (New European graphics
German artists), which was displayed in
Entarlete Kumt !(PC)

Note

1 Adolf Behne published a review of Heemskerck's
work under the title "Biologic und Kubismus" I Biology
and Cubism) in Drr Sturm 6 (1911-12), September 1-2

2 See also Lothar Schrever lacoba van Hrrmskmfc
Sturm Bilderbuch no 7 (Berlin Der Sturm, 1924), A B
Loosies-Terpstra, Moderne Kunsl in NtdtrLind iooo-1914

i Utrecht H Dekker & Cumbert, 1959), "Zwanzig
lahre vergessen Gesamtschau von Hollands erster
Kubistm in Amsterdam," Fuinkfutlcr RuudNitati, February
27, I960, A H Huussen, Ir, and Herbert Henkels,
lacoba van Hrrmsfemlc i87t>-i«J2i Kunstatares van bet Expres-
sioKSmc I he Hague Haags Cemeentemuseum, 1983 )

Horn ISSS
DiiiitldorJ

Died (967

Berlin

Work in Entarlete Kunst

Wab I Woman i

1922

Print, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1922 by the Stadtischc Kun

Dusseldorf

Room G2, NS inventory no 16408

Location unknown

nlung

Figure 228

Heemskerck Kompositum C ompositn

Work in Entarlete Kunst"

Kompoution (Composition)

Exhibited as Abstraktrs btho (Abstract lithol

Plate 6 from Bauhaus Portfolio III

c 1921

Linoleum cut, 299 x 40 2 cm (I IV. x 15% in

Catalogue raisonne Wmgler 111/6

Acquired bv the Schlossmuseum, Breslau1

Room C2, NS inventory no 16422

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbinati

Gallery I Los Angeles onlv1, The Art Institute oi

Chicago, gift of Philip Pinsof [( lucago only)

Fi^urr 228

1921

Oswald Herzog

Werner Heuser

Heinrich Hoerle

Born (895
Cologne

Work in 'Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Das kb (The ego)

1918

Alabaster, height 115 cm I 45 % in )

Acquired in 1932 by the Nationalgale

Room 3, NS inventory no 16238

Probably destroyed

Taufr (Baptism)

1919

Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm (39!/„ x 31'/, in )

Acquired in 1919 by the Stadtische Kunstsa

Dusseldorf

Room 7, NS inventory no 14167

Location unknown

nlungen

Mdancholit (Melancholy)

c 1918

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1929 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room 3, NS inventory no 15989

Probably destroyed

Das Paar (The couple)

Possibly Pwlelat (Proletarians)

1924

Print, medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtische Kunstsammlungen

Dusseldorf

Room G2, NS inventory no 16294

Destroyed

Karl Hof er

Bom la '8

K.irKfd/ii

Dili 1953
Berlin

K.nl I lofci was .1 professor at the Berlin

Akademie when the National Socialists came
to power in 1933 He had been a harsh critic
of Hitlers cultural policy since the end of
the 1920s and took issue with the party's
plan to create an "art for everyone " Hofer
attacked the officially sanctioned neo-
Biedermeier style, winch he called "the ulti-
mate in inferiority and imitation "' On July
13, 1933, a letter from the artist appeared in
the / kutsclbc Alltfememc Zettuni), presenting his
view that there was no need for a Kulturkampj
(cultural battle! In his view Hitler's appar-
ent love for art and the small percentage of
Jews among the visual artists, who seemingly
were the primary targets, made the plan
superfluous 2 Hofer accused the National
Socialists of promoting an art that was
pure kitsch "The masses and kitsch go
together Every strong, new expression
of the human spirit is misunderstood by
the surrounding populace Today the
eternal levelers are again at work " In
response, an article by Waldemar Wunsthc
entitled "Karl Hofer und die neue Kunst"
( Karl Hofer and the new art) in the National
Socialist periodical Deutsche Kulturwacht
(German cultural sentinel) accused Hofer
of being elitist and anti-Volfe (people),
whereas the National Socialists claimed they
looked to "the Vblk's innate sense for good
art " Wunsche described the works of Hofer
and his friends as not "truly revolutionary
and thereby creative and futuristic but
rather decadent — [belonging] to an
overwrought past If they are not under-
stood, it is not because of narrow-
mindedness, reaction, or lack of true under-
standing for art, but because of a healthy
regard tor life that rejects everything that

I iKUrc 224

Hofer ScMa/raA Moisdu

(People sleeping 1919

tries to destroy the life of the nation " The
article also criticized Hofer for ignoring the
threat posed to German art by Jewish critics
like Julius Meier-Graefe and Jewish dealers
like Paul Cassirer and Alfred Flechtheim '

Hofer was clearly under attack On
April 1, 1933, a large poster had appeared at
the academy describing him as a member of
the destructive Marxist-Jewish element and
urging students to boycott his classes 4
Hofer responded in the periodical An<)rifj
(Attack) to the rhetorical question, "How
much longer will the Akademie continue to
dance to the pipe of the lew Hofer" with
"I have never piped, and regrettably have
never seen the Akademie dance, and am no
lew'"' In 1934 Hofer lost his professorship
and was forbidden to work and exhibit
by the Prussian minister of education,
Bernhard Rust

Hofer's objections to the policies of
German fascism, which he described as
"idealism gone astray [and] the bourgeoisie
gone off the rails, '' were among the most
vociferous The dealer Giinther Franke
wrote later that "politically Hofer had spo-
ken out so loudly against the regime that it
was a wonder he did not come under the
wheel "7 Hofer himself, in his book Aus Lebcn
und Kunst (Of life and art), 1952, admitted,
"I was not very careful in what I said, and
today it appears to me to be a miracle that
I'm still alive"" Hofer remained in Berlin
during the National Socialist rule, experi-
encing an existential alienation coupled
with the psychological violence inflicted by
the government

In spring 1933 Hofer was still allowed
to exhibit, and his paintings appeared in
the Berliner Sezession (Berlin secession
along with works by Lyonel Feininger, Paul
Klee, Ernst Nay and Oskar Schlemmer In
the foreword of the catalogue their works

were described as having a German spirit11
Although Hofer's paintings were not as bold
in form and color as those of the other Ger-
man artists represented, shortly after the
exhibition the National Socialists began to
confiscate them from public and private
institutions, until ultimately 313 had been
seized Eight paintings appeared in Entartete
Kuttst in 1937 His Sttzender Akt auj blauem
Kissett (Seated nude on blue cushion), confis-
cated from Max Perl's gallery in 1935, was
hung in Room 3 near the slogans "An insult
to German womanhood" and "The ideal —
cretin and whore "

Early influences on Hofer had included
Hans von Marees and the classical art he
saw in abundance during his residence in
Rome from 1903 to 1908 He then moved to
Paris, where he was influenced by the work
of Paul Cezanne (and was interned as an
enemy alien when he lingered too long in
France in 1914) After the war Hofer lived in
Berlin, taught at the Akademie from 1919 to
1933, and became chairman of the Freie
Sezession (Free secession) He was inducted
into the Preussische Akademie der Kiinste
(Prussian academy of arts) in 1923 but was
dismissed in 1938, after having been made an
inactive member Ironically that summer
Hofer was awarded first prize by the Car-
negie Institute at its International Exhibition
in Pittsburgh, receiving foreign recognition
while being denounced in his own country
Nine of his pictures impounded by the
National Socialists were sent to the Galerie
Fischer sale in Lucerne in June 1939 Those
that failed to sell at auction were sold
for approximately fifty reichsmarks each
in 1941 l0

On March 1, 1943, Hofer's studio was
bombed and over 150 paintings and many
drawings and writings were destroyed His
apartment, where he resumed painting, was
destroyed the following November Hofer
had photographed many of the lost works
and repainted as many as fifteen of them,
including Scbuhirze Zimmer (Black rooms),
originally painted in 1928 This work, a
nightmarish image of a naked man beating a
drum, with other figures scattered through

bare, labyrinthine rooms, has often been
described as a premonition of the catastro-
phe to come in Germany The dealer Karl
Buchholz, one of those entrusted by the
Nazis with the sale of "degenerate" art,
continued to make clandestine sales of
Hofer's symbolic, disturbing pictures to
old patrons, and the artist said that ironically
he "never sold so much as at that time""

At the end of the Second World War
Hofer received a professorship at the Berlin
Hochschule fur bildenden Kunste (College
of fine arts), which he set about rebuilding,
and became president of the West Berlin
Kunstakademie (Academy of art) He was
a founding member of the Kulturbund
zur demokratischen Erneuerung (Cultural
federation for democratic renewal) and
hoped for cooperation with the Germans in
the Soviet-occupied zone By 1948, however,
as the Communist agitation against "formal-
ism" intensified, a fierce campaign was
launched against Hofer in the Eastern zone
The German artists showed their faith in
him by electing him president of the new
Deutscher Kunstlerbund (League of German
artists), founded in 1950 But as the propo-
nent of a realistic style, although he himself
had turned to abstraction briefly in 1930
to 1931, Hofer disputed with artists such
as abstractionist Willi Baumeister over
the power of representational art A sharp
encounter in 1955 with Baumeister and Will
Grohmann accelerated the controversy and
Nay and Fritz Winter resigned from the
Kunstlerbund in protest at Hofer's behavior
Until his death a short time later, Hofer
continued to denounce non-objective art
as the reflection of the soulless premises
of contemporary life l3 (D G )

Note

1 Werner Haftmann, Banned and Persecuted Dictator-
ship of Art under Hitler, trans Eileen Martin (Cologne
DuMont, 1986), 253

2 Reinhard Merker, Die bilimim Kunste im
Milionalsozwlismus Kullurideoloilie, Kullurpolilik,
Kulturproduktion (Cologne DuMont, 1983), 132

3 Ida Katherine Rigby Karl Hojt, (New York
Garland, 1976), 205, and Joseph Wulf, Dii bddmdm
Kunste m Dnllftt kticb Erne Dokummlatwn (Frankfurt/
Berlin/Vienna Ullstein, 1983), 48

4 Rigby Karl Hojn, 205

5 Wulf, Dtt bddmdm Kumtt, 48

6 Haftmann, Banned and Ptrstcuttd, 253

7 Rigby Karl Hofer, 232

8 Wulf, Dif bddmdm Kunste, 48

9 Paul Ortwin Rave, Kunstdiktatur im Dntloi Rricb,
rev ed, ed Uwe M Schneede (Berlin Argon,
1987), 56

10 Rave, Kunstdiktatur, 129

1 1 Rigby Karl Hofer, 215

12 Haftmann, Bannid and Persecuted, 259

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Schlajmde Mmscbm (People sleeping)

1919

Oil on canvas, 58 x 81 cm (227, x 317. in )

Acquired in 1922 by the Ruhmeshalle,

Barmen/Wuppertal

Room 4, NS inventory no 16018

Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, 1987

Fijuniz,

Der erwacbmde Gtiangme (The awakening prisoner)

1922

Oil on canvas, 82 5 x 123 cm (32'/3 x 48V, in )

Acquired in 1924 by the Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Room 4, NS inventory no 16020

Collection Hans Ranft, Italy 1974

Freundmnm (Friends)

1923/24

Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm (39V, x 317, in )

Acquired in 1924 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16045?

Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1947

Fi^urr 230

Tiscbgesellschaft (Group at a table)

1924

Oil on canvas, 120 x 116 cm (47 14 x 45V, in )

Acquired in 1924 by the Ruhmeshalle,

Barmen/Wuppertal

Room 4, NS inventory no 16030

Location unknown

Friends 1923 24

Figure 231

Hofer, Zu'fi Frtundt I Two friends). 1926

Zuyi Freundt 'Two friends l

1926

Oil on canvas 100 \ 70 cm > 39% x 27'h in )

Acquired in 1928 by the Stadttsche Calerie, Frankfurt

Room 4, NS inventory no 16037

Stadelsches Kunstmstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 1966

Figm 23t

Igalene,

Sulltbcn mil Gmust (Still life with vegetables!

Oil on canvas, 43 x 67 cm 1 167, x 26% in i

Acquired by exchange in 1935 by the Nations

Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16156

On commission to Boehmer, exchanged 1940

location unknown

SttzcndtT Akt auf blaum Kissnt

'Seated nude on blue cushion

1927

Oil «>n canvas dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1936 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

'on deposit from 1935 confiscation from Max Perl)

Room 3, NS inventory no 15987

Location unknown

Mond und Sonne (Moon and sun I
Print, medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
Room G2, NS inventory no 16403
Location unknown

InsuUmn (Island girl)

Painting medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Donated in 1932 to the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst Breslau

Room 4, NS inventory no 16032

On commission to Boehmer, location unknown

Eugen Hoffmann

Johannes Itten

Work in 'Entartete Kunst

Ad<m uml Eihi (Adam and Eve)

Exhibited as Jouj mi Potipbai

l Joseph and Potiphan by Chnstoph Voll

Wood, dimensions unknown

Donated to the Stadtsmuseum Dresden

Room 3, NS inventory no 16233

Destroyed

Maichat mil Uauim Hilar (Girl with blue hair)
Plaster, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1919 by the Stadtmuseum Dresdc
Room 3, NS inventory no 16242
Location unknown

Wribhchrr Akt (Female nude I
Wood, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dn
Room 3, NS inventory no 16243
Location unknown

Nackln W«b\ Female nude)

Etching, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Kupterstichkabinett, Dresden

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16256

Location unknown

Scbwarzcnegg,
Switzerland

Died 1967

Zurich, Switzerland

Nine works by Johannes Itten were con-
fiscated from Cerman public collections,
and two of his lithographs (figs 232-33)
appeared in the Entartete Kunsl exhibition Yet
Itten's Swiss nationality should have made
his work exempt from appropriation by the
Ziegler committee and inclusion in the
exhibition Curiously despite his "degener-
ate" status after 1933 and the fact that he
was a foreigner and not a member of the
Nazi party Itten was allowed to remain in
his academic post in Krefeld until 1937

Itten began his career as an educator
and received a diploma in 1912 as a second-
ary school teacher In 1913 he decided to
become a student of the painter Adolph
Holzel and with this changed his vocation to
painting Although he had briefly attended
the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva in 1909
and 1912, he was bored with the academic
instruction he received there Holzel's pro-
gressive methods caught his attention and
shaped his future approach to teaching

Itten had his first one-man show at the
Calerie Der Sturm in Berlin in 1916 Later
that year he moved to Vienna and opened a
private art school In February of 1919 Wal-
ter Gropius, acting upon a suggestion from
Alma Mahler, who had met Itten in 1917,
invited the artist to become a member of
the Bauhaus faculty Itten arrived in Weimar
in October of the same year and brought
fifteen of his Viennese students with him
Shortly thereafter he accepted responsi-
bility for the stained-glass workshop at the
Bauhaus until Paul Klee took it over in 1922

Itten's main pedagogic concern, however,
was the conception and leadership of his
Vorkurs (preliminary course) Two essential
features of the course were inspired by
Holzel's methods the incorporation of
various breathing and gymnastic techniques
and a design theory based upon contrasts '
Itten's interest in the Persian philosophy of
Mazdaznan also played an important role in
his approach to teaching meditation and
yoga were intended to help the students free
their innate creativity Although Itten's ideas
attracted a number of students, they did
not find widespread acceptance among
the school's faculty He resigned from the
Bauhaus on October 4, 1923, partly because
he disagreed with Gropius's intention to
reorganize the school's curriculum with the
aim of unifying art and technology

In 1926 Itten formed the Moderne
Kunstschule (Modern art school) in Berlin,
where he continued to train his students
(several of whom had originally studied
with him at the Bauhaus) to "awaken their
slumbering talent for art and to intensify
individual originality ": Itten's former col-
league Georg Muche, who had assisted
him with the Vorkurs in Weimar, joined the
Moderne Kunstschule in 1928 following his
own departure from the Bauhaus In Decem-
ber of 1931 Itten also became director of
the newly founded Hohere Fachschule fur
Textil-Flachenkunst (Technical college for
textile art) in Krefeld, and after the school
opened on January 12, 1932, he began
to spend alternate weeks in Krefeld and Ber-
lin When the National Socialists came to
power in 1933, three of Itten's instructors in
Berlin — Max Bronstein, Lucia Moholy and
Gyula Pap — were pressured to leave the
Moderne Kunstschule ' Itten was forced to
close the Berlin school by Easter of 1934,
when the National Socialists decreed that
a Swiss national could not hold two aca-
demic posts in Germany

Figure 233

Itten Hate do wax

c 1921

i Manna I \ hmse ol the whu

OZ HAHisH

Figure 233

Itten. Spruch Htrzm itt btbt Proverb Hearts of love),

c 192!

In an effort to demonstrate his accom-
plishments at Krefeld, Itten organized the
textile school's first exhibition in 1934 Iron-
ically although Itten had opposed Gropius's
program to unite art and industry in 1923,
he was now forced to make this practical
aim the basis of his own program at Krefeld
He later wrote to Gropius on November 14,
1937 "The success of my Krefeld work is
undisputed Industry confirms that our
school work brings them what they need
All of the matriculated students are active in
industry and many of them are unusually
successful If I were not Swiss and a for-
mer Bauhaus member, the government and
industry would undoubtedly expand my

work on a broader basis into an academy
ol textile and fashion industry But my
opponents are a well-organized superior
force, so that on March I, 1938, I will must
probably pack up as a degenerate and alien
Swiss "4 Itten hoped that Gropius would
help him to establish a "Bauhaus and Textile
Institute in America On January 4, 1938, he
again wrote to Gropius about the possibility
and introduced the idea of emigration A
few months later he wrote to his future wife,
Anneliese Schlosser, that he was learning
English from phonograph records since he
lacked the funds to attend a Berlitz school s

Meanwhile, Itten's provisional two-year
contract at the Krefeld school had expired
in 1934, and although he remained in his
position for another three years, he was
repeatedly criticized Not only was he
accused of harboring Gommunists, but
he was threatened with replacement if he
did not become a German national Itten
refused to take up German citizenship and
finally resigned on November 26, 19376
The school closed temporarily on March 31,
1938, it reopened later in the year under the
directorship of Itten's former colleague,
Muche, who was a German citizen

Itten went to the Netherlands late
in 1937, where he taught composition and
color courses in Amsterdam at the Stedelijk
Museum and in several other cities In July
1938 he applied for the directorship of the
Kunstgewerbeschule (School of applied arts)
and Kunstgewerbemuseum in Zurich He
was appointed on November 24 and held
the position until 1953 The basic tenets of
his Bauhaus Vorkurs informed his pedagogic
method Despite the deprivations of war he
was able to mount a varied exhibition pro-
gram at the museum In 1943 Itten began
to direct the textile school of Zurich's silk
industry a post he retained until 1960 In
1949 he was contracted to expand and lead
the Rietberg Museum for non- European art
The museum opened on May 24, 1952, and
Itten served as its director until his retire-
ment on March 31, 1956

Itten's book KhmsI <Jer Farbe (The art of
color) was published in 1961 A year later

he began to write a condensed version of
his Vorkurs lectures which had appeared
in a small edition in 1930 but had been
banned following the National Socialists
use to power I he second edition finally
appeared in 1980, thirteen years after Itten's
death !l'K

Nolo

1 Marcel Franciscono, WaUtr Crop™ axd tht ( ration
o/ ifcr Bnulwus in Wtinur TJir Utah <mJ Artistic Tbtonts o/
lis FounJmt} Ytats (Llrbana University of Illinois Press,

1971 1, 194, 198-99

2 lohanncs lltcn Design unJ Form Tbt Risk Count at
tbt Bauhaus, trans lohn Maass ( London Thames and
Hudson, 19641, 9

3 Magadalena Droste, Aus dtr llltnsibult Brrlm (926-
iojj lexh cat, Baden Galerie im Trudelhaus, 1984), 6

4 lohannes Itten, letter to Walter Gropius, Novem-
ber 14, 1937, published in Willy Rotzler, ed , lobannts
/lire Wake mi Scan/ten I Zurich Orell Fussli, 1978), 85

5 lohannes Itten, letter to Anneliese Schlosser,
March 3, 1938, published in Rotzler, Johanna Illtn, 87

6 Rotzler, lohannts Inn. 404 n 182, 429

Work in Enf arfete Kunst

Halts its wtissm Manna l House of the white man

Plate 4 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

c 1921

Lithograph, 25 2 x 24 2 cm 197, x 9 'A in I

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 1/4

Acquired by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Room C2, NS inventory no 16285^

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbmati

Gallery (Los Angeles only. The Art Institute of

Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben

Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund, and Harold loachim

Purchase Fund (Chicago only

Fijur, m

■

Sprucfc Hrrzm dtr Litbt (Proverb Hearts of love

Plate 3 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

c 1921

Color lithograph, 296 x 23 cm (11% x 9 in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 1/3

Acquired by the Schlossmuseum, Breslau1

Room G2, NS inventory no 16426

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbmati

Gallery (Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of

Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben

Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund, and Harold loachim

Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

Fldurt 233

Alexej von Jawlensky

Born (864
Kuslowo Torscbok,
Russia

Died t94i
Wiesbaden

Alexej von Jawlensky first visited an exhibi-
tion of paintings in 1880 at an international
exposition in Moscow This experience pro-
foundly affected the sixteen-year-old and
became the turning point in his life He
began to study drawing, and some years
later, while still in military school and a reg-
ular visitor to Moscow's Tretiakov Gallery
he decided to become a painter The pas-
sionate pursuit of art prompted Jawlensky
to abandon his career as an officer in the
czar's infantry regiment in Saint Petersburg
and move to Munich He was accompanied
by Marianne von Werefkin, the daughter
of the commanding general of the Peter and
Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg Both had
been students of llya Repin, the "Courbet
of Russia," who was considered to be on
the leading edge of modern Russian art
Werefkin was far more advanced as a
painter, her work having been shown to
great acclaim in a number of exhibitions in
Russia She and Jawlensky continued their
studies at the school of Anton Azbe in
Munich, where they met fellow Russian
Wassily Kandinsky With Cabriele Munter,
the three Russians founded the Neue
Kiinstler Vereinigung (New artists associa-
tion) in 1909, the precursor of the Blaue
Reiter ( Blue rider I group

Werefkin, ambitious on Jawlensky's
behalf, gave up painting to serve as her
companion's mentor and muse Inclined
toward mysticism and convinced of the role
she was destined to play in the development
of the "new art," Werefkin was, in a sense,
the intellectual counterpart to Kandinsky
both complementing Jawlensky and Munter
in their honest simplicity and deliberate
striving Werefkin became the driving force

in the activities of the Munich group, urging
them to seek synthesis in art and to pursue
the great "nothing" — abstraction

In his travels in France in 1905 Jaw-
lensky had met Henri Matisse, he returned
in 1907 to work in the Frenchman's atelier
Likening color and form in painting to mel-
ody and rhythm in music, Jawlensky painted
Fauve-like landscapes and figures By 1913
the faces of his figures had become elon-
gated and the colors more muted A subtle
structural element — a cross — can be dis-
cerned in the composition of these faces,
with the eyes forming the horizontal and the
nose the vertical line

At the beginning of the First World
War Jawlensky was exiled as an enemy alien
in Switzerland, where he lived in Saint Prex
on Lake Geneva and in Ascona The Varia-
tional (Variations) he painted there incorpo-
rated a refinement of the crosslike structure
of the faces, which became more abstract
Especially in 1917 in Ascona his depictions
of heads assumed a mystical, introspective
aspect, which the artist retained and
enhanced in subsequent years by further
simplification

Jawlensky lost his Russian citizenship
after the war Deciding to become a Ger-
man citizen, he moved to Wiesbaden in
1921, where a large exhibition of his work
had been organized by his representative,
Galka Scheyer, whom he had met in 1916
At her suggestion Jawlensky made six litho-
graphs of abstract heads, which were
published by the Nassauisches Landes-
museum in Wiesbaden, and another for the
fourth Bauhaus portfolio, all of which were
destined to appear in the Enlarlele Kunsl
exhibition (figs 234-40) Jawlensky pre-
ferred to work in color, consequently his
oeuvre includes few graphic works Only
one etching, Kopf (Head) of 1923, is known
to exist "The artist must say with his art
through form and color what is godlike in
him,"1 Jawlensky said

In 1924 Scheyer undertook to promote
modern German artistic ideas abroad and
took to the United States works by Lyonel
Feininger, Jawlensky Kandinsky and Paul

V_^

\

]
L )

«- v_

Figure 234

Jawlensky Kofi/ (Head), '

Klee, now organized as the "Blue Four," so
named as a reference to Der Blaue Reiter
and because blue was regarded as a spiritual
color Rather than forming a tightly struc-
tured official association, the Blue Four only
intended to exhibit together and "to express
the spiritually based friendship of the four
artists," according to Klee : Scheyer gave
lectures and presented exhibitions across
the United States, meeting with moderate
success, particularly in California Unfor-
tunately the works that Jawlensky had
entrusted to Scheyer were auctioned as
enemy possessions in the United States
after the Second World War

Jawlensky's health began to deteriorate
in 1929 Crippling arthritis hampered his
ability to work in order to paint he would
hold the brush in both hands and move his
entire upper body In this way he produced
the Meditationen (Meditations), the dark and
glowing heads that are regarded as his finest
works These final examples of his series
were known only to a circle of close friends
because the National Socialists deprived him
of the right to exhibit in 1933 and forbade
his work to leave Germany In spring 1933
Franz Hofmann, art critic for the National
Socialist Vblkischer Beobacbter, declared works
by Jawlensky (as well as Max Beckmann,
Marc Chagall, and George Grosz) to be
"artistically absolutely worthless In the
future nothing is more important than the
protection of the German people from
these examples of spiritual poison "3 To the
National Socialists modern art was syn-
onymous with Bolshevism, even if, in this
case, the artist was a pious Russian aris-

i. uT.it According to National Socialist
doctrine the WUjudtnlum (Jewish world
kingdom) included the Soviet Union where
an inferioi (that iv non Nordk I race floui
ished Said I litlei in 1942 "Vi'c will mold the
best ol the Slavs to the shape that suits us
and we will isolate the rest of them in their
own pig sties and anyone who talks about
cherishing the local inhabitant and civilizing
him goes straight ott into a concentration
camp1"'

lawlensky's lithographs of heads were
among seventy-two of his works gathered by
the National Socialists from German
museums The six lithographs of heads and
two oil paintings were displayed in Entartctt
KiimsI in Room 2 on the ground floor with
works by fieekmann, Otto Dix, Erich
Heckel Ernst Eudwig Kirchner, Oskar
Kokoschka. Emil Nolde, and Karl Schmidt
Rottluff They had been impounded because
they were the work of a foreigner (despite
his German citizenship) and a "Bolshevist"
(despite his apolitical stance) The unnatural
forms of the figures and the strident use of
color in the oil paintings, as well as the sim-
plicity of the graphic works, were charac-
teristic of degenerate art as defined in 1937
bv Hitler and Hernhard Rust, minister of
education 5 All art that did not adapt to the
trivial naturalism favored by the party or did
not relate thematically to the ideology of the
National Socialists was "unclean" and did not
belong in the "art temples" of the Reich

In 1938 lawlensky was forced to stop
working because of illness brought on by
financial hardships (Werefkin died that
year, having been estranged from lawlensky
for many years ) Because of the Nazi inter-
diction against his exhibiting he was forced
to turn to friends, including Emil and Ada
Nolde, for assistance He endured embar-
rassment about his financial difficulties
and despair about his inability to work
until his death in 1941 at age seventy-
seven i D G I

I igures 235-40

Jawlensky Kdpjr (Heads), 1922

Note

1 Clemens Weiler, Almi lawlmky (Cologne
DuMont Schauberg, 1959), 103

2 Ibid 119

3 Armin Zweite, "Franz Hofmann und die
Stadtische Galene 1937," in Peter-Klaus Schuster,
ed , Die "Kunststadt" Mmcbcn mi Nalionahozialismus
und "Enlarltlr Kunsl" (Munich Prestel, 1987), 274

4 Adoll Hitler, luncheon conversation, August 6,
1942, published in Hitlrrs Tabli Talk 1941-1944 Oxford
Oxford University Press, 1988), 617

5 Verbolm. rer/olrjl KumMuilur m i Rncli lexh cat
by Barbara Lepper, Duisburg Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-
Museum, 1983 27

Work in "Entartete Kunst

SizAianerin mil i/runmi Scbal

(Sicilian girl with green shawl)

1412

Oil on canvas, 53 5 x 48 5 cm 1 21V. x 19'/« in )

Catalogue raisonne Weiler 108

Acquired in 1922 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room C2, NS inventory no 16216

On commission to Buchholz, location unknown

KmJ mit arunrr HaUkttlr ' Child with green necklace

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Sthlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room G2, NS inventory no 16217

On commission to Buchholz, location unknown

Kbpfti Heads)

Exhibited as Srcfes Kofi/t (Six heads

Portfolio of six prints

1922

Lithographs, various dimensions

Acquired by the Schlossmuseum, Brcslau?

Room C2, NS inventory no 16427

Destroyed, this portfolio Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M82 288l03a-f

Fljurrs JJ5-<0

Kofi/ 1 Head)

Plate 7 from Bauhaus Portfolio IV

c 1922

Lithograph, 178 x 12 3 cm (7 x 4 v. in

Catalogue raisonne Wtngler IV/7

Acquired by the Wallraf Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Room G2, NS inventory no 16282

Location unknown, this print Fiorella

Urbinatt Gallery

Fi^urr 234

Eric Johanson

Hans Jurgen
Kallmann

Wassily Kandinsky

Bom (896
Dresden

Died 1979

Lbrbruna Gard, Sweden

Born <908
Wollsteitt, Posen

Death dale

Born IS66
Moscow, Russia

Died 1944

Neuilly-sur-Seme,

France

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Fiibnk (Factory)

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtmuseun
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16161
Location unknown

Hyatie ( Hyena)

Painting, medium unknown, dii

Acquired in 1936 by the Wallraf-Richar

Cologne

Room 6, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

Wassily Kandinsky studied law and eco-
nomics at the University of Moscow
between 1886 and 1893 During 1889 and
1890 he also published several articles in
Ethnoijraficheskoe Obozreni ( Ethnographic
review) In 1896 he changed fields and
moved to Munich to study painting, which
had always interested him Five years later
he founded the Phalanx exhibition society
and art school where he taught drawing and
painting In 1909 he was a cofounder of the
Neue Kunstlerveremigung Miinchen (New
Munich artists' association) Two years later
he formulated a program, with Franz Marc,
for Der Blaue Reiter (The blue rider) exhi-
bition group that, like their conceptual-
ization of the Almanach des Blauen Rfiters
(The blue rider almanac), was informed by
Kandinsky's early ethnographic interests

By January of 1910 Kandinsky had
completed his manuscript liber das Geislit/e in
der Kunst (On the spiritual in art) and had
begun to paint his first abstract composi-
tions His nonrepresentational style was
influenced by his study of Theosophy and
by Symbolist and Jugendstil trends and
emerged in reaction to the materialistic cul-
ture of Europe on the brink of the First
World War ' Although Kandinsky's polit-
ical stance remains unassessed, his early
abstraction did have Utopian goals inasmuch
as he hoped it would help to heal the "crack
in the inner soul of mankind" and bring
about the "epoch of the great spiritual."

Kandinsky's aesthetic objectives were
eagerly received by some, but at an early
date they were also attacked by divergent
factions of the art world In the March 1913
issue of the Hamburger FremdenblaU a par-
ticularly vicious critic assailed the "horrible

smeai ol colors and tangle ol lines ol
iln works "the monumental arrogance "I
the paintei and the gall of the Sturm gang
who have sponsored this exhibit and who
proclaim iin^ barbaric painting to be .1 rev
elation ol .1 nev» art ol the Future J These
accusations were reactivated in the Etttartett
fviipist exhibition where Kandinsky's abstract
paintings were treated as a mass of incom
prehensible smudges by the omission
ol titles and, in two cases, by being hung
sideways

The outbreak of the I irst World War
necessitated that Kandmsky as an enemy
alien, return to Russia, a move that he made
reluctantly "lor the sixteen years [sic] that
I have lived in Germany I have devoted
myself to the German Kitiistfrbni [artistic
life] How should I suddenly feel like a for-
eignei ' Kandinsky's Russian ancestry and
participation in that country's art scene,
particularly between 1917 and 1921, when
he directed the theater and film sections of
the Peoples C ommissanat tor Enlighten-
ment and assisted Rodchenko with the
purchase and distribution of artworks for
the Museums of Painterly Culture, were
later interpreted by the National Socialists
as evidence of his Communist leanings A
painting from this period that was included
in the Entartett Kunst exhibition, Zweierlei
Rot (Two kinds of red!, now lost, was deni-
grated as a carrier of Bolshevist radicalism
Goebbelss seemingly arbitrary designation
of 1910 as the terminus ante quern for works
that could be confiscated from German
public collections may have been partially
determined by such semiabstract paintings
as Kandinsky's Improvisation Nr 10 (fig 241 1,
included in the second exhibition of the
Neue Kunstlervereinigung Munchen in 1910
and later included in Eiiliirlrlr Kunst

In reality Kandinsky's intuitive
approach to painting, in which color and
form were meant to appeal to the viewer's
inner self, garnered a cool reception from
younger and more strident members of the
Russian avant-garde after the revolution s
Although he developed a program of ped-

Figure 241

kandmsky Improvisation Nr 10 1 Improvisation no 111 1910

agogical reform for the Institute of Artistic
Culture in June of 1920, Kandmsky was
opposed to "any general state academic
direction whatsoever "'' His presumably
apolitical stance, and particularly his refusal
to become a member of the Gommunist
party resulted, according to his wife, Nina,
in his being passed over for the presidency
of the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences
in October of 1921 7 In March 1922 Walter
CJropius invited Kandinsky to join the staff
of the Bauhaus These circumstances in tan-
dem with the restive political atmosphere in
Russia suggest that Kandinsky's acceptance
of the appointment, at fifty-six years of age,
was an eager one

In I92H the Kandinskys became Ger-
man citizens Early in January of 1932
Kandinsky began to question the stability
of his position in the uncertain political
atmosphere of Germany" By June he wrote
to his American dealer, Galka Scheyer
"Things also appear to be bad for the Bau-
haus the new government (in Anhalt) is
no friend of the Bauhaus, something that
probably could end in a closing "l) Kan-
dinsky was right, a decree was passed in

August of 1932 closing the Bauhaus in Des-
sau, effective October I In December
Kandinsky moved to Berlin, where the
Bauhaus had reopened, only to be closed
for the last time on July 20, 1933 His loy-
alty to the school was later decried on the
walls of the Enl.irMf KmhsI exhibition —
which opened almost four years to the day
of the closing of the Bauhaus — with the
phrase, "Kandinsky teacher at the Com-
munist Bauhaus in Dessau"

Kandinsky was well aware of the
National Socialists' attitude toward him in
1933 and of the danger of remaining in Ger-
many as revealed in a letter he wrote to
Scheyer on October 7, 1933 "The Fuhrer
recently said the modern' artists are either
swindlers ( money1 ) — in that case they
belong in prison — or overly convinced
fanatics (ideal1) — in that case they belong
in a mental asylum In Germany my
position is especially bad, because I have
three qualities, of which each one alone is
bad II former Russian, 21 abstractionist,
3) former Bauhaus instructor until the last
day of its existence""1 Under these cir-
cumstances Kandinsky was forced to leave

Kandinsky

Germany a second time and emigrated to
Pans late in December of 1933

Many avant-garde artists, including
Kandinsky believed that Hitler's National
Socialist regime would be short-lived Soon
after his emigration he wrote to his biogra-
pher Will Grohmann "We are not leaving
Germany for good — I couldn't do that, my
roots are too deep in German soil "" Kan-
dinsky's political attitude appears to have
been naive Not only did he initially defer
judgment on the National Socialists, but
early in 1933 he advised Willi Baumeister
to join Alfred Rosenberg's Kampfbund
furdeutsche Kultur (Combat league for
German culture) Kandinsky blamed the
increasing politicization of aesthetics on
journalistic reportage and felt that Bau-
meister was the right person and the
Kampfbund was the appropriate forum
for clearing the "fog" through "more intel-
ligent, calmer, and objective clarifications"
than those offered in the press '■ As late as
1935 Kandinsky asked his nephew, who was
then traveling to Berlin, to approach the
government and explain that "the reasons I
have not been in Germany for almost two
years now have nothing to do with politics
but only with art ""

Despite the presence of an active emi-
gre art colony in Paris, Kandinsky chose
not to ally himself with activities of the
Freie Kunstlerbund (Free artists league),
though efforts were made to draw him
into the group '4 His sympathy toward the
Italian Futurists alienated him from many
members of the Parisian avant-garde, par-
ticularly the Surrealists, whose anti-Futurist
sentiments and alleged revolutionary politi-
cal orientation sharply contrasted with
Kandinsky's stance,15 he nevertheless main-
tained his friendship with Andre Breton

Kandinsky had to sell his work in
order to support himself, his letter of Octo-
ber 7, 1933, to Scheyer revealed this in no
uncertain terms Fortunately he had a close
relationship with the distinguished editor
and gallery owner Christian Zervos, who

Figure 242

Kandinsky Komposilion "Rube " (Composition "Silence"), 1928

gave him an exhibition at his Galerie
Cahiers d'Art in February of 1934 '^

When the EntarMe Kunst exhibition
opened in July of 1937 Kandinsky was
represented by fourteen works (a total of
fifty-seven were confiscated from German
museums) His previous success in Ger-
many was denounced with the defamatory
slogan, "Crazy at any price," painted on
the wall near a large group of his works

Finally late in 1937, when the Bur-
lington Galleries' London exhibition 20tb
Century German Art was under discussion,
Kandinsky seems to have adopted a more
critical attitude toward National Socialist
cultural politics At this point he wrote a
letter to Irmgard Burchard, one of the
organizers of the exhibition, stating that he
"had campaigned for the Entartete' exhibi-
tion in many countries "l7 His use of the
term entarlek both refers to the original
provisional title of the proposed London

exhibition — Batmed Art — and suggests that
at that time he supported its progressive
platform to some extent By mid-1938
Kandinsky had decided to side with the
emergent conservative line of the organiz-
ing committee His decision to lend five
works to the exhibition was probably not
meant as a defiant act against National
Socialist cultural policy he felt art issues
should remain separate from political
ones IS When the exhibition opened in
July, no overt reference was made to
the Munich Eiitnrlcle Kims! exhibition

In 1938 Kandinsky's anti-Fascist sen-
timents were at last publicly expressed
when he signed a petition to support Otto
Freundlich and helped to purchase one of
the artist's works for donation to the Jeu de

Paume When Kandinsky's German pass-
porl expired in n-w the artist applied foi
and was granted I rench naturalization
before war was declared This saved him
from being interned in an enemy alien
camp, a fate that many foreign artists then
living in Pans were not able to avoid "
Despite the difficulties ot life under the
Nazi occupation, at seventy-six years of
ao,e Kandmsky had a one-man show, albeit
a clandestine one, at the Galerie Jeanne
Bticher He died two years later, before
the liberation of Paris (P K )

Notrs

1 am grateful to Peg Weiss fur sharing unpublished
material from her lorthcoming bonk, KjMtiimJry and
Old Russu " The Artrst as Ethnographer and Shaman (New
Haven Yale University Press), and for calling my
attention to certain of Kandinsky's letters to Calka
Schcyer, which will be published in Peg Weiss, ed,
TW Blur Four A Dialogue with America Selected Correspon-
dence of Lyonrl Femmger. Alexci iilu'Ioislry. Vastly Kandinsky
and Paul Kler u'rifi Gallta Scheyer (Berkeley University of
California Press, forthcoming!

1 On lugendstil and Symbolist influences in
Kandinsky's work see Weiss, Kandmsky in Munich, on
his Theosophical interests see Sixten Ringbom, The
Sounding Cosmos (Abo Abo Academi, 1970), on his
abstraction as a reaction to materialist culture see
Martin Damus, Ideologiekntische Anmerkungen zur
abstrakten Kunst und ihrer Interpretation — Beispiel
Kandmsky" in Martin Warnke, ed , Dai Kunslwerk
ziviichen Wmenschaft und Weltanschauung iCutersloh
Bertelsmann, 19701, and on Kandinsky's Utopian aspi-
rations and the ethnographic interests of Marc and
Kandmsky see Peg Weiss, "Kandmsky in Munich
Encounters and Transformations,'' in Kandmsky in
Munich 09S-OU lexh cat, New York Solomon R
Guggenheim Foundation, 19821, especially 68-72

2 Cited in Berthold Hinz, An ,n tht Third Reich,
trans Robert and Rita Kimber (New York Pantheon,
1979), 49

3 See the essay in this volume by Mario-Andreas
von Luttichau, and also his '"Deutsche Kunst' und
'Entartete Kunst,' Die Munchner Ausstellungen 1937"
in Peter-Klaus Schuster, ed , Dk "Kunslitadl Munchm
(937 Ndtiondlsozulismus und ' Enlarltle Kunst'' (Munich
Prestel, 1987), 107 Note that Luttichau incorrectly
attributes the watercolor Ahstitg to Klee isee also page
148), it is by Kandinsky

4 Wassily Kandinsky letter to Herwarth Walden,
August 2, 1914, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Sturm-Archiv ( Handscriftenabteilung),
Nr 171, cited by Clark Poling in Kandmsky Russian
and Bauhaus Years. t9ts-i9ij lexh cat, New York
Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation, 1983', 13

5 lohn Bowlt and Rose ( .ir.,1 Washton I ong The
b)r of Vasilii Kandmsky to Russian An | Newtonvillc,
Mass ( Incntal Research Partners 1984 U

6 L Zhadova, " Vkhutemas Vkhutein ' Dthorativtux
isltussloo Mossou', no II, 1970 40, cited in Bowlt and
Fung The Life a] Vasilii Kandinsky ss

7 Nina Kandinsky Kandinsky und ich I Munk h
Kmdlcr, 1976), 86, cited in Poling, Kandinsky. 28

8 Wassily Kandinsky letter to Galka Scheycr,
lanuary 15-17, 1932, by permission of Peg Weiss

9 Wassily Kandinsky letter to Galka Schcyer,
lunc 3, 1932, by permission of Peg Weiss

10 Wassily Kandinsky letter to Galka Scheyer.
October 7, 1933, by permission of Peg Weiss

1 1 Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky Lift and Work
(London Thames and Hudson, 1959), 221

12 Wassily Kandinsky letter to Willi Baumeister,
April 23, 1933, published in Gotz Adriani, ed , Bau-
master Dokumrntr — Trxtt — Grmdliir (Tubingen DuMont
Schauberg, 19711, 105

13 Wassily Kandinsky letter to Aleksandr Ko|eve,
cited in Christian Derouet, "Kandinsky in Paris 1934-
1944," in Kandmsky m Paris t9H-t944 lexh cat, New
York Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation, 1985), 20

14 Helene Roussel, "Die emignerten deutschen
Kunstler in Frankreich und der Freie Kunstlerbund,"
Exiljorschung Em Internationales lahrhuch 2 1484 191

15 Derouet, Kandmsky in Paris, 50

16 Kandinsky's friendship with Zervos began in
the autumn of 1927, see Vivian Endicott Barnett et al ,
"Chronology," in Kandmsky m Paris, 256 Kandinsky
mentioned the importance of a conversation he wanted
to have with Zervos, presumably about moving to
Pans, in his letter of October 7, 1933, to Galka
Scheyer (see note 10)

17 Cordula Frowein, "The Exhibition of 20th Cen-
tury German Art in London 1938 Eine Antwort auf die
Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst' in Munchen 1937"
Exil/onaranj Em mtemalionales lahrhuch 2 (\9HA) 223

18 Wassily Kandinsky, letter to Herbert Read,
May 9, 1938, cited in Frowein, "The Exhibition of
20th Century German Art," 222

19 Derouet, Kandinsky m Pans, 21

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Improvisation Nr io (Improvisation no "'
1910

i til -.1 was, I2(i s 140cm '47', .

( atalogUC r.irs. inne Roethel 337
Acquired by the Landcsmuseum Hannover
Room S, NS inventory no 16057
Beycler Collection, Basel
Figure 341

Zweierlei Rot (Two kinds ol red

1916

Oil on canvas, 79 x 99 cm 31'/i x 11 in

Catalogue raisunne Roethel 516

Acquired in 1928 by the Nationalgalene Berln

Room 3, NS inventory no 15977

Location unknown

Afcscft/uss (Termination)

1924

Watercolor, 33 5 x 484 cm 13% x 19 in

Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe Montzburgl, Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16078

Private collection

Fiijurr 241

Dynamische Studie I Dynamic study)

1924

Watercolor. 23 x 28 cm (9 x 11 in

Acquired in 1927 by the Stadtisches Museum lur Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe 'Montzburg Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16080

In exchange to Fohn, December 12, 1939, location

unknown

Ahstieg i Descent)

1925

Watercolor, 48 x 32 cm 1187. x 12' ■ in

Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe ( Montzburg i, Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16077

K Nakayama

Fio>rr 24b

m

Dir Kreuzform I The cross form i

1926

Oil on canvas, 52 5 x 42 cm (20V. x 16' - in

Catalogue raisonne Roethel 797

Acquired in 1927 by the Ruhmeshalle WuppcrtaL

Barmen

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16190

Westfalisches Landesmuseum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte, Munster

Figure 2t*

Kandinsky

Figure 243

Kandinsky Abschlms (Termination), 1924

Figure 244

Kandinsky Dir Krruz/o™ (The cross form), 1926

Figure 245

Kandinsky Zwti Komplm (Two complexes), 1928

Figure 246

Kandinsky Abstitg (Descent), 1925

Figure 247

Kandinsky Lyrisdm [Lyrical] Nil Irom Klftgt (Sounds), published 1913,

I45x216cm<5%x8'/'>in)

Figure 248

Kandtnsky Kompoulion l Composition), 1922

Figure 249

Kandinsky, plate 6 Irom Mappi "Klmif Wr/lrn" ("Small
worlds" portfolio). 1922, woodcut, 273 x 23 3 cm
( 10'i x 9'A in )

Figure 250

Kandinsky, plate 9 from Mappt 'KUmt Wikm". drypou

engraving, 238 x 197 cm (9% x 7V. in I

Figure 251

Kandinsky plate 3 Irom Muppt Kltmt Wrltai",

lithograph, 278 x 23 cm 1 1 1 x 9 in I

Kandinsky

Hanns Katz

Gifttfriinc Sicbel (Yellow-green crescent)
1927

Watercolor, c 50 x 35 cm (19% x 133A in
Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtisches Mu<
und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle
Room 5, NS inventory no 16076
Ex-collections Solomon R Guggenheim
Heinz Berggruen, location unknown

Belastung (Burden)

1928

Watercolor, c 50 x 35 cm (19% x 13'A ir

Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtisches Mu

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16075

Christie's London, 1969, location unkno

^Composition "Rube" (Composition "Silence")

1928

Oil on canvas, 52 x 79 cm (20'A x 31% in )

Catalogue ratsonne Roethel 860

Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room 5, NS inventory no 16073

Debra Weese-Mayer and Robert N Mayer

Fi^Mrf 242

Zivet Komplcxe (Two complexes)

1928

Watercolor, wash, India ink, and pencil on paper,

392 x 456 cm (15'A x 18 in )

Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kun

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg!, Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16079

The Hilla von Rebay Foundation

F,gu,e 2«

Unidentified watercolor, probably Na<:h nchls

(To the right)

1929

Watercolor, 248 x 51 cm (9V< x 20'/e in )

Acquired in 1929 by the Stadtisches Museum

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16080

Private collection. New Jersey

Kltingt (Sounds)

Volume of poems with fifty-six woodcuts

1911-12, published by Piper Verlag, Munich, 1913

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16484

Location unknown, this volume Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bing Arnold, Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds, 8311021-56

Fltjurt 247

Kompositiott (Composition)

Plate 8 from Bauhaus Portfolio IV

1922

Color lithograph, 274 x 244 cm (lOV-i x 9V« in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler IV/8

Acquired by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Room G2, NS inventory no 16281?

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbmati

Gallery

Fi^urf 2«

■

Mappt "Kleinr Wdln" ("Small worlds" portfolio)

Portfolio of twelve prints

1922

Color lithograph, color woodcut, drypoint engraving,

various dimensions

Catalogue raisonne Roethel 164-75

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16271

Destroyed, these prints plates 3 and 9 Collection of

the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, University

of California, Los Angeles, from the Fred Grunwald

Collection, plate 6 Los Angeles County Museum of

Art, gift of the Graphic Arts Council in memory of

Albert Cahn (Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of

Chicago (Chicago only)

Figures 249-51

Mappt "Klmir WWtrn" ("Small worlds" portfolio)

Portfolio of twelve prints

1922

Color lithograph, color woodcut, drypoint eng

various dimensions

Catalogue raisonne Roethel 164-75

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16272

Location unknown

Abslrakl Nr 23796 (Abstract no 2379

Lithograph '', dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Schlesisches Musei

Kunst, Breslau

Room G2, NS inventory no 16439

Destroyed

Born (892
Karlsruhe

Dild 1940
South Africa

Painter Hanns Katz was one of the few Jew-
ish artists whose work was included in the
1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich
Very little is known of his life He studied at
the Staatliche Akademie der bildende Kunst
(State academy of fine art) in Karlsruhe
under Wilhelm Triibner and also briefly in
Paris with Henri Matisse He pursued stud-
ies in natural sciences and philosophy at the
universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich,
and Wurzburg

During the First World War, unlike
many of his German contemporaries, Katz
was a conscientious objector He supported
the causes of the workers and was often
criticized for his beliefs After the war Katz
served as cabinet minister in the short-lived
Communist government of Hungary

Figure 252

Katz, MamUcba BiWim (Male portrait), 1919/29

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

although he shortly thereafter became dis-
illusioned with Communism The murder
oi In-, Friend ( iustav I andauei prompted
KatI to execute .1 striking portrait ol the

p.u ihst writei

Katz supported himself as a house
paintei and decorator, although he con-
tinued to pursue his own painting career
as well I lis \Mnk was little known After
moving to Frankfurt in 1920 with his wife,
he had a tew small exhibitions During the
1920s Katz made two trips to North Africa
and taught art at Marburg University He
was a member ol the liidischer Kulturbund
(Jewish cultural league) and worked in the
Studio fur bildende Kunst (Studio for fine
art), which was established and maintained
by the Kulturbund

After the death of his first wife in 1932,
Katz married again and with his new wife
emigrated to South Africa in 1936 He
continued to paint in oil and watercolor,
inspired by the South African landscape,
until his death from cancer in 1940 '
(S B)

Nolo

Albert Werth, "Ha
( 1987)

i Ludwig Katz, Linlrrn ?8,

Work in Entartete Kunst

Al.ihhlul.rs BiMms (Male portrait)

hWitiUxis m] Rol ( Portrait of a gentleman in red)

Exhibited as BiWrm I Portrait

1919/29

Oil on canvas, 65 x 495 cm 125V. x 19'/; in i

Donated in 1921 to the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

Room 2, NS inventory no 15948

Kunsthalle in Emden. Stidung Henri Nannen, 1987

Figure 252

Bom 1880
Axbajjtnburg

Died 1938

Frauenkirch,

Switzerland

Lrnst l.udwig kirchner's suicide in 1938
was one of the most haunting repercussions
of the destructive forces unleashed by the
Nazis against modern art and artists Rec-
ognized as one of the founders of German
Expressionism and one of the most gifted
members of Die Briicke (The bridge), he
was a prominent target for the enemies of
modernism He was dismissed from the
Preussischer Akademie der Kunste (Prussian
academy of art) in Berlin, 639 of his works
were confiscated in the campaigns of
1937-38, and 32 were included in the
Eti/iirtflf Kunst exhibition

Kirchner entered the Technische
Hochschule (Technical college) in Dresden
in 1901 to study architecture In 1903-4
he studied painting in Munich, attending
art classes at the school of Wilhelm von
Debschitz and Hermann Obrist His visits
to the museums and exhibitions in Munich
and a short stay in Nuremberg, where he
saw Albrecht Durer's original woodblocks,
made him decide to become a painter
After his return to Dresden he formed
Die Brucke on June 7, 1905, with his new
friends Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Karl
Schmidt-Rottluff Theirs was a polemical
program, calling on all youth to fight for
greater artistic freedom against the older,
well-established powers

In November 1905 Die Brucke
exhibited thetr work — watercolors, draw-
ings, and woodcuts — for the first time as a
group at the Calerie P H Beyer & Sohn in
Leipzig They worked together in rented
storefront studios and sought other artistic
companions as well as supporters, called
"passive members" Emil Nolde joined the
group for a short time, among the other

Figure
Kirchn

SliHrkn. (Still hie I4R I9H7

artists who joined were Cuno Amiet,
Axel Gallen-Kallela, Otto Mueller, and
Max Pechstein

The idealism and enthusiasm of
Kirchner and the other young Brucke artists
can be measured by their extraordinary
production The rapid development of their
personal styles was partly a result of their
frenetic activity, including life drawing
and painting at the Moritzburg lakes near
Dresden, at the island of lehmarn, and in
their studios, as well as the production of
woodcuts, lithographs, and an incredible
number of drawings In his search for an
increasingly simplified form of expression,
Kirchner was strongly influenced, as were
his colleagues, by the art of the Oceanic
and African peoples When the group
relocated to Berlin in 1910-11, Kirchner's
response to the confrontation with the
metropolis resulted in the bold works that
epitomize the hectic life in Berlin

: scene), 1913/14

Die Brucke continued to exhibit as a
group in the major German cities (Berlin,
Darmstadt, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Ham-
burg, and Leipzig) and in traveling
exhibitions to smaller communities The
group's fifth annual graphics portfolio
(1910) was devoted to Kirchner's work In
1912 Die Brucke was invited to participate
in the Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne,
where Heckel, Kirchner, and Schmidt-
Rottluff were also commissioned to create a
chapel In that year they also exhibited in
Moscow and Prague, at the second Blaue
Reiter (Blue rider) show in Munich, and in
Berlin at the Calerie Gurlitt Kirchner was
regarded as the leader of the group, but

when in 1913 it was suggested that he com-
pose a history of Die Brucke, the others
took offense at his egocentric account,
and the group broke up

At the outbreak of the First World War
Kirchner volunteered for the army but he
could not stand the discipline and constant
subordination He suffered a nervous break-
down and was temporarily furloughed and
moved to a sanatorium, where he was able
to complete several important paintings and
the color woodcuts to illustrate Chamisso's
story of Peter Schlemihl ( 1916) A growing
dependency on Veronal (sleeping pills),
morphine, and alcohol did not hinder him
from painting frescoes for the Konigstein
Sanatorium and a number of other works

In 1917 Kirchner moved to Switzer-
land, where he was supported by the
collector Dr Carl Hagemann, the archi-
tect Henri van de Velde, and the family
of his physician, Dr Spengler He slowly
recovered, while continuing to work on
paintings and woodcuts His works were
exhibited in Switzerland and Germany
In 1921 he had fifty works on view at the
Kronprinzenpalais (Nationalgalerie) in
Berlin, which were praised by critics and
established his reputation as the leading
Expressionist In 1925-26 he made his first
long trip back to Germany He stayed for a
while in Dresden with his biographer, Will
Grohmann, and visited the dancer Mary
Wigman His intense work on paintings,

woodcuts ,irul sculpture expanded to
include designs lor the we.ivei 1 ise ( luyei

and, more importantly Iot the decoration
of the great hall ol thi- Museum Folkwang
111 I ssen, work never to be completed, since
the Nazis seized the museum in 1933
From 1936 onward Kirchnei was
increasingly disturbed by news of the Nazis'
attack on modern art, occupation ol Aus-
tria, and ban on the exhibition ol bis work
in Germany The stress of these circum
stances and the onset of illness led him to
destroy all of his woodblocks and some of
his sculpture and in burn many of his other
works On June 15, 1938, he took his own
life1 (P C

Note

1 Donald E Cordon, Entsf Lwiwiii Kinkier, rml mm
bifeckn Katalog amllictVci Gemildt (Munich Prestel,
1968 Roman Norbert Ketterer, cd , £ L Kircbm

Ztkhnmfn mi \\i-\t\U Stuttgart Belser, 1979), with
bibliography bv Mans Bolliger, Lucius C.nsebach et
al, £ntsl LuJu'ii) Kirclmtr, ISBO-<938 (cxh cat, Berlin
Nationalgalcne 14791, Fherhard W Kornfeld, £™st
LuJu'U Kirdmn Nadaddmiaig smirs L«W (Bern
Kornfeld, 19791, Anncmane and Wolf- Dieter Dube,
£ L Kirdma /X,s gmptmebe Wrrk. 2d ed , 2 vols
Munich Prestel. 19801, Karl Heinz Cabler, £ L
Kir^hnrr Za^hnunilm. Ptnlrllr. Aqiuirrlle, 2 vols (exh
cat, Aschaffenburg Museum dcr Stadt, 1980)

Work in Entartete Kunst"

Oi<Mr( Bather

1905/10

Wood, height 100 cm (39% in I

Acquired in 1930 by the Museum tu

Gewerbe. Hamburg

Room 3, NS inventory no 16246

Location unknown

Figure 256

Kirchner, Rususcbr TaiOtm (Russian dancer), 1909/26

Russisrfv Tatatrm I Russian dancer)

1909/26

Oil on canvas, 92 x 79 cm (36% x 31% in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 75

Acquired in 1929 by the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 4, NS inventory no 16043

Private collection, on permanent loan to the

Kunsthallc Bielefeld, 1959

Fl^urf 256

Dos Bosttll (The bosquet)

PLlz in Dtrsdcn (Square in Dresden)

1911

Oil on canvas, 120 x 150 cm (47V. x 59 in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 198

Acquired by the WallrafRichartz-Museum, Cologn

Room 6, NS inventory no 16137, Fischer lot 62

Collection Zschokke, Basel

Aujitr Slrassr (On the street)

Exhibited as Simssrnrcfef (Street corner)

1912

Pen, brush and ink, 54 x 384 cm (21% x I5'A in )

Acquired in 1925 by the Kupferstichkabmett, Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16316

Location unknown

FmJFmuaiauJiirStrassiifn

1913

Oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm (47% x 35% i
Catalogue raisonne Gordon 362
Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Esse
Room 4, NS inventory no 16041
Museum Ludwig, Cologne

FlQurt 254

GAbl Tdnzcriti (Yellow dancer)

Frau mil Qrhobtnm Rock (Woman with llftec

1913

Oil on canvas, c 150 x 70 cm (59 x 27 'A

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 304

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Musi

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 3, NS inventory no 15985

Location unknown

Sich ktimmaidtr Ah (Nude combing her hair)

1913

Oil on canvas, 125 x 90 cm (49% x 35V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Gordon 361

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museun

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 3, NS inventory no 15993

Bruckc-Museum, Berl.n

Fi^urr 257

Figure 257
Kirchner, Sich hit

Tiict Ah (Nude combing her hair), 1913

StiUm (Still life)

Fruchtt mil Glasam (Fruit and glasses)

1913 (1907)

Oil on canvas* 100 5 x 74 5 cm (39V. x 29V, in )

Catalogue raisonne Gordon 269

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum lur Ku

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16116

Marlborough International Fine Art

Fi^urr 253

Figure 258

Kirchner, lm Cajtgarta 'In the cafe garden), 1914

i i

I III invas, 120 Ha

( atalogw ra m I h i Ii

a. 'i M it. 19 10 I", ili' Na algal i « Bi Hin

R ii i N! iv no I'i'n I

I rM '.In -Hin "I Modern An, New York | I

Fmutt ;k

Abscbiii Parting

Boll I Hugo (Botho and Hugo

I'm

Oil on canvas 110 x 90 cm 47 . ■

( atalogue raisonm! < rordon I !<S

Acquired m 1924 by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgan

Room i NS inventory no 15998

I in .UK iii unknown

BiUnis ( hbat \Mrmmn ' Portrait "I Oslcar Schlemmeri

1414

I Li .mvas, 69 x 58 cm (27% x 22 ii

C atalogue raisonne ( iordon 416
Acquired bv the Museum Folkwang, Essen
Room 4, NS inventory no 16025
Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt
Fii/urr 159

Gra| I fmmi (Graf and friend)

1 \lnhiu-d as Vclter und Sahn ' I .llhcr and sun
1914

Oil on canvas, 125 x 90 cm (49% x 35V, in
Catalogue raisonne Cordon 42s
Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Muscui
und Kunstgewerbe Montzburg), Halle
Room 4, NS inventory no 16039
Private collection

Figure 259

Kirchner, Bildms ( )sfc.jr SiMrmmrr I Por

Schlemmeri, 1914

Figure 260

Kirchner, KflrtcnsfiieWrr Knnbr (Boy playing cards

1914/15

lm Cafitfarten 1 In the cafe garden

Diimni lm Cafe (Ladies at the cafe)

1914

Oil on canvas, 705 x 76 cm 27 . s 24 . ,„

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 374

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museui

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room 3, NS inventory no 15992, Fischer lo

Brucke-Museum, Berlin

Figure 258

lur kunsl

Kartenspielender Knabe ( Boy playing cards)

DrrSoh.ihWKHardt'sson)

1914/15

Oil on canvas, 693 x 62 3 cm i27'/« x 247i in l

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 418

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum fur

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16028

Bayensche Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Munich,

Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich

Fyurr 260

^ir;^***

Figure 261

Kirchncr, D„ roi™ Tihaerimm (The red dancers), 1914

Figure 262

Kirchner, Tanzpaat (Dancing couple), 1914

Figure 263

Kirchner, Bfllmfeo/ in Kotiysltin (Railroad station i

Konigsteinl, 1917

Figure 264

Kirchner, SilbslbiUim ah SoW.it (Self-portrait i

/)ir roten TaHZtrimtn I '

1414

I -,l mm , i ,..., 96 I

( atalogue raisonnl < iordon 391

Acquired in I92H In the Nationalgakric Beriil

Room C,2 NS inventory no 16230

Private collection

Figurt 26 1

Vanzpaai I i )ancing couple)

1914

Oil on canv.iv 4| x 65 cm

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 389

Acquired in I92*> bv the Museum folkwang, Essen

Room 3, NS inventory no 15997

Museum Folkwang, Essen

Fujurr 262

Nackttr Maim i Male nude (

1915^

Watercolor, 150 x 91 cm ? (59 x 387. in |

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Esse

Room G2, NS inventory no 16419

Location unknown

Scbmitd twit H.1401 (Blacksmith of Hagen)

1915/16

Wood, height 32 cm 1 12V. in )

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Ground-floor lobby NS inventory no 15053

Location unknown

Sdbsthildttts ah SoUal 1 Self-portrait as soldier

Exhibited as Si'U.it mil Oirnr 1 Soldier with whore

1915

Oil on canvas, 692 x 61 cm (27% x 24 in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 435

Acquired by the Stadtische Calerie, Frankfurt

Room 3, NS inventory no 15999

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College,

Oberlin, Ohio, Charles F Olney Fund, 1950

Figure 264

Batmbofin Konigstcin (Railroad station in Kdnigstein)

1917

Oil on canvas, 94 x 94 cm 137 x 37 in

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 476

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16094

Deutsche Bank AC

Fii/urr 26!

Fmu dn Kiimllrrs (The artists wife)

Exhibited as Dit Gollin da Kiinsltm (The artist's wife)

1917

Oil on ca

Catalogs

Acquired

Room 4, NS

is, 705 x 605 cm (27% x 23"/. in )
iisonne Cordon 500
1919 by the Stadtische Calene, Frankfu
16016

Private collection, Switzerland
Fyurf 266

fllicfe ims Tobtl l View into the ravine!

1919/20

Oil on canvas, 121 x 90 cm (47V, x 35V. in

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 595

Acquired in 1937 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room 5, NS inventory no 16104

Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Figure 267

Wmltrhchr Mondlwdscbafl

(Winter landscape in moonlight)

Exhibited as Gebirgslanttschajt i Mountain landscape)

1919

Oil on canvas, 120 x 121 cm (47% x 47V. in )

Acquired in 1923 by the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum,

Magdeburg

Room 5, NS inventory no 161 14

The Detroit Institute of Arts, gift of Curt Valentin ,

memory of the artist on the occasion of Dr Willian

Valentiner's sixtieth birthday 1940

Fi^r, 265

Httucnmuihlzcit (Farmers' meal)

1920

Oil on canvas, 133 x 166 cm (52% x 65V* in )

Catalogue raisonne Cordon 644

Acquired m 1924 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 3, NS inventory no 16006

Private collection, Germany

Figure 268

Kranker in der Nacbt (Sick man at night)
Der Kranke (The sick man)
1920(1922)

Oil on canvas; 90 5 x 100 cm (357s x 3
Catalogue raisonne Cordon 683
Acquired in 1930 by the Landesmuseum, H,
Room 4, NS inventory no 16024
Sprengel Museum Hannover

Fi^Hrp 269

Figure 265

Kirchner, Wmterhch Mondlandscbajl (Winter landscape i

nlight), 1919

Figure 266

Kirchner, Fnm des Kumtkrs (The artist

Figure 267

Kirchner, B/.cfe im Tobel (V.c

into the ravine), 1919/20

Kirchnet BmmmaMzril Farmers meal 1920

Figure 269

Kirchncr, Ku«ktr m Jrr N,icr>t (Sick man at night i. 1920 1 1922)

Figure 270

Kirchner, Din Wohnzmmtr (The living room), 1923

Dai Paar (The couple)

1923/24

Wood, height 170 cm (66% in )

Acquired in 1930 by the Museum fu

Gewerbe, Hamburg

Room 3, NS inventory no 16236?

Location unknown

Din WohnztmmtT (The living room)

1923

Oil on canvas, 90 x 150 cm (35% x 59 in )

Catalogue raisonne Gordon 731

Acquired in 1924 by the Museum ftir Kunst

Kulturgeschichte, Ltibeck

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16192

Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1957

Fi^urr 270

Di< Mtistfr dir Briicke (The masters of Die Brucke)

1926/27

Oil on canvas, 168 x 126 cm (66'/« x 49% in )

Catalogue raisonne Gordon 855

Acquired in 1928 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room 4, NS inventory no 16040

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

figure 116

Stranenizerit (Street scene)

1926

Oil on canvas, 119 x 100 cm (46% x 39% in.)

Catalogue raisonne Gordon 848

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 4, NS inventory no 16013

Private collection, Switzerland

Btrjlandichajl (Mountain landscape)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room Gl, NS inventory no 16168
Location unknown

SitzmdiFrau (Seated
Watercolor, dimensions i
Acquired by the Museun
Room G2, NS inventory
Location unknown

iknown

Folkwang, Essen
no 16420

Llnidentihed print exhibited as
Do Kumllrn jimgslt Tochler htm Tata
(The artist's youngest daughter dancing)
Medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Room G2, NS inventory no 16300
Location unknown

Paul Klee

Horn IS7U

Alum bcnfrw but
Switzerland

Died IMO

Allirilllo, Sll'll.'irl.iii,/

Adult Ziegler and his arts committee chose
seventeen wurks by Paul Klee tor inclusion
in the Entartctt Kunsi exhibition in 1937 The
chronological brackets encompassing the
works displayed in the exhibition begin
with the lirst year of Klee's commercial
success, 1919, and continue through the
1920s, the period during which he received
his greatest acclaim, as a Bauhaus master
Yet Klee's carefully concealed personal
stance visa-vis political events in Germany
buth before and after 1933, makes it difficult
to assess his reaction to National Sucialist
cultural pulitics

I )unng the first years uf his career
Klee learned that the alliance between the
practice of politics and the production of
mudernist art was at best an uneasy une,
which had personal and economic ramifica-
tions ' His decision tu develup a nonrefer-
ential abstract style in 1915 and his life-long
cultivation of an image as an artist with-
drawn from worldly affairs — first pictor-
ially furmulated in 1919 with Vtrsunkenbttt
(Absorption)— grew out of his respunse
to the hirst World War and the November
Revolution in Germany Irunically Klee's
abstraction and his posture of removal
were later cited by the National Socialists
as evidence of his mental derangement

In Munich Klee had affiliated himself
since 1911 with the prestigious Blaue Reiter
(Blue nden group, though his sales did not
pick up until the May 1919 exhibition of the
Neue Munchner Sezessiun I New Munich
secession) 3 Klee had been dismissed from
the Bavarian flying school at Gersthofen

three months earlier and was interested

when the student ( Kkar Schlemmer seni

him a letter in lune about the prospei t of a

teaching position .u the Stuttgart Akademie
der bildenden Kiinste (Academy ol fine
arts I lespite an active campaign by
Schlemmer and his fellow students at the
Akademie, Klee's appointment never mate-
rialized, partially for reasons that have
an uncanny resemblance to charges the
National Socialists leveled against him four-
teen years later the childlike appearance
of his work '

Nineteen hundred and twenty marked
the hrst high point of Klee's artistic career
a large exhibition was mounted at the
Hans Goltz Galerie Neue Kunst in Munich,
two monographs were published, and on

November 25 he was invited to join the

: ,t,ilt ot the newly created Bauhaus
I lie I nl the seventeen works included in
thi / nlartcte Kunsl exhibition — Wohm?
Where to , tig 271), Rhythmm der Fenster
Rhythm of the windows), and l)tr Andltr
["he angler, fig 272) — date I rum this year
Partially because the Bauhaus was
never far removed from political contro-
versy Klee was eager by 193(1 to leave his
post His decision to |om the (acuity at the
I Hisseldorf Kunstakademie 'Academy of art)
in October 1931 may also have been moti-
vated by a desire to affiliate himself with
a traditional institution, one that offered
a more secure economic future '

In 1933, two months after the National
Socialists ruse to power, Klee's house in

Figure 271

Klee, WW.."1 (Whereto?), 1920

Figure 272

Klee, Drr Atylir (The angle

Diisseldorf was searched by party members
and his letters to his wife, Lily were tem-
porarily confiscated One month later Klee,
who had been publicly accused of being a
Galician Jew, was instructed to produce
papers documenting his Aryan heritage On
May 1 he received notice that as a "degen-
erate" artist he was suspended from his
position at the Akademie, effective imme-
diately, on September 22 the "suspension"
was converted into a formal termination,
and on December 23 Klee and his wife
emigrated to his childhood home in Bern

In Switzerland Klee was free from
censorship but not from the charge that he
was a "degenerate" artist, an accusation to
which the conservative art establishment
reacted adversely5 By the end of 1933 Klee's
market had all but dried up in Cermany
This led him to contact the dealer Daniel-

Henry Kahnweiler in Paris, with whom he
signed a contract During the next years,
despite careful strategies, his economic
situation became quite desperate In June
of 1936 Lily Klee wrote to Calka Scheyer
"This year in France, as well as in Switzer-
land, the crisis has had an impact as never
before It is also the result of the terribly
uncertain political situation in Europe
Nobody wants to spend Artists are
the first to suffer"0 To compound matters,
Klee's health began to deteriorate in
November 1935, and by 1936 his illness
had become worse The condition was later
diagnosed as scleroderma, an incurable dis-
ease affecting the skin and internal organs

A little more than a year later the
Entartele KhhsI exhibition opened in Munich
Sumpflcgentk (Swamp legend, fig 273) hung
prominently with contemporary works
by the Dada artists George Crosz, Raoul
Hausmann, and Kurt Schwitters Klee's affil-
iation with the anarchist Dada group, which
had begun in 1917 and continued through
1919, was not one of clear political endorse-
ment In another section of the exhibition
Klee's autobiographical statement, "I can-
not be grasped in the here and now, for I
live just as well with the dead as with
the unborn," was reproduced on a wall
between two of his watercolors This quota-
tion, part of a longer text drafted by Klee
for Leopold Zahn's 1920 monograph, fur-
thered Klee's self-styled image as an artist
unconcerned with political fluctuations In
Entartele KhmsI, however, the lines were used
to suggest Klee's psychological instability
Klee's work was ridiculed as "confusion"
and "disorder" on the basis of its "primitive"
appearance The lithograph Die Heilige vom
mnern Lichl (The saint of the inner light,
fig 275), created for a Bauhaus portfolio in
1921, was compared in the exhibition guide
(p 383) to a work by a mental patient,
which was proclaimed less distorted and
more comprehensible than Klee's

The National Socialists' equation of
Klee's art with work produced by schizo-

phrenics and non-European cultures was
not without reference Klee was intrigued
by the current debate over the primordial
origins of art and had raised the issue in
a review of 191 1 7 Eleven years later Hans
Pnnzhorn argued for similar connections
in his Bildnerei der Genteskmnken (Image-
making by the mentally ill) Klee acquired
the book soon after its publication and
enthusiastically characterized it to Lothar
Schreyer as "outstanding"8 Prinzhorn's
book was a clinical analysis of children's
creative activity, ethnic artifacts, and
schizophrenic patients work and the bases
on which they could be compared to mod-
ernist artworks Fifteen years later the
National Socialists distorted Prinzhorn's
analogies to suggest the incompetence of
Klee and his colleagues In erasing the
distinction between the concept Bildnerei
(image-making) and the word KhhsI (art),9
the National Socialists reduced avant-garde
creative activity to demented tinkering

Dr Adolf Dresler's Deutsche KhhsI und
entartete "KhhsI," published a year after the
opening of Enliirlele KhhsI, further promoted
this line of thought The enclosure of the
word KhhsI in quotation marks called into
question the very identification of "degener-
ate" art as art Klee's abstract style was
unfavorably compared to conventional
representational images produced by
officially sanctioned artists One work was
ridiculed with the statement, "Our image
shows a typical example of this idiotic art,
a fisherman by Paul Klee", another was
derided as "Not the collage of a very
untalented child, but — Paul Klee Trees."'0

Throughout his career Klee developed
and refined a childlike style, seen, for
example, in Die Zwitscbermaschine (The twit-
tering machine, fig 117), Rechnender Gras
(Old man adding, fig 276), and Hoffman-
neske Szene (Hoffmannesque scene, fig 277)
In 1919, when Klee's opponents had crit-
icized his style for lacking "the strong will
for structure and for pictorial construction,"
they refrained from political accusations,
despite a contemporaneous attempt to link
Klee's modernist art with the initiative for

Figure 271

klrc Sumpjlegmdt Swamp legend), 1919

.

e

u

Figure 274

Klce, Das Vokalluck in Kammtrsatigcrm Rosa Si/tw iThe vocal fabric ol the chamber

singer Rosa Silberi. 1922

^1

«-.- ^V t5|

IBrK

^SSJ

;Z~~*^A£* "•

WF^l

"^

~£jM-':i

BEU"??E5

wmk**

^#l

H*~$^

\^

n&- _

¥^

- -^^

^-jHlt'

*jp 5?7+*tv

'f-^gPJ^vS

^W

'^yf

•"

:

^"" ''

Figure 276

Klce, Rtchnatder Creis (Old man adding 1929

Figure 277

Klee, Hoffrntinncskr Stent ' Hoftmannesque scene , 1921

Figure 275
Klee Die HdUgc i
light), W2I

i Lulu (The saint of the i

a "revolutionary" pedagogic program advo-
cated by some of Klee's supporters at the
Stuttgart Akademie " By 1934 the contro-
versy surrounding childlike art had become
a highly charged political issue Following
the closing of Entartete Kumt in Munich an
audience developed in the United States for
the works of the banned artists, due partly
to the public's desire to counteract any
aspect of Fascist politics Klee had contacts
in both California and New York, and
between November 1937 and March 1940
he had ten museum and gallery exhibitions
in Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles, New
York, and San Francisco Klee's sales picked
up as he began to build his reputation in
America In the meantime, the National
Socialists had rounded up 102 works by
Klee, a number that testified to the degree
of his commercial success in Germany
Despite Klee's patent avoidance of
politically engaged art, between February
and October 1933 he created a cycle of
more than two hundred drawings in which
he claimed to have chronicled the National
Socialist revolution n These drawings and
several circumstances of the last two years
of his life may represent enterprises fueled
by Klee's carefully concealed anti -Fascist
sentiment On April 20, 1938, the Freie
Kiinstlerbund (Free artists league) was
formed in Paris, and Paul Klee was one
of many artists contacted That year the
group participated in the organization of
2Qlh Century German Art at the Burlington
Galleries in London Klee was represented
by fifteen works in this exhibition, orig-
inally intended as a direct response to
Entarkte Kunst " Several months later,
between November 4 and 18, the Freie
Kiinstlerbund mounted their own first large
collective exhibition, Freie Deutsche Kunst
(Free German art), in the Maison de la

Figure 278

Klee, Gfisltrzimmtr mil itr boben Ture (Ntue Fassung) (Ghost

chamber with the tall door [new version]), 1925

Culture in Paris Two paintings by Klee
appeared in this show, which united
extremely diverse aesthetic styles in
an unmistakably anti-Fascist front M

During the last years of his life Klee
applied several times for Swiss citizenship,
which was constantly delayed because of
his "degenerate" status " His continued
application suggests his desire to sever all
connections to Fascist Germany Klee died
a week before the case was scheduled for
final review

Klee's response to political pressures
that affected his personal life and profes-
sional career is difficult to assess, given the
image of aloofness he perpetuated His
composure extended even to his deterio-
rating physical condition In 1939, the last
full year of his life, Klee produced more
works than ever before This suggests that,
however naively Klee postulated creative
artistic virility as a philosophical victory
over both his own diseased physique and a
distanced, degenerate political body he
knew that neither would endure as long as
his work and his reputation as an artist
(P K)

No Its

1 O K Werckmeister, The Making o] Paul Kites
Carter. (914-1920 (Chicago University of Chicago
Press, 1988), 186-87

2 Ibid , 187, Wolfgang Kersten, "Paul Klees
Beziehung zum blauen Reiter," in Dtr Blaue Reittr
(exh cat, Bern Kunstmuseum Bern, 1986), 261-73

3 Werckmeister, The Making oj Paul Kite's Girttr,
215

4 OK Werckmeister, "From Revolution to Exile,"
in Paul Kltt, ed Carolyn Lancher (exh cat, New
York Museum of Modern Art, 1987), 47

5 OK Werckmeister, Paul Kltt in Exile, (933-1940
(Tokyo Fuji Television Gallery 1985), 41

6 Lily Klee, letter to Galka Scheyer, June 28,
1936, Galka Scheyer Correspondence, KI936-6, cited
in Werckmeister, Paul Kltt m Exile, 31

7 Paul Klee in Dit Alpen 6 ( 1912) 302, reprinted
in Ami Kltt, Schrijten Rtzmsionni und Aujsatzt. ed
Christian Geelhaar (Cologne Dumont, 1976), 97-98
H Lothar Schreyer Entweruiiam an Sturm una
Baubaui (Munich List, 1966), 91

9 Sander Oilman, "The Mad Man as Artist
Medicine, History and Degenerate Art," Journal of
Contemporary History 20 (1985) 594, Gilman translates
BiloWti as "artistry"

10 Adolf Dresler, Dtulscbt Kunsl and entartete "Kutisl"
(Munich Deutscher Volksverlag, 1938), 62, 66

11 Heinnch Altherr, letter to Oskar Schlemmer,
November 8, 1919, Oskar-Schlemmer-Archiv,
Staatsgalene Stuttgart, cited in Werckmeister, TTie
Making oj Paul Klee's Carter, 218 On the "revolutionary"
art program at the Akademie, see ibid, 214

12 Alexander Zschokke, "Begegnung mit Paul
Klee," Du, October 1948, 74-76 Jiirgen Glaesemer,
Paul Kltt Handzeicbnungen II. 1921-1936, (exh cat, Bern
Kunstmuseum, 1984), 337, claims that there are 150
drawings, Werckmeister, Paul Klee in Exilt, 109, states
there are about 200

13 Cordula Frowein, "The Exhibition of 20th Cen-
tury German Art in London 1938 Eine Antwort auf
die Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst' in Munchen 1937,"
Exil/orsctjuii,) Em Internationales Jahrbucb 2 (1984) 216

14 Inka Graeve, "Freie Deutsche Kunst, Paris 1938,"
in Stationen dtr Moderne Die bedeulenden Kunstsammluntjen
des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland (exh cat , Berlin
Berlinische Galerie, 1988), 344 Concerning the
anti-Fascist orientation of the exhibition see Helene
Roussel, "Die emigrierten deutschen Kunstler in
Frankreich und der Freie Kiinstlerbund," Exil/orscfcuiu/
Em Internationales Jahrbucb 2 (1984) 194

15 Werckmeister, Paul Klee in Exile, 40-41

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Sum^/Irjr»rJr Swamp legend
1919

■ n cm 18! v K'A In

Mis I tssltzky Kuppcrs cm loan to the

Landesmuseum, f lannover
Room i, NS inventor) no 15975

st.ijus^ he s ..ilci it- mi t enba( hhaus Munk !i

Fi j«if ; ■ i

n

Rhylhinui aVr fnislrr Rhythm of the windows I

1920

Oil on canvas, 52 5 x 42 cm (20% x KVi in.)

Acquired in 1924 hv the Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Room C.2, NS inventory no 16212

Ex-collection Goulandns

UWm,- Wh.

'undo (uirloi Young garden

1920

Oil on paper, 22 8 x 292 cm '9 x UK in

Acquired by the Stadtische Calene, Franklurt

Room G2, NS inventory no 16215

Museo Civico, Locarno

Fitfurr J7«

■

Drr Amjler The angler

1921

Vvatercolor transfer drawing and pen and ink on

paper mounted on cardboard, 476 x 31 2 cm

IS', n. I2K in
Acquired by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Room G2, NS inventory no 16308
The Museum ol Modern Art, New York, lohn S
Newberry Collection
Figure 272
■

AtonJ ubrr Jit Sladt ( Moon over the city )

1922

fainting medium unknown, 395 x 52 2 cm

( \5'h x 20'/> in )

Acquired in 1923 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16213

On commission to Buchholz, sold 1939,

location unknown

Da ,i,iUoif Futfc i The gold.

Figure 280

Klee, Urn it* Fmb (Around the fish), 1926

Dai Voiutltucb itr KtlmmrrsanJaiM Rosd Stlber

I he vocal fabric of the chamber singer Rosa Silberi
1922

Watercolor and plaster on muslin mounted on
cardboard, 51 5 x 41 7 cm 120'/. x 16V. in I
Acquired in 1923 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Room G2, NS inventory no 16231
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of
Mr and Mrs Stanley Resor

Fijuif 271

Cesar Klein

■maschtttt (The twittering mach
and pen

id ink on oil transfer dr
cardboard, 64 1 x 48 3 i

Dit Zunlscfci

1922

Watercolor

on paper n

125% x 19 in I

Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no unrecorded

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, purcha

F/JKK .17

GristtrZroimtr mil drr Mto. Tm, (Nruf fesWH0j

(Ghost chamber with the tall door [new version])

1925

Sprayed and brushed watercolor and transferred

printing ink on paper bordered with gouache and ink,

48 7x294cm(l9'/«x IIV» in I

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room G2, NS inventory no unrecorded

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,

The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1987

Figure 278

■

Dtr^oUmr Fiscfc (The golden fish I

1925/26

Oil on canvas, 47 x 68 cm (18'A x 26V< in )

Acquired in 1926 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16138

Hamburger Kunsthalle

Figure 279

Wmtergartn (Winter garden I

1925

Watercolor, 37 x 30 cm (14% x I IV. in )

Acquired in 1928 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room G2, NS inventory no 16214

Fohn Collection, 1939, destroyed

Die HtM mm irnimi Licbl (The saint of the inner light)

Plate 5 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

1921

Color lithograph, 31 1 x 175 cm (12'A x 67, in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 1/5

Acquired by the Wallraf-Richarrz-Museum, Cologne

Room G2, NS inventory no 16283?

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbmati

Gallery (Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of

Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben

Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund, and Harold Joachim

Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

Fidurt 275

Hofjnurninkr Szmr I Hof fmannesque scene)

Plate 6 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

1921

Color lithograph, 31 7 x 23 cm (I2'A x 9 in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 1/6

Acquired by the Schlossmuseum, Breslau?

Room G2, NS inventory no 16424

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, museum purchase (Los Angeles only I,

The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry

C Woods, Steuben Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund,

and Harold Joachim Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

Fi^urr 277

Born 1876
Hamburg

Died (954
Pansdorf

Work in Entartete Kunst

Drr Nror Vodil (The new bird)

Pfeonix (Phoenix)

1919

Lithograph, dimensions unknc

Room I, NS inventory no uni

Location unknown

Kotf(Head)

Woodcut, dimensions unknown

Illustration from Theodor Daubler, Cfsar Klnn, Junge

Kunst 5, Leipzig Klinkhart & Biermann, 1919

Room I, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

i adding)

R,ch«mia Cms (Old i

1929

Etching, 297 x 237 cm (ll'A x 9% in )

Catalogue raisonne Kornfeld 104/1 2

Original collection unknown

Room G2, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown, this print The Art Institute of

Chicago, Buckingham Fund, A Kunstadter Family

Foundation Fund, and Frances S Schaffner Principal

Fund

Urn dm Fiscfc (Around the fish)

1926

Oil on canvas, 467 x 638 cm (18% x 25'/« i

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtmuseum and

Gemaldegalene, Dresden

Room 3, NS inventory no 15982

The Museum of Modern Art, New York,

Abby Aldnch Rockefeller Fund

Figurt 280

Drr Gnsl J« Don X (The spirit of Don X)
Exhibited as a work by Wassily Kandinsky
1927

Watercolor, c 50 x 35 cm (19V. x 13V« in )
Acquired in 1930 by the Stadtisches Museum fu
und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle
Room 5, NS inventory no 16074
Location unknown

Kunst

Paul Kleinschmidt

Oskar Kokoschka

Bom 181 I

liublitz I'omerama

Died cm"
Baishcim

Work in Entartete Kunst

Dwll m Nord i .iU 1 Kiel Jt the North Cafe)

1925

Oil on canvas 120 x 90cm (471s x J5 iin

Acquired by the Staatsgalcne Stuttgart

Room 1 NS inventory no 15988

Location unknown

Klnnt ZirfcusrntrriM i Small circus rider)

1927

( Ml on t anvas, 138 x 76 cm (54V. x 297. in )

Acquired in 1930 by the Nationalgaleric, Berlii

Room 3, NS inventory no 15991

Location unknown

SliIMm (Still life)

1928

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1929 by the Kunsthalle Mannheu
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16187
Location unknown

Bom 1886

Pocblant, Austria

Died i "ho

1'i/lfwfMif, Switzerland

The National Socialists confiscated 417
works by Oskar Kokoschka from German
public institutions, and 9 paintings, a port-
folio of 6 drawings, a watercolor, and a
poster were exhibited at the Munich Entar-
tete Kunst exhibition of 1937 The Nazis'
hatred for this Austrian painter, graphic art-
ist, writer, playwright, and humanist was no
doubt fueled by his concept of himself as
"the scourge of the Philistines "'

After studies at the Vienna
Kunstgewerbeschule (School of applied
arts) from 1905 to 1909, Kokoschka worked
freelance for the Wiener Werkstatten creat-
ing postcards, fans, and other decorative
objects and for the Cabaret Fledermaus,
giving the dominant art-nouveau style of
Vienna a special form He began a series
of clairvoyant portraits, such as Alter Herr
(Old man, fig 281) of 1907, which was
shown in fiiliirtrtc Kunst, and in 1908 his
illustrated love poem, Die tniumenden Knaben
(The dreaming boys), dedicated to Gustav
Klimt, was published Influenced by a
meeting with the architect Adolf Loos,
Kokoschka broke with the decorative
patterns he had used in his art and discon-
tinued his participation In the Cabaret
Fledermaus, which had staged his plays
Mbrder, Hoffnung der Frauen ( Murder, hope of
women) and Sp/iuix und Strobmann (Sphinx
and strawman) during the international art
exhibition held in Vienna in 1909

After a stay in Switzerland, Kokoschka
began his collaboration with Herwarth
Walden's journal Der Sturm (The storm), in
which were published a number of his por-
trait drawings and an illustrated version
of Mbrder In 1910 the Galerie Paul Cassirer
in Herlin offered him a contract and his

Mrst one-man exhibition I he following
year Kokoschka returned to Vienna and
accepted a teaching assistantship at the
Kunstgewerbeschule, but when an exhibi-
tion of his work in the Hagenbund was
severely criticized, he resigned his post
and traveled to Italy with Alma Mahler,
the widow of the composer Meanwhile
his work was exhibited at the Galerie I )er
Sturm in Merlin and in the Sonderbund in
Cologne, and the first monograph on his
work was published in Leipzig in 1913, writ-
ten by Kurt Wolff, with a foreword by Paul
Stefan In 1914 the artist painted a memorial
to his severed relationship with Mahler in
Die Windsbmul (The tempest, literally, "The
bride of the wind", fig 37), later confis-
cated from the Hamburger Kunsthalle and
prominently exhibited in Entartete Kunst

Kokoschka volunteered for army
duty when war broke out, he was severely
wounded While he was recovering at the
Sanatorium Weisser Hirsch in Dresden,
his portfolios Bacbkantatt ( Bach cantata,
figs 32-36) and Der aefesselte Kolumbus (The
fettered Columbus), the latter illustrat-
ing another of his plays, were published
by Gurlitt in Berlin, and the Galerie Der
Sturm showed a large collection of his
works He established a close friendship
with the physician Fritz Neuberger and the
actress Kathe Richter, both whom he por-
trayed in the Die Ausivanderer iThe emigrants,
fig 284) Another painting, Die Freunde (The
friends, fig 285), depicted Neuberger and
Richter with the playwright Walter Hasen-
clever and the poet Ivar van Lticken

After the war Kokoschka continued to
receive recognition as a multifaceted talent
In 1919, when the artist was appointed pro-
fessor at the Dresden Akademie, Paul
Westheim published a comprehensive
monograph and Hans Tietze an important
article in the Zeitschnft fur bddende Kunst
(Journal of fine art), Paul Hindemith com-
posed music for Mbrder, Hoffnund der Frauen
(first performance, Frankfurt, 1921) Besides
comprehensive exhibitions in Dresden,
Hannover, and Munich, the artist partici-
pated in the Venice Biennale in 1922

In 1924 Kokoschka left Dresden and
his professorship and began nearly ten
years of continuous travels through Europe
and North Africa, during this time his work
was shown in London and Paris as well as
in Germany The political developments in
Germany after 1933 prompted Kokoschka
to move to Prague, where he met Olda Pal-
kovska, who would later become his wife
He painted a portrait of Czech president
Tomas Masaryk and began to work on his
drama Commius, based on the writings of
the famous Czech humanist and educator

The first of Kokoschka's works to be
confiscated by the Nazis was a volume of
drawings edited by Ernst Rathenau The
artist's reaction to the display of his work
in EtiUirlete Kunst was to paint a self-portrait
that he titled Bildnts ernes entartetai Kiinstlers
(Portrait of a degenerate artist)

When Nazi troops occupied Czech-
oslovakia in 1938, Kokoschka and Olda
escaped, penniless, to England, where
he became active in emigre organizations
In 1943 he became president of the Freie
Deutsche Kulturbund (Free German cul-
tural league), he donated his substantial
honorarium for a portrait of the Soviet
ambassador to England, Ivan Maisky to
a Stalingrad hospital fund for the care
of wounded Soviet and German soldiers

In 1947 Kokoschka became a British
citizen and traveled to Basel to see a large
retrospective of his work, and he was
honored by the Venice Biennale with an
exhibition of sixteen works He subse-
quently had several large exhibitions in the
United States (he lectured in Boston in
1949), another was held, ironically at the
Haus der Kunst in Munich in 1950 (the
site of the Nazi-approved Grosse Deulscbe
Kunstausstellung [Great German art exhibi-
tion] in 1937) In 1953 he opened a Schule
des Sehens (School of vision) in Salzburg,
which he directed until 1962, when he
moved to Villeneuve in Switzerland He
was greatly honored throughout Germany
and Austria and continued to paint, design
opera sets (including sets for Mozart's Die

Figure 281

Kokoschka, Alter Hm (Old i

Ziiuberflote [The magic flute]), and publish
portfolios of his graphics, as well as his
memoirs

Although Kokoschka refused to accept
the label of Expressionist, his works echo in
all their variety the artistic spirit of the first
seventy years of this century2 (R G )

Note

1 Hans Maria Wingler, OsJwr Kokoschka Das Week
des Malers (Salzburg Calerie Welz, 1956), 50

2 For Kokoschka's writings see Mem Lebeti
(Munich Bruckmann, 1971) and Das schrijlhche Werk,
ed Heinz Spielmann, 4 vols (Hamburg Christian,
1973-76), for his oeuvre see Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka
Das Werk, and Ernst Rathenau, Oskar Kokoschka. Hatli-
zeichnungen, 5 vols (Berlin Ernst Rathenau, 1935-77),
Wilhelm Arntz, Oskar Kokoschka Aus senior. Scbafjen
1907-1950 (Munich Prestel, 1950), Wolfgang Curlitt,
Oskar Kokoschka (exh cat, Lmz Neue Calerie der
Stadt, 1951, Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka Em LehmshU m
zeilgenossiscben Dokutnetjten (Munich Prestel, 1956), idem
and Friednch Welz, Oskar Kokoschka Das graphische
Werk, 2 vols (Salzburg Calerie Welz, nd [1975-81])

Work in Entartete Kunst

Alter Here (Old man)

c 1907

Oil on canvas, 705 x 62 5 cm (27'/< x 24% in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 4

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16044

Neue Calerie der Stadt Linz, Wolfgang-Curlitt

Museum, Linz

Figure 381

BiUm's da Herzogm i>o» Montesquieu

(Portrait of the duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac)

1911

Oil on canvas, 95 x 50 cm (37V. x 197« in.)

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 33

Acquired in 1926 by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 4, NS inventory no 16033, Fischer lot 65

Cincinnati Art Museum, bequest of Paul E Ceier

Figure (28

BlUxil K.ir! Itlin./r. lolll.!!! ..I k.irl 1 tllngCI

1913

i hi on canvas 86 \ 56 cm !3'Ax 22 In.)

i italogw raisonne Winglei 63

J by ilu W.iMl.i Richaro Museum ( ologne
Room € MS inventory no 16136
5caatliche Kunsthalle Karisruhe

I i.;un iu

/K'li>rmtoil.inJvJu|l ttr cnxi
I uhIm ape in th< I tofomites fie t roci
1913
I ill on canvas 78 5 k I20\3 cm » - s 47*A in

i. i.iiMXHK Wingler 8!
Acquired in ll»is bv the Neue Staatsgalerie, Munich
Room 6 NS inventory no 16134
Leopold Collection, Vienna
Fhtutr :s<
■

Dir WmdsbrMt iThe tempest!

I9M

Oil on canvas INI x 220 cm (7IK x 86' - in

I atalogue raisonne Winglet 46

Acquired in 1924 hv the Hamburger Kunsthalle
Room 4, NS inventory no 16021
Kunstmuseum Basel, 1939
f-'iJurr 17

Die Auwandtrtr l The emigrants)

1916/17

Oil on canvas, 94 x 145 cm ( 37 x 57'/. in.)

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 113

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtisches Museum Fiir Kuns

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16022

Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst, Munich, 1964

Figurt J8j

Dir Frtuitdt l The friends

1917/18

Oil on canvas, 102 x 151 cm 140'/. x 59'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 114

Acquired in 1919 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16229

Neue Calene der Stadt Lmz, Wollgang-Gurlitt

Museum, Lmz

Fuurr US

Figure 282

Kokoschka, Bi/Jmis K.irl Ellmgrr (Portrait of Karl Etlmgerl, 1912

i^K

J^^^

v ■•*■■

'

-

Figure 283

Kokoschka, DolomiloiluiiiJsc/w/l Ire crou i Landscape in the Dolomites Tre Croci] 1913

Dir Hndm (The heathens)

1918/19

Oil on canvas, 75 x 125 cm (29'h x 49'/<

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 113

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum i

Gemaldegalene, Dresden

Room 4, NS inventory no 16019

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Fyurt 28S

Montt Carlo

1925

Oil on canvas, 73 x 100 cm (28!A x 39% in )

Catalogue raisonne Wmgler 191

Acquired in c 1926 by the Stadtische Calene,

Frankfurt

Room 5, NS inventory no 16125, Fischer lot 70

Musee d'Art moderne, Liege, 1939

Fi^urt 287

Lif^oidfS Miliichen Usaid (Reclining girl reading)
Watercolor, 49 x 68 3 cm 1 19% x 267. in )
Acquired in 1921 by the Kuplerstichkabinett, Dresden
Room G2, NS inventory no 16346
Location unknown

Sturmphktl (Poster for Drr Slurm)

SeltslbiUnis (Self-portrait)

1910

Color lithograph, 67 x 44 7 cm (26% x 17% in )

C atalogue raisonne Wingler 32

Acquired by the Stadtsmuseum Dresden

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16458

Location unknown, this poster The Robert Con

Rifkmd Collection, Beverly Hills, California

Fl0Wt 288

O Ewigkcil — Ju Dmmcnmrt, Bacbkanlali

(O eternity — thou thundering word, Bach cantata)

Plates 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and possibly another, unidentified

plate from the portfolio of eleven prints

1914 (portfolio published 1916)

Lithographs, various dimensions

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kuns

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room Gl, NS inventory nos 16274-79

On commission to Boehmer, exchanged, location

unknown, this portfolio Los Angeles County Museun

of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German

Expressionist Studies, M82 288168a-k

Figures 32-36

Figure 284

Kokoschka, D„ Aum'.mdmr iThe

Figure 285
Kokoschka, Die Frt

nit (The friends), 1917/18

Figure 286

Kokobchka. Dk Hadn <The heathensi, 1918/19

M=Jr***Y'^l

Figure 287

kokoschka, Monte Carlo, 1925

Figure 288
Kokoschka.

Stumplakat I Puster tor Dfr Sturm 1910

Otto Lange

Wilhelm Lehmbruck

Born (879
Dresden

Died 1944
Dresden

Work in 'Entartete Kunst

Tscbum, tier KatzmfreunA (Tschum, the cat-lover)
Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1922 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room 4, NS inventory no 16038
Location unknown

The statement, "They had four years' time,"
referring to the effort expected of all Ger-
mans to adjust to the new policies instituted
by the National Socialists, was emblazoned
across the east wall of Room 6 on the upper
floor of the exhibition Entartete Kunst, thus
implicating every artist represented in the
room This accusation was especially ironic
in reference to Wilhelm Lehmbruck he had
been dead for eighteen years

Lehmbruck committed suicide in
1919 in Berlin, to which city he had
returned after a lengthy stay in Zurich A
brief stint as an orderly in a military hospital
at the beginning of the First World War had
so horrified him that he fled to Switzerland
in 1916 In Zurich he had contact with sim-
ilarly inclined pacifists and befriended the

Figure 289

Lehmbruck, Sillmdtr Jungting (Seated youth), 1918

artist Karl Hofer, among others Prone
to states of depression that bordered on
despair, Lehmbruck was the victim of his
own Utopian expectations that were destined
to remain unfulfilled The new epoch that
he and so many others expected to result
from the war was clearly not to be The art-
ist's profound disillusionment was caused
particularly by his recognition of the human
cost of Germany's defeat Reinhold Hohl
has described him as being "dashed to the
ground by the power of the times "'

By the time of his death Lehmbruck
had achieved a considerable international
reputation His student work at the
Dusseldorf Akademie evolved into a style
heavily influenced by Rodin, whose sculp-
ture he had seen at the International
Exhibition in Dusseldorf in 1904, but he
broke suddenly with this approach Julius
Meier-Graefe described his own first
encounter with Lehmbruck's Grosse Kniende
(Large kneeling woman, fig 290) of 1911
(on view in 1937 in Entartete Kunst).

One day all portrait busts, all torsos retaining
a reminiscence of (fee Greek spirit had been
moved aside, and in the center of the atelier
there stood a huge female creature, half-
kneeliiu), appearing to have no end to her
At first glance, she looked most like an awk-
ward giant marionette. Here was an artist
with the unheard-of luck of capturing (be com-
posure of antique sculpture, and he gave it up
for a single original notion, for a leap into
the blue. . . . This slitlike phantom cut through
the air like a steep reef and forced the viewer
to either kneel down or to flee I chose the
latter . Naturally, I soon came back.2
Lehmbruck was living in Paris at the
time, and he had been working on the Grosse
Kniende fitfully He hesitated to show the
sculpture in public, finally his wife had it
cast and entered it in the Salon d'Automne
(Autumn salon) ' In 1912 the work was
shown in the Cologne Sonderbund and
Berliner Sezession (Berlin secession) exhi-
bitions Lehmbruck was the only German
sculptor represented at the Armory Show
in New York in the spring of 1913, with
the Cross? Kniende and the Grosse Stehende

I arge standing gnl I he lattei work was
sold fbi $1,620 bringing the highest amount

paid tor a piec< of s< ulpture from the show

The Gnat KmmAi evoked <m unfortunate
comment from rheodore Roosevelt, who

desinhed it .is obviously mammalian hut
not especially human '

After Lehmbruck's death his wife pre
sented the ' rrosse Knicnde as a permanent loan
to the city of Munich in exchange tor an
apartment s Another bronze cast ot the fig-
ure, a memorial to peace, was erected in
Duisburg in 1427 in the center of the city,
where it received a great deal of public
criticism and was finally removed after
it was damaged by the irate populace

In March 1930 two months alter
Wilhelm I rick had assumed the position
of minister of the interior in Thuringia,
lehmbruck's works were among those con-
fiscated from the museum in Weimar In
November 1936 a sculpture by the artist was
removed from the lubilee exhibition of the
Preussische Akademie der Kunste I Prussian
academy of arts) in Berlin When, on July 7,
1937, Adolf Ziegler's committee to select
works for Enliirlflf Kunsl arrived at the Berlin
Nationalgalene, however, not a word was
said about Lehmbruck's work " Three days
after the opening, on July 22, the Grosse
Kniende appeared in Room 6, heavily dam-
aged during transport At some time after
July 29 it was replaced by Lehmbruck's
SitzoiJfr Junglint) i Young man sitting, fig
289), also called Der Denker (The thinker),
seized from the Kunsthalle Mannheim 7
Although the title Der Denker recalls Rodin's
famous work, Lehmbruck's stylistic treat-
ment differed markedly from that of the
French master all anecdotal detail has been
eliminated, and the act of thinking is a
tense, dark rumination The pure, clean line
of the figure's attenuated form is a severe
gesture, a harsh symbol Another cast of Der
Denker, in a military cemetery in Duisburg,
erected as a memorial to the fallen of the
First World War, escaped National Socialist
attention until 1940, when it was earmarked
to be melted down, along with other metal
sculptures that were not useful to the re-

Figure 290

Lehmbruck, (.rossr KiuntJt (Large kneeling woman), 1911

gime The reason given was that the work
was "politically and artistically inappropri-
ate "This determination was later changed
so that the sculpture could be put on the art
market in North America, but by then the
market was closed, and the bronze stayed in
Duisburg In 1943 it sustained some damage
during an air raid but was restored after
the war*

Approximately one hundred works by
Lehmbruck were seized from public insti-
tutions and taken to the central collection
depot at Schloss Niederschonhausen in
Berlin Some of these were on loan to the
museums, many from the artist's wife, Anita
Lehmbruck In a courageous battle with the
Reich, Anita availed herself of a loophole in
the Gesetz iiber die Einziehung von Erzeug-
nissen entarteter Kunst (Law regarding the
collection of examples of degenerate art) of
May 31, 1938, a provision that existed for
special cases of hardship Apparently she
even appeared at the ministry with her three
blond sons as proof of her husband's racial

purity She was eventually successful in her
quest to recover the works that belonged to
her (with the provision that she should not
use them for purposes of agitation) and to
be recompensed for those that had been
destroyed v

We must conclude that it was
Lehmbruck's tendency toward abstraction
and the rejection of the trivial naturalism
preferred by the National Socialists that
earned him a place in fiil.irtflf Kunst To
the authorities the Crosse Kniende was an idol
of Expressionism, a rejection of bourgeois
convention As a result of the sculpture's
inclusion in the 1937 exhibition, the
Museum of Modern Art in New York
bought the stone cast that had been in
Mannheim It became a symbol of artistic
freedom during the war "J ( D G

El Lissitzky

(Lazar Markovich Lissitzky)

Oskar Luthy

Notes

1 Rcinhold Hohl, "Wilhelm Lehmbruck A Ger-
man Preserve,'' in German Art w the 20tb Century Painting
and Sculpture (905-1985 (exh cat , London Royal Acad-
emy of Arts, 19851, 438

2 Cited in Reinhold Heller, Tbe Art of Wilhilm
Ukmbruck (exh car, Washington National Gallery
of Art, 1972), 24

3 Ibid

4 Cited in Henry Grosshans, Hitler and thr Artists
(New York Holmes and Meier, 1983), 42

5 Armin Zweite, "Franz Hofmann und die Stad-
tische Galene 1937" in Peter-Klaus Schuster, ed , Die

Kunststadl' Muncbnt t9i7 Naltonahozialismus und "Enlarlete
Kunst'' (Munich Prestel, 1987), 262

6 Paul Ortwin Rave, Kunsldihalur m Dntlen Reicb,
rev ed, ed Uwe M Schneede (Beriin Argon, 19871, 143

7 Mario Andreas von Luttichau, "Deutsche Kunst'
und 'Entartete Kunst' Die Munchner Ausstellungen
1937," in Schuster, Die Kunststadl" Muncben. 108

8 For the fate of the Duisburg Lehmbrucks see the
essay by Andreas Huneke in this volume, and Barbara
Lepper, "Der CestHrztr und der SilzeiiJc Jungling" in
Wilbelm Lehmbrud (1881-19(9) (exh cat, Duisburg
Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, 1987), 63-65

9 Dagmar Lott, "Munchens Neue Staatsgalene
im Dritten Reich," in Schuster, Die "Kunststadl"
Muncben. 294

10 The Grossr Kmendi was so described in the Bulletin
of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1942. see
Siegfried Salzmann, Wilhilm Lebmbruck (Recklinghausen
Aurel Bongers, nd), 25

Born (890
Pohhchmok, Russia

Died 194t
Moscow, Russia

Work in Entartete Kunst

Abstrahe Komposition (Abstract composition)

1923

Oil on canvas, 60 5 x 50 cm (26'/« x 19% in )

Acquired in 1923 by the Landesmuseum, Hannover

Room 5, NS inventory no 16070

Location unknown

Born (882

Zollikoti, Switzerland

Died 1945
Switzerland

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Madonna

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknow

Acquired in 1925 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 1, NS inventory no 15940

Location unknown

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Crosse Knitndt ( Large kneeling woman)

1911

Cast stone, height 178 cm (70'/a in.)

Acquired in 1925 by the Neue Staatsgalene, Munich

(on deposit from the Stadtische Galerie im

Lenbachhaus, Munich, to which it was on loan)

Room 6, NS inventory no unrecorded

Bought by Boehmer, 1949, location unknown,

this bronze Metropolitan Opera Association, in

commemoration of a gift of the German government

to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, with the

assistance of Gert von Gontard and the Myron and

Anabel Taylor Foundation

Figure 290

Sitzentfer lunglmtt (Seated youth)

Der Denhr (The thinker)

1917

Composite tinted plaster, height 105 cm (41% in )

Acquired in 1921 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room 6, NS inventory no 16248

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W

Mellon Fund, 1974

Figure 289

Franz Marc

Franz Marc died at Verdun on March 4,
1916 while serving as an artillery sergeant
When Adolf Zicgler was reminded of this
fact twenty-one years later in the course
of his commissions plunder of the modern
collection at the lierlin Nationalgaleric in
the Kronpnnzenpalais. he matter-ot-tactlv
responded that his "selection was deter-
mined purely according to artistic
viewpoints, anything residual was not his
concern In the subsequent seconds he
commanded that | the works in] the right
half of the room be added to his list These
included [ Marc's 1 Turm tier blauen Pjerde"
[Tower of blue horses] '

Marc had studied theology and
philosophy until 1899, when, following a
year of military service, he decided to study
art at the Munich Kunstakademie (Academy
of art) He had his first one-man exhibition
at Galerie Brakl in Munich in February 1910
After seeing the second exhibition of the
Neue Kiinstlervereinigung Munchen (New
Munich artists association) in March 1910,
he wrote an excited critique and by 1911 had
joined the group and entered into a friend-
ship with Wassily Kandmskv In April of the
same year Kandinsky and Marc were key
organizers of "Im Kamtf urn die Kumt" Die
Anlworl <ju/ dm "Prolfsl deulscher Kunstler"
'"Fighting for art" The reply to the
"Protest by German artists"), a collection
of seventy- five essays by curators, artists,
writers, and collectors - This was a pro-
gressive answer to Carl Vinnen's Em Prolesl
deutscber KuMSllfr of 1910, signed by 134
painters and critics, which vehemently
attacked the acquisitions policies of German
museum officials who were buying French

Vogt\ (Forest interior with bird), 1912

Figure 292

Marc, Ebtr und Sau (Boar and sow), 19 H

art The complaint — sparked by the eco-
nomic problems of the more traditional
German painters, who floundered in the
depressed German art market — was devel-
oped by Vinnen into a nationalistic attack
on foreign art Although the controversy
was limited to dissenting factions within the
art world, the line of Vinnen's attack was a
precursor of National Socialist cultural poli-
tics "Why does the speculative purchase of
foreign art pose such a serious danger?
When alien influences seek not only to
improve us but to bring about fundamental
changes, our national characteristics are
gravely threatened A people can be raised
to the very heights only through arttsts of its own
jiesh and blood " '

By December 1911 Marc and Kandinsky
had left the Neue Kunstlervereinigung —
after Kandinsky's submission, Kompositwn V
(Composition V), was rejected for the
annual exhibition — and founded Der Blaue
Reiter (The blue rider) The group's first
exhibition took place just a few weeks later
at the Galene Thannhauser and excited so
much interest that Herwarth Walden later
arranged for it to travel throughout Ger-
many A year later a second exhibition was
mounted and Kandinsky and Marc edited
the Almanacb dcs Btauen Reiters (The blue rider
almanac), which quickly sold out One of
the underlying principles of the Almanack
was the juxtaposition of artworks from dif-
ferent societies and times to demonstrate
that the roots of modernist art movements
could be traced to older ones, particularly
to art from other societies Marc had first
suggested this technique in 1911 as an easy
means of countering Vinnen's protest 4

Marc's interest in ethnographic art and
his support of emerging abstract stylistic
trends sparked another art-world contro-
versy with the Berlin Sezessionist painter
Max Beckmann in 1912 Marc argued for the
quality of "new painting," which despite its
novel compositional forms was deeply tied
to natural appearances In reply Beckmann
not only denounced Marc's style but his
group's interest in folk art and raised the
point that if old standards of artistic quality

Figure 29?

Marc, Dtr Mandrill (The

were abandoned, then man "unwillingly falls
into the field of handicrafts The laws for
art are eternal and unchangeable" Marc
then proposed that the value of folk art be
reassessed and urged that judgments of
quality be made on the basis of a work's
"inner greatness "5 Ethnographic artifacts,
which Marc had carefully studied in Berlin
in late 1910,6 manifested such attributes,
they were eternally valid because their real-
ization resulted from the artisan's innate
feeling for form 7 The issues of folk art,
handicrafts, ethnographic artifacts, quality
and objectivity were later infused with polit-
ical meaning and became buzz-words of
National Socialist cultural ideology The
National Socialists grossly distorted the
positions initially staked out by modernist
artists twenty years earlier

Marc's aesthetics were greatly
influenced by his reading of Withelm
Worringer's Abstraction und Einfiihlung
(Abstraction and empathy, 1908) As early

as 1910 he began to emphasize the role of
color in his work in the hope of reaching the
dematenalized inner spirit of the viewer
During that year he wrote to August Macke,
"Blue is the male principle, severe and spir-
itual Yellow is the female principle, gentle,
cheerful and sensual "" These ideas found
expression in such works of the period as
Waldmneres mit Vogel (Forest interior with
bird, fig 291) and Zwei Katzen Blau und Gelb
(Two cats, blue and yellow, fig 127), both
later displayed in Entartete Kutist

Tragically Marc's naive grasp of world
power politics resulted in his eager embrace
of the First World War, which he believed
would ultimately rescue society from the
stagnation of materialism This conviction
led Marc to sign up for military service on
August 6, 1914 On September 26 August
Macke was killed in action, but despite the
deep personal loss of his friend and the ter-
rible carnage he witnessed at the front,
Marc confidently wrote to Kandinsky on

( K tobei 14 that the war will not be regres-
sive tut man instead it will punt\ I urupi

make it 'read) " A little more than a year

later Man tOO was dead

When the Entarttk Kunsl exhibition
opened in Munich containing five works by

Man '" a letter ol protest was immediately

sent by the Deutsche! ( Iffiziersbund ( iei
man officers Federation] to the Reichskam-

mer der bildenden Kiinste Reich chamber

ol visual arts expressing astonishment that
an office! who had earned the Iron Cross
and given his lite for his country should be
disgraced by affiliation with this scandalous
exhibition ' ' Indeed, during the first months
of 1933 Marc's work had been lauded in the
National Socialist press as an "early carrier
of the national revolution," a total reversal
of Marc's hope for an inner revolution of
mankind's spirit and purge of materialist
Europe ,: The National Socialists also made
use of Marc's war commitment, touting
him as an exemplary behavioral model It
was for these reasons that, just a year before
Enliirlrlt Kmisl took place, a major retro-
spective of Marc's work at the Kestner-
Gesellschah in Hannover was tolerated, as
was an exhibition at the Galerie Nierendorf
in Berlin It is known that high National
Socialist officials found Marcs style person-
ally appealing Even Ziegler, despite his
decision to include Marc's work in Entartett
Kunsl, believed that Marc would have
become the greatest German painter of all
if he had survived the war" Nevertheless,
130 works by Marc were confiscated from
German public collections

As a result of the protest letter Der
Turm der blauen Pferde was removed from the
exhibition although lour other works by
Marc remained on view I u and was subse-
quently seized by Hermann Goring Despite
rumors that the painting was later sold to
a buyer in the United States, its location
remains unknown It was still in the posses-
sion of the National Socialists as late as 1945,
when it was seen in the former Preussisches
Abgeordnetenhaus I Prussian chamber of
deputies) " (P K)

Nolo

1 Paul Orrwin Rave personal papers estate ol
Paul i Mum K.im- Berlin cited In Mum \<,>
Luttichau Deutsche Kunsi und Entartete Kunst

in Peter-Klaus Schuster, ed Dm Kmnlstadt Mimdmi

dismus und 'Entartete Kunsl' Munich
Prestel 198

2 Wassily Kandinsky/Franz Man Briejwecbsel ed
Klaus Lankheit (Munich Pipei 1983 letters 5-6,
10-12 15-17, 22-25

i Carl Vinnen, Ein Protest ieulscber Kiinslla lena
E Diedericks 1911 " I-1 italics in original); cited
in Peter Paret, The Berlin Secession t ambridge Mass
Belknap 1980 IK4-85

4 Franz Marc letter to August Macke April 12,
19 1 1 ( ited in Andreas Hiineke, Ikr Blaur Rrrlrr Doku-
motif fluff Oeistilfen /'ftrfiliiHJ Leipzig P Rcclam 1986
420

5 The confrontation between Franz Marc and Max
Beckmann took place in the pages ol the lournal Pan
Mart "Die neue Malerei," Pan, no 16 (March 7, I912i
471, Beckmann. "Cedanken uber zeitgemasse und
unzeitgemasse Kunst," Pan no 17 .March 14 NI2
499, Marc, "Die Konstruktiven Ideen der neuen
Malerei," Pan, no IS (March 21, 1912) 529, idem,
Ann Beckmann," Pan, no 19 (March 28, 1912 , the
latter article is reprinted in Franz Man Scbriften,

ed Klaus Lankheit (Cologne DuMont, I97H), 1(19

6 Franz Marc, letter to August Macke, January 14,
1911,- printed in Aiumi Alack uni Franz Marc Briejwecbsel
( ologne DuMont, 19641, 28

7 Marc, "Die Konstruktiven Ideen," 529

8 Franz Marc, letter to August Macke, December
12, 1910, cited in Frederick Levine, The Apocalyptic
Vision New York Harper s. Row 1979), 57

9 Franz Marc, letter to Wassily Kandmsky Octo-
ber 24, 1914, printed in Bnejwrchiel (ed Lankheit

10 According to Luttichau, there were originally
hve works by Marc in the exhibition, see "Deutsche
Kunst' und Entartete Kunst," 109 Peter-Klaus Schuster
in Dokummtation zum HaU'onalsozialistiscbcn BtUtrsturm am
Bestani der Staatitlakrir mojfrnfr Kumt m Muncben (Munich
Bayenschen Staatsgemaldesammlungen, 1988), 68,
states that there were six works in the exhibition, as
does Dagmar Lott in 'Munchens Neue Staatsgalene

im Dritten Reich," in Schuster, Di« "Kunststadt"
Muncben, 294

11 See Luttichau, '"Deutsche Kunst' und 'Entartete
Kunst,'" 108, and his essay in this volume

12 Bruno E Werner, "Der Aufstieg der Kunst
Drulscfct All^rmmt Zeitmu), May 12, 1933, cited in
Joseph Wulf, Dif bildenden Kumte in. Drillni Rncfc

Fine Dotuniriiliili.ni ' I ranklurl Berlin. Vienna Ullstein,
1983), 84

13 Lott, "Munchens Neue Staatsgalene,' 294-95

14 For the changes to Rooms 6 and 7 as they
affected the works by Marc on view see the essay by
Mario-Andreas von Luttichau in this volume

15 Museum it, Gegenwart Kumt m bflcntlicbcn Samm-
luiujen bis i^i? cxh cat, Diisseldori Kunstsammlung
Nordrhem-Westfalen, 19S7 41

Work in Entartete Kunst

lienor with bird
1912

[was 101 ■ '"i i m J9 . . <s . m
( atalogue raisonne Lankheit 186

by the Stadtische Calerie Frankfurl
Room 6, NS inventory no 16131
Kunstmuseum Bern Slittung Olhmar-Huber
Fitlur, 2ui

Zuyi Kafzoi BIdN unj (,ilb Two cats, blue and ycllowj

1912

Oil on canvas, 74 x 98 cm (29

(atalogue raisonne* Lankheit 182

Acquired in 1927 by the Ruhmcshalle, Barmen/

Wuppertal

Room 6, NS inventory no 16133, Fischer lot 88

Kunstmuseum Basel, 1939

Fijurf |27

Efifr und Sau ( Boar and sow)
WAdscoveim (Wild boars)

1913

Oil on canvas, 73 x 56 5 cm (28% x 22% in )

Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 202

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum fUr Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe Montzburg Halle

Room 6, NS inventory no 16141, Fischer lot 86

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Figure 202

■

Der Mandrill (The mandrill)
1913

Oil on canvas, 91 x 131 cm (357. x 51'. in
Catalogue raisonne Lankheii 2 is
Acquired by the Hamburger Kunsthalle
Room 6, NS inventory no 16132
Staatsgalene moderner Kunst, Munich, 1964
Fiaurf 293

Da Turm der blaum Pferde Trie tower of blue horses)

1913/14

Oil on canvas, 200 x 130 cm (78% x 51'. in

Catalogue raisonne Lankheit 210

Acquired in 1919 by the Nanonalgalene Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 14126

Location unknown

Gerhard Marcks

The fate of the sculptor and graphic artist
Gerhard Marcks under the Nazis is an exam-
ple of the complexities and contradictions
of a tyrannical art "policy" From his works
confiscated from German public institutions
two were selected to represent him in the
exhibition Enliirtfle Kunst in 1937 Dtr Erzetufel
Gabriel (The archangel Gabriel) and Stebatda
Junge (Standing boy, fig 294), both from
the Museum Folkwang in Essen A label
stated that Marcks had been "singled out
recently [for praise] by the literati," as
if that were an additional strike against
him There is even an account that Hitler,
walking through the exhibition, uttered a
particular condemnation of the two sculp-
tures The Galerie Buchholz in Berlin had
been planning a one-man exhibition of
Marcks's work but was prohibited from
opening, and the artist was informed that he
was not ever to exhibit those works Yet
even in 1937 an attempt was made to have
him elected to the prestigious Preussische
Akademie der Kiinste (Prussian academy of
arts) — although nothing came of it — and a
number of galleries continued to show single
works by him within the framework of
larger exhibitions of sculpture without inter-
ference from the Nazis Some brave art
historians still praised his works in their
publications It appears that though the
Nazis condemned all of his earlier works,
they hesitated to enforce their threat to pro-
hibit him from working at all Marcks even
entered the competition for public commis-
sions, although there was little hope that he
could be successful But the lack of oppor-
tunity to exhibit and thus the lack of
publicity and criticism in the newspapers
curtailed sales of his works

Marcks was an outstanding teacher
After he returned from military service in
the First World War, he taught for a short
time at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of
applied arts) in Berlin until in 1919 Walter
Gropius appointed him one of the first three
faculty members of the newly founded
Bauhaus in Weimar When the Bauhaus
moved to Dessau in 1925, the architect Paul
Thiersch, director of the Kunstgewerbe-
schule Burg Giebichenstein, appointed
Marcks to head the sculpture department
of that school When Thiersch became ill,
Marcks filled in as director In 1933 he was
dismissed by the Nazis for two reasons typi-
cal of National Socialist cultural policy he
had carried on the traditions of the Bauhaus,
which the Nazis considered to be "Jewish-
Bolshevist" as well as "degenerate," and
he had come to the defense of a colleague,
Marguerite Friedlander-Wildenhain, who
was to be dismissed because she was Jewish
It was this latter action that prevented his
subsequently proposed appointment to the
Dusseldorf Akademie In short, his sculpture
and graphic art were "unacceptable" to the
Nazis, as was his role as a teacher — yet they
never prohibited him from working

Marcks was an autodidact who in 1907,
as a nineteen-year-old, apprenticed himself
to the sculptor Richard Scheibe in Berlin
Beginning with animal representations, he
soon changed to the depiction of the human
form, frequently nude, as his most expres-
sive theme, he produced figures and
portraits in both stone and bronze He
exhibited in the Berlin Sezession, worked
briefly for the Schwarzburg and Meissen
porcelain factories, and made reliefs for the
hall of machines, designed by Gropius, at
the important 1914 Deutsche Werkbund
exhibition in Cologne During his Bauhaus
period, at the suggestion of colleague Lyonel
Feininger, he began to make woodcuts the
portfolio Das Witlandslied (The song of Wie-
land) was printed at the Bauhaus

Figure 294

Marcks, Stelwi<ler Jungt (Standing boy), c 1924

The Villa Romana prize in 1928 per-
mitted Marcks a first and influential visit
to Greece and an encounter with Archaic
sculpture, which was followed by travels
to southern France and Paris and a stay in
Rome (the Villa Massimo prize in 1935) At
this time he belonged, with Ernst Barlach,
Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and Kathe Kollwitz,
to the group of the most important modern
German sculptors

Marcks was greatly affected by the
Second World War In 1943 his son died on
the Russian front Some of his works were
destroyed in the bombing of the bronze-
casting firms in Berlin, one large figure
burned in the Galerie Buchholz when it suf-
fered damage in a bombardment His house
and studio, containing many works, were
leveled by bombs, and after the war he
discovered that a number of works he had
hidden had been destroyed and some of his
bronzes had been melted down to provide
metal for armaments

Immediately after the war Marcks was
offered professorships by the academies
of Berlin, Dresden, Halle, Rostock, and
Weimar, he accepted an offer from Ham-
burg After his recovery from a severe

Ewald Matare

illness and exhaustion, lie began id lullill
a number of commissions, especially for
monuments In 1947 he completed si\ lile
sized terra eotta figures tor the Katharinen
kirche (Church of Saint Catherine) in
I iibeck, a task that Ernst Barlach had
begun in 1930-32 and which he suggested
should be i onipleted In Man ks

As his recognition grew, Marcks
received a number of prizes, including the
Stefan I.ochner medal of Cologne (where
he moved in 1950), the Goethe medal of
Frankfurt, and the highest medal of the
federal Republic ol Germany; he was made
a knight of the Order of Merit and was
elected a member of the academies of
Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich In 1971
the Gerhard Marcks-Haus in Bremen was
opened to provide a permanent exhibition
of his work ' I P G l

Notn

I ( liinter Busch. Gerhard Mints Das plusliscfct Wnk.

mil Werkmachrm ion Marina Rudlojj i Frankfurt/Berlin/
Vienna Ullstein, 1977), Gerhard Marcks ttw-mt Bnrft
unj Wtrh, ed Ursula Frenzel 'Nuremberg Archiv fur
bildende Kunst im Germamschen Nationalmuseum/
Munich Prestel. 1988), Kurt Lammek, Gerhard March
Dai druckaraphucbt Wtrk (Bremen Gcrhard-Marcks-
SMftung 1989), Martina Rudlofl, cd, Gerhard March
1889-1981 Rrlros/irJrlu* (Munich Hirmcr, I9«m

Work in Entartete Kunst

Stehender lunar (Standing boy)

c 1924

Bronze, height 67 cm (26Vh in i

Catalogue raisonne Busch 122

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang. Es1

Room 6, NS inventory no 16251

Kulturhistonsches Museum, Rostock

El^ure 294

Halijrr t,roril Saint George)

Drr Erzmgtl Gabriel (The archangel Gabriel)

1929/30

Cast stone or plaster, height 255 cm loir.

Catalogue raisonne Busch 219

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 6, NS inventory no 16250

Location unknown

The sculptor and graphic artist Ewald
Matare began his career as a painter in the
studio of Eugen Klinkenberg in Aachen He
soon transferred to the Akademie in Berlin
(1907-14) where he studied with Lovis Cor-
inth, received the Akademie's silver medal,
and in 1914 became a master student of
Arthur Kampf Matare became a member of
the Novembergruppe (November group) in
1918, executed his first sculptures in 1920,
and had his first one-man show in 1923 at
the I B Neumann gallery in Berlin By then
he had developed a distinctive style, a radi-
cally simplified yet expressive form, in his
woodcuts (frequently using color to enhance
the image) and especially in his sculpture

In 1932 Dr Walter Kaesbach, director
since 1925 of the Diisseldorf Kunstakademie
(Academy of art), appointed Matare pro-
fessor of sculpture at the school When the
Nazis took power in 1933, they immediately
fired Kaesbach, Matare, and Paul Klee,
another of Kaesbach's appointees A famous
war memorial that Matare had designed for
the city of Kleve was removed The sculp-
tor, who concentrated on religious works,
was able to retain relative artistic freedom,
however, since he was given commissions by
various churches The Nazis did not dare to
interfere with the interior forms of church
architecture and decoration, and thus
Matare worked undisturbed His stylized
Expressionistic work had gained a "Roman-
esque" quality that blended with the archi-
tecture of the modern German churches In
the confiscations of artworks in 1937 the
Nazis had to content themselves with his

secular work, such as I Jit Kalzt (The cat, fig
295), which was exhibited in £nt<irtclf Kunst
In 1945, at the end of the war, Matare
was reappointed professor at the Dusscl
dort Kunstakademie Three years later he-
received a commission to create new bronze-
doors for the south portal of ( ologne
Cathedral In 1954 he created stained-glass
windows for Aachen Cathedral and the two
portals for the World-Peace Cathedral in
Hiroshima He was the recipient of the
Thorn Prikker Prize and the state prize
of Nordrhein-Westfalen ' (P G)

Notes

I Hans Theodor Flemming, Ewald Malarr I Munich

Prestel, 1955), Heinz Peters, Ewald Malarr Das araphische
Wtrk, 2 vols (Cologne Chnstoph Czwiklitzer, 1957-
58), Eduard Trier, Ewald Malarr, 2d ed Reckling-
hausen Aurel Bongers, 1958)

Figure 295

Matare, Dir K,ilzr iThe cat), 1928

Work in Entartete Kunst

Dir Kalzr (The cat)

1928

Bronze, 20 x 60 cm I 77. x 23V, in I

Catalogue raisonne Schilling 20a

Acquired in 1929 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no 16247

Kunsthalle zu Kiel, this version in wood, 1923

Gabnele Henkel, Diisseldorf

Fi^wrr 295

Ludwig Meidner

In his own time Ludwig Meidner was con-
sidered "the hottest crater in a volcanic
epoch "' The "strange little spirit who came
to life only at night,"2 as George Crosz
described him, was obsessed with catastro-
phe and depicted cosmic chaos in his work
To the National Socialists this destruction
of form offended German sensibilities and
was a hallmark of degeneracy that earned
Meidner a place in the Entartete Kunst
exhibition

In the guide to the exhibition Meidners
Selbstportrat (Self-portrait, fig 296) of 1912
was featured with works by Otto Freund-
lich and Richard Hartmann under the title,
"Three specimens of Jewish sculpture and
painting" (see p 379) The painting was
one of eighty-four "degenerate" works by
Meidner seized from public institutions
throughout Germany and was displayed in
the "Jewish" gallery, Room 2 on the upper
floor of Eniartete Kumt, under the heading,
"Revelation of the Jewish racial soul " Above
the painting the comment, "Jewish, all too
Jewish," introduced an out-of-context cita-
tion from Meidners writings, ridiculing
the bourgeois values of good character,
uprightness, and constancy

Meidner had been apprenticed to a
mason at age seventeen in anticipation of
a career as an architect and builder He
decided instead to become a painter and
entered the Konigliche Kunstschule (Royal
school of art) in Breslau A brief period as a
fashion illustrator in Berlin was followed by

additional study in Paris in 1906, where he
admired the work of Edouard Manet and
befriended Amedeo Modigliani Returning
to Berlin in 1908, he became a member of
the artistic avant-garde, a regular at the liter-
ary Cafe des Westens, and a participant in
the intellectual life of the city

The year 1912 was particularly signifi-
cant for Meidner With Richard lanthur and
Jakob Steinhardt he founded Die Pathetiker
(The pathetic ones), an anti- Impressionist
artists' group whose work was exhibited at
Herwarth Walden's Galerie Der Sturm At
the same time Meidner began to paint a
series of apocalyptic scenes that shaped his
reputation as an independent eccentric, a
prophet whose violent landscapes prefigured
the destruction of the First World War In
December 1912 Meidner had the first of a
series of ecstatic religious experiences,
which he described as the coming of the
Holy Spirit An escalation in hysterical
behavior and eruptions of furious energy
particularly during his customary nighttime
working hours, followed these mystical
visits Meidner would often paint until morn-
ing "The gas lamp is the true light," he said
"It encourages inspiration Daylight is
too rationalistic and skeptical, and during
the day one also does not have the courage
to act on one's ideas and intuition "3

Meidners primary subjects were life
in the city and portraits of his friends and
acquaintances His style during the years
1912-20 was tormented and convulsive,
heavily influenced by Hieronymous Bosch,
Pieter Breugel the Elder, James Ensor, and
Vincent van Gogh Kurt Hiller, an intel-
lectual and political activist, reviewed
Meidners work in the November 27, 1912,
issue of Die Aktion (Action) and suggested
that his pictures of suffering and violence
revealed a mixture of fear and pleasure The
artist's predilection for catastrophic imagery
persisted until he entered the army in 1916,
where he served in the infantry and as a
translator in a prisoner-of-war camp for
French soldiers

Meidner was given his first solo exhi-
bition at the Galerie Paul Cassirer in Berlin
in January 1918 After the November Rev-
olution later that year, he became a found-
ing member of the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst
(Workers' council for art), an organization
that united with councils of workers and
soldiers in favor of a new republic, and
the Novembergruppe (November group),
whose members were also proponents of a
free Germany A manifesto addressed "An
alle Kunstler" (To all artists) was published
by the artists in the periodicals Der Anbrucb
(The beginning) and Das Kunstblatt (The
art page) in January 1919, it declared
that "socialism must be our creed
We painters and poets [must] join in a
holy alliance with the poor"4

Meidners literary activities were not
limited to the writing of manifestos In 1918
and 1920, respectively he published the
books Im Nacken das Sternenmeer (Behind my
head the sea of stars) and Septemberscbrei
(September cry), examples of lyrical,
expressionistic prose He wrote many
essays, was regularly featured in the Berlin
newspapers, and was the coeditor of the
periodical Dos nau Piithos (The new pathos),
whose contributors included Gottfried
Benn, Georg Heym, Kurth Pinthus, and
Franz Werfel Indeed, during the 1920s
Meidner was almost better known as a
writer than a painter The Berlin art dealer
Fritz Gurlitt did encourage him to create
graphic works, however, particularly on Jew-
ish themes, which were published by the
Verlag fur ludische Kunst und Kultur (Pub-
lishers for Jewish art and culture) In 1929
Meidner completed his third book, Gang in
die Stille (Passage to silence), and in the same
year wrote an essay for the Deutsche AWtfememe
Zeiiunil in which he proclaimed his lewish-
ness in the face of escalating anti-Semitism
By 1933 his visibility in Berlin placed him
and his family in danger of persecution, and
he decided to move to Cologne in 1935,
where he taught drawing at a Jewish school

Figure 296

Meidner, Stibstportral (Self-portrait), 1912

Figure 297

Meidner, untitled lithograph from the book
Sr/>tmtr>rrscr>m (September cry I, published 1920.
205 x 148 cm (8'/« x 57, rn i

Meidner was painting and drawing in
two styles now for public consumption an
impressionistic manner reminiscent of Max
Liebermann, contrasting sharply to his work
as a Pathetiker, and in private a disturbingly
soft, amorphous style He had replaced
religious paintings, his primary subject in
the 1930s, with self-portraits, in 1937 he
signed one in Hebrew The self-portrait
chosen by the organizers of Entarteti Kunst,
however, was from an earlier period (1912)
and demonstrated Meidner's convulsive, vig-
orous impasto technique of that time, when
he painted in a compulsive frenzy The
characteristic agitated line and the slashing
brushstrokes shaping the bulging eyes and
deformed head signified to the National
Socialists a mentally deranged spirit The
defamation of this portrait, an assault on
Meidner's spiritual and intellectual qualities,

was also an attack on his person and his
race Paul Schultze-Naumburg, in his influ-
ential book Kunst und Rush (Art and race),
1928, presented the thesis of the indi-
visibility of the artist's corporeality and his
work The National Socialist ideology of
race emphasized that it was not the spirit
that governed creativity but rather the
immutable characteristics inherited by mem-
bers of the race that were manifested in
their artistic product (Additional works by
Meidner were shown in the exhibition Der
avige Jude |The eternal Jew] in Munich in
November 1937)

The outrages committed against Jews
on November 9, 1938 — Kristallnacht —
alarmed Meidner, and he began to plan to
leave Germany With the help of Augustus
lohn the artist and his family fled to England
in 1939, where Meidner was interned on the

Isle of Man until 1941 His efforts to support
himself in London after his release included
posts as a night watchman and a painter
of portraits of the dead, modeled on
photographs

Meidner returned to Germany in
1952, where he steadily gained recognition,
including a solo exhibition in Reckling-
hausen in 1963 He received the Order
of Merit from the Federal Republic of
Germany became a member of the Berlin
Akademie der bildenden Kiinste (Academy
of fine arts), and was granted the Villa
Romana prize in 1964 On May 14, 1966,
Meidner died in Darmstadt, where he had
settled three years earlier (D G )

Jean Metzinger

Constantin von
Mitschke-Collande

Notts

1 Willi wbltradt, "Ludwig Meidner," Das
/mgr DralscfcUJ 3, no I ( 1920), cited in Thomas
Grochowiak, "Meidner," in Ludwig Madna iexh cat,
Recklinghausen Kunsthalle, 1963 i, 8

2 George Grosz, A hull Yrs and a Big No, trans
Lola Sachs Dorm (New York Dial, 1946), 212

3 Ludwig Meidner "Eine autobiographische
Plauderei," in Lothar Brieger, Ludwig Mfidiier, Junge
Kunst no 4 (Leipzig Klmkhardt & Biermann, 1919)

4 Ludwig Meidner, "An alle Kiinstler, Dichter Mu-
siker," Dtr Attbmch, January 1918, I, and D.is KunstWfltt,
January 1919, 29-30

Work in 'Entartete Kunst"

Srldslfiorfral (Self-portrait)

1912

Oil on canvas, 795 x 60 cm 131'/., x 23% in )

Catalogue raisonne Grochowiak color pi III

Acquired in 1929 by the Schlesisches Museui

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 2, NS inventory no 15951

Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, 1958

Figurt 296

Sf/ilrmbfrscJirri (September cry)
Drawing, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin
Room G2, NS inventory no 16307
Location unknown

Dir Vrrzuckuttg Pnuli (The ecstasy ol Paul)
Drawing?, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin1
Room G2, NS inventory no 16301
Destroyed

Scptmbmchm (September cry)

Book of fourteen prints executed 1918

Published by Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1920

Lithographs, various dimensions

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16486

Destroyed, this portfolio Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bmg Arnold, Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds, 831 155a-n

Figurt 297

Born (883
Nantes, France

Died 1956
Pans, France

Work in Entartete Kunst

/m Kiirni (In the canoe)

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1936 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

(on deposit by the Ministenum fur Wissenschaft,

Kunst-, und Volksbildmg)

Room 5, NS inventory no 16056

Location unknown

After studying architecture in Munich
(1905-7) and painting at the Munich
Akademie (1907-10), Constantin von
Mitschke-Collande went to Florence and
Rome for several years He returned to
Germany in 1912 and continued his studies
at the Dresden Akademie until 1913 He
then spent a year in Pans, where he was in
contact with Maurice Denis and Fernand
Leger, before settling in Dresden

After serving in the military from
1914 to 1918, Mitschke-Collande became a
founding member of the Dresdner Sezes-
sion Gruppe 1919 (Dresden secession group
1919) In 1920 he and other cofounders
Conrad Felixmuller and August Bockstiegel
left this Expressionist group because their
serious political commitment to Communism
was no longer accepted by the rest of the
group In 1923, however, he was still a
spokesman, along with Otto Lange and art
historian Will Crohmann, for the Dresdner
Sezession at a conference in Dusseldorf that
was to unite revolutionary artists' groups in
the Kartell fortschrittlicher kunstlergruppen
(Cartel of progressive artists groups) In the
first publication issued by this new organiza-
tion the Dresden group was represented by
reproductions of works by Lange, Mitschke-
Collande, and Lasar Segall and an article
by Crohmann

As if to mirror his changing political
commitment in the early 1920s, his illustra-
tions for Klabund's Montezuma ( 1920) and
Walter Ceorg Hartmann's Die Tiere der Insel
(The animals of the island, 1923) demon-
strate a change from his early ecstatic
Expressionism to the greater realism of
Neue Sachlichkeit (New objectivity)

^ttlffSrittfrtWfa

Figure 298

Mitschke < ollande Do boiosloli W„> I In
inspired way Irom the portfolio Do btayiskrtt Uv.i
published 1919 U t 29J cm 13% x IN In

Figure 299

Mitschke ( ollande, Dafwilihi mid (Here you
have mc) from Or btgrnnrtt Wr«, 297 x 34 2 cm
IT. s I3'A in )

Mil i lil. < ollande Frotoi Freedom from Do
bacistcrtt Wet, 35 x 39 5 cm (13V. x I

Figure 301

Mitschke-Collande, Du li.nl Jrinm Bruiir grlotrl
I You have killed vour brother! from Drr drjmlrrlr
U'rj (4 2 x 297 cm (13% x IT. in

Figure 302

Mitschke-Collande, Slrfc mj mi txrkunii in Lithe,
Enoacbta (Get up and proclaim love, awakened
one) from Drr btgeisltrtt Wig, 34 5 x 295 cm
(13!/8 x 11% in )

I igure N'*

Mitschke-Collande, Die Znl .si roj IT* til
is ripe' from Drr btjesteett Wii), 35 x 30 err
1 13V. x I IV. m )

In 1425, the year Mitschke-Collande
left the Communist party he became
active as a stage designer at the Staathches
Schauspielhaus (State playhouse) in Dres-
den, where he designed the first production
of Ceorg Kaiser's play G.is ( 1925), and at
the Albert Theater, under Hermme Korner,
until 1929 For a time he headed his own
art school and later worked primarily as a
portraitist and designer

When in 1933 the National Socialists
organized an exhibition at the Neues
Rathaus (New town hall I in Dresden of art
they considered degenerate, they included a
number of works by Mitschke-Collande He
was represented by two works in the 1937
EntarMi KuhsI exhibition, including one of
the powerful woodcuts from Hartmann's
paean to the revolution, Drr btifriitirtt Wtt)
(The inspired way, figs 298-303) From

then on Mitschke-Collande was not allowed
to exhibit his work in public or to seek pub-
lic commissions

Most of Mitschke-Collande's early
work was destroyed in his studio during
the bombing of Dresden After the war he
continued to work, first in Rothenburg and
then in Nuremberg, where he moved in
1952' (P G)

Nolrs

I CoiDhmlin iw» MitscWtr-Colliiiifc (exh cat,

Regensburg Ostdeutsche Calerie, 1975), Lothar Lang,
expressionist Book Illustration in Germany 1907-11:7, trans
Janet Seligman 1 Greenwich, Conn New York Graphic
Society, 19761, Rnwhitioii uni Rulismw Rnvlulioiwrr Kuml
in DrulsoSUJ 1017 bis ml lexh cat, Berlin Staatliche
Museen, 1979), Kunsl m Aujbnch Dmim lois-m? lexh
cat , Dresden Staatliche Kunstsammlungen,
Gcmaldegalerie Neuc Meister, 1980)

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Familit (Family)

fainting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1927 hy the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16162
Location unknown

Unidentified prints from the portfolio of six woodcuts

Drr btgtisttrli Wig (The inspired way)

1919

Various dimensions

Acquired in 1921 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16347

Location unknown, this portfolio Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M82 288 2IIa-f

Figure! 298-303

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Margarethe
[Marg] Moll

Oskar Moll

Born (895
Bacsbokod, Hungary

Died 1946
Chicago, Illinois

Born (884
Mulbamen

Died (977
Munich

Born (875
Brieg

Died (947
Berlin

Work in Entartete Kunst

KoMstrufelioH (Construction)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen
Room G2, NS inventory no 16431
Location unknown

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Wablicht Figur (Female figure)

Tdnztrm (Dancer)

Brass, height c 65 cm (25% in )

Acquired in 1934 by the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Hreslau

Room 3, NS inventory no 16240

Location unknown

Blick durchi Fens(rr (View from the window

c 1925

Oil on canvas, 150 x 140 cm (59 x 55V4 ir

Acquired in 1931 by the Schlesisches Mu

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 5, NS inventory no 16058

Location unknown

SlilWoi (Still life)

1928

Oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm ( 31'/i x 27'A in.)

Acquired by exchange in 1930 by the Nationalgale

Berlin

Room 5, NS inventory no 16127

Location unknown

Johannes Molzahn

Bom 1892
Duisburd

Died 1965

AllllllJ'

lohannes Molzahn was represented by six
paintings and one woodcut in the Entartttc
Kunst exhibition Below the painting Das
l\hir I'he couple) was a citation by Paul F
Schmidt the tormer director of the Stadts-
museum Dresden "Molzahn's art, as young
as it is, can no longer be omitted from what
we call the source of the future Molzahn
is a rare example of a pure artist who gives
no thought to the market " Schmidt's words,
lifted from their original context, had
also been ridiculed in Wolfgang \y/illrich's
Sauberunit des Kunsttmpch (Cleansing of
the temple of art! ' The quotation was
resuscitated in the exhibition to suggest
Schmidts specious reasoning in champion-
ing Molzahn A second text painted on the
wall, "Madness becomes method," circum-
scribed the entire grouping of Molzahn's
paintings and implied both a denunciation
of his abstract style and of the German
institutions that had purchased his work
Thirty-three of his works were eventually
confiscated from those institutions by
the National Socialists

The six paintings by Molzahn were
hung with other abstract works, including
canvases by Willi Baumeister, El Lissitzky
and Piet Mondnan and a large group of
watercolors by Kandinsky condemned as
"Crazy at any price " By grouping these art-
ists together the National Socialists reduced
their work to a meaningless blur of color and
form Neither the appearance of Molzahn's
work nor the theoretical basis of his interest
in abstraction — he had been inspired by the
Futurists — had anything in common with
Kandinsky's work or aesthetic intentions

Molzahn attended the Grossherzog-
lk he /<u henst hule (Grand-ducal school
of drawing I in Weimar as a teenager In
1912 he joined the circle of Hermann
Huber, a Swiss artist, and during the next
two years met Baumeister, Johannes Itten,
Otto Meyer-Amden, and Oskar Schlemmer
Although Molzahn was trained as a photog-
rapher, under their influence he began to
formulate a painting style

In February 1915 Molzahn was drafted
into the German army, where he remained
until the war's end In 1917 his work was
exhibited at the Galerie Der Sturm in
Berlin During the November Revolution
of 1918 Molzahn sympathized with the
Communist party leaders Karl Liebknecht
and Rosa Luxemburg, who were killed by
Freikorps (Free corps) troops on January 15,
1919 His painting Der Idee — Bewecjung —
Ktimpf (Idea — movement — struggle) of that
year originally bore the dedication, "To you,
Karl Liebknecht " Fourteen years later he
noted that his decision to paint out this
dedication had been motivated not out of
faltering commitment but by his understand-
ing of the grave situation in which leftist
artists found themselves 2

In 1919 Molzahn's "Das Manifest des
absoluten Expressionismus" (The manifesto
of absolute Expressionism) was published in
the journal Der Sturm (The storm) Its effer-
vescent language emphasized the "flaming
energies of the pulsating orbit of the stars"
that resound in man and determine "each
work of art as a flaming symbol of the eter-
nal "' The year 1919 also marked a period of
intense artistic productivity for Molzahn

Between 1918 and 1920 Molzahn was
also affiliated with the Bauhaus There is
evidence that he recommended Paul Klee,
Georg Muche, Schlemmer, and possibly
Kandinsky to director Walter Gropius 4 His
far-left political sympathies may have been
part of the reason he himself was never
appointed a professor^ Molzahn's woodcut
Komposilion (Composition, fig 304) of 1921,
later exhibited in Enlartete KmhsI, was created
in response to a commission from the
Bauhaus graphic workshop

Xly^S

Figure 304

Molzahn, Kom/iosilicm (Compostt

Bruno Taut was instrumental in
Molzahn's appointment to the Kunst-
gewerbeschule (School of applied arts) in
Magdeburg in 1923 Molzahn remained
there until he accepted an appointment at
the Staatlichen Akademie fur Kunst und
Kunstgewerbe (State academy of fine and
applied art) in Breslau in 1928 Although the
Akademie was closed in April 1932, Molzahn
refused to leave until his official dismissal
early in 1933 Late in 1932 he wrote "Night
has begun over Germany Deeply, deeply
one senses it oneself"6 By March 1933 fear
drove him to hide his books by Lenin and
Marx He had become politically suspect
and his house was subjected to daily
searches by the Gestapo 7

At the end of 1933 Molzahn went to
Berlin with the hope that he could get some
work done in that city In the meantime his
sister-in-law, a lawyer, helped him petition
the Breslau Akademie for his salary under
the terms of a contract that had guaranteed
him a position until the autumn of 1936 His
in-laws helped to support his family which

included two sons On December 19, 1934,
the artist wrote to Schlemmer that his finan-
cial situation had become easier Amazingly
the government had recognized the clause
in his contract that called for six months'
termination notice and granted him his
salary through April 1934 s

Molzahn had his last exhibition in
Germany in 1936 at the Calerie Feldhauser
In 1937, despite the fact he was virtually
unknown in America, he gave serious
thought to emigration and began to learn
English Two early supporters, Cropius
and Kathenne S Dreier of the Societe
Anonyme, who had been acquiring his work
since 1920, were decisive in getting him a
professorship at the University of Wash-
ington in Seattle He emigrated in 1938 and
immediately tried to arrange for his oldest
son to join him His application was first
delayed and then denied with the outbreak
of war in Europe In 1941 Molzahn moved to
New York City Two years later, through the
efforts of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy he taught
briefly at the "New Bauhaus," the School of
Design in Chicago In the summer of 1944
he returned to New York

At the end of the war Molzahn
learned that both of his sons had been killed
in active service He returned in 1959 to
Germany where he took up residency in
Munich In April 1965 he was made a full
professorial member of the Akademie der
Kunste (Academy of arts) in Berlin He
died six months later ( P K )

4 Peter Rohle, "People and Atmosphere in Weimar/'
in Baukunst umi Wtrkjorm 2/3 (1953) 84, cited in Ernst
Scheyer, "Molzahn, Muche, and the Weimar Bauhaus,"
in Art Journal 28, no 3 (spring 1969) 270-74

5 Scheyer, "Molzahn, Muche, and the Weimar
Bauhaus," 272 See also Johanna Molzahn Das malcriscbi
Wtrkiexh cat, Du.sburg Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-
Museum, 1988), 19

6 Johannes Molzahn, letter of November 17, 1932,
Nachlass Use Molzahn (see note 21, cited in Vtrbolen,
vtrfolgt, 134

7 Johannes Molzahn, letter of March 3, 1933, ibid

8 Johanna Molzahn Das mahnscht Werk, 34 n 39

Work in "Entartete Kunst"

Jungfraulkbt Kmstdltdim (Virginal constellation)

1920

Oil on canvas, 82 5 x 995 cm ( 32'/, x 39'/« in )

Catalogue raisonne Schade 22

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16061

On commission to Buchholz location unknown

Meint nfHf Hohmmaschint (My new big machine)

Exhibited as Bosrrr Hohmmaschnt ( Better big machine!

1920

Oil on canvas, 89 3 x 104 3 cm (35'A x 41'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Schade 20

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16060

On commission to Buchholz, location unknown

Coll itt Fhttiir (Cod of the ;

1921

Oil on canvas, 120 x 144 cm (47% x 56!A in.)

Catalogue raisonne Schade 25

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16062

Location unknown

D<is Paar (The couple)

c 1930

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in I9301 by the Schlesisches Mu

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 5, NS inventory no 16065

Location unknown

Zvilhmle (Twins)

c 1930

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1931 by the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 5, NS inventory no 16059

Location unknown

Komposition (Composition)

Plate 10 from Bauhaus Portfolio III

1921

Woodcut, 276 x 152 cm (107. x 6 in )

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 111/10

Acquired by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Room C2, NS inventory no 16287?

Location unknown, this print Collection of the

Crunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, University of

California, Los Angeles, gift of Mr and Mrs Fred

Crunwald

Figure 3G-I

Notts

1 Wolfgang Willnch, S&bmmj da Kunsttmpth Emt
kuHstpoliUscht Kampfscbnjt zhi Gamdung daitxhtr Kunst im
Cnslf nordiscbtr Art (Munich J F Lehmann, 1937), 84

2 Johannes Molzahn, document of March 3, 1933,
Nachlass Use Molzahn, Staatsbibliothek der Stiftung
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, cited in Verboten,
mrjolgl Kunstdtktatur im 3 Rmli (exh cat by Barbara
Lepper, Duisburg Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum,
1983), 134

3 Johannes Molzahn, "Das Manifest des absoluten
Expressionismus," Drr Slurm 10, no 6 (1919): 90, 92,
cited in Diether Schmidt, ed , Mamjrstt Manijtslt (905-
1933, vol I of Scrjri/lfit deutscher Kunstltr des zwanzttfsten
labrbundtrts (Dresden VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1965),
240-41

Honzotiltil Votfthi'esen (Horizontal bird-being)

1921

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Catalogue raisonne Schade 24

Acquired in 1929 by the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 5, NS inventory no 16063

On commission to Buchholz, location unknown

Piet Mondrian

Georg Muche

Bom 1895

I .•i«r|i»l

Work in Entartete Kunst

Abilmktt Komfimilion (Abstract composition)

1923

Oil on canvas, sis v 59 Cm (33 - s 23% in)

Donated in 1929 to the- Lindc-smuseum, Hannover

Room 5, NS inventory no 16072

Lo

F.irhpjr Aulinlunn (Chromatic division

1928

Oil on canvas, 41 2 x 32 9 cm ( 16% x 13 in I

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16173

Location unknown

Georg Muche was twenty-five years old
when Walter Gropius asked him in October
1919 to join the Bauhaus staff as a form-
master of woodcarving Muche's artistic
career had begun only six years earlier in
Munich, where he studied painting at the
Schule fur Malerei und Graphik (School of
painting and graphics) between 1913 and
1915 In 1914 he took an admission examina-
tion for the Konigliche Bayerische Akademie
der bildenden Kunste ( Royal Bavarian Acad-
emy of fine arts) in Munich but was denied
entrance A year later he became an exhibi-
tion assistant at Herwarth Walden's Galerie
Der Sturm in Berlin, and by January 1916
he had a joint show there with Max Ernst
Muche gave private painting lessons in 1915
and in September 1916 began to teach at the
newly founded Sturm Kunstschule (Sturm
school of art) Between February 1917 and
September 1918 he served in a German
infantry regiment

Muche moved to Weimar in April 1920
and remained a master of woodcarving at
the Bauhaus until 1922 In 1921 he became
director of the weaving workshop, a post
he retained until he left the school in June
1927 Muche also headed the committee for
the first Bauhaus exhibition, in 1923 His
contribution, a design for an experimental
residence constructed of industrially pre-
fabricated materials, was realized under
the guidance of Adolf Meyer It exemplified
the theme of the exhibition and the new ori-
entation of the school after 1923, "Art and
Technology — A New Unity"

Although Muche's architectural inter-
ests fell in line with the Bauhaus 's new
theoretical direction, his painterly obiectives

did not His article Industrie-form und bil-

dende Kunst (Industrial form and fii
published in 1926 in the first issue ol thi

School's journal, made public his disi
ment with Gropius's program to harness the
visual arts to utilitarian ends "Art and tech-
nology are not a new unity, their creative-
values are different by nature Art has
no ties to technology, it comes about in the
Utopia of its own reality"1 By luly his dis
satisfaction had deepened and he noted
It is terrible for me here There can no
longer be any doubt that I shall leave here-
in April The fact is that I can no longer
identify myself with the Bauhaus because
of my aims and ideas, however vague they
may be at the moment "3

In 1927 Muche returned to Berlin,
where he accepted a professorial position at
Johannes Itten's newly founded private art
school Muche had known Itten since 1916
and had been close to him at the Bauhaus
Both men held similar philosophical and
pedagogical beliefs Not only did they fol-
low the doctrines of Mazdaznan, an eastern

Figure 305

Muche, Radimma mil Hrrr unJ Hand Etching with heart

and hand), c 1921

cult based on Zoroastnanism, but they had
shared the responsibility for the Bauhaus's
Vorkurs (preliminary course) until Itten's
departure in 1923 3

Muche left Itten's school in 1930 and
became a professor at the Breslau Staatliche
Akademie fur Kunst und Kunstgewerbe
(State academy of fine and applied art) in
October 1931 There he was reunited with
his former Bauhaus colleagues Oskar
Schlemmer and Johannes Molzahn Two
months after Muche arrived in Breslau, an
emergency order was passed, and the school
was closed as of April 1, 1932 In December
1933 Muche was notified that his contract
had been terminated Early in 1934 he
returned to Berlin, and later that year he
and several friends took a trip to Italy to
investigate fresco techniques

Muche's interest in frescoes had begun
at least as early as 1930, when he submitted
designs for the repainting of Breslau Cathe-
dral (although the designs were purchased,
they were never executed) The medium
appealed to Muche aesthetically because it
welded the visual arts to architecture4 His
study of fresco techniques provided an
opportunity for him to remain artistically
engaged during a period when his own
abstract style had been labeled "degener-
ate "5 The result of Muche's study and
experimentation with fresco was both an
uncensored body of work and a book, Buon
Fresco, published in 1938 A year later an
exhibition of his fresco panels took place
at the Galerie von der Heyde in Berlin In
these works Muche abandoned abstraction
in favor of a representational style With this
move he aligned himself with a tradition of
monumental painting revitalized by the late
nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century art-
ists Ferdinand Hodler and Hans von Marees

Unlike Molzahn and Schlemmer,
Muche was able to secure teaching appoint-
ments in National Socialist Germany
apparently without joining the party Upon
his arrival in Berlin in 1934 he obtained a
position at the architect Hugo Haring's
school Kunst und Werk (Art and work),
formerly known as the Reimann-Schule

(Reimann school) Late in 1938 Muche
left Haring's school, and early in 1939 he
founded and led a master class in textile
arts at the Textilingenieurschule (Textile
engineering school) in Krefeld The latter
school, founded early in 1932, had been
reorganized in 1934 and temporarily closed
in 1938, following Itten's departure as direc-
tor Later, in his autobiography, Blickpunkt
(Focal point), Muche attributed his relative
autonomy in Nazi Germany to Haring's
contacts and the atmosphere of tolerance
he subsequently found in Krefeld, where
he was not questioned about his past " Iron-
ically, Haring's own school was not entirely
free from suspicion, an article of February
25, 1937 in Das Scbwarze Korps (The black
corps), the periodical published by the
SS, was entitled, "1st die Reimann-Schule
arisch?" (Is the Reimann school Aryan')

Despite the facts that Muche was
represented with two works in the Enliirlflf
Kunst exhibition7 and that thirteen of his
works were confiscated, he was confident
enough to have set the conditions under
which he accepted the position at the Tex-
tilingenieurschule In a letter of October 29,
1938, to the chairman of the school's board
of trustees he wrote "Following a successful
resolution of the committee, the full and
exclusive responsibility for the pedagogic
execution and development of the teaching
plan shall be mine In this connection I
would like to stress that there shall not be
any direct or immediate influence by the
artistic advisors of the board of trustees
upon the instructor or the students "
Muche's terms were accepted despite
the Nazi party affiliation of the school's
director8

In 1942 Muche went briefly to Dr Kurt
Herbert's lacquer factory in Wuppertal,
where he was reunited with Molzahn and
Schlemmer There he frescoed a large room
that was destroyed the next year during a
bombing raid In 1944 he moved his textile
class to Xanten, returning to Krefeld in
1946 Two years later Muche painted
frescoes for the city's silk-industry building

and in 1949 for the Dusseldorf county
assembly He continued to lead his master
class until 1958 Two years later he moved
to Lindau/Bad where he remained active
as both an artist and a writer until his
death in 1987 (P K )

Nolrs

1 Ceorg Muche, "Industrteform und bildende
Kunst," Bauhaus I, no I (1926), cited in Hans Maria
Wingler, The Bauhaus, trans Wolfgang Jabs and Basil
Gilbert (Cambridge MIT Press, 1984), 114

2 Eberhard Roters, Painters of the Riubaus (New
York Praeger, 1965), 65

3 Marcel Franciscono, Waller Gropius and the Creation
o\ l/ir Bauhaus in Weimar The Utah and Artistic Theories of Its
Founding Years (Urbana University of Illinois Press,
1971 ), 193, and Georg Muche — Lmr sagen (exh cat ,
Kassel Neue Calerie Staatliche und Stadtische
Kunstsammlungen, 1986), 133

4 Ceorg Muche, Buon Fresco Bnr/r aus ltahen uher
Handwerk und Stil der echten Freskomalerei (Berlin Ernst
Wasmuth, 1938), foreword

5 Magdalena Droste, "Georg Muches Fresken,"
in Georg Muche Das malensche Werk (928-t982 (exh cat.,
Berlin Bauhaus-Archiv Museum fur Cestaltung,
1983), 25

6 Ceorg Muche, Blickpunkt (Munich Albert
Langen/Ceorg Muller, 1961), 122-23

7 Mario-Andreas von Luttichau lists only one work
by Muche (see his essay in this volume), however, the
authors of Georg Muche — Leise sagen, 135, list two works,
as do the authors of Gror^ Muche Zeichnungen und Druck-
grapbik aus den Jabren (912-1973 (exh cat, Freiburg
Stadtischen Galerie Schwarzes Kloster, 1973), 15

8 Georg Muche, letter to Wolfgang Muller-
Oerlmghausen, October 29, 1938, cited in Gisela
Linder, " Verlockungen zu Abenteuern der Stille und
der Tiefe Georg Muches figurale Bilder der Jahre
1928-1982," Georg Muche Das malensche Werk, 18

Work in "Entartete Kunst"

Radioing mil Hrrz und Hand

(Etching with heart and hand)

Plate 10 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

c 1921

Etching, 148 x 134 cm (57, x 5% in )

Catalogue ratsonne Wingler 1/10

Acquired by the Schlossmuseum, Breslau?

Room C2, NS inventory no 16425

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbmati

Gallery (Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of

Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben

Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund, and Harold Joachim

Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

Figure 305

Otto Mueller

Born 1874

Lic/'.iH Silesia

Died i "»'

BrrsLiii

The son ol a civil servant who had wanted
to be a sculptor, Otto Mueller was first
apprenticed to a lithographer and then

attended the Dresden Akademie from 1H94
to 1896 He traveled to Munich to study
with Iranz von Stuck, but after having his
work corrected by the master, he decided to
work independently Influenced by Arnold
Bdcklin and Hans von Marees, Mueller
was also impressed by ancient Egyptian
frescoes and developed lime watercolors to
reproduce their color and texture His
compositions usually included figures with
heads turned to the side and bodies viewed
straight on, also reminiscent of Egyptian
style Mueller's palette, technique of dis-
temper painting, and figural composition
remained the same throughout his career

Mueller met the painters of Die Brucke
(The bridge) in 1910 at the first exhibition of
the Berlin Neue Sezession (New secession),
which had been formed as a "Salon des
Refuses" after the Berlin Sezession rejected
works submitted by Mueller and members
of Die Brucke Erich Heckel and the others
found the tall, gangly, eccentric artist of like
mind and immediately admitted him to their
circle Ernst Ludwig Kirchner described "the
sensual harmony of his work" that made him
a natural member of Die Brucke and added,
"He brought us the charm of watercolor"
Mueller exhibited as a member of the group
along with Der Blaue Reiter (The blue rider)
at Hans Coltz's gallery in Munich and at the
Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne in 1912 '

Although Mueller was exempt from
military service due to his poor health, he
nevertheless volunteered in 1916 and served
in an armored corps until 1918 He sustained

Figure 306
Mueller, Dr<

Figure 307

Mueller, Badende m Stdamlscbafi (Bathe

landscape!, 1918

lung damage and was treated for lung hem-
orrhages in 1917, his war experience ulti-
mately contributed to years of increasing
debility and an early death After the war
Mueller became a member of the Arbeitsrat
fur Kunst (Workers' council for art), the first
postwar artists' group in Germany to issue
a call to artists to unite Although Mueller
signed the radical program of the Arbeitsrat,
his art demonstrated no concern with poli-
tics Nonetheless, he contributed prints to
the radical journals Der Anbrucb (The begin-
ning) and Die role Erie (The red earth), the
latter published by Rosa Schapire and dedi-
cated to the anticipated Socialist millen-
nium Mueller also joined the November-
gruppe (November group) and served as a
member of the central business committee,
along with Emil Nolde he became a part of
the original artists' study section 2

The offer of a teaching position
prompted Mueller to move to Breslau in
1919, where he remained until his death
He made several trips to Bulgaria, Hungary
and Romania during the 1920s, where he
found himself very attracted to the free and

colorful life of the gypsies He often
depicted them in scenes reminiscent of his
travels Two-dimensional nudes, withdrawn,
slim adolescents, natural and unashamed
in a landscape setting, were another fre-
quent subject of his work

Seven years after his death thirteen
of Mueller's paintings were included in the
Eridirtflf KuhsI exhibition In Room 3 on the
upper floor Zwei Madchetiakte (Two nude
girls, fig 309) was grouped with other
paintings, many of female nudes, under the
headings, "An insult to German woman-
hood" and "The ideal — cretin and whore"
Zigeuner vor Am Zelt (Gypsies in front of a
tent, fig 313) hung above the slogan, "The
Jewish longing for the wilderness reveals
itself — in Germany the negro becomes the
racial ideal of a degenerate art " Depictions
of dark-skinned subjects ran counter to the
tenets of racial purity inherent in the
National Socialist creed

Mueller's choice of subject matter and
his participation in Die Briicke and avant-
garde groups active during the years of the
Weimar Republic were the factors respon-
sible for his inclusion in Entartete Kunst
On May 12, 1933, almost three years after
Mueller's death, an article entitled "Der
Aufstieg der Kunst" (The ascendence of art)
by Bruno E Werner in the Deutsche Allgemetne
Zeitung described the artist as a "carrier of
the national revolution" among the Briicke
and Blaue Reiter artists 3 (D G.)

No Irs

1 Orrel P Reed, Jr, German Exprrssiomst Art The
Robert Corr Rifltmd Collection (exh cat, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles, 1977), 53

2 Biographical information about Otto Mueller
was summarized from Lothar Cunther Buchheim, Olio
Mueller Ltben und Week (Feldafing Buchheim, 1963), and
Theda Shapiro, Painters and Politics The European Arani-
Garde and Society (New York Elsevier, 1976)

3 Joseph Wulf, Die bildmden Kumte im Dnlten Reich
Eine Dokumenlation (Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullstein,
1983), 83

Work in Entartete Kunst

Zuti Adit I Two nudes )

c 1912

Tempera on canvas, 188 x 70 cm (74 x 27'A in )

Acquired in 1921 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no 15990

Location unknown

Badende in Seelandscbajt

(Bathers in a lakeside landscape)

1918

Tempera on canvas, 110 x 85 cm (43'A x 33'/2 in )

Acquired in 1923 by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Room C2, NS inventory no 16227

Staatliche Calerie Montzburg Halle, 1948

Figure 307

Knabe i>or zwei stehenden und emem sitzenden Mddcben

(Boy in front of two standing girls and one sitting girl)

Melt (Nudes)

1918/19

Oil on canvas, 120 5 x 88 cm (47'A x 34 V« in )

Acquired in 1936 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

(on deposit from 1935 confiscation from Max Perl)

Room 3, NS inventory no 15970

Kunsthalle in Emden, Stiftung Henri Nannen, 1979

Figure 308

Zu-n Madchnakle (Two nude girls)
Exhibited as Akte (Nudes)
c 1919

Tempera on canvas, 874 x 706 cm (34% x 27V, in )
Acquired in 1936 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin
(on deposit from 1935 confiscation from Max Perl)
Room 3, NS inventory no 15995, Fischer lot 101
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1976

Liebesffaar (Lovers)

Paar (Couple)

c 1920

Tempera on canvas, 98 5 x 74 cm (38V. x 29V« in )

Donated in 1920 to the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 3, NS inventory no 15994

Sprengel Museum Hannover

Figure 3(0

Figure 3UK

Mueller, Kmirr ivr zwn ■.IrrwiJnt u»d tmcm sitzmiirn Mii&chtn ( Buy in front of two standing girls and

one sitting girll, 1918/19

Figure 110

Mueller, Lrksfwur (Lovers), 1920

Sommertag (Summer day)

WMtitcb mil Badnidm (Forest pool wrth bathers)

1921

Tempera on canvas, 80 x 98 cm (31 '/i x 38% in.)

Acquired in 1922 by the Nationalgalerie. Berlin

Room 5, NS inventory no 16091

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,

Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1958

Fi^urt 3ll

Dm Akle vor dm Spiegel

(Three nudes in front of a mirrorl

c 1922

Watercolor, 35 2 x 255 cm (137. x 10 i

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresde

Room G2, NS inventory no 16360

Location unknown

Drri Fniufn (Three women)

Dm Akle in Landscbafl (Three nudes in a landscape)

c 1922

Tempera on canvas, 1195 x 885 cm (47 x 347. in )

Acquired by the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Krefeld

Room 3, NS inventory no 15972, Fischer lot 100

Briicke-Museum, Berlin, 1989

Figure 306

■

WMcbcr Ah: Madcben auftinm Stein am See

(Female nude Girl on a rock by the lake)

1923

Watercolor, colored chalk, 68 6 x 52 7 cm

(27 x 20V, in )

Acquired by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16270

On commission to Boehmer, 1939, location unknow

Zum nackle Madcben im Gran silzend

(Two nude girls sitting in the grass)

Exhibited as Akle im Crunra (Nudes in green

1923

Watercolor, colored chalk, 52 6 x 68 5 cm

(20% x 27 in )

Acquired by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 2, NS inventory no 16456

Location unknown

Seeks Akle m der Landscbafl (Six nudes in a landscape)

1924

Tempera on canvas, 95 x 120 cm (37Vs x 47% in )

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum fur Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16014

Staatliche Calene Moritzburg Halle, 1957

Figure 3(4

Zigeuner vor iem Zell (Gypsies in front of a tent,

The gypsy encampment)

c 1925

Oil on canvas, 105 x 145 cm (41% x 57'/. in )

Acquired in 1931 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no 15971

The Detroit Institute of Arts, gift of Robert H

Tannahill, 1957

Figure 3(3

■

Zigeumrkmd mil Esel (Gypsy child with donkey)

Exhibited as Esel mil Kind (Donkey with child)

1927

Tempera on canvas, 1155 x 88 cm (45'/: x 34'/, in )

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der btldenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room 3, NS inventory no 15961

Private collection, Berlin, 1987

Figure 312

Badendr Fruu (Woman bathing)

Tempera on canvas, 98 x 84 5 cm (38V. x 33% in

Donated in 1924 to the Ruhmeshalle,

Barmen/Wuppertal

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16188

On commission to Boehmer, location unknown

Badende im Scruff ( Bathers in the reeds)

Tempera on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1931 by the Schlesisches Musei

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 5, NS inventory no 16089

On commission to Boehmer, location unkn

Figure 31 1

Mueller, Sommertag (Summer day), 1921

GrMMes und braunes Madcben (Green girl and bn
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room G2, NS inventory no 16358
On commission to Boehmer, bought 1939,
location unknown

Liebespaar (Lovers)

Watercolor, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1919 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16355

On commission to Boehmer, sold 1939,

location unknown

Nacktes Paw (Nude couple)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room G2, NS inventory no 16359
Location unknown

Figure 312

Mueller, Zigeunerkmi mil Esef (Gypsy child with

donkey), 1927

Figure 313

Mueller Ziilcuntr ivr Jem Ztlt <■ iypsl

Figure 314

Mueller Secfe Akte in da landnhajt (So

i landscape i, 1924

WaUttick mil liidntdnt I ores t pool with bathers

vr,//J|.jJ. mil Badenden Foresi brool with bathers)
[empera on canvas, 8* x 107 cm ' 32% x 42V. in |
Acquired in 1923 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin
Room 3, NS inventory no I(>l<i2
On commission to Bochmcr, exchanged 1940,

Waldteicb mil Hadntdm 1 I orest pool with bathers
Tempera on canvas, 84 x 106 cm | 33'A x 41% in
Acquired in 1923 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin
Room 5, NS inventory no 16103
On commission to Bochmer, exchanged 1940
location unknown

Zigcunmtt (Gypsy woman I

Tempera on canvas, 1005 x 75 cm (39% x 29 ill

Acquired by the Kaiser-W.lhelm-Museum, Krefeld

Room 3, NS inventory no 15969

Westfalisches Landesmuseum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte, Munster, 1953

Figurt 30

Zwn Madcbni am Btium (Two girls by a tree)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum, Dresden
Room C2, NS inventory no 16357
On commission to Boehmer, bought 1939,
location unknown

Zu'fi Madcben im Gritnen (Two girls in greenery)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room G2, NS inventory no 16356
Private collection

Zu'ci Menscben (Two people I
Exhibited as Paar (Couple)
Postcard, 9 x 141 cm I Vh x 5% in )
Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin
Room 2, NS inventory no 16299
Location unknown

Ztgcuntnn (Gypsy >

Lithograph, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Schlesisches Musei

Kunst, Breslau

Room G2, NS inventory no 16382

Location unknown

Erich[?) Nagel

Heinrich Nauen

Ernst Wilhelm Nay

Birth date unknown
Death date unknown

Born (880
Krejeld

Died <94f
Kalkar

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Work in "Entartete Kunst

LmdKbnjt (ins dm Sauerland (Sauerland landscape)
Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtisches Museum, Hagen^
Room 5, NS inventory no 161 15
On commission to Buchholz, location unknown

SoimniMiimcii (Sunflowers)

VasmstiUtn (Still life with vase)

1912

Painting, medium unknown, 151 x 90

(59ft x 35% in )

Acquired in 1919 by the Nationalgale

Room 7, NS inventory no 14129

Bernhard A Boehmer, Giistrow, 1939-40, location

unknown

Berlin

BiUms Fltchthlim (Portrait of Flechtheim)

c 1920

Oil on cardboard, 72 x 57 cm (28'/» x 22'A i

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtische Kunstsai

Dusseldorf

Room 7, NS inventory no 14165

Destroyed

nlungen

Ahrmlescrimtn (Cleaners)

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unkn

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 7 NS inventory no 4789

Location unknown

Kubweide (Cow pasture)

Painting, medium unknown, 995 x 119 cm

(3914x46% in)

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 7, NS inventory no 14169

Location unknown

Madonna mil den Tierai ( Madonna with the ;
Porlml (Portrait)'

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions u
Acquired by the Kunstverein, Barmen
Room 7, NS inventory no unrecorded
Location unknown

In 1925 Ernst Wilhelm Nay was considered
the most gifted painter in Karl Hofer's class
at the Berliner Kunstakademie (Berlin acad-
emy of art) A series of early successes
marked Nay's career, beginning with exhibi-
tions of his work at the Galerie Nierendorf
in Berlin between 1925 and 1928 In 1927
the critic Paul Westheim published a lauda-
tory article about the young artist in Das
Kunsthlatt (The art paper) Nay became a
member of the Verein Berliner Kunstler
(Berlin artists league) in 1929, at the age of
twenty-seven, which provided him with
additional opportunities to show his work In
1930 a painting of the sea that he had com-
pleted on a summer trip to Bornholm was
acquired by the Nationalgalerie in Berlin
The following year Nay won the Villa Mas-
simo prize of the Preussische Akademie der
Kunste (Prussian academy of arts), which
included a year's stay in Rome When he
returned from Italy in 1932, however, he
realized that times had changed in Ger-
many and he soon found the political
climate disadvantageous to his career

Nay's work was still included in the
spring exhibition of the Berliner Sezession
(Berlin secession) in 1933, along with that
of Lyonel Feminger, Paul Klee, and Oskar
Schlemmer The foreword of the catalogue
stated that the painters represented in the
exhibition demonstrated a German spirit
in their inquisitiveness ' In early 1936, how-
ever, Nay was called to the offices of the
Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste (Reich
chamber of visual arts) and questioned as to
whether he had "changed," that is, altered
his abstract style of painting When it
became clear that he had not and would not,
he was degraded to a "degenerate" artist

Na> FisaxntV) Tijn auj Bombabn Fishi

llurnh.,1-

Figure 115

Nan Fisdwrfcoott m da Haja

No longer allowed to exhibit, no longer
eligible lor the prizes he had often won for
his paintings Nav became dependent on
the help ol his friends to survive When the
artist was forbidden to sell his work, Carl
Georg Heise, the former director of the
museum in Lubeck, found various "friends of
art in that city who were prepared to pay a
monthly amount in exchange for a work by
Nay that they would receive some time in
the future The dealer Cunther Franke in
Munich, whom the artist had met in 1932,
continued to exhibit Nay's work in the back
room of his gallery, even during the war
Heise also wrote to Edvard Munch on Nay's
behalf and asked him to secure a scholarship
for Nay to travel to Norway during the
summer of 1937 Nay painted pictures on
the trip that he sold in Oslo and thereby
financed journeys throughout Scandinavia 5

While Nay was in Norway ten of
his works were confiscated from German
museums, and two appeared in the Enlttrkk
Kunst exhibition, Fiitherboott an da Hajenmole
(Fishing boats at the harbor pier, fig 315)
was in a group headed, "Nature as seen
by sick minds " Nay bore the distinction
of being the youngest "degenerate" artist
included in Entartele Kims! He fell into the
ninth of the categories defined in the exhi-
bition guide, which identified any degree
of abstraction as "sheer insanity"

Nay was conscripted in 1940 and sent
to Le Mans in France to serve the army

as a cartographer While there he gained
the support of a French sculptor, Pierre
Tcrouanne, who put his studio, paints, and
canvas at Nay's disposal After 1945 Nay
moved to Hofheim in the Taunus region
and resumed his public career As postwar
abstraction gained increasing recognition,
Nay's prestige followed suit He participated
in the Venice Uiennale in I94S and was given
his first retrospective exhibition in Hannover
in 1950 A controversy with Hofer, his for-
mer teacher, regarding the relative merits of
representational and abstract art prompted
him to withdraw from the newly revived
Deutscher Kunstlerbund (League of German
artists), the single negative note in an other-
wise remarkably positive chain of events
Having become one of Germany's leading
artists, Nay was accorded a prominent place
in the first three Documenta exhibitions in
Kassel in 1955, 1959, and 1964 and repre-
sented West Germany at the Venice Biennale
in 1964 A new stylistic period, beginning
that year with the dramatic Aucfenbtlda (Eye
pictures), was marked by a simplification of
forms and reduction of colors Numerous
exhibitions, honors, awards, and travel,
including trips to the United States and
Japan, distinguished the last four years of
Nay's life, which ended with heart failure
in Cologne in 1968 (DC)

Work in Entartete Kunst

Nolo

nn Rave, Ku
e M Schne

itilihjlm m (Jrilfm Rocd,
dc i Berlin Argon,

1 Paul On
rev ed , ed U
19871, 56

2 Peter-Klaus Schuster, "The 'Inner Lmi^rat
Art for No One," in German Art in ilir 2uth Century
Painting ,mJ Sculpture ioos-isw lexh cat, London
Royal Academy of Arts, 1985), 461

Fucherboolc an Jn IliilatmeU
Fishing boats at the harbi u
1930

Oil on canvas, 51) x 70 cm (19
On loan to the Nationalgalerie Berlin, from 1931
Room 5 NS inventory no 16112
Private collection
Figure us
■

FiicrmkrlTtjn an) Bornbolm

1 Fishing village ol Te|n on Bornholm

1930

Oil on canvas, 55 x 89 cm 21' . x J5 in

Acquired in 1931 by the Museum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte, Lubeck

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16189

Private collection, Germany

Figure 316

Karel Niestrath

Born (896
Bad Sakujlcn

Died 1971
Hagen

In 1933 Karel Niestrath was thirty-nine
years old, an artist not quite established in
his held but with eight one-man exhibitions
to his credit The National Socialist regime
effectively ruined his career by halting his
advancement by means of the prohibitions
inflicted upon him and the others they
named as "degenerate" artists

In his youth Niestrath had enrolled in a
wood-sculpting course after completion of
his primary education, without intending to
become a sculptor Upon his return from
service in the First World War, during his
hospital confinement for a severe foot injury
he decided to attend the Werkkunstschule
(School of applied arts) in Bielefeld After
a few semesters he transferred to the
Kunstakademie (Academy of art) in Dres-
den, where Otto Dix was the guiding spirit
Under this influence Niestrath's work grew
beyond classic academic formalism to more
profane subject matter and social-critical
content His sculptures and graphic works
were typically concerned with four specific
themes a depiction of postwar Germany,
with its rampant hunger, disabled veterans,
and other victims of deprivation, pregnant
women and mothers with children in
madonnalike poses, representations of simple
citizens, those he called "innocents", and
portraits of his contemporaries, famous and
obscure His style was a response to ele-
ments of Neue Sachlichkeit (New objec-
tivity), and he was also greatly influenced
by the work of Ernst Barlach and Kathe
Kollwitz and by the art of the Middle Ages

After completing his studies in 1924
Niestrath moved to Hagen The director
of the Kunstverein (Art association) of the
neighboring community of Bielefeld took
an interest in his work, and soon he was
one of the best-known artists in that area of
Germany Both the municipal museums of
Bielefeld and Hagen acquired his works

Two of his sculptures, confiscated
from Hagen, the wood Blumenlniger (Flower
bearer) and the bronze Die Hungntje (The
starving woman, fig 317), were on view
in Room 3 on the upper floor of Entartete
Kunst Not only was Niestrath's subject mat-
ter anathema to the National Socialist
ideologues, his forms — oversized heads,
hunched shoulders, columnar bodies lacking
in grace — were in complete disagreement
with official aesthetic standards Forty-two
works by Niestrath were seized from public
collections and buildings in 1937, which
removed not only the artworks but also
Niestrath's name from the public
consciousness

At the end of the war Niestrath felt
he was too old to start over He considered
himself an amputee, his work cut in half and
his life robbed of twelve productive years
The postwar years also brought a change in
popular art styles — especially an inclination
toward abstraction — of which Niestrath did
not feel a part He felt history had done him
an injustice '

Finally in 1952, Niestrath accepted a
teaching position in sculpture at the Werk-
kunstschule in Dortmund He produced a
war memorial for the city various portraits,
and some small sculptures before his death
in 1971 (D G)

Eugen Th

I Museum

Karel Nrfslr.il/) (
Ostwall, 1973), 33

^2^L j

I

V

1

i

4 r

j

I

-4ntftti

Figure 317

Niestrath, Die Hmignge (The starving

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Die Hutu)ri0c (The starving woman

1928

Bronze, height 140 cm (55'/. in )

Acquired in 1935 by the Stadtisch

Room 3, NS inventory no 16235

Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf

Figure 317

Hage

Blumetilrager (Flower bearer)
Wood, height c. 120 cm (47 'h in )
Acquired by the Stadtisches Must
Room 3, NS inventory no 16244
Location unknown

, Hagen

Entil Nolde

Bom ivi
Noldt

I hoi 1956
Sttbiill

A native of Nolde in Schleswig, Emil
f lansen adopted the name of his birthplace
as his own He studied drawing part-time
and produced his first painting at the age
of twenty-nine In 1906 he joined the group
of Expressionists known as Die Brucke (The
bridge1 with whom he remained only one
year His dramatic work was controversial,
yet AbenJmahl (The Last Supper, fig 108)
was the first Expressionist picture bought
for a German museum, the Montzburg
in Halle, in 1910

In late 1913 Nolde and his wife joined a
scientific expedition traveling through Rus-
sia, Siberia, China, and Japan to the South
Seas Always a nationalist, Nolde judged
Japan to be "the Germany of the East"
but did not believe that its people had "the

depth and suIisi.iik e "I the ( .crmans "' I his

nationalism and his hit lung beliei in ra< ial
purity were contradicted, however, by his
at tions aftei the South Seas trip "In 1914 he

wrote .in enraged letter to the colonial office
in Berlin, condemning the rape of tribal cul-
tures by 'civilized' powers and insisting on
the aesthetic worth of tribal art "2 He con-
cluded that German museums should collet t
these last traces of primal man while it was
still possible

At the onset of the First World War
Nolde was forty -five years old and conse-
quently did not serve At the war's end, he
loined the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst (Workers'
council for art), yet in 1920 he became a
charter member of the North Schleswig
branch of the National Socialist party
Nolde was politically naive, he found the
ideology espoused by his new party in keep-
ing with his own conservative beliefs As
an artist, however, Nolde was daring and
instinctive He loved luminous colors and
the flat northern landscape He harbored a
suspicion of the city and preferred as sub|ect
matter the cyclical rhythms of nature, pri-
mordial myths and legends, and biblical
motifs His South Sea oils stressed the exotic

and the savage Nolde s works wen
ciated by those who saw them as Nordic
expressions ol ecstatic archetypes, but
National Socialist ideologues such as critic
Bettina I eistcl Rohmeder believed 1 xpres
sionism reflected the racial chaos '/I
Germany In her view, fascination with the
lite ill people ol a simpler nature and darker
color was an indication of degeneration '

Alois Schardt, on the contrary called
from Halle by the National Socialists to
replace Ludwig Justi as director of the
Nationalgalene in Berlin tried to explain
Expressionism in terms of the past He was
an admirer of Nolde, whose paintings he
saw as analogous to the prophetic ecstasy
of early medieval work Charged with
a reinstallation of the galleries, he gave
Nolde's works a large room to themselves
and responded affirmatively when asked to
lend Joseph Goebbels paintings by Nolde for
his private apartment in Berlin In late 1933,
when Schardt was asked to step down, his
replacement, Eberhard Hanfstaengl, con-
tinued strengthening the holdings of the
Neue Abteilung, the modern section of the
Nationalgalene, with works from private
collections, including paintings by Nolde4

Figure 318
Nolde, Ah,

Figure 320

Nolde, Ru»< II (Russian II), 1914

nJ Eunuch i Nudes and eunuch), 1912

Hnliift N.nrif (The nativity)

Figure 322

Da zwtiljjabrije Cbrislui (Christ among the doctors)

Figure 323

Dit Hrilii/m Dm Komgt (The thr.

Figure 324

CbnstHS und Judas (The kiss of juda

Figure 321-29
Nolde, Dm Urn

Cfensli (The life of Christ), 1911-12

I arliei in the summei ol 1933 Nolde s
work had been included in an exhibition
sponsored by young .hum members ol the
Nationalsozialistischei Deutsche! Studenten

blind I National Socialist league ol German

students) in Berlin who were attempting

to illustrate the union ol National Socialism
and modern art The students association

had defended the Expressionists in a debate

with the kampthutid fur deutsche Kultur

t omliat league lor German culture .1
debate that had been sparked by the latter's
rejection ol Nolde's application tor member-
ship The Kamplbunds newspaper called
Nolde a "technical nincompoop'"' Other
press reports evidenced a similar attitude
toward Expressionism in general On
luly 7, 1933, Alfred Rosenberg wrote an
article in the party's newspaper, the Vijl-
nscDtr llcobtuhltr . in which he unexpectedly
pronounced Nolde's seascapes interesting,
"strong and powerful " Others of his works
in the Nationalgalene, however, Rosenberg
declared to be negroid, raw, without piety
and inner strength of form '■ Because of
Goebbels s earlier tolerance, however, Nolde
thought the work of the Expressionists was
not irreconcilable with the National Socialist
cultural program Others, too, such as
museum director Max Sauerlandt in Ham-
burg, had spoken up for Nolde's art and its
Nordic background Nolde himself, in his
1934 autobiography Jabrt der Ktimpfe (Years
of struggle), had attacked the paintings of
"halfbreeds, bastards, and mulattoes," and
described the natural superiority of the
Nordic peoples

Along with Ernst Barlach, Erich
Heckel, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and
others, Nolde signed a call for loyalty to the
Fiihrer in 1934, after the death of President
Hindenburg and the action that led to the
assassination of powerful SA (Sturmabtei-
lung, storm troop) head Ernst Rohm and his
colleagues But in September 1934, when
Hitler made clear his cultural policy at
the party's annual meeting in Nuremberg,
Goebbels ceased his support of the Expres-
sionists Subsequently in 1935, works by

Nolde, Max Beckmann, l.yonel lemmgcr,
and Heckel were withdrawn from a Munich
exhibition of contemporary art from Berlin
In 1936 Nolde was forbidden to engage 111
any "activity, professional 01 amateur, in the
realm of art" because of what was described
as his "cultural irresponsibility

A staggering total ol 1,052 ol Nolcks
works were confiscated in 1917 from Ger-
man museums, and twenty-seven ol them
were included in the Entartctt Kunsl exhibi-
tion The great altarpiece Dus Ltben Cbristi
(The life of Christ, fig 321-29) was the
mam focus of the installation in the first
gallery on the upper floor, beside the com-
mentary, "Insolent mockery of the Divine
under Centrist rule " Nolde went to see the
exhibition with his friend and supporter
Friedrich Doehlemann, director of the
Bayerische Gemeindebank ( Bavarian com-
munity bank), which had financed the Haus
der Deutschen Kunst (House of German
art), Munich's new museum for officially
approved modern German art 8 They found
the altarpiece presented as an example of the
violation of German religious attitudes
Nolde was so confused and distressed that
he canceled the celebration of his seventieth
birthday that he had planned with friends in
Seebull ' He protested the treatment
accorded him and wrote to Goebbels and
education minister Bernhard Rust, demand-
ing that "the defamation against [him]
cease" He emphasized his old German
background, arguing that his art was "vig-
orous, durable, and ardent" and demanding
the return of his seized property1" He was
successful in the latter

One year later Nolde participated
in the protest exhibition of works by the
"degenerate" artists staged at the Burlington
Galleries in London Also in 1938 he began
to paint what he called his "unpainted pic-
tures," a cycle of more than thirteen hun-
dred watercolors on scraps of rice paper that
varied in size from five to ten inches He
could not use oils because he feared the
odor would compromise him In October
1944 Nolde wrote "only to you, my little
pictures, do I sometimes confide my grief,

hgure 334

Nolde, Of Hnl.«/n. Dn

Kmigi I In three magi I'm

4H

A '*j^

ill

vSuIr

HF - if tBBI

^ ■* •"_

-' — ;tfc,'

Figure 335
Nolde, D.slru:

Discussion), 1913

Figure 330

Nolde, Htrbslmcrr IX (Autumn sea IX), 1910

Figure 331

Nolde, Hiiltojl Hof (Hultoft farmhouse), 1932

Figure 332

Nolde, Vorabend (Early evening), 1916

Figure 333

Nolde, Jungc Pjirclc (Young horses), 1916

I arliei in the summei ol 1933 Nolde's
work had been included in an exhibition
sponsored by young .mist members ol the

Nationalsozialistischcr I )cutschct Studcntcn
bund iNntional Socialist league ot C.erman
students] in Berlin who were attempting
to illustrate' the union ol National Sen lalism
and modern art 1 lie students association

had defended the Expressionists in a debate
with the Kampfbund fiir deutsche Kultur
( oinbat league for German culture), a
debate that had been sparked by the latter's
rejection ol Nolde's application tot membei
ship 1 he Kampfbund's newspaper called
Nolde a "technical nincompoop "• Other
press reports evidenced a similar attitude
toward Expressionism in general On
July 7 1933, Alfred Rosenberg wrote an
article in the party's newspaper, the Vol-
kisc/itr Btobachter, in which he unexpectedly
pronounced Nolde's seascapes interesting,
"strong and powerful " Others of his works
in the Nationalgalene, however, Rosenberg
declared to be negroid, raw, without piety
and inner strength of form " Because of
Coebbels's earlier tolerance, however, Nolde
thought the work of the Expressionists was
not irreconcilable with the National Socialist
cultural program Others, too, such as
museum director Max Sauerlandt in Ham-
burg, had spoken up for Nolde's art and its
Nordic background Nolde himself, in his
1934 autobiography, Libre der Kampft I Years
of struggle), had attacked the paintings of
"halfbreeds, bastards, and mulattoes," and
described the natural superiority of the
Nordic peoples

Along with Ernst Barlach, Erich
Heckel, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and
others, Nolde signed a call for loyalty to the
Fuhrer in 1934, after the death of President
Hindenburg and the action that led to the
assassination of powerful SA (Sturmabtei-
lung, storm troop) head Ernst Rohm and his
colleagues But in September 1934, when
Hitler made clear his cultural policy at
the party's annual meeting in Nuremberg,
Coebbels ceased his support of the Expres-
sionists Subsequently, in 1935, works by

Nolde Max Bcckmann, l.yoncl Iciningci.
and I leckel were withdrawn In mi .i Miinii h

exhibition ol contemporary art from Berlin
In 1936 Nolde was forbidden to engage in
any "activity professional oi amateur, in the

realm of art" because of what was described
as his "cultural irresponsibility"7

A staggering total of 1,052 of Nolde's
works were confiscated in 1937 from Ger-
man museums, and twenty seven of them
were included in the Enliirlrlr Kunst exhibi-
tion The great altarpiece Dus Leben ( bristi
(The life of Christ, fig 321-29) was the
main focus of the installation in the first
gallery on the upper floor, beside the com-
mentary, "Insolent mockery of the Divine
under Centrist rule " Nolde went to see the
exhibition with his friend and supporter
Eriednch Doehlemann, director of the
Bayerische Gemeindebank (Bavarian com-
munity bank), which had financed the Haus
der Deutschen Kunst (House of German
art), Munich's new museum for officially
approved modern German art " They found
the altarpiece presented as an example of the
violation of German religious attitudes
Nolde was so confused and distressed that
he canceled the celebration of his seventieth
birthday that he had planned with friends in
Seebull ' He protested the treatment
accorded him and wrote to Goebbels and
education minister Bernhard Rust, demand-
ing that "the defamation against [him]
cease " He emphasized his old German
background, arguing that his art was "vig-
orous, durable, and ardent" and demanding
the return of his seized property10 He was
successful in the latter

One year later Nolde participated
in the protest exhibition of works by the
"degenerate" artists staged at the Burlington
Galleries in London Also in 1938 he began
to paint what he called his "unpainted pic-
tures," a cycle of more than thirteen hun-
dred watercolors on scraps of rice paper that
varied in size from five to ten inches He
could not use oils because he feared the
odor would compromise him In October
1944 Nolde wrote "only to you, my little
pictures, do I sometimes confide my grief

figure 334

Nolde, Dir Hn/iDo. Dn

Kmigt I In- three magi I'm

Figure

Nolde

Dislnmi«i Discussion 1913

my torment, my contempt"" The cycle
ended in 1945, "when the chains fell," as
Nolde described it From these small water-
colors came more than one hundred large
works in oil painted by Nolde between 1945
and 1951 <2

Ironically the National Socialists con-
sidered the "Nordic" Nolde, a member of
the party one of the most contemptible of
the "degenerate" artists No one occupied
the officials more As late as May 1940 the
Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich security
headquarters) had discussions about him,13
and he canceled a trip to Berlin so as not
to draw attention to himself In 1941 he was
removed from the Reichskammer der bil-
denden Kiinste (Reich chamber of visual
arts) and forbidden to work He was also
advised that his membership in the Preu-
ssische Akademie der Kunste (Prussian
academy of arts) was revoked because his
work was not in keeping with the National
Socialist realm of thought iGediwkmgut).'*

In 1946 Nolde was appointed profes-
sor of art by the government of Schleswig-
Holstein, but his last years were marred by
arguments and discussions about his earlier
support of the National Socialists (D C.)

Notes

1 Theda Shapiro, P.imlrrs and Politics The European
Ananl-Garde and Society (New York Elsevier, 1976), 99

2 ill Lloyd, "Primitivism and Modernity An
Expressionist Dilemma," in German Art in the 20th Cnilury
Painting and Sculpture t905-ty85 (exh cat, London Royal
Academy of Arts, 1985), 109

3 Remhard Merker, Dir hildenden Kunste m
NatwnalsozuiUsmus (Cologne DuMont, 1983), 80

4 Paul Ortwin Rave, Kunstdiklalur m Dritttn Reich,
rev ed, ed Uwe M Schneede (Berlin Argon, 1987), 61

5 Blatter des deutschen Kampjhundes, cited in Werner
Haftmann, Baimtii ,11111 Persecuted Dictatorship of Art
under Hitler, trans Eileen Martin (Cologne DuMont,
1986), 19

6 Joseph Wulf, Die hildenden Kunste im Dr.ttoi Reich
Erne Dokumentatwn (Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullstein,
1983), 46

7 Rave, Kunstdiktatur, 78

8 Hans-Joachim Hecker, "Missbrauchtes Mazena-
tentumv' in Peter- Klaus Schuster, ed , Die "Kunststadl"

AlllltJ'l'll 19i7 iWiIiOIuIhiZuIiSMHS UllJ "Elllillfflf KuHSt"

(Munich Prestel, 1987), 57

9 Haftmann, Banned and Persecuted, 19

10 Henry Crosshans, Hillrr and the Artists (New
York Holmes and Meier, 1983), 109, and Rave,
Kmisliiilrtiitur, 77

11 Crosshans, Hillrr and idr Artists, 82

12 Haftmann, Batumi and Persecuted, 237

13 Wulf, Dir hildenden Kunste, 349

14 Ibid

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Ahendmihl (The Last Supper)

1909

Oil on canvas, 86 x 107 cm (337a x 42V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 316

Acquired in 1913 by the Stadtisches Museum fiii

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room I, NS inventory no 15944

Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, 1956

Figure (08

hngeCkhsen (Young oxen)

1909

Oil on canvas, 68 5 x 88 5 cm (26 x 347. in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 306

Acquired in 1923 by the Kaiser-Friednch-Mu

Magdeburg

Room 5, NS inventory no 16099

Saarland-Museum, Saarbrucken

Figure 339

Oinslus und die Kinder (Christ among the children)

1910

Oil on canvas, 867 x 1064 cm (34'/» x 417» in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 350

Acquired in 1918 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 1, NS inventory no 15946

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of

Dr W R Valentmer, 1955

Fi^urf 33«

Figure 336

Nolde, Cfcristus und die Kinder (Christ among the children), 1910

Mary of Egypt), 1912

FrirsniKiusri // (Frisian houses II

Friejlictx DmfslrMU I nsl.nl vlllagi Stl

Nil)

Oil on canvas 6a5 I Bl 5 cm 25 K 121* in

t atalogue raisonne Urban UO

Acquired in 1926 by the Altonaei Museum I lambunj

Room 5 Ns inventory no 16088

I'r jvate i "Hi ■ rton

hilutr no

HrrKtmrrr IX (Autumn sea IX)

1910

Oil on canvas 65 v 85 cm '25% x 33'A in )

t atalogue raisonne' Urban 397

Acquired In 1933 bv the Neue Staalsgalene, Munich

Room 5 NS inventory no 16093

Sprengel Museum Hannover 1979

Fyurr 330

Dif kltutert unj Ju toruhten JwiaJmKIt

i The wise and the foolish virgins)

1910

Oil on canvas, 86 x 106 cm (337/n x 4I'A in.)

Catalogue raisonne Urban 347

Acquired in 1922 bv the Museum Folkwang, Es

Room I, NS inventory no 15947

Burned at Teupitz, 1945

Fraunipro/il Profile >>i i woman

D.imr mil /lul il adv in a hat)

1911

Oil on canvas, 78 x 45 cm (30'A x 17V. in

i atalogue raisonne! Urban 433

Acquired in 1924 bv the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen

Sumg.ul

Room C2, NS inventory no 16225
location unknown

Dai Lrr-o. Ckrfsli (The life of Christ)

Exhibited as Kmtzigung (Crucifixion)

1911-12

Oil on canvas,

central panel 220 5 x 193 5 cm 186V. x 76'/. in I.

eight panels each 100 x 86 cm (39V. x 33% in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 421-23, 477-82

On loan to the Museum Folkwang, Essen, 1932-37

Room 1, NS inventory no 15941

Nolde Stiftung, Seebiill, 1939

figures 321-20

SlilMwi mil Hokjiilm (Still life with wooden figure)

Slil/rrini mil Ntjerplastik (Still life with statue of a negr

1911

Oil on canvas, 77 x 65 cm ( 30 V» x 25V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 414

Acquired in 1922 bv the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 3, NS inventory no 15962

Mrs Max M Stern

FlilUTt 341

Alrlr unj EunuJt Nudes and eunuch)

//iirrmsii'd. birr I I. if in pi. ml

1912

i ill .,.i canvas, kk . i cm

( atalogue raisonne Urban 514

V quired in 1925 bv tl» Stadtisches Museum iur Kunsi
und Kunstgewerbc (Montzburgj, Halle
Room }. NS inventory no 15967
Indiana University An Museum Blooming ton

lane and Roger Wolcott Memorial
FigUTt lis

Htilige Maria von A.tyf>ini i Saint Mary of Egypu

Drr Tod itt Maria am Aqyptoi

(The death of Mary of Egypt)

1912

Oil on canvas, 87 x 1005 cm (34% x <'» in

Catalogue raisonne Urban 522

Acquired in 1925 by the Museum folkwang, Essen

Room I, NS inventory no 15945

Museum Folkwang, Essen, 1950

Figurr 337

Mam md Wnhbm (Man and female)

1912

Oil on canvas, 73 x 88 cm (28 V. x 34 V, in

Catalogue raisonne Urban 515

Bequeathed to the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 3, NS inventory no 15966

On commission to Curlitt, exchanged 1941,

location unknown

Figure 339
Nolde, lu^i (khu

(Young c

Figure 338

Nolde, KurmtlVm (Milk cows), 1913

Figure 341

Nolde, Shllebtn mit Hobfyur (Still life with wooden figure), 1911

Figure 340

Nolde, Fnnenbaustr // (Frisian houses II), 1910

Figure 342

Nolde, Cbnstus und die Sunder in (Christ and the adulteress), 1926

Figure 343

Nolde, Rothaangcs Madcben (Red-haired girl), 1919

Kuhmtlkr* Milk COWS

(,rflfili( Kuh (Spotted >"*s

1913

( 1.1 on anvu M « 100 an (33 . 39 In

1 itilogue uisoniK Uibin ss<

Acquired in 1938 by the Kibci Wllhelm M 1

Kreleld

Room 5 NS Inventor) no 16098 Richer lot 108

kaiser Wllhelm Museum kieleld 1949
hijurt us

■

Mulatto* Mulatto w
1913

Oil on cimas 773 \ 73 il" JOfc v 18 m

t italogue rabonn^ Uikin 569

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum hir kunsi

und Kunstgewerix Moritzburcj Halle

Room 4 Ns Inventory no 16048

The Busch Retsmger Museum Harvard University,
C jmbndgc G David Thompson Fund, 1954

fijurr »"

Sulltbm [ Kttan KopJ, ™J Plunk)
(Still lile (Woven material, head, and sculpture] i
SulUhm mil Mask* und liwmJm Akl
Still hie with mask and reclining nude)
1913

Oil on canvas. 76 5 x 71 cm (30'/. x 28 in I
Catalogue raisonne Urban 541
Acquired in 1926 by the Cemalde-Sammlung im
Behnhaus, Lubeck
Room C2, NS inventory no 16224
Burned at Teupitz, 1945

Figure 344

Nolde, Rn/r Sonnmblumm (Sunflowers), 1932

Rasse ff (Russian II

1914

Oil on canvas. 68 x 595 cm (26'4 x 23V

Catalogue raisonne Urban 621

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtisches Mu

Room 4 NS inventory no 16011

Marion and Nathan Smooke

Fidurr 320

Jungt PferJt i Young horses

1916

Oil on canvas, 724 x 100 3 cm I 28 'h % 39'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 727

Acquired by exchange in 1935 by the Nationalgalene,

Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16129

Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York,

purchase and exchange with Donald Karshan, 1979

Fidlirr iu

Vombend i Early evening)

1916

Oil on canvas, 73 5 x 100 5 cm (287. x 39% in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 725

Acquired in 1920 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room 6, NS inventory no 16157

Offenthche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum, 1939

Fijurr m

Frau ztimcben Hlumm (Woman among flowers)

(jitrtmbild mil Fitjur I Garden scene with figure i

1918

Oil on canvas, 73 x 88 cm (28V. x 34% in I

Catalogue raisonne Urban 822

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum lur kunst

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburgl, Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16123

Private collection

Rotfoddri^tt Mixdchm (Red-haired girl

Madthmkopf ( Head of a girl)

1919

Oil on canvas, 65 x 34 5 cm (25% x 13% in I

Catalogue raisonne Urban 836

Acquired in 1924 by the Provmzialmuseum, Hannover

Room 4, NS inventory no 16012

LaVonne and George Tagge

Fi^urr m

Mustm/K (Masks IV)

1920

Oil on canvas, 86 x 66 cm (33% x 26 i

Catalogue raisonne Urban 895

Donated in 1922 to the Nationalgaleru

Room 3, NS inventory no 15978

Private collection

Fiaurr ioo

BlumrMjjrloi X ( Flower garden X)

1926

Oil on canvas, 72 5 x 88 cm (28'/i x 34% in

Catalogue raisonne Urban 1025

Acquired in 1929 by the Kunsthalle Kiel

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16186, Fischer lot 105

Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels,

1939

Fi^urr 126

■

OVistHS und dtr Sundenn I Christ and the adulteress

1926

Oil on canvas, 86 x 106 cm (33% x 41% in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 1038

Acquired in 1929 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room I, NS inventory no 15934, Fischer lot 104

Private collection

Fi^urr 3«

Hulio/i Ho/ 1 Hiiltoft farmhouse)

1932

Oil on canvas, 72 5 x 955 cm (28'/i x 37% in

Catalogue raisonne Urban 1121

Acquired in 1934 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 6, NS inventory no 16144

Thomas Enrz von Zerssen Trust

Figun 33i

Reijt Somiatblumai ( Sunflowers)

1932

Oil on canvas, 73 5 x 89 cm (287. x 35 in )

Catalogue raisonne Urban 1124

Acquired by exchange in 1935 by the Natu

Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16130

The Detroit Institute of Arts, gift of

Robert H Tannahill

Figure 344

algale

FramtkopJ I Head of a woman)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmusei
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16183
Location unknown

Scbrijtgtkhrtc (Scribes)

1911

Etching, 26 5 x 30 cm (10V. x ll'A

Original location unknown

Location in Fnf<irlrff Kimsl unknow

NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown, this print Cr,

Specks Collection

Figure 3«

Mam u«d Weibcben (Man and female!

1912

Woodcut, 235 x 305 cm (9% x 12 in )

Catalogue raisonne Schiefler/Mosel III, 1-3

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16385

Location unknown, this print Cranvil and Man

Specks Collection

Figure 146

Prophelmkopj ( Head of a prophet)

1912

Woodcut, 32 7 x 22 cm ( 127, x 87, in )

Catalogue raisonne Schiefler/Mosel 110

Acquired in 1929 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16302

Destroyed, this print Los Angeles County Museum

Art, The Robert Gore Rifkmd Center for German

Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 239

Figure 147

Diskuttion (Discussion)

1913

Color lithograph, 74 x 54 5 cm (297» x 21'/i in )

Catalogue raisonne Schiefler/Mosel 51

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden:

Room G2, NS inventory no 163187

Location unknown, this print Granvil and Man

Specks Collection

RUMtM^^fc!Mii2BMtt''

."- _^.j

M

J*"*'^

■v ' Hi

Nolde, Scbnfoelehrte I Scribes), 1911

Figure 347

Nolde, Propbttmkopf (Head of a prophet), 1912

Figure 349

Nolde, Untcrbaltung (Conversation), 1917

Figure 346

Nolde, Mann und WtMtn (Man and female), 1912

Figure 348

Nolde, Familie (Family), 1917

Figure 350

Nolde, Sun/Jet Furst una Th'nza

imhoi (Young prince and

Otto Pankok

I hi I Mum Dm Ktiaiji [he three holy kings

I he three magi]

1913

Color lithograph 65 \ 54 cm 25% x 2IX in

i ataloguc raisonne' Schicflei Mosel 44

Acojuired by the I andesmuseum i lannovei

Room I Ns inventory no 15935

Location unknown [Ins print Cranvil and Marcia

Specks ( ..lleuion

Fijutt m

■

Bi'Uhh < .fir Portrait ol < .. Ite

Exhibited as GerteNi !U Gerteno 584)

1117

Woodcut 904x24.3 cm 12 x Vh in.)

( ataloguc raisonne Si hit lli-i Mosel 144

Acquired in 1919 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room C2. NS inventory no 16351

Location unknown

Fiimtlit (Family)

Inhibited as Zwrt prmdrassigt (Two aliens)

1917

Woodcut, 23.4 x 32 2 cm (9K x I2'A in

Catalogue raisonnl SchieHer/Mosel 128/11

Acquired in 1919 bv the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresde

Room G2, NS inventory no 16352

Location unknown, this print The Busch-Reisinger

Museum Harvard University Cambridge, gift of

Mrs Margarete Schultz

I Mil'; US

Unlcrballunti I Conversation I

1917

Woodcut, 24 x 314 cm (914 x 12V. in )

Catalogue raisonne Schiefler Mosel 130

Acquired in 1919 by the Kupferstichkabinet

Room C2, NS inventory no 16384

Location unknown, this print Sprengel Mu

Hannover

Fi^urr 3<9

Juntftr Fursl und Tiinzrnnitoi l Young prince and dancers)

1918

Etching, 26 3 x 21 8 cm (10% x 8'A in )

Catalogue raisonne SchieHer/Mosel 196 II

Acquired in 1927 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16405

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 235

Figurt 350

Valomn Parados (Paradise lost)

Adam und Eva i Adam and Eve)

1921

Reproduction o( a lithograph, dimensions i

Room I, NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

Born fS"t
Miiblbtim

Died 1966
Wesel

The graphic artist and sculptor Otto Pankok
was deeply moved when, as a student, he
saw drawings bv Vincent van Gogh In 1912
he spent only six weeks at the Diisseldorf
Kunstakademie (Academy of art) and then
moved to the Weimar Akademie Dissatisfied
with the instruction there, he went for a
short time to Paris to work in the evening
life-drawing sessions at the free academies
Pankok was drafted at the outbreak of the
First World War and was severely wounded
in 1915, spending a year in the hospital

After his release Pankok moved to
Remels in Ostfriesland (northern Germany)
with his friend Gert Wollheim and founded
a small artists' colony In 1920 they moved to
Diisseldorf, where they became members of
Das Junge Rheinland (The young Rhinelandl
and established contact with the art dealer
Johanna ("Mutter") Ey who exhibited their
work Pankok's next exhibition was in 1922
at the Kunstverein Miinster (Miinster art
association) In 1924 he gave up using colors
and created only black-and-white paintings

On his extended travels Pankok
attended a gathering of gypsies (Sinti) in
1931 at Saintes-Maries-de-Ia-Mer in south-
western France and was impressed by the
pride and freedom of this poverty-stricken
people On his return to Germany he
worked in a gypsy settlement in Heinefeld
near Diisseldorf His subjects were primarily
religious scenes and representations of the
poor, the aged, lews, and Sinti

In 1934 Pankok created a Passion cycle
that was to be shown in the museum in
Muhlhcim, the Nazis forbade the exhibi-
tion The cycle was subsequently published
by Kiepenheuer in 1936, but the edition
was immediately confiscated and the blocks

Figure 151

Pankok Hoio II, 1932

destroyed Fifty-six of the artist's works
were eventually confiscated

After the war Pankok was appointed
professor of drawing at the Diisseldorf
Akademie He returned in his new works
to his old themes of Jews, gypsies, the
elderly and the downtrodden In 1950 he
created the Gelsenkirchen memorial to Jews
and gypsies who had perished in the con-
centration camps

Pankok's wife, Hulda, started the Drei
Eulen Verlag (Three owls press), which pub-
lished Otto's book Deutsche Holzscbneider
(German woodcut artists) and another vol-
ume on gypsies In 1965 he received the
Ruhrpreis fur Kunst und Wissenschaft (Ruhr
prize for art and science) In 1968 the Otto-
Pankok-Museum was opened in Haus Esselt
near Wesel' (PC)

Nolfs

1 Otto and Hulda Pankok, Brgrgnungcn (Dusseldorl

Verlag der Kreis, 1956), Berto Perotti. Imonlro con Olio
Pankok (Verona La Quercia, 1958), Otto Pankok,
Zignnir, 2d ed (Darmstadt Progress, 1958), Rainer
Zimmermann, Olio Pankok Dai Wcrk drs Maim.
Holzscbnndm und Bildbauers (Berlin Rembrandt, 1965.
2d ed 1972), Olio Pankok P/,lsfisc/>( Grstaltm 1 1 Luis
Esselt Otto-Pankok-Gesellschaft 1968

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Hoio II

1932

Lithograph, 54 x 477 cm (21% x I8'A in )

Original location unknown

Location in Enlartcti Kunsl unknown, NS inventory no

unrecorded

Location unknown, this print Galcrie Remmert und

Barth, Dusseldorf

Figurt 351

Max Pechstein

Max Pechstein's perception of the role of the
artist in the "new" Germany after the First
World War was idealistic and political In
1919 he depicted "a worker with a flaming
red heart rising above the city his right
arm raised in a victorious and perhaps also
an imploring gesture"1 "The revolution has
brought us the freedom," he wrote, "to
express and realize age-old desires Our
sense of duty teaches us that we must also
do our work for ourselves We desire it and
do it also without self-seeking, our eyes
clearly fixed on the ideal time [ahead] the
transformation of our feeling for our time
into a Weltanschauung Thus the cry 'Art
for the People1' is no empty call Our will
is immaculate, not being founded on any
personal will to power"2

After the war ended, Pechstein became
a member of the Novembergruppe (Novem-
ber group) and the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst
(Workers' council for art) He designed pos-
ters for the workers' party and joined the
Liga fur Menschenrechte und Sozialismus
(League for human rights and Socialism)
He wrote for the Socialist press, contributed
illustrations to the ultraleft magazine Die rote
Erde (The red earth) and drawings to the
radical journal Die Interne (The lantern), and
supported the Internationale Arbeiterhilfe
(International workers welfare fund) and the
Gesellschaft der Freunde des neuen Russland
(Association of friends of the new Russia)

Pechstein believed that a Socialist
republic might provide a remedy for the
ills of society He produced a number of
posters urging all Germans to support the
constituent Nationalversammlung (National
assembly), which met in Weimar in 1919 to

frame a republican constitution for Ger-
many In the manifesto directed "An alle
Kunstler" (To all artists), Pechstein wrote,
"Let the social republic give us its confi-
dence; we already have freedom, and soon
out of the dry soil flowers will bloom to its
glory"3 Despite his affiliations and his rhet-
oric, however, Pechstein's work in both the
Arbeitsrat and Novembergruppe was largely
apolitical He served with Erich Heckel on
the business committee of the Arbeitsrat
and participated only in the first exhibition
of the Novembergruppe, subsequently
reestablishing a relationship with the politi-
cally benign Berliner Sezession (Berlin
secession) instead

Pechstein had exhibited with the
Sezession in 1908 and had become presi-
dent of the Neue Sezession (New secession)
in 1910, a kind of "Salon des Refuses" he
cofounded with Georg Tappert Their
exhibitions included works by Heckel, Ernst
Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, and Karl
Schmidt- Rottluff, among others At the same
time Pechstein was a member of Die Briicke
(The bridge) and also exhibited in the
second Blaue Reiter (Blue rider) show in

(Married couple

1912, the year that his work was first pub-
lished in the journal Der Sturm (The storm)
Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky included
him in the Almanack des Blauen Reiters (The
blue rider almanac), which they believed to
be "the organ of all the new and genuine
ideas of our day"4

In 1913-14 Pechstein visited the
German-occupied Palau Islands in the
South Pacific, which he described as an
ideal paradise, where he enjoyed the "natu-
ral," as opposed to the modern, industrial-
ized world He was forced to leave when the
Japanese invaded, and he made his way back
to Europe by way of the United States This
idyllic sojourn prompted the production of
a portfolio of lithographs, Aus Palau (From
Palau), and a triptych, one panel of which,
Ehepaar auf Palau (Married couple on Palau,
fig 352), was among sixteen works by
Pechstein included in the Entartete Kunst
exhibition

Following service in France during the
First World War Pechstein made a series
of lithographs based on the battle of the
Somme He also turned to religious imagery
perhaps impelled by his closeness to death
on the battlefield In 1921 he produced
twelve woodcuts, the portfolio Das Valer
Unser (The Lord's Prayer, figs 353-56), four
of these angular, dramatic prints were seized
by the National Socialists from the Berlin
Kupferstichkabinett for Entartete Kunst

Pechstein enjoyed success early in his
career Three monographs were written
about him before 1921, and museum director
Ludwig Justi noted that the artist's commer-
cial success was so great that he was often
"sold out"5 The art critic Kurt Glaser con-
sidered Pechstein to be the most developed
and significant artist in his circle of contem-
poraries 6 In 1923, at the age of forty-two,
Pechstein became a member of the Preu-
ssischer Akademie der Kiinste (Prussian
academy of art) as well as a professor at
the art school in Berlin, and in 1927 he
was invited to participate in the Carnegie
International Exhibition in the United
States

Figure 553

Pechstein D.is Uilrr Unsrr iThc Lord's Prayer) from the portfolu

/Xis Uilrr Umer, 1921

Figure 354

Pechstein, l/mrr l,ji)/ic/> firol 4irl> urn brulr I Give us this day our daily bread i

from Das Vatn Unsrr

Figure 355

Pechstein, Und jiihrt urn nicbl in Krrsucbun^ I And lead us not into temptation)

from Das Vain Unsrr

Figure 356

Pechstein, Und in Kraft und dit Hmlichknt I And the power and the glory)

from Das Vain Unsn

In 1930 Alfred Rosenberg, in his Der
Mytbus des 20 Jabrbunderts (The myth of the
twentieth century), accused "Jewish pens"
of anointing artists such as Pechstein as the
leaders of the painting of the future 7 His
work was nevertheless included in an exhibi-
tion in July of 1933 sponsored by young
artists who were members of the National-
sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund
(National Socialist league of German stu-
dents) in Berlin, to illustrate the union of
National Socialism and modern art The
exhibition was closed after three days by
Minister des Inneren (Minister of the inte-
rior) Wilhelm Frick, however, and the
students were expelled In the same year
Pechstein was dismissed from his teaching
post in Berlin, and he moved to Leba,
Pomerania, he could no longer work in
Berlin because of the "noise caused by the
brown mob" Even in Pomerania he felt pur-
sued by the "brown terriers sniffing about
everywhere," and withdrew alone, "like a
wounded animal," to a small hut on Koser
Lake There he recuperated, fishing to eat
and trade with local farmers

Pechstein was invited to teach in Tur-
key and Mexico but was refused an exit visa
by the National Socialist regime In 1936 he
was forbidden to paint, and he discovered
that he had been denounced by former
friends and colleagues as a lew* In 1937
he was prohibited from exhibiting, and a
total of 326 of his works were confiscated
from German museums When in the same
year he was expelled from the Preussische
Akademie, he protested, to no avail, that
one of his sons was a member of the SA
(Sturmabteilung, storm troop), another had
been enrolled in the Hitler lugend (Hitler
youth) movement, and he himself had
fought on the Western front during the
war Only the help of the director of the
Carnegie Institute, Homer Saint Gaudens,
who found buyers in the United States for
Pechstein's work, kept him solvent9

Figure 357

Pechstein, Badcndi IV (Bathers IV), 1912

Pechstein remained in Leba until 1945,
at first he periodically returned to his studio
in Berlin, but it was bombed in 1942,
destroying many of his works l0 In August
1944 he was ordered to leave for Schippen,
also in Pomerania There he was captured
by the Russians and spent the remainder
of the war as a prisoner At war's end he
returned to Berlin Shaken by the trials at
Nuremberg, which, he felt, did not take into
account the crimes "that those inhumane
people committed against their own, the
Germans," he advocated that those who
had been set free or given lesser sentences
be turned over to a German tribunal for
justice "

In 1945 Pechstein once again became a
professor of art at the Akademie in Berlin
(D G)

Note

1 This image was on the cover of An allt Kttnstkr, as
described in Theda Shapiro, Painters and Politics The
European Amwl-Gardt (New York Elsevier, 1976), 187

2 Ibid, 207

3 Henry Crosshans, Hilltr and the Arlisls (New York
Holmes and Meier, 1983), 41

4 jurgen Schilling, Max Ptcbste'm (exh cat,
Kaiserslautern Pfalzgalerie, 1982), II

5 Ibid

6 Paul Ortwin Rave, Kunsldiklalur m Drill™
Rcicb, rev ed ed Uwe M Schneede (Berlin Argon,
1987), 24

7 Crosshans, Hitlrr and ibt Artists, 53

8 Schilling, Max Pecbsltin, 76

9 Ibid, 75

10 Ibid, 86

11 Ibid

Work in "Entartete Kunst

BiMim dtr Fran da Kiinslltn (Portrait of the artist's wife)

1911

Oil on canvas, 80 x 69 cm (3I'A x 27%, in )

Donated in 1926 to the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 3, NS inventory no 16003

On commission to Ruchholz, location unknown

Morgen am Hajj (Morning on the lagoon)

1911

Oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm (47% x 47% in )

Donated in 1923 to the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16029

Location unknown

Ehepaar ,iu/ Palan (Married couple on Palau)

Left panel of the Palau triptych

1917

Oil on canvas, 122 x 94 cm (48 x 37 in )

Acquired in 1929 by the Schlesisches Museum der

bildenden Kunst, Breslau

Room 3, NS inventory no 15963

Wilhelm Hack Museum und Stadtische

Kunstsammlungen, Ludwigshafen

Ftgurt 352

Liegendtr iffriWicfctr Akl (Reclining female nude)

1918

Watercolor, 40 5 x 549 cm (16 x 21% in.)

Acqutred by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16309

Location unknown

SitzmdVr u'tifclicferr Akl (Seated female nude)

1918

Watercolor, 43 x 338 cm (167. x 13% in )

Acquired by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16310

Location unknown

Ah am Strand (Nude on the beach)

ftuufatimn (Island girl)

1919

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Mu

Room 3, NS inventory no 15964

Location unknown

Stumiiscbr Set (Stormy sea)

1919

Oil on canvas, 88 x 62 cm (34% x 24% in )

Acquired in 1928 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 5, NS inventory no 16126

Location unknown

Max Peiif er
Watenphul

Fiscfa^milK l.icniK ol tiNhermcn)
1923

t )il on canvas dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1936 In the Nationalgale
on deposit from 1935 confiscation ii<
Room * Ns inventor) no 16007
I of hi. Ti unknown

Zu'n Fr,ium (Two women I
ZiwtDinwi rwo whores

I90S

i oloi lithograph a 5 k 435 cm (12V. x 17'. in

Catalogue raisonne' Kruger L49

Acquired in 1929 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room G2 NS inventory no 16317

Location unknown

FWniA/V (Bathers IV

1912

Hand colored woodcut, 42 x 32 cm (l6'/i x 127. in )

( atalogiu raisonne Kruger H 4U

Acquired in l°2l> by tile Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room C2, NS inventory no 16348

Location unknown, this print Graphische Sammlung

Staatsgalene Stuttgart

fijutt 11-

Unidcntitied lithographs Irom the portfolio SuJsrr (PaUu)

(South seas [Palau])

I xhihited as Au- Palm iFrom Palau)

WIN

Various dimensions

C atalogue raisonne Kruger L 252-64

Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Rooms C I and C2, NS inventory nos 16258 and 16304

Location unknown (other prints exist)

Dos Kilrr Umtr (The Lord's Prayer)

Plate I I title page i Irom the portfolio D.n Kilrr Unsrr

(The Lord's Prayer

1921

Woodcut, 395 x 29 5 cm U5'/i x Ifii in)

Catalogue raisonne Kruger H 256

Acquired in 1922 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16388

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bing Arnold, Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds, 831 22a

Fidurr 3S3

llmrr t.uliji Bnil ./ir/> im drulr

(Give us tins day out dail) bn "I

I'l.m 5 from the portfolio Das liter Umei

(The Lords Prayer)

1921

Woodcut, 395 x 295 cm (I5K x Ifli in

Catalogue raisonne Kruger H 260

Acquired in 1922 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16387

I ocation unknown, tins print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind C enter foi

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bing Arnold, Museum Acquisition

Rind and deaccession funds, 831 22e

Fidurr 35<

Un./ fiihn wis unfit ill I'rrswcriuM^

(And lead us not into temptation)

Plate 8 from the portfolio Das Kilrr Umrr

(The Lord's Prayer)

1921

Woodcut, 393 x 295 cm (15ft x 117. in I

Catalogue raisonne Kruger H 263

Acquired in 1922 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16389

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bing Arnold. Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds, 831 22h

Figure 355

Lhd die Kraft u«d die HerrUcbktU

I And the power and the glory)

Plate 1 1 from the portfolio Dm Kilrr L/nsrr

(The Lord's Prayer)

1921

Woodcut, 395 x 295 cm (15V, x 11% in I

Catalogue raisonne Kruger H 266

Acquired in 1922 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16386

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, purchased with funds

provided by Anna Bing Arnold, Museum Acquisition

Fund, and deaccession funds, 831 22k

FiJurr 356

Wr/rrlim/rn

Ditd l«76
Rome Italy

Work in Entartete Kunsl

BlumrmliiMirn (Still life with flowers)

1932

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Catalogue raisonne Watenphul Pasqualucci ' »I93

Acquired by exchange in 1935 by the Nationalgalcne,

Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16143

On commission to Boehmer, location unknown

Hans Purrmann

Max Rauh

Hans Richter

Born 1880
Speyer

Died 1966

Basel, Switzerland

Born (888

Kwdmtl, Mittelfranken?

Death dale unknown

Born (888
Berlm

Died 1916

Muralto/Ticino,

Switzerland

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Work in Entartete Kunst

Work in "Entartete Kunst "

Bodtnstelandschafl (Landscape near

Lake Constance)

Hctliger Franziskus (Saint Francis!

FarbenordnutttJ (Color arrangement)

1927

Painting, medium unknown, dime

unknown

Tempera on paper, 475 x 60 cm (18% )

c 23 % in )

Oil on canvas, 74 x 102 cm 1 29'A

x 40'/« in )

Acquired by the Stadtische Caler

.e, Mur

lich

Acquired in 1923 by the Landesmuseun

i, Hannover

Acquired in 1930 by the Neue Staatsgalene, Munich

Room I, NS inventory no 15937'

Room 5, NS inventory no 16071

Room 7, NS inventory no 14259

Location unknown

Location unknown

On commission to Buchholz. bo

ught 1939, location

unknown

Dammbildnis (Portrait of a lady)

Painting, medium unknown, dim

ensions unknown

Acquired by the Kunsthalle Brerr

ien^

Room 7 NS inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

Emy Roder

Christian Rohlfs

W'urzhurii

Ditd t97i
Maim

Work in Entartele Kunsl

Si bwmgen Pregnant woman
1918

height 80S cm JUS in
i!H' t ierke 1 1
Acquired m H2I hv the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
R<K>m * NS inventory no 16249
Losi 01 destroyed

Bom 1849

(Vinnior/

Died 1938
Hagen

"( Iinstinn Rohlfs's painting instructions
Take one meter of canvas, squeeze out the
contents of various large tubes of paint all
over it, vigorously smear the whole thing
stretch, and place in a frame " This was the
comment placed under Rohlfs's painting
1 andschafi m Grau und Bratm I Landscape in
gray and brown) in the Endirlflf Kunst exhi-
bition The Nazis' contempt for Rohlfs was
based not on any political activity by the
artist who was frequently called the oldest
Expressionist but simply on his works He
was one of the most impressionistic colorists
of his times

A childhood accident resulted in the
amputation of one ol Rohlfs s legs during his
recovery he began to draw and paint After
the completion of his studies at the Weimar
Akademic the grand duke of Sachsen
Weimar granted him the use of a Studio and
bestowed upon him the title of professor
In 1901 the Belgian architect Henri van de
Velde established a contact for the painter
with the millionaire art patron Karl Ernst
Osthaus, who was creating an artistic center
in the town of Hagen by building the
Museum Eolkwang and inviting artists to
work there Rohlfs was the first to join

Rohlfs s early works had been academic
landscapes, under the influence of the paint-
ings of Claude Monet he adopted a modified
Impressionism, after seeing works by Vin-
cent van Gogh, he progressed to Neo- and
then Post-Impressionism He achieved a
freedom of color around 1905, an event usu-
ally tied to his first visit to the city of Soest,
where he met Edvard Munch His cultiva-
tion of watercolor techniques greatly
influenced his painting style

Figure 358

Rohlfs, Somtmunlertjiinti an det Ostsa i Sunset on the Baltie 1926

The outbreak of the First World War
distressed the aging Rohlfs, and for some
time he was unable to work After the war,
in 1919, the seventy-year-old artist, newly
married, saw his works receive growing
recognition The Technische Hochschule
Aachen (Aachen technical college) and the
University of Kiel awarded him honorary
doctorates, and he was made an honorary
citizen of Hagen He subsequently had
many exhibitions until his work was declared
"degenerate" and seventeen paintings and
four prints were included in Eniartete Kunsl
After his death in 1938 the authorities would
not permit the sale of his work, in Switzer-
land, however, the Kunstmuseum Basel and
Kunsthalle Hern mounted a commemorative
exhibition '(PC)

Noln

I Paul Wjgt, Christian RoM/s Das graphiscbt Wrrk
(Recklinghausen Aurel Bongers, 1960), idem, Christian
RoM/s Otuvrt-Katalog it, Gmu.Hr, rev Ulnch Kocke
(Recklinghausen Aurel Bongers, 1978)

m^

ft m ' . r* t/,/

0

f(%L3iit*)

> \

Figure 360

Rohlfs, Dor/ (Village), i

Work in 'Entartete Kunst

Ikt Gnon (The gnome)

1912

Watcrcolor <>s x 50 ( m 15% x 16% in )

Acquired in nm by the Stadtisches Mus

urxl KuMst^cwrttH- (Moritzburg) Halle

R.x.mt.: MS inventory no 16207

Location unknown

Oct Totatlanz (The dance of death i
1912

Oil on canvas, 60 x 100 cm
Catalogue raisonne Vogt 520
Acquired in 1914 bv the Stadtisches Mu
und Kunst gewerbc (Moiitzburg), Halle
Room 4, NS inventory no 16023
Location unknown

Dor/ (Village)

Exhibited as Hauser (Houses)

c 1913

Oil on canvas, 75 x 110 cm (29'h x 43 % in

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 543

Donated in 1925 to the Stadtische Calene, Frankfurt

Room 5, NS inventory no 16100

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,

Nationalgalene, Berlin, 1950

Fi^urr 360

Figure 362

Rohlfs, Abrobaten (Acrobats

Haus m Soest (House in Soest)

Exhibited as Biiuemhaus (Farmhouses

c 1913

Oil on canvas, 73 x 101 cm (2S% x 39'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 541

Donated in 1914 to the Stadtisches Museum Kir Kunst

und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburgi, Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16101

Westfalisches Landesmuseum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte, Munster

Ftgurr 359

Junger Wa\d 'Young forest

c 1913

Oil and tempera on canvas. 61 x 80 c

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 544

Acquired by the Christian Rohlfs Mu

Room C2, NS inventory no 16208

Location unknown

Hagen^

DfrKriftjCThewar)

c 1915

Oil and tempera on canvas, 110 x 75 cm

(43% x 29'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 555

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 6, NS inventory no 16139

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalem

Abrobaien 'Acrobats)

c 1916

Oil on canvas, 110 x 755 cm (43 % x 29

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 577

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Es*

Room 4, NS inventory no 16034

Museum Folkwang, Essen

Figure 362

Die Turme von Soest 'The towers of Soest

c 1916

Oil and tempera on canvas, 76 x 1105 cm

(29% x 43% in I

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 567

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16096

Museum Folkwang, Essen

Figure u i

Elms, wird vom Raben ^rsprrsr 'Elijah being fed by ravens)

Bias (Elijah)

1921

Oil on canvas, 102 5 x 80 cm (40% x 3I'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 659

Acquired by the Kunsthalle zu Kiel

Room I, NS inventory no 15939

The Robert Core R.fkind Collection, Beverly Hills,

California

Fi^uk 363

Kapdle in DiMsbuhl (Chapel in Dinkelsbuhl)

1921

Oil on canvas, 101 x 76 cm (39'A x 297, in I

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 649

Acquired in 1922 by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Room 6, NS inventory no 16140

On commission to Boehmer, location unknown

Topf mil Blumm (Pot of flowers)

1922

Oil on canvas, 100 x 59 cm (39% x 23% in )

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 678

Acquired by the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Krefeld

Room C2, NS inventory no 1621 1

Exchange to Boehmer, location unknown

Sonnenutittrgang an da Osfscf (Sunset on the Baltic}

Exhibited as Brauncr Mondscblin (Brown moonlight)

1926

Tempera on paper, 51 x 70 cm (20V8 x 27'/i in.)

Acquired by the Christian-RohlfsMuseum, Hagen?

Room C2, NS inventory no 16203

Michael Beck, Calerie Utermann, Dortmund

Figurt 358

bmdschaji it, Grau und Braun

(Landscape in gray and brown)

c 1930

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Chnstian-Rohlfs-Museum, Hagen

Room C2, NS inventory no 16206

Probably destroyed

Madcbrn mil Kind (Girl with child)

1931

Tempera on canvas, 96 5 x 57 cm (38 x 22'/i ir

Catalogue raisonne Vogt 748

Acquired by the Stadtisches Museum, Hagen

Room CI, NS inventory no 16171

Private collection

BlumfMsckilr (Flower vase)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtisches Museum, Hagen
Room G2, NS inventory no 16182
Bought by Curlitt, 1940, location unknown

Halbfgur a«f Cmn (Half-length figure in greenl

Medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Chnstian-Rohlfs-Museum, Hagen?

Room C2, NS inventory no 16209

On commission to Gurlitt, bought 1940,

location unknown

Figure 363
Rohlfs, Bias

rird mm Rabm gcspcisl (Elijah being fed by i

Edwin Scharff

Oskar Schlemmer

Ko(i Head

\\ ten 4oi d sions unknown

Acquired In the ( hrisnan Rohlfs Museum I lagcn
Room G2 Ns Inventory no 16 !I0
On commission to Curlitl bought 1940
location unknown

Ttsshm Dor/njtusn (Village house in I k ino

\\ iten oloi dimensions unknown

Acquired by the t hristian Rohlfs Museum I lage

\s inventor) no 16205
On commission to Mollei exchanged 1940
I,k .iti.'ii unknown

Fr.iuoi/'iUnK (Portrait ol a woman

lutittt Fr.iw l Young woman I

e 1913

woodcut 41 2 x 274 cm (16% x 10'A in)

Catalogue raisonne1 Vogt 71

Acquired in l9lo bv the Kupferstichkabii

Room t,2 NS inventory mi 16391

I ', .in, mi unknown

HfcWicfcn Vaumia AJtl Squatting female nude

HotlcrnjVr weiblicba Ah (Squatting Female nude

c 1913

I - luted woodcut, 383 x 167 cm (I5'A x 6'A in

Catalogue raisonnc Vogt 67

Acquired in 1930 by the kupterstichkabinett Merlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16390

I , ,, ,iti, hi unkneiwn

Zwti Kof>/e Two heads)

Ruhr wiitl Lriilr»iscl'tj/l .Iross Peace and Passion, large

1915

wbodcui 23,5 \ 32.1 em 9% x n\, ,„

Catalogue raisonne Vbgl B9

Acquired bv the Christian-Rohlfs-Museum, Hagen1

Room C2. NS inventory no 16204

On commission to Curlitt, bought 1940,

location unknown

Diti UmZOuU Akimirr Three dancing men

Lithograph, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1920 by the Kupterstichkabinett, Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16349

Location unknown

Llnidentitled work

Medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired bv the Christian Knhlls Museum Hagen"

Room C,2, NS inventory no 16202

Location unknown

Born iss
Neu-Ulm

Ditd 1955

Hamburg

Work in Entartete Kunst

Pfmfc ,ih Jrr Tr.i.itr i Horses at the tn lugh

1912/13

Painting medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Stadtische Kunstsammlungen

Dusseldorl--

Room 7 NS inventory no 14244

Ljocation unknown

BadmU Mama (Men bathing

1920

Print1, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtische Kunstsammlungen

Dusseldori

Room 7 NS inventory no 14414

Location unknown

On August 7, 1433, Oskar Schlemmer
drafted a manuscript entitled 'Hoffnung
oder Resignation" (Hope or resignation), his
vision of a reunification of art, the state, and
the people He published it fifteen days later
in the Deutsche Allifememe Zeilunt] under the
title, "Appell in Sachen Kunst" I Appeal
in the name of art) In the same month
he received notice that his appointment
to the Vereinigte Staatsschulen fur Kunst
( Unified state schools for art) in Berlin,
suspended since April 30, had been termi-
nated In April he had suspected that a
poster at the school that denounced him and
his colleagues as "destructive Marxist-Judaic
elements" whose classes should be boycot-
ted would eventually lead to their being
fired ' Nevertheless, Schlemmer wrote his
manuscript in a tone of confident expecta-
tion, calling for a search for a "great national
compositional style" in which the "con-
structive and formative tendencies of the
state" would find "their corresponding mir-
ror image in architecture and fine arts"2
Schlemmer drew mistaken parallels
between his own creative aspirations and
those described in National Socialist propa-
ganda broadcasts He failed to penetrate
National Socialist cultural ideology, in which
political aims defined and absorbed cultural
ones Schlemmer's concept of the artist's role
in society was an apolitical one He believed
that art existed in a sphere removed from
world events and that a harnessing of the
two would destroy the artist's "naivete of
thought and expression "' The National
Socialists found this position not only un-
tenable but revolutionary inasmuch as it
suggested an aesthetic attitude resistant to
political appropriation

Schlemmer's overt reaction to National
Socialist cultural politics was limited to writ-
ten protests to high officials during the
1930s Until the opening of the Entartete
Kunst exhibition in 1937 Schlemmer
remained convinced that he could persuade
the National Socialists that their attitude
toward his work was mistaken By that time
Schlemmer's political blindness had already
led to his creative paralysis His naivete
soon resulted in his self-alienation,
denigration, and early death

Schlemmer studied at the Stuttgart
Akademie der bildenden Kiinste (Academy
of fine arts) between 1906 and 1909 Follow-
ing a year of independent work in Berlin he
returned to the Akademie in 1912 only to
have his studies interrupted by the outbreak
of the First World War He immediately
enlisted for military service and within a
few months was injured In June 1915 he
was sent to the Eastern front and was again
wounded Eighteen years later Schlemmer
objected to the discrediting of modern art-
ists who had enthusiastically served their
country and given their lives during the war
He wrote a letter of protest to Joseph Goeb-
bels on April 25, 1933, stating that he could
not imagine on what basis these modern
artists' works could be "branded alien,
un-Cerman, unworthy and unnatural ."4

Shortly after the end of the war
Schlemmer returned to the Stuttgart
Akademie, where he was appointed student
representative to the Rat geistiger Arbeiter
(Council of intellectual workers) At the
same time he campaigned for pedagogical
reform at the Akademie, including an unsuc-
cessful effort to secure a teaching appoint-
ment for Paul Klee

Late in 1920 Schlemmer received an
offer to join the teaching staff at the
Bauhaus There he directed the sculpture
workshop and taught mural painting In 1923
he created a series of murals in the stairwell
and hallway of the Bauhaus workshop build-
ing in Weimar The same year, following the
resignation of Lothar Schreyer, Schlemmer
became director of theater activities at
the school He moved with the Bauhaus to

Dessau in 1925 and continued to direct
the theater workshop Three years later his
designs won a competition for a program
of murals in architect Henri van de Velde's
rotunda at the Museum Folkwang in Essen

Schlemmer accepted a position at the
Staatliche Akademie fur Kunst und Kunst-
gewerbe (State academy for fine and applied
art) in Breslau in 1929 His consequent res-
ignation from the Bauhaus may have been
prompted by his disagreement with the
ambition of Hannes Meyers and several
students to politicize the theater there 5

In October 1930 Schlemmer's murals in
the Weimar Bauhaus building were effaced,
an early target of National Socialist cam-
paigns against modern art He privately
responded to the act in his diary entry for
November 27, 1930 "The horrible thing
about this cultural backlash is that it is not
directed against works of a political nature,
but against purely artistic, aesthetic works,
identified with 'Bolshevism' merely because
they are new, unusual, different, original
If this movement should spread, the great
danger is that spontaneous artistic creation,
the old tradition of artistic freedom, will be
destroyed "6

At the end of 1931 an emergency order
was passed closing the Breslau Akademie on
April 1, 1932 In June 1932 Schlemmer was
appointed to the Vereinigte Staatschulen fur
Kunst in Berlin, only to have the appoint-
ment terminated within six months of his
arrival Despite the loss of his livelihood
and the increasing defamation of his charac-
ter and his art Schlemmer remained in
Germany In a futile effort to escape grim
political realities and to provide food for his
three children and his wife, he turned first
to sheepherding and farming

A large retrospective exhibition of
Schlemmer's works opened in Stuttgart in
March 1933 but was closed the day after
its opening by the National Socialists
Soon thereafter the following commentary
appeared in the Stuttgarttr NS-Kurier "Oskar
Schlemmer, the art-Bolshevist has disap-
peared from the walls In Room 8, behind a

barred door, Schlemmer's sad wooden heads
stare, full of worry [and] rather stupidly
at the wall For us this chapter has been
brought to a close "7

The equation of modern art with Bol-
shevism particularly disturbed Schlemmer
Early in April 1933 his painting Fraumtrippi
(Stairway of women, fig 364) was ridiculed
in the Kunsthalle Mannheim's Kultur-
bolscbcwistische Bdder (Images of cultural
Bolshevism, fig 7), a precursor of the £»(<ir-
Mf Kunst exhibition In his letter of April 25
to Goebbels he protested against the pre-
sentation of "artistic 'chambers of horrors'"
in public institutions

In June 1933 Ernst Gosebruch, the
director of the Museum Folkwang in Essen,
advised Schlemmer that it would be wise to
sell the wall panels that he had created for
the museum's rotunda Schlemmer ignored
the friendly warning and was even angry at
the suggestion * Several months later Count
Klaus von Baudissin, a staunch National
Socialist, replaced Gosebruch and imme-
diately removed the panels from the museum
and initiated another competition Upon
hearing this, Schlemmer wrote to Baudissin,
on May 1, 1934, not only to determine the
status of his paintings but to enquire about
the guidelines for the new competition1
Baudissin replied that Schlemmer was too
old to submit an entry because the museum
was interested in a new generation of
painters free from the problems of the pre-
war period He placated the artist with the
assurance that he would safely store the
paintings during his tenure'* Three years
later Ziegler's committee confiscated them,
as well as several others by Schlemmer in
the museum's collection One of the panels
from the 1928 competition, Wandbild mitfiitij
Knaben (Mural with five boys), and another
work from the Essen collection, Romiscbes
{Viet Figuren nn Raum) (Roman [Four figures
in space], fig 365) were shown in the
EnUtrtete Kunsi exhibition

Figure 364

Schlemmer, Frjunilrrffr Sta

Figure 365

Schlemmer, Romischrs l Roman i,

Schlemmer's creative energy ebbed
between 1933 and 1935 and he produced
almost no new paintings He was hopeful
that his inclusion in the 1936 exhibition
Mi/frfi mid Plastik m Deutscbland i Painting and
sculpture in Germany) and the occasion of
two one-man shows early in 1937 at the
Calerie Ferdinand Moller in Berlin and the
Calerie Valentien in Stuttgart signaled a
loosening of National Socialist censorship
In July 1937 eighty-four works were dis-
played in his first comprehensive one-man
show in London at the London Gallery In
the same month the Entartttt Kunst exhibition
opened in Munich with seven of Schlem-
mer's paintings and his Bauhaus portfolio
(Fifty-one of his works were eventually
confiscated by the National Socialists from
German public collections ) Schlemmer's
hopes were finally dashed On November
27, 1937 he wrote in his diary "What a

summer' A house-buildingi Munich and
'Degenerate Art ' A big, beautiful studio —
useless and pointless"'" In the exhibition
guide Schlemmer's work was indirectly
linked with "barbaric representation " A
portrait of him painted by Kirchner was
reproduced with several other artists' works
under the heading, "A highly revealing racial
cross section" (see p 365)

A few weeks after the opening of
the Munich exhibition, Schlemmer's
VorubtrQibenAer (Passing by, 1924), a painting
he considered one of his best, was exhibited
in the exhibition Bohcheunsmus obne Maskc
(Bolshevism unmasked) in the foyer of
the Berliner Kroll-Oper On December 7
Schlemmer wrote to a friend, the sculptor
Gerhard Marcks "I do not comprehend the
relationship of this concise-idealistic work

with the thesis of the exhibition that Bolshe-
vism = Judaism I am cut to the quick
for the first time by political events If it
continues, and it appears that it will (what
concerns me, where does this senseless hate
come from"1), then I will not be able and
do not wish to remain in Germany any
longer"" And yet Schlemmer did not leave,
despite offers of help from colleagues in
America

Schlemmer was represented in the July
1938 Burlington Galleries (London) exhibi-
tion 20lfc Century Cernuin Art with three works
lent by Swiss collectors, apparently without
his knowledge l2 The exhibition was not
without repercussions in Germany on
January 3, 1939, Schlemmer wrote to the
architect Heinz Rasch that he had to remain
practically anonymous in order to continue
working "I, for instance, must now explain

to the Reichskunstkammer [Reich chamber
of art] why I took part in the exhibition in
London ""

When Schlemmer could not make ends
meet, he was forced to accept work that
compromised his personal and artistic ideals
Between March 1939 and the winter of 1940
he camouflaged various military units and
created kitsch wall decorations, work that
was not only spiritually and psychologically
demeaning but physically exhausting Early
in 1940 he accepted an invitation from the
Stuttgart art historian Dr Kurt Herbert to
test the properties of lacquer at his Institut
fiir Malstoffkunde (Institute for information
on painting materials) in Wuppertal At the
lacquer plant Schlemmer found a circle of
artists that included Willi Baumeister and
Ceorg Muche However, Schlemmer felt
that this work also compromised his artistic
interests "My depression persists unabated
This applied' work I am doing haunts me
day and night I should have disappeared
in 1933, gone somewhere abroad where no
one knows me, instead of going through the
undignified performance of selling my soul
before the throne of artistic conscience for
a few pieces of silver"14

Seven months later, strengthened
by the comradeship at the lacquer plant,
Schlemmer created a new series of small
works, the Klexographim, partly stimulated
by images he had seen in the Surrealist pub-
lication Minotaure l5 He may have viewed his
production of these works and the Fettster-
bilier (Window pictures) from early 1942 as
a small act of resistance against his "degen-
erate" status: in May 1942 he wrote that he
recognized that his new style would be con-
sidered "Bolshevist and nihilistic "l6

In January 1943 Schlemmer went into
a coma, but on February 6, 1943, he had
recovered sufficiently to write "It would
take a psychiatrist to unravel all these con-
nections and interrelationships I also feel
that this [illness] is the price 1 have to pay
for ten years of irritations, mistakes, root-
lessness, alienation from my true con-
cerns "l7 Schlemmer died at the age of fifty-
five of complications from diabetes (P K )

Notes

1 Oskar Schlemmer, letter to Willi Baumeister,
April 2, 1933, published in The Ltlttrs and Diaries oj Oskar
Schlmmer, ed Tut Schlemmer, trans Krishna Winston
(Middletown, Conn Wesleyan University Press,
1972), 309

2 Oskar Schlemmer, "Appell in Sachen Kunst,"
Deutsche Allgememe ZtiliiMi), August 22, 1933, cited in
Karm von Maur, Oskar Schlemmer Monographic (Munich
Prestel, 1979), 242

3 Oskar Schlemmer, diary entry (or November 27
1930, published in Schlemmer, Tim Lttltrs and Diaries,
274, for Schlemmer's opposition to art in the service of
propaganda see his letter to Gottfried Benn, October
22, 1933, published on page 318

4 Oskar Schlemmer, letter to Joseph Coebbels,
April 25, 1933, published in Schlemmer, Tlie Leilas and

Dia

311

5 Faith M Holland, "Oskar Schlemmer A Chro-
nology" in Osfcir Schlemmer, ed Arnold L Lehman and
Brenda Richardson (exh cat, Baltimore Baltimore
Museum of Art, 1986), 202

6 Oskar Schlemmer, diary entry for November 27,
1930 (see note 3)

7 "Die zweite Gesicht des Kunstvereins," in
NS-Kuner, March 15, 1933, cited in Karm von Maur,
"Oskar Schlemmer," in Bildzyklen Zeugnisse mfmter Kumt
in Deutschland !933-«9« (exh cat, Stuttgart Staats-
galene, 1987), 70

8 Oskar Schlemmer, letter to Ernst Gosebruch,
June 19, 1933, published in Karm von Maur, "Im Schat-
ten der Diktatur — Zum Beispiel Oskar Schlemmer," in
Zil'isclini Wider stand mid Anpassung Kunst m Deulschland
1911-1945 (exh cat , Berlin Akademie der Kunste,
1978), 19

9 Count Klaus von Baud.ssm, letter to Oskar
Schlemmer, May 4, 1933, Oskar- Schlemmer-Archiv,
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, cited in Maur, "Oskar
Schlemmer" (Bildzyklen), 70

10 Oskar Schlemmer, diary entry for November 27,
1937, published in Schlemmer, The Ltttfrs and Diaries, 367

11 Oskar Schlemmer, letter to Gerhard Marcks,
December 7, 1937, published in Maur, Oskar Schlemmer
Monographic, 238

12 Ibid, 260

13 Oskar Schlemmer, letter to Heinz Rasch,
January 3, 1939, published in Schlemmer, The Letters
and Diaries, 373

14 Oskar Schlemmer, disry entry for December 15,
1940, published in Schlemmer The Letters and Diaries, 385

15 Maur, "Oskar Schlemmer" (Bildzyklen), 79

16 Oskar Schlemmer, diary entry for May 23,
1942, published in Schlemmer, The Letters and Diaries,
400-401

17 Oskar Schlemmer, letter to Julius Bissier, Febru
ary 6, 1943, published in Schlemmer, The Letters and
Diaries, 408

Figure 366
Schlemmer, Fig*

Hi (Figure H2), c 1921

Figure 367
Schlemmer, Figm

nplan Kl (Figure plan Kl), c 1921

Rudolph Schlichter

Work in Entartete Kunst

Ihn Fidum i Three «

Oil on canvas 125 « 71 cm 19« \ 28 in

(. ataloguc rats mm Maui CI33

Acquired in 1931 by tin- Schlesisches Museum dcr

bildenden Kunsl Breslau

Room Cl, NS inventory no

On commission to Buchhol.: location unknown

FuiumiJtppt [Stairway ol women

Oil on canvas, 1205 x 69 cm 4" it 27'
( atalogue raisonne' Maur G I4ii
Acquired in 1127 by the kunsthallc Mann
Room Cl, NS inventory nu lr,l~s
Kunstmuseum Basel, 1939

Fijurr tor

fv'iiMZrMlri*J»r Cruppt ( onccntric group)

1925

Oil ,.n canvas, 975 x 62 cm 38% x 24% in

Catalogue raisonne Maur ( . 139

Acquired in 1930 by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16176

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1950

Fuuff <ji

RSmisdttS Roman)

Viet Figure* m /v\mm I Four figures in space)

1925

Oil on canvas, 97 x 62 cm (38 'A x 24V. in

Catalogue raisonne Maur C 137

Acquired in 1927 by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16177

Kunstmuseum Basel. 1939

Flijurr 365

WanibAi mil |iim| Knaben Mural with rive boys)

1930

i )il on canvas 235 s 160cm (92! » 63 in

Catalogue raisonne Maur C 209

Acquired in 1931 hv the Museum Folkwang Essen

Room 5, NS inventory no 16069

Location unknown

FigurHi (Figure H2)

Plate II from Hauhaus Portfolio I

c 1921

Lithograph, 359 x 236 cm ( 14". x 'IV

Catalogue raisonne Winglcr l/l I

Acquired by the WallratRichartz-Mi

Room C.2. NS inventory no 162897

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Llrbmati

Gallery lLos Angeles only), The Art Institute ol

( hicago, gilt of Mrs Henry ( Woods, Steuben

Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund, and Harold loach

Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

' alw

Died (955

Munich

( oil

Work in Entartete Kunst

ignc

Figurt 366

AnnHberung Uebeipaai Wrgcipaltigwig

(Encounter lovers/rape)
Lithograph, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1924 by the Kupferstichkabu
Room C2, NS inventory no 16401
Location unknown

Figumplan Ki (Figure plan Kl-

Plate 12 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

c 1921

Lithograph, 397 x 193 cm (15V. x 77. in !

Catalogue raisonne Wingler 1/12

Acquired by the Wallraf-Rtchartz-Museum, Cologne

Room C2, NS inventory no 16290?

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Llrbmati

Callery (Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of

Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben

Memorial Fund, Emil Eitel Fund, and Harold Joachim

Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

Figure 367

SmnntJrr (Man deep in thought

1925

Oil on canvas, 81 8 x 71 2 cm ( 32% x 28 in I

Catalogue raisonne Maur C 141

Acquired in 1927 by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16174

On commission to Buchholz, location unknown

AbstmkU Kmpositim in M'ri<5, HK

(Abstract composition in white, HK)

1926

Watercolor, 553 x 403 cm (21'A x 157. in )

Acquired in 1931 by the Nationalgalene Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16407

Destroyed

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Karl Schmidt was a major luminary of the
Expressionist movement As a young archi-
tectural student in Dresden, along with his
friends Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Ernst
Ludwig Kirchner, he became a founding
member of Die Brucke (The bridge) in June
1905 In 1912 he, Heckel, and Kirchner par-
ticipated in the Sonderbund exhibition in
Cologne, painting murals for a chapel with
stained-glass windows by Jan Thorn-Prikker

Appending the name of his hometown
to his own, Schmidt-Rottluff served as a
soldier in Russia and Lithuania during the
First World War The poet Richard Dehmel
unsuccessfully petitioned the German chan-
cellor for Schmidt-Rottluff's release from
the army stressing his importance to the art
world and the need for such artists to meet
the anticipated postwar cultural demands
Dehmel claimed that the break in the artis-
tic production of men such as Schmidt-
Rottluff could have serious effects on Ger-
many's artistic development ' Indeed, when
Schmidt-Rottluff tried to paint in 1916, he
found that his nerves were shaky He wrote
to Lyonel Feininger that he had given up
trying "Either you are a painter and you shit
on the whole caboodle or you join in and
kiss painting goodbye " As late as 1920 he
was experiencing difficulty in recouping his
creative energies "With respect to work
my body is on strike," he wrote "I believe
it is the memories of the war that are now
showing themselves — it was a sure thing
that they would come "! Not long afterward,
he sculpted Arbeiter mil Ballonmiilze (Worker in
a balloon cap), a figure with amputated legs
and a beggar's posture, a plight common to
demobilized soldiers in Germany at the time

Figure 368

Schmidt Rottlufl, Kr/sius (Christ), 1911

In 1917 Schmidt-Rottluff received
recognition in an exhibition at the Galene
Hans Goltz in Munich that was accom-
panied by a catalogue with an introduction
by art historian Rosa Schapire, and an essay
about him written by Ludwig Coellen in
Das Kunstblatt (The art paper) appeared a
short time later The memory of his war
experiences remained with him, and in 1918
he executed the woodcut Krisfus (Christ,
fig 368), based on a drawing from a port-
folio he had created on the eastern front
This mystically powerful image carries the
date 1918 on its forehead, and below is the
legend, "Christ did not appear to you," a
reference to the suffering of the German
people at the end of the war

Schmidt-Rottluff was a member of
the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst (Worker's council
for art) and close to the Novembergruppe
(November group) He participated in
social-critical exhibitions, and as a friend of
the young Soviet Republic he contributed
illustrations to the ultraleft Socialist maga-
zine Die rote Erde (The red earth) In 1919

Schmidt-Rottluff was commissioned to
redesign the German imperial eagle as
a symbol more appropriate to the new
republic His version was less predatory
than its predecessor Casts were placed on
buildings throughout Germany but the
National Socialists later found the head of
this "Weimar" eagle too parrotlike and its
wings too small — a mockery of German
strength — and removed the casts from
public view

Although as a member of Die Brucke
and the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst Schmidt-
Rottluff was battling the organized powers,
concern for politics was not manifested in
his work nor did he become actively politi-
cally engaged His most political statement
was in response to a questionnaire circulated
by the Arbeitsrat in which he affirmed his
faith in Socialism but also his distrust of
anything political "The artist should be free
in a Socialist state, true to his goals which
are always directed toward humanity never
the state In life and art, the artist must
be free As a logical consequence, the state
should stay out of art "3 As late as 1933
Schmidt-Rottluff wrote, "Politics are not
an issue with me "4

When the German state became
involved in art, however, Schmidt-Rottluff
was quickly implicated On April 1, 1930,
Dr Hildebrand Gurlitt, director of the
museum in Zwickau, was dismissed for
reasons including his support of "technical
bunglers like Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff, [and]
Chagall "5 A letter requesting Schmidt-
Rottluff's resignation from the Preussische
Akademie der Kunste (Prussian academy
of arts) arrived in 1933 At the same time
a group of National Socialist students in
Berlin, under the leadership of Dr Fritz
Hippler, staged a rally at the university in
defense of Expressionism — which they iden-
tified as an example of German culture —
and especially in defense of artists such
as Heckel, Max Pechstem, and Schmidt-
Rottluff "It was the New Art itself which
prepared the way for the national [Socialist]
revolution," according to Bruno E Werner,
in the Deutsche Allgememe ZcituHt) of May 12,

Fijiurc 369

Sihrnidt-Rotllult Uisr ttit Grattil

Figure 370
Schmidt-Rottlufl, Upn

FfMUrr i Lupir

1933 * Nonetheless, "what was art is out-
lawed," Schmidt-Rottluff wrote to Ernst
Beyersdorff on October 8 7 And nine
months later, when Ferdinand Moller
opened the exhibition Dretssig Jeutscbe
Kunstler (Thirty German artists ], one of
whom was Schmidt-Rottluff, in his gallery
in Berlin, it was closed after three days
by order of the Reich

Despite harassment, prominent dealers
continued to exhibit Schmidt-Rottluff's
work Nierendorf in Berlin in 1934,
Buchholz in Berlin and Karl Becker in
Cologne in 1935, and Buchholz again in
1937 The museums in Chemnitz, Dessau,
Hamburg, Hannover, and Osnabruck pre-
sented Schmidt-Rottluff exhibitions until
the summer of 1937 when they were finally
forbidden to show or buy the works of
"degenerates " In July 1937 twenty-seven of
the artist's paintings and twenty-four of his
prints were included in the Enliirlflf Kutisf
exhibition The National Socialists believed
that Schmidt-Rottluff glorified the cretin,
the idiot, and the cripple at the expense of

the Aryan, and Hitler did not wish these
"inferior" beings depicted, in keeping with
his dogma of racial purification H "Nature as
seen by sick minds" was the heading embla-
zoned on the wall over a group of Schmidt-
Rottluff's still lifes in the fifth gallery on the
upper floor of EnUirkte Kunst

When the Cesetz uber Einziehung
von Erzeugnissen entarteter Kunst (Law
effecting the confiscation of products of
degenerate art) became effective in May
1938, 608 works by Schmidt-Rottluff had
been gathered from German public institu-
tions Finally in 1941 he was dismissed from
the Reichskammer der bildenden Kiinste
(Reich chamber of visual arts) and forbidden
to work He received a letter stating that,
"although you must be familiar with the
Fiihrer's directives that he gave at the open-
ing of the Grow Deutsche Kunslausstelluntl
[Great German art exhibition] in Munich,
based on your most recent original works it
appears that even today you stand removed
from the cultural ideology of the National
Socialist state"''

Schmidt-Rottluff did not leave Ger-
many but in the early summer of 1942
withdrew to the country estate of Count
von Moltke, where he could be free to
work without concern Von Moltke opposed
Hitler and participated in the attempt on his
life in July 1944, for which he was executed
by the National Socialists While remaining
in seclusion in Pomerania during part of the
war, Schmidt-Rottluff responded as best he
could to contemporary events, primarily in
personal ways He provided financial and
psychological help, for example, by buying
a painting from Ernst Wilhelm Nay, who
was living in total isolation in Berlin '" In
1943 Schmidt-Rottluff's Berlin apartment
was bombed, and he lost many drawings
and paintings Nevertheless, he gave sixty
works to the Briicke-Museum in Berlin,
which was opened in 1967 on his initiative
His will provides for six scholarships to
be awarded to young artists annually in
perpetuity (D G.)

Schmidt-RottluH

Notes

1 Theda Shapiro, Painters and Politics The European
Aaant-Garde (New York Elsevier, 1976), 153-54

2 Ibid

3 Ida Kathenne Rtgby An alle Kunstler' War—
Rroolulion — Weimar German Prints, Drawings, Posters, and
Periodicals jrom ibr Robert Gorr Rijkmd Foundation <exh
cat , San Diego University Gallery San Diego State
University 1983), 17

4 Karl Bnx, Karl ScWl-Rofllujff (Leipzig E A
Seeman, 1972), 56

5 Paul Ortwm Rave, Kunstdiktatur im Drittm Reich, rev
ed, ed Uwe M Schneede (Berlin Argon, 1987), 35

6 Cited in Ceorg Bussmann, "Degenerate Art' — A
Look at a Useful Myth," in German Art in the 20tb Century
Painting and Sculpture 1905-1965 (exh cat , London Royal
Academy of Arts, 1985), 117

7 Gerhard Wietek, Scfcmidt-Rollln// ( Hamburg-
Altona Th Dingwort 8, Sohn, 1974), 29

8 Remhard Merker Die hildenden Kunste m
Nattonalsozialismus (Cologne DuMont, 1983), 148

9 Bnx, Karl Scfcm.Jt-Rotllujff, 54

10 Peter-Klaus Schuster, "The Inner Emigration'
Art for No One," in Centum Art in for Mill Crnlury, 461

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Srlr.stf.iU.iis mil Einglas (Self-portrait with monocle)

1910

Oil on canvas, 84 x 76 5 cm (33'A x 30'/n in )

Catalogue raisonne Crohmann p 178

Acquired in 1924 by the Stadtisches Museum fur K

und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16052, Fischer lot 123

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,

Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1961

Figure 371

Akt, Frau mil Armhandern (Nude, woman with I

1912

Oil on canvas, 107 x 98 5 cm (42'/. x 38!A in

Catalogue raisonne Crohmann p 182

Acquired in 1919 by the Hamburger Kunstha

Room 3, NS inventory no 15965

Location unknown

Phansaer (Pharisees)

1912

Oil on canvas; 759 x 102 9 cm (297. x 40V; in )

Catalogue raisonne Crohmann p 184

Acquired by the Stadtsmuseum Dresden

Room 1, NS inventory no 15938

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Certrud A

Mellon Fund, 1955

Figure 372

Schmidt-Rottluff, Sflhlf.ilJ.iis m.l Fmjlas (Self-portrait with I

Figure 372
Schmidt-Rottluff, Prwri

(Pharisees), 1912

Vtit mil (.r.'rjmrn V.ixe ol ii.itill.i--

mi

OH on canvas m x 76 mi )3tt x J9 . n,

Catalogue raisonnc Crahmann p im

I tonated in 1922 to the I lamburger Kunsthal

RltOIll 5 NS IMM-IIti il \ III i ii.i 21

Kunsthalle Bielefeld 1962

FlJurr lou

Dor/nai Vr Village by the lake]
Ijmfabajl I andsi ■

|9|3

Oil on canvas, 76 x 90 cm (29% x 35% in )
t atalogue raisonntf Grohmann p 198

Acquired in 1919 bv the Nationalgalene, Hcrlin

Room 5. NS inventory no Ihlll"

The Saint l.ouis Art Museum, bequest of

Morion I) May

FiJurr in:

DorflmJscbaJt mil Lruirillurm

i Village landscape with lighthouse)

Exhibited as Dor/slrass( mil Lruc/itlurm

i Village street with lighthouse)

1913

Oil on canvas, 88 x 101 cm ' M - \ 39'. in

Acquired in 1930 by the Landesmuseum, Hannover

Room 5, NS inventory no 161 13

Museum Ostdeutsche Calene Regensburg

Fii)urr J7i

Slillrr>m mil Knq und Miislcr
Still life with pitcher and maski
1913

Oil on canvas?, 73 x 655 cm (28V* x 25V, in )
Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room 5, NS inventory no 16119
Location unknown

BiUms B R (Boii Rosmr-m))

(Portrait of B R | Bern Rosenberg])

1915

Tempera and oil on canvas?, 73 x 65 cm

(28'4 x 257, in)

Catalogue raisonnc Grohmann p 261

Acquired in 1918 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16050

Location unknown

Si'lzrmfr Fnm S< ated woman
1915

l< Hip, 1,1 .Mid nil nil i .HIV.is , 7S x f,S L ni

n,

Bequest in 1925 to the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room i Ns inventor] no 16051
i )n , ommission to Curlitt, exchangt .1 1940
lot .mi in unknown

/muni .mi M«i Women bv the sea)

I xhibited .is Somma an Alio Summer by the

1919

i )il mi canvas 97 x III cm fs.su, in
Catalogue raisonne Grohmann p 197
Acquired by the Museum lolkwang, Lssen
Room 4, NS inventory no 16010
Location unknown

AUiikMir i Melancholy)

1919

Oil on canvas, 87 x 95 cm 1 34V, x 37V, in )

Catalogue raisonne Grohmann p 262

Donated in 1930 to the Museum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte, Lubcck

Room G2, NS inventory no 16220

KusIoiUJhIi.i/i mil RrltuiysstfltioM

(Coastal landscape with rescue station)

c 1920

Oil on canvas, 76 x 90 cm (297, x 35V, in

Acquired by the Landesmuseum, Hannover

Room 5, NS inventory no 161 10

On commission to Buchholz, bought 1939,

Abend (Evening)

1922

Tempera and oil on canvas, 99 x 124 cm (39 x 487,

Acquired by the Kaiser Wilhelm-Museum, Krcfeld

Room 3, NS inventory no 16005

Probably destroyed

lh/mmoi ,im Fnislrr (Lupines at the window*

Exhibited as RiUenporn (Larkspur)

1922

Oil on canvas, 90 x 76 cm ( 35V, x 297. in )

Catalogue raisonne Grohmann p 264

Acquired in 1922 by the Kaiser Friednch Mu

Magdeburg

Room 5, NS inventory no 16118

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Figure 370

M.iJc/im .im Wmcbliitb < ail at the w I

I xhibited -,s SVcii u'.iul>rnJr Fr.m Woman washing

1922

Acquired bv the Nationalgalene, Berlin
\s inventory no 16303

I Hsiruvcil

/rlllf, I (ill Inn. |

1922

tempera and ml on canvas "h x 112 cm

38 - s It'- in
Acquired in 1922 bv the Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Room 3, NS inventors' no I' B

Probably destroyed

HarzuuiJscbap Landscape in the Harz Mountains)
1923

( )il on sanvas, 104 x 124 cm 41 x 4N . in
Catalogue raisonne Grohmann p 294
Acquired in 1924 by the Hamburger Kunsthalle
Room 5 NS inventory no 16106
On commission to Buchholz, bought 1941
location unknown

Btuurnkaus mil Moni ' Farmhouse with moon

AufeehmJer Monti i Rising Moon

1924

Watercolor on paper, 50 x 64(, cm 19 in

Acquired in 1924/25 by the Stadtisches Museum fur

Kunst und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 5, NS inventory no 16105

Private collection, Stuttgart

Fijurr 171

■

StiUm (Still life)

A/nbniscfcr Scbale (African bowl

1926

Oil on canvas, 65 x 72 cm 2? - x 2s - in

Catalogue raisonne Grohmann p 210

Acquired in 1927 by the Stadtische Calerie, Frankturt"

Room 5, NS inventory no 16121

Private collection. Wurzburg

■

Landscbaft iim See (Lakeside landscape)

1927

Tempera and oil on canvas. 87 x 112 lih

(34% x 44 - in

C atalogue raisonnc Grohmann p 268

Donated in 1935 to the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room 5. NS inventory no 16111

Probably destroyed

Schmidt-RottluH

Figure 374

Schmidt-Rottluff, Baumifeaus mil Momf (Farmhouse with moon), 1924

Figure 373

Schmidt-Rottluff, Dorflandickift mil Lruchttum (Village landscape with lighthouse), 1913

Figure 375

Schmidt-Rottluff, Rdmiscfcts StilMira mil Karajji urn) Glronr (Roman still life with carafe

and lemon), 1930

Figure 376

Schmidt-Rottluff, Pommmcfef Motldlandschafi (Moonlit landscape in Pomerania), 1931

vjft md I itrom

iralc and lemon

R&HfScfacS ^lil/fhrn mil K.i

Roman -till life with a

1930

Oil on sanvas. 87 x 101 cm I W. \ )9tt i

( itilogue raisonne' Crohmami p 2N
Acquired In 1932 by the Nationalgakric
Room S NS Inventory no k>l22
Brucki Museum, Berlin

rrjurr l^

Pommrrjcbc Ak'm/l.m.KJult
[Moonlit landscape m Pomerania)
1931

Oil on canvas, 76 x 90 cm (297. x 35 V. in )
Catalogue raisonne Grohmann p 220
Acquired in 1932 by the Schlcsischcs Muse
bildendcn Kunst, Breslau
Room 5, NS inventory no 16108
Saarland-Museum, Saarbriicken

FtilUff <7f,

FrjucttbilJtiH I Portrait ol a

Watercolor, 62 x 49 cm (24 'A x 19% in I

Acquired in 1924/25 by the Stadtisches Museum fu

Kunst und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16036

Bought bv Curlitt, 1940, location unknown

FrjuoibiUni'i I Portrait of a woman
Watercolor, dimensions unknowr
Acquired in 1921 by the Stadt
Room 4, NS inventory no 16053
Location unknown

Scrmillrr im Korn/rU ' Reapers in the field)
Exhibited as Mabtt I Mowers I
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1933 by the Neue Staatsgale
Room 3, NS inventory no 16009
Bought bv Curlltt. 1940, location unknov

Stridmuk Fwu (Woman knitting I

Watercolor, 62 x 49 cm (24V. x 90!4 in )

Acquired in 1924/25 by the Stadtisches Museum fu

Kunst und Kunstgewerbe (Moritzburg), Halle

Room 4, NS inventory no 16035

On commission to Moller exchanged 1940,

location unknown

Zu'fi Aklr (Two nudes)

Watercolor. dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 4. NS inventory no 16054

On commission to Boehmcr, bought 1939,

location unknown

Maim mil /'/ri/r (Man with pipe)
SdbttbiUm i Sell portrait)

19 915 I

Lithograph M x 22.5 cm I 13% x h 'h in |

C atalogue laisonne Si hapire 27 (or 190)
Ai quired hv the Kuplerstichkabmett, Berlin
Room C.2, NS inventory no IM71
Location unknown

iandsebafl im llnbsl (Autumn landscape)
Hrrhst ( Autumn l
1909

Woodcut, 29 x 39 cm ( I IV. x 15V. in )
Catalogue raisonne Schapirc 16
Acquired bv the Kunsthalle Mannheim?
Room C2, NS inventory no 16328
Location unknown

Z.riirlr, b„ Dartl (Brickyard at Darel)

I9IW

Woodcut, 297 x 39 cm ( II V, x 15V. in I

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 7

Acquired by the Kupterstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16368

Location unknown, this print Hamburger Kunsthalle

Fi(?nrr ]7v>

Wahn (Women)

1910

Woodcut, 22 5 x 28 cm (87. x 1 1 in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 42

Acquired by the Kupterstichkabinett, Berln

Room C2, NS inventory no 16370

Location unknown

Sitzmiirr wablidxr Akt (Seated female nude)

Frtw mil <i«ji)rl[islrm H,j,ir I Woman with her hair dov.

Woodcut, 36 x 30 cm ( 14'/. x I IV. in )

1913

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 123

Acquired by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room G2, NS inventory no 16335

Location unknown, this print Cranvil and Marci;

Specks Collection

Figurr 387

BiMnis G (Cuttmami) (Portrait of C (Guttmann])

1914

Woodcut, 50 x 395 cm ( 197, x I5V> in I

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 137

Original location unknown

Room C2, NS inventory no 16339

Location unknown, this print Graphische Sammlung

Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Figure 377

Figure 377

Schmidt Ruttliilt, lii/Jiu. i, Gullnami Portrait ol

G I Guttmann 1 1 1914

Figure 378

Schmidt-Rottluff, Dm am Tiscfe (Three at a table i, 1914

Figure 379

Schmidt-Rottluff, Zitgtla be Dam1 < Brickyard at

Darel), 1909

Schmidt-Rottluff

Dm am Tiscl) (Three at a table)

1914

Woodcut, 50 x 40 cm (19% x I53A in.)

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 51

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16372

Location unknown, this print Brucke-Museum, Berlin

Kim 378

Kmcndt l Kneeling woman)

Exhibited as Wnb am O/m (Woman at the oven)

1914

Woodcut, 50 x 393 cm (19% x 15'A in)

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 132

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory nos 16343

Destroyed, this print The Art Institute of Chicago,

gift of Dr Rosa Schapire

FW« 380

Kmcntlt Frau (Kneeling woman)

1914^

Woodcut, 50 x 393 cm (19% x I5'/i in )?

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 132"1

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden

Room G2, NS inventory no 16383

Location unknown

Miissigt Htiaroi (Creek courtesans at leisure)

Exhibited as Zwtt Afelf (Two nudes)

1914

Woodcut, 395 x 50 cm ( 15'/i x 19% in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 133

Original location unknown

Room C2, NS inventory no 16332

Location unknown, this print Craphische Sammlung

Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Fijurt 381

SilzrnoVr Ah (Seated nude)

1914

Lithograph, 26 8 x 184 cm (lO'/i x Tk in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 86

Acquired by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Room C2, NS inventory no 16369

Location unknown

*HI|||IJ'^jj|jl»lf/lNI«^=<

X

\ — ^S^^Stojaita..

Figure 381

Schmidt-Rottluff, Mfissi^t Hflaroi (Creek courtesans l

leisure), 1914

Figure 380
Schmidt-Rottluff, K,

Figure 384

Schmidt-Rottluff, Gai.4 mich Emmam (Road 1

Emmaus), 1918

Figure 385
Schmidt-Rottluff, Gr<
prophetess), 1919

: Prophrlitt I Large

BiUai'i ^.'.,i Scbapin Porn-ail ol K.>s.i Schapire

I uhlblted is HftMicBn Kofi) I lead ol .1 woman)

1915

Woodcut, 3n v 29 cm 14* x lltt In

1 atalogue raisonne' Schapire 183

Vcqulred h\ the Schlesisches Museum dei blldenden

Kunst Breslni

Room C2. NS inventory no 16337

Destroyed this print Hamburger Kunsthalle

Fuurr is:

SitemJr Fun m Brn/lumfei Em/|

(Seated woman in mountain landscape)

AUUmu-iJ W«U (Girl and forest

1915

I tching, 298 x 395 cm (11% x \5'fi in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 42

Acquired bv the Schlesisches Museum der blldenden

Kunst Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16367

Location unknown

Alutirr Mother)

BiUms itr Multrr I Portrait ol the artists mother)

1916

Woodcut, 372 x 31 1 14% x 12% in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 194

Acquired bv the Schlesisches Museum der blldenden

Kunst Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16334

Destroyed, this print Los Angeles County Museum ol

Art The Robert Core Rilkind Center lor German

Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 265 (Los Angeles

only I, The Art Institute ol Chicago, gift ol Dr Rosa

Schapire 'Chicago only)

Figurt 383

Gang nacb Emmam (Road to Emmaus'

Dm Apostil (Three apostles)

From the portfolio Ntun Hotzsclmitfc I Nine woodcuts)

1918

Woodcut, 29 x 355 cm (11% x 14 in 1

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 212

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der blldenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16344

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum ol Art, gift of Kurt Wolff

Fljurr IS)

Sl hmidt Rottlull, Hrilijw Franrisfats (S

1419

Krisfus 1 Christ)

Exhibited as Cnrislus-Kot)/ (Head of Christ)

from the portfolio Ntun Hotzsdmittt (Nine woodcuts)

1918

Woodcut, 501 x 391 cm (19V, x 15V, m 1

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 208

Acquired by the Museum Lolkwang, Essen

Room C2, NS inventory no 16338

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, The Robert Core Rifkind Center for

German Expressionist Studies, M 82 288 270

Fi^urr 3d8

Crosst PwpbtUn (Large prophetess)

Exhibited as Kopf (Head)

1919

Woodcut, 499 x 392 cm (19V. x 15% in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 254

Original location unknown

Room G2, NS inventory no 16336

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, gift of Kurt Wolff

Fitfwrr 385

Htilititr Fnuaiskia 1 Saint Francis)

1919

Woodcut, 60 x 493 cm (23% x 19% in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 243

Acquired in 1920 by the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Room G2, NS inventory no 16331

Location unknown, this print Granvil and Marcia

Specks Collection

Figuri 386

Figure 387

Schmidt Rottlull Silzmon mibUcba Ail Seated female

nude), 1913

Mudchmltopj ( Female head)

1923

From the portfolio Kumtlmpntdt in AWums/ur Sued unJ

Sc/iri/l m LripziiJ I Artists' donations to the Museum fur

Buch und Schrift, Leipzig]

Woodcut, 28 x 20 cm (II x 7 . m

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 289

Acquired by the Kunsthalle, Mannheim1

Room G2, NS inventory no 16330

Location unknown

BiWms Flrcfelfcnm I Portrait of Flechtheim
Woodcut, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1921 by the Kunsthalle Mannhe
Room G2, NS inventory no 16329
Location unknown

LWsclw/l (Landscape)

Medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Original location unknown

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16252

On commission to Moller, exchanged 194),

location unknown

Two unidentified works

Medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Original location unknown

Room G2, NS inventory nos 16340 and 16341

Location unknown

Licbtipaat (Lovers)

Exhibited as btbmdt (Lovers)

1920

Woodcut, 50 x 395 cm (19% x 15'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Schapire 264

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der blldenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room G2, NS inventory no 16342

Location unknown

Werner Scholz

Lothar Schreyer

Born (898
Berlin

Death date unkno

Work in "Entartete Kunst

Das Me Kind (The dead child)

Triptych

1933

Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unkni

Acquired in 1934 by the Wallraf-Richartz-Mu

Cologne

Room 6, Nb inventory no unrecorded

Location unknown

Sl.lM>m mil Atmrylhi (Still life w.th amaryllis)
Painting, medium unknown, dimensions unknt
Acquired in 1935 by the Nationalgalene, Berli.
Room 6, NS inventory no 14145
Location unknown

After studying law (J D 1902) and art
history at the universities of Heidelberg,
Berlin, and Leipzig, Lothar Schreyer became
advisor and assistant stage manager at the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus (German play-
house) in Hamburg, a position he held
from 1911 to 1918, where his duties included
coediting the theater's publication He met
Herwarth Walden, the editor of Der Sturm
(The storm) and director of the influential
Calerte Der Sturm, and began to contribute
his theater concepts to the journal In Sep-
tember 1917 Schreyer became vtratitwortlich
fur die Redaktion (literally responsible editor)
at Der Sturm and began to take up the new
expressionistic lyrical form that August
Stramm had initiated in the journal
Schreyer became the head of the Sturm
buhne (Storm-stage), and when the political
situation in Berlin in 1918 made producing
and performing plays difficult, he formed a
parallel organization, the Kampfbuhne
(Combat-stage), in Hamburg (1918-21)

During the last days of the First World
War Schreyer's group performed, among
other plays, Stramm's Sancta Susanna (Saint
Susanna) in the Kiinstlerhaus in Berlin, the
production was greeted both with applause
and with such derision that it required police
protection For his own plays Mann (Man),
Nacht (Night), Krtu.2iju.nt) (Crucifixion), and
Ktndersterben (Death of children) Schreyer
invented, in collaboration with Max Billert
and Max Olderock, a Partitur, a graphic
score that indicated in hieroglyphlike forms
every movement to parallel the spoken word
(figs 388-89)

Schreyer's theories of theater were
based on the concept of the Gesamtkunstwcrk
(total work of art, that is, a combination of

Figure 388

Schreyer, Fiirbform 2 ..us bubnntwttk ' Kinderstrrbn
(Color form 2 from the production Dtalb of
cbitdren), 1921

all art forms in one) He attempted to mold
the sound of the words, the form and the
color of the costumes and, often, masks,
and the rhythms of word, gesture, and
movement into a unity

From 1921 to 1923 he was the director
of the theater activities of the Bauhaus in
Weimar and continued his educational role
at the art school Der Weg (The way) in
Berlin and Dresden (1924-27) In 1928 he
returned to Hamburg as chief reader for the
publisher Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt (until
1931 ) He converted to Roman Catholicism
in 1933 and edited the works of the great
mystics, including Jakob Bohme, Paracelsus,
Meister Eckhart, and Heinnch Suso, and
published several books on Christian art
of the past and present ' (P G.)

Nolcs

I For Schreyer's writings see Lothar Schreyer, D.f

Ntui Kuml (Berlin Der Sturm), 1916, idem, D.f bddmde
Kunst dei Deulsc/im (Hamburg Hanseatische Verlags-
anstalt, 1930 and 1948), idem, Ex/>rfss.on.slisc|jfs Theater
Aui meinen Ermnerungen (Hamburg J B Toth, 1948), Nell
Walden and idem, Der Sturm fin Ennnerunpbuch an Her-
aarth Walden und die KmstUr am dm Stumkrtis (Baden-
Baden Woldemar Klein, 1954), idem, Erimermgm on
Slum, und Baubam (Munich Albert Langen/Ceorg
Muller, 1956), idem, Cor.stl.cor Kunst d« 20 Jahrhunderh
m der kitbohscben utid prolrstonliscbm Wttl (Hamburg
Christian Wegner, 1959), idem, Dus Cbr.slusfc.H und du
Kunst dn 20 Jabrbundirls (Salzburg Otto Muller, 1960)
See also Ingo Wasserka, "Die Sturm- und Kampfbuhne
Kunsttheone und szemsche Wirklichkeit im expressio-
nistischen Theater Lothar Schrevers" (Ph D
dissertation, University of Vienna, 1965)

Otto Schubert

Kurt Schwitters

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Fvblon, 1 Mi Buln.mu.frk KirJmlrrr.m
i oloi Form J From the production OMAo/ciiUrm)
Plate 14 from Bauhaus Portfolio I
1921

I olored lithograph, 291 x 171 mi ill", x 6'A in I

v itaJogue rafsonrvS Wmglcr 1/14

Acquired by the Wallral RJcharo Museum ( oktgne

Room G2, NS inventory mi 16286;

Location unknown, this print Collection of the

Crunwald ("enter tor the Graphic Arts, University ol

California, Los Angeles, gilt of Mr and Mrs Fred

Crunwald i Los Angeles only] The Art Institute of

Chicago, gift of Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben

Memorial Lund, Emtl Eitel Fund, and Harold Joachim

Purchase Fund (Chicago only)

figurt 188

■

Mutlrr 'Mother!

firrd/om 6 .rus Burmnwrrk "Knimlatm"

(Color form 6 from the production /)r.ilfi o/cMdrrnl

Plate 13 from Bauhaus Portfolio I

1921

Colored lithograph, 22 5 x 168 cm (87. x 6% in )

Catalogue raisonne Wmgkr I I f

Acquired by the Wallraf RichartzMuseum, Cologne

Room C2, NS inventory no 16280?

Location unknown, this print Los Angeles County

Museum ol Art, The Robert Core Rilkmd Center

for German Expressionist Studies, M 82 28762 (Los

Angeles only!. The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of

Mrs Henry C Woods, Steuben Memorial Fund, Emil

Eitel Fund, and Harold loachim Purchase Fund

(Chicago only)

Figurt 389

Drcdrn

Deiilh J. ill Hriimou'i

Work in Entartete Kunsl

RrtrJi^unit (Funeral)

Oil on canvas, dn

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresde

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16164

Location unknown

Vrrkuntinjuui; (Annunciation)

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room Gl, NS inventory no 16160?

Location unknown

Born r«87
Hannovtr

Dud (948
Kendiil, England

Work in Entartete Kunst

Truum (Dream)

1917

Collage, 18 x 14 5 cm (7V. x 5 7. in

Donated in 1931 to the Nationalgalcrie, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16297

Destroyed

MtrzbiU (Merz picture I

1919

Mixed media, dimensions unknown

Catalogue raisonne Schmalenbach [

Acquired in 1920 by the Stadtmuseui

Room 3, NS inventory no 15974

Location unknown

kmgbAi (Ring picture!

1919

Mixed media, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1921 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 3, NS inventory no 15976

Location unknown

Figure 389

Schreyer, Muttrr (Mother! Farbfoi

fiur.nmu.rrk ' iWcrsftrirm "

Uxrbm i Uneven

1920

Collage, 13 2 x 97 cm (5% x 37. in )

Donated in 1931 to the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room G2, NS inventory no 16296

Destroyed

Lasar Segall

Born (890
Vilini, Lithuania

Died 1957

Sao Paulo, Brazil

It was not surprising that the committee that
selected works for the Enliirtfle Kimsi exhibi-
tion would chose paintings by Lasar Segall,
especially Die ewigen Wanderer (The eternal
wanderers,- fig. 391) and Wilwe (Widow), the
latter labeled Purimfest (Feast of Purim) by
the exhibition organizers Displayed under
the heading, "Revelation of the Jewish racial
soul," Segall's moving images, inspired by
his memories of his childhood, were shown
with works by Jankel Adler, Marc Chagall,
and Hans Feibusch

Segall left Vilna at the age of fifteen
and emigrated to Berlin, where he studied
at the Akademie (1907-9), won several
prizes, and exhibited at the Galerie Curlitt
Between 1910 and 1911 he studied at the
Dresden Akademie, and in 1912 he made his
first trip to Brazil, where he exhibited in
Sao Paulo and Campinas Shortly after his
return to Germany the First World War
began and he was interned as an enemy
alien Released in 1917, he joined his friends
Otto Dix and Conrad Felixmiiller and in
1919 became a founding member of the
Dresdner Sezession Gruppe 1919 (Dresden
secession group 1919) He was one of the
outstanding Expressionists of the second
generation His melancholy figures with
large heads and small bodies and his muted
palette were praised by Theodor Daubler in
a monograph published in 1922 by the Fritz
Curlitt Verlag fur Jiidische Kunst und Kultur
(Publishers for Jewish art and culture)

Segall illustrated Dostoyevski's Krotkay
(1921), Charles Louis Philippe's Bubu (1921),
and David Borgelsohn's Maase BiM (1923)
and collaborated with the publishing firm
of Wostock in Berlin He had a number of
exhibitions in Germany until 1923, when he

Figure 390

Segall, Zu'n Sdnmsltm (Two sisters), 1919

jL***.^

1

it i

i

Ik w^ yM

ft ^^'■ifc^

jpj ^A

K

A -

' A-

jM t& ■ -Jb m*.

,- ^^^^Hl

Figure 391
Segall, Di> i

Wandmr (The eternal wanderers), 1919

Friedrich Skade

emigrated id Brazil Somali became a Ura
zilian citizen and married lennv klabin, a

well known translator ol German literature
into Portuguese but he continued to exhi-
bit bis work in Germany and from 1928 to
1931 he lived in Paris and exhibited at the
Calerie Vignon From 1931 to 1935 he led
the Sociedade Pauliste de Arte Moderna
(Sao Paulo modern art society), which he-
had cofounded

Aftet N'- when bis art could no
longer be shown in Germany Segall
received a number ol exhibitions in New
York In 1950 he completed a group of paint-
ings that he had begun in 1936, whose titles-
Pogrom, Ship of Emigrants, and ( oncentration
Limp — demonstrate the strength of his
childhood memories and the impact of
recent history He had a one-man exhibition
at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in
Rio de Janeiro in 1951, and he was guest of
honor at the third Sao Paulo Biennale

Segall s widow founded the Museu
Lasar Segall in Sao Paulo in 1970, and large
retrospective exhibitions at the Museum of
Modern Art, New York, the twenty -ninth
Venice Biennale, and in Madrid, Paris and
Diisseldorf brought this Expressionist once
more to public attention ' (P G I

Nolo

1 For a bibliography of articles by Lasar Segall

published in Brazilian lournals see Bibliograju Lasar Stgall
(Sao Paulo Associat,ao Museu Lasar Segall, I977i, on
Segall and his work see Theodor Daubler Liuir Stgall,
ludische Bucherei no 20 (Berlin Fritz Curlitt, 1920),
Waldemar George, Lisdr Sraall i Pans Le Triangle,
1932), Paul Fierens, Lirsur Srgall I Paris Chroniqucs du
Jour, 19381, Mario de Andrade, Law Sr«,ill i Rio de la
neiro Ministerio da Educacao, 194V), P M Bardi, ljs.jt
V,/.,// Sao Paulo Museu de Arte, 1952 and 1959), Erhard
Frommhold. Lis.ir Small mhiI dtr Dnsdiur Exprrsswmsmus
(exh cat, Milan Callena del Levante, n d ), Lasar
Stgall (exh cat, Berlin Staatltche kunsthalle. 1990)

Work in Entartete Kunst

Oir nnjni Wanderer (The eternal ware I

1919

( LI on canvas 138 x 184 i m (54* x 72'/. in )

( atalogue raisonmi Bardi 71

Acquired bv the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room 2, NS inventory no I59S4

Museu I asar Segall, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Uliur 191

■

Ziiyi Scbipcslrrn (Two sisters^

Exhibited as Lirfrmir I Two lovers)

1919

Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm l 39'A x IV in

Catalogue raisonne Bardi 83

Acquired by the Museum lolkwang, Essen

Room 2, NS inventory no 15960

Private collection

Fitfurr }oo

Witm I Widow)

Exhibited as Purim/n! (Feast of Punm)

1920

Oil on canvas, 90 x 69 cm (35% x 27'/» in )

Catalogue raisonne Bardi 82

Acquired in 1928 by the Museum Folkwang, Essen

Room 2, NS inventory no 15958

Location unknown

Zu'fi Scbmen (Two phantoms)

Exhibited as Zu'fi Fit/urnt (Two figures)

1919

Lithograph, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1920 by the Kupferstichkabmett, Dresden

Room C2, NS inventory no 16345

Location unknown

Mam umJ Wcib ( Man and wife)
Print?; dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room C.2, NS inventory no 16362
Location unknown

Mappi mil srefcs Blaltirn (Portfolio with six pages i

Prints, medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Schlesisches Museum der bildenden

Kunst, Breslau

Room C2, NS inventory no 16437

Destroyed

Horn (898

DoWm

/ )/i I (J ,
/JrfsJrti

Work in "Entartete Kunst

DammbiUms I Portrait of a lady

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtmuseum Dresden

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16159

Location unknown

Fuiucnbtldw, I Portrait of a woman )
Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Acquired in 1926 by the Stadtmuseum Dresde
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16166
Location unknown

Friedrich [Fritz]
Stuckenberg

Paul Thalheimer

Painter and graphic artist Fritz Stuckenberg
spent his early years in Bremen and Olden-
burg, briefly studied architecture in Braun-
schweig, and continued his artistic studies
in Leipzig from 1900 to 1903 During the
next two years he studied in Weimar, trav-
eled through Italy with Emil Nolde and
Ludwig Hofmann, and then enrolled in
Munich's Akademie der bildende Kiinste
(Academy of fine arts) In 1907 he moved to
Paris, where he lived for five years There
he was greatly influenced by the emerging
Cubist artists and exhibited his work at the
Salon d Automne (Autumn salon) and the
Salon des Independents (Independents'
salon)

Stuckenberg returned to Germany in
1912, settling in Berlin and gravitating to
the circle around Herwarth Walden's
Galerie Der Sturm ' Until 1919 he lived in
Berlin intermittently also spending time in
Munich, where he became associated with
Heinnch Campendonk and Franz Marc He
occasionally participated in exhibitions at
the Galerie Der Sturm, including Deutsche
Expressionist™ (German Expressionists) in
1916 Stuckenberg's style was allied with
the Cubist-Futurist-Expressionist approach
favored by many Berlin artists who were
members of the Novembergruppe (Novem-
ber group), which he briefly joined His
work was collected by the American
Katherme Dreier, and she included it
in an exhibition of German art in
New York in 1920 2

In 1919 Stuckenberg left Berlin because
of ill health and moved to Seeshaupt, where
his friend Campendonk was living It was
there that he moved away from a Cubist-
Expressionist style toward a more painterly

Figure 392
Stuckenberg, Strt
c Ml

manner Very few of his works from the
1920s survive, some having been confiscated
in the "degenerate" art action Stuckenberg
contributed a lithograph, Stmsse mil Hiiusern
(Street with houses, fig 392), to the third
Bauhaus portfolio of 1921, Neue europiiische
Grafik Deutsche Kiinstler ( New European
graphics German artists), an edition of
which was confiscated from the Schloss-
museum, Breslau, for inclusion in Ettlarlftf
Kunst The artist spent the later years of
his life confined to a wheelchair and died in
1944 in Bavaria (S B )

Notes

1 Katalod del Stuckenberg-Amstelluni] r'm landesmmeum
jur Kunst- und Kultargtschicbte (exh cat, Oldenburg
Landesmuseum fur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, 1961)

2 The Socirlr Anonym and the Drnrr Bequest at Yale Uni-
versity A Catalogue Ratsonne (New Haven Yale University
Press, 1984), 643-44

Work in "Entartete Kunsl'

Strasse mil Hausern (Street with houses)
Exhibited as Abstracts Litbo (Abstract litho)
Plate 12 from Bauhaus Portfolio III
c 1921

Lithograph, 33 x 21 cm (13 x 8% in )
Catalogue raisonne Wingler 111/12
Acquired by the Schlossmuseum, Breslau?
Room C2, NS inventory no 16423
Destroyed, this print Fiorella Urbmati Gallery
Figure 3«

Born (884
Heilbwnn

Died 1948
Schrobctthausai

Work in Entartete Kunst

Vcrsuchutul des Hedges Antontus
(Temptation of Saint Anthony)
Oil on canvas, 94 x 76 cm (37 x 29
Acquired by the Stadtische Galerie,
Room I, NS inventory no 15943
On commission to Boehmer, locatic

7, in )
Munich

Johannes Tietz

Arnold Topp

Birth dak unknown

/)r.ii/> ./.lie unknown

Work in Entartete Kunst

Oi>f(if/hUni> Double portrait

Painting medium unknown, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1928 by the Stadtmuscum Dresden

Room 4, NS inventory no 16046

Location unknown

Bam 1887

Soat

! (ti land dead in I960

Painter and graphic artist Arnold Topp
established an early friendship with the
painter Wilhelm Morgner, who was also
from Soest Like Morgner he enrolled at the
Kunstgewerbeschule (School of applied arts)
in Dusseldorf The two admired the work
of Vincent van Gogh, lean -Francois Millet,
and Oovanni Segantini and were part of
the emerging Expressionist group in the
early teens

Topp served at the front during the
first World War, and his experiences of his
fellow soldiers and the landscape in Serbia
made a lasting impression After being
wounded, Topp settled in Berlin There he
became associated with Herwarth Walden's
group, Der Sturm (The storm), and par-
ticipated in exhibitions at the Calerie Der
Sturm from 1915 to 1919 The American col-
lector Katherine Dreier encountered him in
Berlin in the early 1920s and acquired a few
of his works on paper ' Topp also exhibited
in the 1919 Berlin Dada show and the famous
Unbtkanntc Architekturcn (Unknown architects)
exhibition staged at I B Neumann's gallery
in Berlin Topp was influenced by several of
the visionary architects who participated in
the latter exhibition, especially Paul Scheer-
bart Like several artists affiliated with the
Sturm group Topp contributed an abstract
print (fig 393) to the Bauhaus portfolio of
1921, Neue turopaischc Grajik Deutsche Kiinstter
(New European graphics German artists),
an edition of which was confiscated for
installation in EnUutete Kumt in 1937 (S B )

Figure 393

Topp, Abstrtihr KompostttoM (Abstract composition 1421

I TV Socifir Anonymc

nrrsity A Calalogu R<moim
Press, 1984), 636-38

mJ thr Dmrr Ikjursl dt Yalt Urn-
i New Haven Yale Univt-rsitv

Work in Entartete Kunst

AbsUaht Kompostlion (Abstract composition)

Plate 13 from Bauhaus Portfolio III

1921

Woodcut, 278 x 21 5 cm (II x 8'A in )

Catalogue raisonne Wmgler 111/13

Acquired bv the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Room G2, NS inventory no 16288^

Location unknown, this print Fiorella Urbinati

Gallery

Fyurf 393

Karl Volker

Christoph Voll

William Waiter

Born (866
Oberunesettthtil

Died (962
Berlin

Work in Entartete Kunsl

Work in Entartete Kunst

Ittdustriebild (Industrial scene)

Fabukdacber (Factory roofs)

Exhibited as Iniuitricumiscbafl i Industrial landscape!

c 1924

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired by the Nationalgalene, Berlin

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16201

Probably destroyed

Josef und Poliphar I Joseph and Potiphar)
See Eugen Hoffmann, Adam und Fva

Kopj in Haitde gtstutzt (Head in han<
Wood, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dr
Room 6, NS inventory no 15051
Location unknown

Kopjiludit (Study of head)
Drawing, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16261
Location unknown

Scbwantlm Friiu (Pregnant woman)
Wood, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresde
Room 3, NS inventory no 16237
Probably destroyed

Silzmdrr Akt am O/m (Seated nude at the oven)
Watercolor, dimensions unknown
Acquired by the Stadtmuseum Dresden
Room Cl, NS inventory no 16263
Location unknown

V,er Knaben und m ktmus Kind

(Four boys and a little child)

Exhibited as FimJ Kmdr, ,m Fmm

(Five children outdoors)

Woodcut, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1928 by the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlii

Room Cl, NS inventory no 16262

Location unknown

Only one of William Wauer's lithographs,
{Composition mil Ovalen (Composition with
ovals, fig 394) from a Bauhaus portfolio,
was shown in the £nl<irlfif Kunsl exhibition
in Munich in 1937 It was not Wauer's art but
his work in the fields in which he had gained
prominence, theater and education, that
made the Nazis declare him "degenerate "
He was one of the multitalented practi-
tioners of Expressionism, closely linked to
Herwarth Walden and the journal Der Sturm
(The storm), the Galerie Der Sturm (he
had four exhibitions there between 1918 and
1923), the associated theater (Sturmbuhne,
Storm-stage), and even the short-lived
art school

Wauer arrived in Berlin in 1905 after
attending the academies in Berlin, Dresden,
and Munich (1884-87) and after visits to
Rome and the United States In 1889 he
became editor of the monthly Qwckborn
(Fountain of youth) in Berlin, in which the
first German translations of August Strind-
berg's dramas were published He later
worked for the popular magazine Die Woche
(The week) and founded the weekly Dresdner
Gesellschajt (Dresden society) In 1905 he
moved permanently to Berlin, first as a
theater critic ( 1906-14) and then as a stage
manager for theater director Max Reinhardt
and the Hebbel -Theater and as director of
the Kleines Theater From 1911 onward he
became known as a film director his credits
included Richard Wagner (1913), Der Tunnel
(1914-15), starring Fritzi Massary and
nearly all the films made with the famous
actor Albert Bassermann

Gert Wollheim

Figure w

W.uift KmpositioH mil ( V.ifni [Composition with ovalsi, 1421

Impressed by the Italian Futurist
exhibition at the Galene Der Sturm in 1912,
Wauer took up painting and sculpture After
the war he joined the Arbeitsrat fur Kunst
(Workers council for art) and the Novem-
bcrgruppe (November group) A number
of his graphic works and articles were
published in Der Sturm, and he wrote a
pantomime, Die via Toloi pom ViamtHa (The
four dead of Viametta), for which Walden
wrote the music

In 1921-24 Wauer restructured and
developed art classes in the Berlin schools
and introduced art therapy for children
From 1924 until 1933 he was president of the
Internationale Veremigung der Expressio-
nisten, Futuristen, Kubisten, und Kon-
struktivisten i International association
of Expressionists, Futurists, Cubists, and
Constructivistsi, later called Die Abstrakten
The abstracts), which was dissolved by the
Nazis in 1933 His plays and lectures on art
could frequently be heard on the radio
between 1928 and 1933 '(PC)

Notts

I Nell Walden and Lothar Schreyer, D« Slurm Era

Erimerunplmcb m hWartl Waldo, u«d dit KUmlltr aus dm
Sturmltros iBaden-Baden Woldemar Klein, 1954), Carl
Laszlo, W,llum Wauer (Basel Editions Panderma, 19791,
Schreyer, Ennnrruntlnt an Sturm und Baubaus i Munich
Alhert Langen/Ceorg Muller, 19561, Der Slurm Hrrawlli
Walden um! dit lumpiiiscbt Avaniaardt Btrlm (9(2-1932 exh
cat , Berlin Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kultur-
besitz, Nationalgalerie, 19611, Stephanie Barron, ed ,
Crrnun Expressionist Sculpture iexh cat, Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, 1983), Volker Pirsich,
l)a Slurm Einr Monograpbit i Herzberg Traugott
Bautz, 1985)

Work in Entartete Kunst

Kompostlton wit Ovalen (Composition with ovals)

Exhibited as Abstracts htho i Abstract lithm

Plate 14 trom Bauhaus Portfolio III

1921

Lithograph, 347 x 286 cm (13V. x 11% in i

Catalogue raisonnc Wingl

Acquired by the Schlos'

Room C2, NS inventory

Destroyed, this print Re

Figure J9<

Died i"?4

New York Ntu> York

Work in Entartete Kunst

Sefalacbtscbiissel 'Slaughtering bowl

CesMaebltt Slaughtered)

1920

Drawing and watcrcolor. dimensions unknow

Acquired by the Stadtische Kunstsammlung

Dusseldorf

Room C2, NS inventory no 16292

Location unknown

E xoltsche Landscbaft I Exotic landscape

1932

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown

Acquired in 1932 by the Stadtische Kunstsammlung

Dusseldorf

Room 2, NS inventory no 15950

Destroyed

111/14

Breslau-
i 16421
lla Urbmati Gallery

Facsimile of the

Entartete Kunst" Exhibition Brochure

Translated by David Britt

On the following pages is an actual-size reproduction of the Entartete
"Kunst" Ausstellungsfubm (Degenerate "art" exhibition guide) This
brochure was published in November 1937, too late to be of use to
the visitors to the Munich showing, which closed on November 30,
but in time for the February 26, 1938, opening in Berlin and the sub-
sequent tour to eleven other cities in Germany and Austria The
guide's division of the art into nine distinct categories provided the
organizers of the exhibition in Berlin and at the later venues with
guidelines for the installation of the work The text is reminiscent of
Wolfgang Willrich's antimodernist Sauberung des Kunsttempeh (Cleans-
ing of the temple of art), published early in 1937, the author, Fritz
Kaiser, is otherwise unknown and may be pseudonymous The art
illustrated in the brochure was not all in the Munich exhibition,
but all works depicted were by artists who had been represented in
Munich or whose work had been confiscated in the 1937 campaigns
against "degenerate" art Another undated edition of the brochure
exists, it is virtually identical to the edition here except for several
captions mentioning the sculptor Rudolf Haizmann that are given an
anti-Semitic tone (see pp 379, 387)

DcKcrwrotc

* M
Ausftollungsfuhrcr

Inhibition Guide

Price 30 pfennigs

Otto Freundlich, Dtr nrut Mtttsch (The new man), 1912, plaster

£*f..t>.l(0H Mr„. hu

Stirrer

burd} bfe 3f u e ff e It u ti g

(Snfarfefe ffunflf

Die Slueftetlung amtbe jufaminengeftellt
rem bcr 9tei<$6ptopaganba[eitung,
Jlmteleitung Rultur. <5ic roirb in ^c^
grbfceren Stabten aller ©aue gcjcigt
tpcrbcn. 93erantipprtli($ fiir ben Snbult:
^ri^ Slaifer, OTuncben. 33crlag: 93et(ag
fur ftultur- uub 3Birtf4>aft6U>erbung,
Berlin 3B 35, "potsbamer Strafee 59.

This exhibition has been assembled hv the Reich
Propaganda Directorate, t ulture ( 'Hue It will be
shown m the larger cities <>l all regions Responsible fo
the content Frits Kaiser, Munich Publishes ^fcrlag
kit Kultui und Wirtschaftswerbung Berlin \V <~
I'otsdamcr Strasse 59

What the "Dege

,lHh„

; to do

It means to give, at the outset of a new age
for the German people, a firsthand survey of the
gruesome last chapter of those decades of cultural
decadence that preceded the great change

/( means to appeal to the sound judgment of
the people and thus to put an end to the drivel and
claptrap ol all those literary cliques and hangers-on,
many of whom would still try to deny that we ever
had such a thing as artistic degeneracy

It means to make it clear that this degeneracy in
art was something more than the sort of short-lived
foolishness, idiocy, and rash experimentation that
might have spent itself and died even without the
National Socialist revolution

H means to show that this was no "necessary
ferment'' but a deliberate and calculated onslaught
upon the very essence and survival of art itself

/( means to expose the common roots of political
anarchy and cultural anarchy and to unmask degenerate
art as art-Bolshevism in every sense of the term

/( means to reveal the philosophical, political,
racial, and moral goals and purposes pursued by those
who promoted subversion

it means to show, too, how these symptoms of
degeneracy spread from the deliberate troublemakers
to infect those more or less unwitting acolytes who, in
spite of previous — and in some cases also subsequent —
evidence of artistic talent, were so lacking in scruple,
character, or common sense as to join in the general Jewish
and Bolshevik furor

/( memis to reveal in this way the true peril of
a trend that, steered by a few Jewish and openly Bol-
shevik ringleaders, could succeed in enlisting such

IBaS mill bk SfuSiTeUung „(Snfarfefe ftunff"?

<S i e will am 23eginn cities ncucn 3citalter& f tic bas
®cutfd>e 93olf am)anb pon Originalbofumenten allgcmcinen (£iu-
blicf geben in bas grauenf>afte Sdjlufefapitel be& S?ulturjerfalle& ber
letstcn Oafjrjcbntc oor bet grofocn 38cnbe.

6 i e u> t I I , inbcm fie bus <23olf mit feineni gefunben Urteil
aufruft, bein (Sefd>u>dt( unb '•pbrafcnbrufd) jener Sitcraten- unb
3unft-£liquen cin Snbe bcreiten, bie mandmial aud) beute nocb
geme beftreiten mbebten, baf3 tpic eiuc Runftentattung gef>abt Robert.

<S i e w i I I (lar mad>en, baf; biefe Sntartung ber Runft mel>r
tpar als etwa nur bas fliidjtigc 93oruberraufd;en pon ein paar 9Jarr-
beiten, SorlKitcn unb allju futjnen (£rperimenten, bie fid) aucb obme
bie nationalfojialiftifcbe Jveoolution totgelaufen batten.

<S i c id i 11 jeigen, bafy e& fid) bier aud) nid;t urn einen „not-
ipeubigen ©drung&projefj" t)anbelte, fonbern inn einen planmdfeigen
2lnfcblag auf bas 2Befen unb ben gortbeftanb ber Kunft iibcrl)aupt.

Sic n> i 1 I bie gemeinfame 2Burjel ber p o I i t i f d> e n
2lnard;ie unb ber f u 1 1 u r e 1 1 e n 21narcbie aufjeigen, bie Kunft-
entartung al& S? u n ft b o I f d; c u> i 5 m u s im gaujen (Sinn bcs>
9Borte& cntlaroen.

6 i c w i I I bie u>eltanfcbaulid)en, politifcben, raffifd)en unb
moralifd)en 3'de unb 2lbfiditen flarlcgen, roelcbc pon ben treibenbeu
ftrdften ber 3^rfe^ung oerfolgt rpurben.

6 i c ir> i I I aud) jcigen, in u>eld)cm 2lusmaf5 biefc <£nt-
artungserfd)emungcn pon ben bcuntfot trcibenben S?raften iibergriffen
auf mel)r ober rocnigcr unbefangene 3Jad)betcr, bie trot$ ciner frul)er
f d; o n unb mand>mal fpdter to i e b c r betcicfenen formalen 93e-
gabung geuuffen-, djaraftcr- ober tnftinttloe genug
roaren, ben allgctneinen guben- unb 93olfd>eu>iftcnrummel mit-
jumadjen.

® i e tp i 1 1 gerabc bamit aber aucb jeigen, rpie gefdbrlicb cine
pon ein paar jiibifd)en unb politifd) einbeutig bolfd;euuftifd)en 2Dort-

..K M11-.1 1, .iiiiiii iiiiKi niTiIni heitlt
(mi rim-, n il nr< Iiln nf . n

1. Plntz In tier l.oiu iiinnixi i,, h. ii

I'lltU'l II. Illll. II mill alia- I'lli. III. II
ilir Soliiliiriliit Im Kampf (lli.r-
nohmen;

2. Itlr r.'» nl ill l.inii I i- I niNtellung

ilir Pi mini. I Inn i n in i Ii nun "

ii. i .1 mi. wiriand Hanleldc

In ,,l»«r li.gnor' IMO/S1.

i^-li

1 In t.t ■ he ( . .miriniilst p |l

2 to undertake the rcvohitionsn :

;

rheJewWlelandHenreldi In IT. I l|
BMV2I

1. George Crosz, Fmhlmgirrvachm i Spring's awakening), 1922, lithograph

2. George Grosz, I iMriJun.i (Disrobing), 1921, drawing or lithograph

3 George Grosz, l)tr Hyfoihenitt Olio Schma\hamm (The hypochondriac Otto Schmalhausen), 1921, lithograph

4. Marc Chagall, Ihi Prist (The pinch o( snuff), 1912, oil on canvas

5. Unidentified

Exh,b,l,c- ArmJmrr

individuals to work toward Bolshevik anarchy in cultural
politics when those same individuals might well have
indignantly denied any alhliation with Bolshevism in
party politics

/( means to prove above all that "our of the men
whi i were m any way involved in the degeneracy of art
can now turn around and talk about "harmless follies
of youth "

From all this emerges, finally what the
"Degenerate Art" exhibition does not mean to do

It does not mf.m to assert that nil the names that
are emblazoned on the botched efforts shown here
also appeared in the membership lists of the Communist
parly As no such assertion is made, no refutation is
called for

It Joes not mean to deny that one or another of
those shown here has at some time — before or since —
"achieved something different " It is not the business of
this exhibition, however, to gloss over the fact that in
the years of the major Bolshevik-jewish onslaught upon
German art such men stood on the side of subversion

/( does not mean to prevent those artists shown
who are of German blood — and who have not fol-
lowed their former lewish friends abroad — from now
honestly striping andJhjMlmo: for the basis of a new and
healthy creativity It does and must mean to prevent,
however, the jabbering cliques from that murky past
from foisting any such men on the new state and on
its forward-looking people as "the natural standard-
bearers of an art of the Third Reich "

fiibrern gelenfte ©ntrpicflung roar, menu fie aud) foldje OTenfdjen
f u I t u r p o I i t i f cb in ben ©ienft bet bolfdjeipiftifdien 2lnard)ie-
pldnc ftellen fonnte, bie ein p a r t e i p o I i t i f d) e s 23efenntnis
jum 23olfcberpi&mu& pielleidjt a>eit pon fid) gerpiefen batten.

6 i c tv i 1 1 bamit aber erft red)t beu>eifen, bap bcute t e i n c r
bcr an biefer Kunftentartuug bamale irgenbtpie bcteiligten OTanner
tommen unb nur von „barmlofen 3ugenbefeleieu" fpred)en barf.

21us allebetn ergibt fid) febjiefdieb aud), was bie Slusftellung
„(£ntartete Jhinft" n i d) t trill:

<5 i e tp i I I n i cb t bie 93ebauptuug aufftellen, bafj a 11 e
9(amcn, bie unter ben ausgeftellten 9?iad)iperren als 6ignum
prangen, aud) in ben OTitglieberliften ber f o m m u n t ft i f d> e n
faciei perjeid)iiet iraren. ©iefe n i d) t aufgeftellte 93ebauptung
braud)t alfo aud) nid)t iDtberlegt ju u>erben.

6 i e u> i I I n i cb t beftreiten, baf3 ber eine ober anbere ber
bier 53ertretenen tnandnnal — friibcr ober fpdter — „aucb anbers
gefonnt" l)at. Sbenfotpenig aber burfte biefe 2lu&ftellung bie £at-
facbe perfebrpeigen, baf3 folcbe 92!anner in ben 3al)ren bes brMfd>e-
ipiftifcb-jiibifcben ©cneralangriffes auf bie beutfd;e Kunft in ber
gront bcr 3crfe^ung ftanben.

Sic will u i cb t perbinberu, bafj biejenigen ©eutfdi-
bliitigen uuter ben 2lusgejtellten, u>eld;e ibren jiibifeben 5rcunr,cl1
pon ebebem nidjt in ba$ Sluslanb gefolgt finb, nun e b r I i d>
r i n g e n unb f a in p f e n um eine ©ruublage fur ein ncues,
gefunbe& <Sd)affen. 6ie mill unb m u (3 aber rerbinbern, baf3
fold)e OTanner pon ben 3'i'feln unb Sliquen einer fo biifteren 93er-
gangentjeit bem ueuen Qtaat unb feinem jutunftsftaden 23olf gar
beute febou ipieber al& „berufene 93annertrager einer Kunft bes
Written 9?eid)e5" aufgefd)uiat$t rperbeu.

..Mir rlchfii «■ vor, unsauber en
exlatleren, aln aauber unteraa-
gehen. I nfHIily aber n.iiMHiullk'
BO -..In. iilxTliiNxt'it nlr t t-rlinlir-
• ••ii Imlli IiIhmI1-.Ii ii II ml iillin
Jungfern. luim AngNt um den
guten lliil'

..ll.T 4-.-kii.t-- IVCU/CI.

\\< *. ml. I rathei ■

inept htM I
II.. ' )..,

„Dbh realiach <»ebundene wlrd
certeilt and aufgebroehen in
elnem Gefftfi far seine aufge-
Maute, glnnlich brennende Lel-
denschaft, die — nun nit/fmilct —
kelne seellsche Tiefe mehr kennt
and muli auBen schlttgt. verneh-
rend, exuanaiv, glen mil alien Tei-
len begattend. En gibt fflr ihn
kelne WlderMande mehr and vor-
genetzte Urenzen . . ."

ZeitgenOaaiachea Uteratenajeathwata

liber eolchc- dnmala ..modrrnr" Bor-

dcllkunst.

I Distrained reality is split up .md broken open to

become a vessel lur his ao . sensual

passion, whk h once inflamed is oblivious <.l .ill psychic
depths and burets out — consuming expanding,

lating with all us p.irts Ihcic exist t..i him no

resistance and no prc.ird.nned limits

Contemporary literary drivel <
"modern" brothel art

ch formerly

1. Olto Dix. Dompteust (Animal trainer), 1922, etching and drypoint

2. Max Pcchslein, (.rt.in.Jfl I Coquetry), 1923, etching, drypoint, and aquatint

3. George Grosz, Wallttlraum iWaltz dream), 1921, lithograph and watercolo
4 Paul Kleinschmidt, FraimbjJ iWomens' baths), 1922, etching

The arrangement of the exhibition

The sheer diversity of the manifestations of degener-
acy as the exhibition seeks to show them, is such as to
stun and bewilder any visitor, so a clear organizational
principle has been adopted whereby the works in each
room are classified by tendency and form into a num-
ber of groups A brief guide to the exhibition follows,
treating the groups in the recommended sequence

Group 1

This affords an overall view of the barbarism of represen-
tation from the point of view of technique This group
exemplifies the progressive collapse oj sensitivity to form
and color, the conscious disregard jor (fef basics oj technique
that underlie fine art, the ^risfc spattering of color, the
deliberate distortion of drawing, and the total stupidity

Anyone who pursues the new for its own sake strays all
too easily into the realm of folly Of course, the more
stupid a thing made from stone and materials, the
more likely it is to be something really new, because
earlier ages did not allow every fool to insult his con-
temporaries with the abortions of his sick brain

The Fubrer

Reich Party Congress 1933

3ur (Slieberung ber Stfudffellung.

©a bic ftulle ber per|d)iebenen fintartungserfebeinungen, tpie
fie bic 2lusftellung jeigen trill, ouf jeben 53efud>er phneljin einen faft
nieberfebmetternben Sinbmcf mad)t, rourbe burcb cine iibcrfict)tlicf?c
©lieberung bafur geforgt, baft in ben einjelnen SRfiumen jeipeils ber
£enbenj unb ber ftorm nad) jufammengef)c>rige 2Ser!e in ©ruppen
iiberfid)tlid> pereinigt finb. 9Zad>ftebenb roirb bie giibrungslinie furj
bargeftcllt.

©ruppc 1.

Sjier ift eine allgemeine tiberficbt iiber bicSBctrbareiber
©arftetlung pom l>anbtt>erMid)en 6tanbpunft f>er ju ge-
tpinnen. 9Han fiebt in btefer ©ruppe bie fortfebreitenbe Q e t -
feijung bes ft o r m - unb garbempfinbens, bie
b e t» u {$ t e 33eracfotung aller f>anb iperfiicben
© r u n b I a g e n ber bilbenben Kunft, bie grelle ft atb -
f I e I f e r e i neben ber betpu&ten SJerjerrung ber Qeify-

rS\Z*r n"r ba^ 3teue fud?t um bt& 3teuen
AU roillen, ocrirrt fid? nur 511 leid?t in ba$
(9ebief ber ^orreteien, ba bat ©iimmjte, in
(Stein unb 3ftateria( autfgefuftrt natur(id) um
fo feid?ter bat ©irflid? 3teuarfigjte ?u fcin oer*
mag, a\i ja in fruljeren 3citaltern nid?t j'ebcm
barren genefrmigt tourbc, bic umroeft burd? bit
2lu$geburten fei'ne^ franfen ft\rn$ ju befeibigen.

© e r 5 ii b r e r
?\eicbe.parteitag 1933.

Ein sehr aufschluBreicher

rassischer
It 11 e i* schnit i

Man beachte besonders auch die
unten stehenden drei Malerbild-
nisse. Essind von links nachrechts:
Der Maler Morgner, gesehen von
sich selbst. Der Maler Radziwill,
gesehen von Otto Dix. Der Maler
Schlemmer, gesehen von E. L.
Kirchner.

1. Emil Nolde Mam uni Wnkhnt (Man and female!. 1912, oil on canvas

2. Wilhclm Morgner, unidentified self-portrait

3. Otto Dix, BiMms Fr,i»z Radziwill (Portrait of Franz Radziwill), 1928, mixed media on i

4. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Rildms B R (Brrli Rosmiwnj) (Portrait of B R [Berti Rosenberg]), 1915, tempera and
oil on canvas

5 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Rolrr Kopj (Red head), 1917, wood

6 Frnst ludwig Kirchner, Bildnn Oslur ScWmmtr (Portrait of Oskar Schlemmeri, 1914, oil on canvas

Nuu- ,ils<i m pjnn.ul.ir the three portraits oi painters

shown below They are from left to nght the painter
Morgner .is seen hy himself, the painter Radziwill as
seen by Otto Dix, the painter Schlemmer as seen by
E L Kirchner

£thi(.il.o» Broclwr

of lit choice o\ subject malttr that developed by degrees
into a blatant insult to any normal viewer with an

Group 2

The works assembled in these rooms are those con-
cerned with rlligious limits These horrific objects were
once described in the lewish press as "revelations of
German religious feeling" Any person of normal sen-
sibilities will find, however, that these "revelations" put
him more in mind of mumbo itmbo whatever his own
religious allegiance, he can only regard them as a
shameless mockery of any religious idea It is highly signifi-
cant that painted and carved mockeries of Jewish Old

nung, bie ubfulutc S> u m m b c i t b e r €> t o f f w a b I , lautcc
S>inge, bie nacb unb nacb bon Sbarattei- cinct frecben §ecausforbc-
rung jebes nonnalen, funftintcrefficrten 53efcbauer& annabmen.

©ruppc 2.

3n biefen 9*dumen finb fold;c QMlbicerte jufamnicngcfafet, bie
fid) mit r e I i g i b f e n 3 n b a 1 1 c n befaffeu. 9ftan nannte biefe
(Scbauerftude in bee jiibifeben ^reffe einfttnab „Offcnbarungen
beutfeber 9teligiofitat". S>er normal empfinbenbe 93knfcb benft
allerbings bei biefen „Offenbavungen" eber an einen § c r e n -
[put unb empfinbet fie, ganj gleieb, tpcld;etn rcligibfen 53efenntnis
er angebbrt, als unpcrfdjdmten §ol)n auf j e b e rcligibfe
93 o r ft e 11 u n g. Swftcrorbentlid) beacbtenemert ift bie £atfacbe,
baf3 gemaltc unb gefd>ni^te 93erbbbnungen jiibifcb-alttefta-
m e n t a r i f d; e r £egenben nicbt anjutreffen finb. $>ie

Until National Socialism came to power, there existed
in Germany a so-called modern art, which is to say
that, almost by the nature of the word, there was
something new almost every year National Socialist
Germany however, means to have a German art once
again, and this, like all the creative values of a people,
must and will be an eternal art If art lacks an eternal
value for our people, then even today it has no
higher value

Tk Fnfc

at the opening

of the House of Cerman Art

nQkte jutn Uftadjtantritt bti CRationalfojia»
tx~s \i$mu$ bat eg in ©eutfd?(anb cine foge«
nannte „moberne" ^unft gegeben, b.b- alfo, tPie
e^ fdjon t'm IBefen biefeg IBorteg liegf, faff jebeg
3af?r cine anbere. Da3 nationa(fo8iafiffifd?e
©euffdjlanb aber trilf toieber eine b e u t f d? e
Hunji unb biefe foil unb roirb toie a((e fc^opfc*
rifdjen IBerfe ernes' 23o(feg eine e to i 9 e fein.
(Sntbebrf fie aber eineg fofdjen @a>ia>itea>erte$
fur unfer 33off, bann if! fie aud? beute ofone
boberen IBert.

© e r g ii b r c r
bei bei Srbffnung bes §aufe& ber ©eutfeben ftunft.

..Offc mImi rii ii K«k n

deutscher

Religiositftt"

hat die den jiidischen
Kunsthiindlern feile
Presse einmal sulchen
Hexenspuk genannt.

M.U.lti I nr. ol < .1 Mini. ■

fUl Ut till"

nl this kind

Die

Titel lanten:

,,Christus und die
Sunderin", ,,Tod der
Maria aus Agypten" ,
,,Kreuzabnahme"
und ,,Christus".
Die ,,KUnstler"
heiBen : No I'd e,
Morgner und
Kurth.

'( IhriSI and the Adulteress,' "I )eath <>l
Mary "I Egypt," "Depositii h

Thr '.irlisls .iff NiWJf MoHfntr, and Kurlb

1. Emil Nolde, Cfcristus unJ dit Siindmn (Christ and the adulteress), 1926, oil on canvas

2. Wilhelm Morgner, Kreuzabnahmt (Deposition), 1912, oil on canvas

3. Emil Noldc, HtiUgt Maria von Agyplm (Saint Mary of Egypt), 1912, oil on canvas

4. Fritz Kurth, Ginslws, oil on canvas

E>fc.rNl„.„ BfOifim

Testament legends are not to be found The figures of
Christian legend, on the other hand, leer out at us
in a constant succession of devilish masks

Group 3

The graphic works shown in this exhibition are con-
clusive proof of the political basis of degenerate art The
methods of artistic anarchy are used to convey an incite-
ment to political anarchy Every single image in this
group is an incitement to class struggle in the Bolshevik
sense The idea is to convince every productive per-
son, by means of a crudely tendentious proletarian
art, that he will remain a slave and languish in mental
chains until the last property owner, the last non-
proletarian has been swept away by the longed-for
Bolshevik revolution Workers, their wives, and their
children stare out at the viewer with /acts of utter
misery m shades of gray and green "Capitalists" and

©cftdten bet cb t i ft I i cb e n Segenbe bmgegen grinfeti una bier
init imtner ncucn Seufelsfrctjjen an.

©ruppe 5.
SMc in bicfer Slbteilung gejcigteu ©rapbiten fiub fcbliiffige
33eu>eifc fur ben p o I i t i f d> e n §intergrunb b e r
ft u n ft entattun g. 2Wt ben 21usbrucfsmittcln einer f u n ft -
I e r i f d> e 11 21 n a r cb i e irirb bier bie p o I i t i f d) e 21 n -
arcbiealsgorbcrung geprebigt. Sebes citijelne 53ilb biefcr
©ruppe ruft 3um S? I a f f e n I a tn p f im <2innc bes 33olfd>eu>is-
mu8 auf. S>er febaffenbe SHenfcb fell burd> eine grob tenbenjiofe
SPcolethmft geftartt ivcrbcu in ber libcrjeugung, bajj er fo lange ein
in geiftigen $cttcn fcbmad;tenbcr 6t(at>e bleiben ivirb, bis aucb ber
lc^tc 93efii$enbe, ber let;te 2Iid>tprplctaricr pen ber erbofften b o I -
j cb e n> i ft i f d; e n Kepolution befeitigt fcin u>irb. 9flit
grauen unb griincn Slenbsgeficbtetn ftarren Slrbciter,
2irbeiterfrauen uub Slrbeiterfinber beni 53efd)auer entgegen. 2Uif

In the held of culture, as elsewhere, the National
Socialist movement and government must not permit
incompetents and charlatans suddenly to change sides
and enlist under the banner of the new state as if
nothing had happened, so they can once again call
all the shots in art and cultural policy

Thi Fiihm

Reich Party Congress 1933

{Tye nationalfojialijTifcfte 23ctt>egung unb
r^*/ ©taatefufjrung barf aucf? auf fultu*
rellem (5ebfcf nid?t butben, ba$ 7lid)tet6nntr
ober <Sauflcr plo^tid? ifyre Safjne a>ecf,fefn
unb fo, q\$ ob nicf?f3 cjeroefen rodre, in ben
neuen ©toot et'njieben, um borf auf betn
(Sebtefe ber ^unf? unb ^ulfurpolifif abermalg
bat grope 3Borf ju fiibren.

© e r g= u b r e r
9?cicbsparteitag 1933.

10

.. Kinist" prtMligl K lasso ilka in |>f !

Ai t preii !

"Painter, you desire, you overturn the world, you are
a politician' Or else you remain a private man
Painting for paintings sake is like having a rawing
machine in your bedroom

The anarchist Ludwig Rubu
Barricades" ("Action" 1914)

in "Painters Hut Id

1. Hans Grundig, unidentihed work

2. Conrad Felixmuller, Rtwlutiott Nacbtlicba BrT^ubatrr^treik (Revol

3. Otto Dix Scfwaiyerr (Pregnant woman), c 1920

4 ChristOph Voll Via Knaba unJ an klatrn Kind (Four boys and a little child I, 1919/24, woodcut

ke at night i 1921, pen and i

EM'Uon Hreihu

"exploiters" of even sort imaginable are shown sneer-
ing at the misery of the productive individual the
whole range of these "slave drivers" is depicted, from
the butcher to the banker And yet the Jewish art
dealers, who were not exactly starving even then and
who profited considerably from this same proletarian
art, are conspicuously absent from the work of these
painters of the class struggle

Group 4

This section too has a marked political tendency Here,
"art'' enters the service of Marxist draft-dodging prop-
aganda The intention is manifest the viewer is meant
to see the soldier either as a murderer or a victim,
senselessly immolated for something known to the
Bolshevik class struggle as "the capitalist world order"
Above all, the people are to be deprived of their pro-
found reverence for all the military virtues valor,
fortitude, and readiness for combat And so, in the
drawings in this section, alongside caricatures of war
cripples expressly designed to arouse repulsion and
views of mass graves delineated with every refinement

ben 8<?ict>nungen finb alle iibertjaupt nut oorftellbaren „ftapitaliften"
unb „$lu&beuter" bargeftellt, trie fie fid) tjbtmenb uber bat (Slenb
be& fdjaffenben 9ttenfd>en t>inn>egfe^en. 33om gleifcfcermeifter bis
jum Santier finb alle biefe „Gtlaocnt)alter" bargeftellt. 9tur jene
fi<$erli4> bamate aud> nid>t barbenben jubifd?en SSunftyanbler, bie
fid) gerabe au<f> an biefer ^roletfunft nic^t u>enig bereidjerten, finb
auffdlligenpeife oon ben tflaffenfampfmalern ganj uberfetjen tporben.

©ruppe 4*
2lud) biefe Slbteilung l>at eine auegepragte poiitifd>c
£ e n b e n 3. £>ier tritt bie „$unft" in ben !$>ienft ber marjiftifdjen
^ropaganba file bie 2Bel?rpflict>tpera>eigerung. §>ie 2lbfid)t tritt Mar
j-utage: $>er 23efd>auer foil im 6olbaten ben OTorber ober bae
finnlofe <£d)lad)topfer einer im ©inn be& bolfd)err>iftifd>en ^laffen-
!ampfe& „!apitaliftifd>en SBeltorbnung" erbliden. 33or allem aber
foil bem Q3ol! bie tief eingeipurjelte 2ld>tung oor jeber folbatifd>en
£ugenb, oor 9ttut, £apferteit unb (£infat$bereitfd)aft au&getrieben
tperben. €>c fel>en tpir in ben 3£i<*>nungen biefer Slbteilung neben
berimfet 2lbfd>eu erregenben 3errbilbern oon ^riegstriippeln unb ben
mit aller 9*affineffe ausgemalten (Sinbliden in 2Haffengraber bie

Art that cannot rely on the loyous, heartfelt assent of
the broad and healthy mass of the people, but depends
on tiny cliques that are self-interested and blase by
turns, is intolerable It seeks to confuse the sound
instinct of the people instead of gladly confirming it

TV Pilferer

at the opening of the House of German Art

/"Cine Hunff, bit nirf?t auf bie freubigfk unb
Vi> innigjfe Sujh'mmung ber gefunben breiten
3Haf[e bet 3$o\U$ red?nen fann, fonbem fid?
nur auf Heine/ teiltf intereffierfe, hi\$ bfafierte
(Xd'quen fftifet, iff unerfrdglid?. <5ie pcrfud?t ba$
gefunbe, inffinftfidjere ©efiif?( eine3 33offe$ 511
Dertoirren, ffotf e$ freubig 511 untcrjiufjcn.

S»cr 5iif)rec ;
bci bee (Sroffnung bes Sjaufes ber S>eiit(d)cn S?unft.

12

^""•■''-"So^alUn,,;,."

1. Out) Dix Mutter u»J KinJ Mother and child i, 1923, oil on wood

2 Fncdrich Skade, Ffaurnbildms Portrait of a woman), oil on canvas

3 George Grosz, 7« mttnm Cebitt soils sotPttt Jrommrw 'Under my rule it shall be brought to pass
drawing or lithograph

4. Max Beckmann, Dfc fotlltr (The beggars 1^22 lithograph

" I he artist aS an artist must be an anarchist

I he lew and Bolshevik Kurt Eisner, Munich
for Socialism "

Appeal

;plosive atmosphere' Learn1 Prepare1

The Bolshevik Johann R Becher in "Appeal to All
Artists" 1919, Berlin

of detail, we see German soldiers represented as sim-
pletons, vile erotic wastrels, and drunkards That not
lust lews but "artists" of German blood could produce
such botched and contemptible works, in which they
gratuitously reaffirmed our enemies' war titroaty propa-
ganda— already unmasked at the time as a tissue
of lies— will forever remain a blot on the history of
German culltirt

Group 5

This section of the exhibition affords a survey of the
moral aspect of degeneracy in art To those "artists"
whom it presents, the entire world is clearly no more
or less than a brothel and the human race is exclusively
composed of Iwrlols and pimps Among these works of
painted and drawn pornography there are some that
can no longer be displayed, even in the "Degenerate
Art" exhibition, in view of the fact that women will be
among the visitors To anyone in contemporary Ger-
many it is wholly inconceivable that a few short years
ago, in the period of Centrist rule under Heinrich
Briining, such abysmal vulgarity such utter decadence,
and such blatant criminality were still permitted to
appeal to the basest human instincts under the slogan
of "artistic freedom " Nor must it be overlooked that
this aspect of degenerate art, too, is ultimately political
in intention This is apparent from the fact that almost
all of this filth reveals a clear Marxist message of class
conflict Again and again we come upon drawings
in which wastrels of the "property-owning classes"
and their harlots are contrasted with the emaciated
"proletarian" figures who stumble wearily past in the
background In other drawings the harlot is held up
as an ideal in contrast to woman in bourgeois society
who in the view of the creators of this "art" is morally

beutfd)en ©olbaten als Srottcl, gemeine erotifebe SBiiftlinge uub
©dufer bargeftellt. ®a& nicbt nttr guben, fonbern aud) beutfd>-
bliitige „S?unftlcr" tnit fold) niebertrdd)tigen OTadnrerten bic feinb-
lid>e 5?riegsgreuelpropaganba,bie bamals fd>on als
£ugengetr>ebe entlarot tr>ar, nacbtrdglid) auf biefe SBeife unauf-
geforbert crncut b c ft a t i g t e n , roirb fur immer ein
© cb a n b f I e d ber b e u t f d) e n S? u I t u r g e f cf> i d) t e
bleibcii.

©ruppe 5.

S>icfe Slbtcilung ber Slusftcllung gibt cincn (Sinblid in bie
in o r a I i f d> e ©eite bec Shinftentartung. gitr bic barin per-
tretenen „fiunftler" iff offenficbtlicb bic ganje 5Bclt cin einjiges
gropes 23 o r b e 1 1 , unb bic OTenfdjbcit fct$t fid) fitr fie aus (outer
$) i r n c n unb 3 it f> <i i 1 1 e r n jufammen. Gs gibt unter biefcr
gemalten unb gejcidmeteit ^Pornograpbie 93luttec unb 53ilber, bie
man audi im 9\abmen ber 2lusftellung „Sntartetc Kunft" nicbt
mct)r jcigert fann, tr>enn man baran benft, baf3 aud> gratten bicfe
©duni befucbeu trerben. ©s ift fiir jeben OTenfcben unferes i)eutigen
SVutfdilanbs pbllig unbegreiflicb, baf3 man por tpenigen 3abrctt
nocb, uub jroar aud) nod) in ben 3?iten ber 3entrumst)errfd)aft
unter Sjeinricb. 93ritning, fo abgrunbtiefe ©emcinl)citen, fo piel 23er-
tommenbeit uub cin fo cinbeutig iiberfut)rtc& 93crbred)crtum unter
ber S>coife ..^rcitteit ber Kunft" ungebjnbert an bie niebcrften
Onftinfte bes llntcrmenfcbentums appellicren licf3. S>as aber barf
nid)t iibcrfei)cn trerben: 2lucb biefc ©cite ber ftunftentartung gebt
letden ®nbes auf cine politifd>e 3iclftellung jttriid. S>as ift fd)on
baraus crficbtlidi, bafj faft alle biefc ©dnpeincrcicn aud) einc beut-
lid)c marriftifd)-flaffentdmpfcrifd)c Senbcnj attfrocifen. Smmer
toieber begegnet man 33ldttern, auf bencn SMftlinge ber „befit$en-
ben Klaffe" unb if)re 5>irnen in ©egenfa^ geftellt finb ju ben aus-
gebungerten ©eftalten bes im fjintergrunbe fid) nutbe porbeifd;leppen-
ben .proletariats". 2luf anbercn 3«'d)nungcn roirb bie ©irne
ibealifiert uub in ©egenfat} geftellt jur Jrau ber biirgerlicben ©efcll-
fd)aft, bie nacb 9lnfid>t ber OTadicr biefer „Kiinft" moralifd) piel

14

< ■ e 111 alt e \\ v li r s a U o I a »■ e

dei Haleri otto i>i\

bv ilw palntei ' )tto I v

1. Otto Dix, KrmpltruWrl i War cripples), 1920, oil on canvas

2 Otlo Dix, Drr Sckuizmgrabtn (The trench I, 1920-23, oil on canvas

tar more depraved than the prostitute In short /n
llirs srciioii lb( moral program of Bolshevism shriek out from
every wall

Group 6

The many works shown here serve to demonstrate that
degenerate art often lent its support to that segment of
Marxist and Bolshevik ideology whose objective is the
systematic traiiatim of the last vtslme 0/ racial conscious-
»fss In the pictures in the previous section the harlot
was held up as a moral ideal, here we are presented
with the niyro and the Soiilli Sea islander as the evident
racial ideal of "modern art " It is hardly believable that

pcnpprfener ift als bie ^rpftituierte. S?urjum: S> a s m p r a I i f d> e
^Prpgramm bes93plfcberpismus fdireit i n b i e f e r
21 b t c i I u n g Don alien 2B a n b e u.

©ruppc 6.

§ier aurb an cinec grbfeeren Qai}l con SBerfen fidjtbar ge-
mad)t, baft fid) bic cntartetc Kunft pielfa* aud> in ben ©tenft
jenes Seiles bee tnarriftifd>en unb bplfd>ctr>iftifd;en Sbeplpgie geftellt
bat, beren 3<d lautet: ^lanmafjige 21 b t 5 t u n g ber I e tj t e n
9\ e ft c jebes KaffebciPiifotfeins. SBurbe in ben 93ilbern
ber pprigen 2lbteilung bie SHrne ab fittlicf?cs Sbeal bingcftellt,
fp begegnen tr>ir nun bier bem 71 e g e r unb © u b f e e i n f u -
I a n e r als bem pffenfidttlidjen r a f f i f d) e n Sbeal ber
„mpbernen Jlunft". Ss ift taum ju glauben, baf3 bie 9Iiad;er

And what do you create' Misshapen cripples and
cretins, women who can arouse only revulsion, men
closer to beasts than to human beings, children who
if they lived in such a shape would be taken for the
curse of Cod1 And this is what these cruel dabblers
dare to serve up as the art of our time, that is, as the
expression ol all that molds and sets its stamp on
the present age

TheHhrer

at the opening of the Hou'

responsible for the decade

:ofCe
ce of a.

Unb uxig fabrijieren fie? 3JJi§geftaltete
^riippel unb Hretin^ Srauen, bit nur
abfd?euerregenb roirfen fonnen, Dinner, bit
Xieren na'ber finb ate 3ftenfd?en, ^inber, bit,
toenn fie fo leben roiirben, gerabeju a\i Stud?
(5ofte^ empfunben trerben miifjten! Unb bai
roagen biefe graufamjien ©iletfanten unferer
r/eutigen Dlitroelf ate bit ^unft unferer 3ett
Dorjujrelfen, b. \). ate ben 2(u3brucf beffen, roag
bie fyeurige 3eit gefraftet unb ir/r ben ©fempel
aufprdgt.

© er g iib r e r

bet ber ©rbffnung bes ftaufes ber 5>eutf*en Kunft

ubet bic Srdgcr bes Jtunftjerfalles.

16

IH«- IMiim- wirri
/.urn sittliclien

l«h :il 4-iIioIm-ii !

Was die Im.Ui li<»i>(i-« ho JO. I in
Rosa Luxemburg an der nisni-
sihoii l.it.riiiiir beRonder« liebte:
„lMe ruitslsche Literatur adelt die
Prostituierte. verKohafft ihr He-
nugtuung fOr das an ihr began-
gene Verbrechen der <Jesell-
Hehnft . . ., erhebt sie aus dem
Fegefeuer der Korniption und
ihrer xeelisehen Qualen in die
lir.hr xittlieher Keiuheit nnd
weiblichen HeldentuniK."

Ronr Kuxeniburg
in ..Die Aktion- !»*«•

rV

'■■

< ^t£i

r-™

What the Bolshevik Jewess Rosa Luxemburg loved

must about Russian literature "Russian literature
ennobles the prostitute, makes amends to her tor the
crime that society has committed against her
lifts her out of the purgatory ol corruption and mental
torment to the heights of moral purity and (emale
heroism "

Luxemburg in "Actfc

1921

1 Karl Schmidt-RoitluM, FuiunbtUws I Portrait of a woman:, watercolor

2. Paul Kleinschmidt, Duett m NorJ-Gtfe l Duet at the North Cafe), 1925. oil on canvas

3 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Gtlbc Tanzmn (Yellow dancer), 1913, oil on canvas

BM.iu>« (W-u,

the makers of these works are men whose homes are —
or at least were — in Germany or Europe It must be
Stressed that this nigger art is also so barbarous in
technique that many a negro would justifiably refuse to
see his own likeness in the figures depicted, still less
acknowledge any part in the authorship of such works

Croup 7

This section of the exhibition reveals that, alongside
the negro as the racial ideal of what was then "mod-
ern" art, there was a highly specific intellectual ideal,
namely, the idiot, the cretin, and the cripple Even where
these "artists" have portrayed themselves or each other,
the resulting faces and figures are markedly cretinous
This may not — to judge from the rest of the works —
invariably reflect a deliberate avoidance of likeness on
their part Be that as it may one thing is certain to the
"moderns" represented here a mindless, moronic face
constituted a special creative stimulus This is the only
possible explanation for the sheer abundance of sculp-
ture, graphic work, and painting contained in this
section of the exhibition Here are human figures
that show more of a resemblance to gorillas than to

"Works of art" that are not capable of being under-
stood in themselves but need some pretentious
instruction book to justify their existence — until at
long last they find someone sufficiently browbeaten
to endure such stupid or impudent twaddle with
patience — will never again find their way to the
German people

The Fiihrer

at the opening of the House of German Art on

degenerate art

biefer 53ilbu>erfe in S>eutfd>lanb obex in Suropa ilue i)eimat tjabcu
pber tpenigftens bamals nod> batten. S>abci ift allerbings ju betpnen,
bafe aucb biefc 91iggerfunft tHmbtr>erflid> fo barbarifd) ift, bafc fid>
mancber 9Jegcr mit 9ved)t bagegen aufletmen unirbe, in ben bax-
geftellten ©cftalten SHenfcfcen fcinesgleid)en ju erblidcn ober gat
bcr ltrl>ebcrfcbaft an foldjcn 23ilbtr>ertcn bejicbtigt ju toerben.
©ruppc 7.
On biefer 2lbteilung bcr 21usftellung coirb tlar gemacbj, bag
aufter bem 2?eger als betn raffifd;en Obeal ber bamals „mobernen"
Kunft aucb cin ganj befpnbers g e i ft i g e s 3 b e a I pprfd>roebte,
namlicb. bcr 3 b i p t , bcr X? r c t i n unb ber "-p a r a I p t i t e r.
2lud) too fid) bicfc „S?iinftler" felbft ober gegenfeitig portratierten,
fommen babei ausgefprpd)en tretintjaftc ©eficbter unb ©cftalten
tjeraus. ©as mag, ben iibrigen SBcrfen nad) ju febjiefeen, nidjt
immer cin grunbfat;lid;cr 33erjicbt auf 5it>nlid>tcit fcin. 6icber
aber ift, baf3 jebes ftupib-ibiotenl)afte ©efid)t bic bjcr pertretenen
„931pberncn" befonbers jum 6cbaffen angeregt bat. 2tnbers
auirc es nid>t ju erfliircn, baJ3 audb biefe 2lbteilung ber Slusftellung
in ^laftif, ©rapbjf unb OTalerei fo umfaugreid) ift. §ier finb

^unfttDerfe", bit an fief? nidjt oerftanben tocr.
ben fonnen, (onbern a\& Dafeintfberecfyticjuna, erf!
eine fd?tDufjlia,e (Sebraucb&intDeiTuna, benotigen,
um enblid? jenen 33erfcr)ud)terten ju finben, ber
einen fo bummen ober fredjen iinfinn gebulbig
aufnimmt toerben oon jefet ob ben 2Bea. 511m
beuffdjen 23olfe nicfjf mefjr finben.

£> e r 5 " l> r c r

bci ber firbffnung bes §aufes ber S>cutfd>cn Kunft
iiber bie entartctc ftunft.

18

N'u » i. mm. in i net > H \ here'

■
Hoffmann and Sihrmdi k-.tilull

1. Christoph Voll, S<.hu\wt}rn Frau (Pregnant woman), wood

2 Eugcn Hoffmann, Adam unj Eva 'Adam and Eve), wood

3 hrnst Ludwig Krrchner, Das Paar [The couple:, 1923/24, wood

4. Karl Schmidt-Rottlutt, litmistba MiJchm I Lithuanian ^irl *. 1917, wood

5. Erich Hcckcl, Grossr ^IthrnJe Large standing woman), 1912, wood

Exhibition Brochw

men Here are portraits that make the earliest known
attempts at depicting the human form — in Stone-Age
caves — look like mature masterworks Bui et'fti for such
borrors as tbcst .is llif purchase prices sbou\ ibt highest prices
ivere iliil being lintuuuied and paid a few years alio

Group 8

In one small room, just lor a change, all the artists
represented are Jews It must be pointed out, to obvi-
ate any misunderstanding, that this represents only
a tiny selection ol the numerous examples of lewish
trash that the exhibition as a whole has to show The
distinguished "contributions" to degenerate art clearly
made by lewish spokesmen, dealers, and patrons suf-
fice in themselves to justify this 'special honor " Here,
for example, we find "the new man" as imagined by
the lew Fmmdhch Hanging or standing all around it

rnenfcblicbe ftiguren J" fel>en, bic tr>at>rl>ciftig mit ©orilla& mebr
$f)nlid>feit tyaben al& mit OTenfd>en. §ier gibt es "portrats, gegen
bie bie erften gefd)id)tlid) befannten 93erfud)e ber 9ftenfd>en-
barftellung in fteinjeitlid)en §bf)len reifc OTeifterrperte finb. 21 b e r
aud) f ii r f o I d> e ©djauerftucfe tpurben, trie bic
Slnfaufspretfe a u s n> e i f e n , n o d> nor rr> e n i g e n
3 a b r e n f) bd) ft e "^3 rcifc pcrlangt unb b e 5 a (> ( t.

©ruppe 8.
9ti eincm tlcincn 9Jautn finb I>icc bcr 2Jbtr>ed)flung balbcr
ciitmal nut 3 u b c n pertrcteu. £>amit teine 9Kif3oerftanbniffe
entftef>en, fci bemcrtt, baft es fid? bier nur urn cine Heine 2lusa>abl
au5 ben }abjreid;en jiibifdjen OTcid>tperfen fwnbelt, bie bie 2lu&-
ftellung insgefamt jeigt. ©ie grofjen „23erbienfte", bie fid) bie
jiibifd>en 2BortfuJ>rer, §anbler unb Jbrberer ^c entarteten Kunft
jtpcifellos ertporben tjaben, recbtfertigt jur ©eniige biefe
„<S 0 ti b e r e b r u n g". §ier finbet fid> u. a. aucb „©er neue
OTenfcb", trie ibn ficb Qub g r c u n & ' ' d> ertrciumt bat. §>ort

Jewry was able, largely by exploiting its position in
the press, to enlist the aid of so-called art criticism
not only in gradually obscuring all normal ideas of
the nature and function of art and its purpose, but
also in destroying the general healthy response in
this area

Tbe Fuhrer

at the opening of the House of German Art

f|\a3 3ubenfum perjfanb e»V befonbere5 unfer
c^tJ Sfu^nufeung feiner ©tellung in bcr Preffe,
mit £>ilfe ber fogenonnten ^unfffritif nicbt nur
bie natiirficr/en 2fuffaJTungen iiber bat IBefen
unb bk Slufeaben ber ^unft foroie bercn 3n>e<f
alfmdr/lia? m DertDi'rren, fonbern liberbaupf ba&
alfgemeine gefunbe (Smpfinben auf bt'efcm (5e«
biefc 511 jerftoren.

$> e r 5 ii () r e r
bei bcr ©roffnung bee, fjaufes ber S>eutfd)en Slunft.

20

Drei Ko*i proben entarteter
IMnsfik iiikI Hsilt-rei

... i t e 1 lauten:
D,^bstbUdnl.»desJ«den

Der neue Mensch .

SSudenFre-ndUch,

..KopfvonHaizmann

■ imct»s ol degeni I painting

In .in. »ili i
lure arnl pail

I hi ml. i ..(<■

Sell Portrait" <>i rhc few Mi idm i
"The New Man
"Head b I

In another edition

TTir iirff\ an
Sell Portrait,
Ut 'fU's UK

Meidnei FreundUch

I he New

1. Otto Freundlich Do new MaiStb (The new man), 1912. plaster

2. Ludwig Meidner, Setbstportrat (Self-portrait), 1912, oil on canvas

3. Rudolph Haizmann, Kopf i Head i bn

£xbidilipi» Brocbui

are yet more dissolute dreams, both sculpted and
painted, that beggar description

Croup 9

This section can only be entitled "Sheer insanity " It
occupies the largest room in the exhibition and con-
tains a cross section of the abortions produced by all
the "isms" thought up, promoted, and peddled over the
years by Flechtheim, Wollheim, and their coh(en)orts
In the case of most of the paintings and drawings in
this particular chamber of horrors there is no telling
what was in the sick brains of those who wielded the
brush or the pencil One of them ended up by "paint-
ing" with only the contents of garbage cans Another
was content with three black lines and a piece of wood
on a large white ground A third had the bright idea
of painting "a number of circles" on two square meters
of canvas A fourth used at least six pounds of paint
in painting three successive self-portraits because he
could not figure out whether his head was green or sul-
fur yellow round or angular, his eyes red or sky blue
or whatever In this "insanity group," visitors to the
exhibition usually just shake their heads and smile Not
without cause, certainly But when we reflect that all
these "works of art" have been removed not from the
dusty corners of deserted studios but from the art
collections and museums of the great German cities,
where some of them still met the gaze of an astonished
public during the first years that followed the Fuhrer's
assumption of power, thai i( is no laughing mailer then
we can only choke back our jury that so decent ii people as
Ih Germans could ever baa been so foully abused

fteben unb bcingeii aud; nodi anbere plaftijcbe unb geniultc 5Buften-
tratinic bcmm, bcnen gegetuiber SBorte oerfagen mufjen.

©ruppc 9.

S>icfei Slbteilung farm man nur bic i'lberfdmft „53oll-
c ii b c t c t 5B a I) 11 j inn" gcben. *5ie nimmt ben grbfjten
9?aum bcr Stusftellung ein unb entbalt cincn Quecfcbnitt burd) bic
Slusgcburtcu famtlicbec „3 s in e n", bic fflecbtbeim, 2Bollbeim
unb Sobiifocten im Saufc bcr 3abre aue>gcbedt, gefbrbert unb oer-
iainfd)t baben. 2tuf ben 53ilberu unb 3eicbnungett biefee. Scbauer-
tabinetts iff meiftens iiberbaupt nid?t mebr ju erteuuen, was ben
franfen ©eiftcrn oorfcbtyebte, ab fie ju cpiufcl ober Stift gegriffeu.
5>er cine „malte" fcbliefolicb nur nod) mit bem Onbalt von OTiill-
einterii. Sin auberer begniigte fid) mit brei [cbtoacjen Siitien unb
einem «5tiict ijolj attf cincm grofoen roeifjen Itntergrunb. <&\n
©fitter battc bic £rleud;tung, „Sinigc Kreife" auf jtvei Quabrat-
iiietec Seimvanb ju malcn. Sin ^Mcrter perbraucbtc nacbeinanber
fflt brei <5elbjtbilbitiffe gut brei Kilogramm garbc, b<x cr fid) nid)t
eiuig tocrbeit foitnte, ob fein S?opf griiu ober fd)u>cfclgclb, cunb ober
edig, feinc 2tugen cot ober bimmelblau obcr fonft ettoae. finb. 3n
biefee (Srtippc bee. 2Babnfhms pflegcn bie 2lusftellungsbefucbet nut
nod; ben ftopf ju fcbuttcln unb 311 lacbeit. ©icbec nicbt obnc ©runb.
2lber toeim man bebenft, bafj aud) all biefe „$unftu>erte" nicbt
etiua aus ocrftaubten Gdctt rerlaffcucr SUcliere., fonbern aus ben
S?uuftfammlungcn unb OTufeen bcr gcojjjen beutfeben <5tabtc bcraus-
gebolt tiutrbeu, wo fie teiluuife nod) in bcu ecftcn 3abren l,acb
bcr 92tacbtecgceifung biugen unb bcr ftaunenbcu OTitroelt bar-
gebotcu unirbeu, b a u it fa n u m a 11 11 i cb t m c b r I a d) e 11 ;
b a 11 11 t a 11 11 m a it 11 u r 111 i t b e r 2B it t bar ii b e c
t ii m p f e 11 , b a [\ 111 it cine in f 0 a 11 ft a 11 b i g e 11 33 0 I t
10 i e be m b e 11 t f cb c it ii b e r b a u p t c i 11 in a 1 f 0
i5 d> i 11 b I 11 b c r g c t r i e b c 11 w c r b c 11 fount e.

22

Selbst das wurde elnmal ernsl
genommeo mid lioch bezahlt!

Die Titel heiBen: ,,Der Gott der Flieger", ,,.\m Strand",

..Merzbild" und ,,Familienbild" .

Die ,,KUnstler" heiBen: Molzahn, Metzinger und Schwitters.

I ten this w.is cm..- alien seriously and bought foi

I hi titl I h On the

Portrah

Mi- lltl MetZingCI iimJ Sihwittcrs

1. Johannes Molzahn Coll Jrr Flirjrr 'Cod of the aviatorsl, 1921, oil on canvas

2. Kurt Schwitters, MmbiU 'Merz picture), 1919, mixed media
3 lean Mctzm^cr, Im K'.imu In the canoe), 1936

4, Johannes Molzahn, FiimilirwMJ Family portrait)

fxbibiliod Bio^huit

An end to art-Bolshevism

from il't Film's speech al ifct opemrn) of tht Homi of Girm
Art m Munich

In this hour I affirm my unalterable resolve here, as
in the realm of political confusion, to clear out all
the claptrap from artistic life in Germany

"Works of art" that are not capable of being
understood in themselves but need some pretentious
instruction book to justify their existence — until at
long last they find someone sufficiently browbeaten
to endure such stupid or impudent twaddle with
patience — will never again find their way to the
German people'

All those catchphr;

ch as "inner expe-
"powerful will,"
nee," "meaningful
m," "archetypal

rience," "a strong cast of mind,"
"prophetic emotion," "heroic sta
empathy," "experience of duratk
primitivism," and the like — all those stupid, lying
subterfuges, all that claptrap, all that drivel will no
longer serve to excuse — let alone to commend —
productions that are intrinsically worthless because
they are plainly inept

If someone has a powerful impulse or an inner
experience, let him prove it through his work and not
through foolish words We are all far less interested,
in any case, in any so-called impulse than we are in
talent In future, any artist who wants to be exhibited
in this building, or to present himself to the public
anywhere in Germany is going to need talent The
impulse we can surely take for granted' It would really
be the limit if anyone were to inflict on his fellow cit-
izens works that lacked even an impulse If these fools
now seek to make their works palatable by presenting
them as the expression of a new age, then the only
answer is this it is not art that makes a new age, but
the whole life of a nation that first reforms itself and
then often seeks a new form of expression The truth

^unf?bolfcf)etDi$mu3 am (£nbe.

2t u s bcr 9v e b e b e s $ ft b r e r s jur g r 5 f f n u n g
b e s § a u f c s b c r © e u t f cb e it K u n jt in W a n d> e it.

3cb unit in bicfer ©tunbe bctenncn, baft es mem unabanber-
licbcr Sntfd)luf5 ift, genau fo u>ic auf bom iScbiet bec politifcben
33ertpirrung nuumebr audi bjcr mit ben ^fjrafen im beutfd;en S?unft-
leben aufjurtiumen.

„S?uuftroerfe", bie an ficb nid;t perjtanben u>erben foimeu, fon-
bern als ©afeinsberecbtigung crft cine fdmutlftige iSebraucbsaniveifung
benotigen, urn enblid) jenen Q3erfcbud>terten ju finben, ber einen fo
bummen obcr frcd>en Unfinn gebulbig aufnimmt, roerbeu Don jeijt
ab ben 2Beg 311m beutfd;cn 33oltc nicbt met>r finben!

2tllc biefe ©cblagaiorte, roie: „inneres Srleben", „eine ftarte
©efinnung", „frafh>olles SBollen", ..jufunftstracbtigc cJmpfinbung",
„beroifdic ftaltung", „bebcutfamestSinfublcn", „crlcbte 3eitorbnung",
„urfpruuglicbe ^rimitioitat" ufn>., allc biefe bummen, oerlogenen
2lusreben, ^brafen pbccScbtPtt^erciett, roerbeu feinc Sntfcbulbigung
ober gar Smpfcblung fur an ficb roertlofe, roeil einfacb ungefonnte
Crrjeuguifje mebt abgebeu.

Ob jemanb ein ftarlcs. SBollen tyat obcr cin iuneres Srleben,
bas mag er bur* fcin 2Berf unb nicbt burcb fcbtpatjbafte 2Bortc
beroeifen. llberbaupt interejficrt uns allc r>iel rocniger bas fogenannte
2Bollen als bas Rftnnen. fis muf} baber ein Kimftler, ber bamit
reebnet, in bicfem §aus jur 2lusftellung 311 fommen ober iiberbaupt
nod; in Sufunft in ©eutfcblanb aufsutreten, iiber ein Kbrmeu r>er-
fiigeu. ©as SBoIIen ift bocb roobl turn roriu)crein felbftpcrftiinblicb!
©enn es nnire fdion bas 2lllcrbbcbfte, toenn ein 9?Jcnfd; feine 2ftit-
biirger mit 2lrbcitcn belaftigtc, in benen er am Snbe nicbt einmal
roas roollte. 2Bcnn biefe ©cbroat>er nun abet ibre SBcrfe baburcb
fd;macfbaft 311 ntacben pcrfud>cn, baft fie fie cben als ben 2lusbrucf
einer ueueii 3^'it binftellen, fo faun ibnen nut gefagt rocrben, baft
nicbt bie Kuiift neuc Scitcn febafft, fonbern baf3 ficb bas allgemeine
Sebcu bcr 23blfcr ucu gcftaltct unb baber oft audi nad; einem neueu

24

MW°* Die Hel-

DU <*>«' £5, L»cht" «"d

mmer noch m Mach

wert von r» jenomw1"
dorchaus JJJ* » sehr auf-

werot"

I he on he Saint of the In

and k l>v I '

n

I ( llllll
nevcrlli' li

botched effort which wai intended i" be taken
entirely seriously, Is highly n

der"- 1 leben ■ *«T un»erem
,. »b.r*»-*« ' ,..*»*r-t'»*e

'Ethics ol Mental Illness

"The crazy talk ol obsessives is the higher wisdom lor
it is human Why have we yet to gain this Insight
into the world ol the free will? Because, superficially
we are in command ol insanity, because we d
lence to the mentally ill and prevent them from living
in accordance with their own ethical laws Now we
must seek to overcome the blind spot in our relation-
ship with mental illness"

The lew Wit-land Herzlcldc in "Action' NI4

1 Paul Klec, Dir Holier
2. Unidentified

fyl.il.ili,™ Hr.ut™

is that all the talk of a new art in Cermany over the
last few decades has sprung from a total failure to con-
ceive what the new German age is For a new epoch is
not molded by literary men but by warriors, that is,
by the truly formative presences that lead nations and
make history But then that is a status to which these
wretched, muddled daubers or scribblers can hardly
be expected to aspire

Besides, only barefaced impudence or unfathom-
able stupidity could dare to offer to our present age,
of all ages, works that might have been made ten or
twenty thousand years ago by Stone-Age man They
speak of the primitive in art, and they forget that it is
not the purpose of art to move backward and away
from the evolution of a nation, that its task can only
be to symbolize that living evolution

Today the new age is shaping a new human
type In countless areas of life huge efforts are being
made to exalt the people to make our men, boys,
and youths, our girls and women healthier and thus
stronger and more beautiful And from this strength
and this beauty there springs a new lease on life, a new
|oy in life Never has mankind been closer to antiquity
in appearance or in feeling, than it is today Steeled by
sport, by competition, and by mock combat, millions
of young bodies now appear to us in a form and a con-
dition that have not been seen and have scarcely been
imagined for perhaps a thousand years A glorious and
beautiful type of human being is emerging one who,
after supreme achievement in work, honors that fine
old saying, "Work hard and play hard " This human
type, as we saw him in last year's Olympic Games,
stepping out before the whole world in all the radiant
pride of his bodily strength and health — this human
type, you gentlemen of the prehistoric, spluttering art
brigade, is the type of the new age And what do you
create^ Misshapen cripples and cretins, women who
can arouse only revulsion, men closer to beasts than
to human beings, children who if they lived in such a

2lu6brucf fucbt. Stllein, bas, was in ben le^ten gabrjebnten in
S>eutfd)lanb oon drier neuen Shmft rebete, bat bie ncuc beutfebe Sett
jebenfall& nid>t begriffen. ©enn nicbt Siteraten finb bie ©eftalter
einer neuen €poa)e, fonbern bie ftampfer, b. b. bie roirflicb geftal-
tenben oblterfiibrenben unb bamit ©efcbia)te macbenben Srfcbei-
nungen. ©aju roerben fia) aber biefe armfeligen oerroorrenen
'Pirifler ober Sfribenten roobl laum reebnen.

Slufcerbem ift es entroeber eine unoerfrorene ftredjbeit ober erne
febroer begreiflicfje ©ummbeit, au&gerecbnet unferer beutigen 3ctt
2Derte oorjufe^en, bie piellcicbt cor jcbn- ober jroanjigtaufenb gabren
pon einem 6teinjeitler batten gemacbt roerben fbnnen. 6ie reben oon
einer ^rimitioitdt ber Kttnft, unb fie pergeffen babei ganj, ba$ e&
nicbt bie Slufgabe ber Kunft ift, ficb oon ber Sntroicflung eine& 33olfe&
nacb riicttpdrte. ju entfernen, fonbern baj} e& nur ibre Slufgabe fein
tann, biefe lebenbige Sntroicflung ju frmibolifieren.

5>te Jjeutige neue Sett arbcitet an einem neuen OTenfcbentpp.
llngebeure Slnftrengungen roerben auf unjdbjigen ©ebieten bes Sebene
oollbrad)t, utn bas 33olf ju beben, unt unferc OTdnner, Knaben unb
giinglinge, bie OTSbcben unb ^rauen gefiinber unb bamit traftooller
unb febbner ju geftalten. Unb aus biefer Kraft unb aus biefer Sa)6n-
beit ftrbmen ein neue& Seben&gefiibl, eine neue Seben&freube. 9iie-
mal& roar bic OTenfcbbeit im 2lu8feben unb in tyrer Gmpfinbung ber
Slntife nal;er al& beute. ©port-, 3Bett- unb Kampffpiele ftdblen
OTillionen jugenblicber ftbrper unb jcigen fie uns nun fteigenb in
einer gorm unb 53erfaffung, roie fie piellcicbt taufenb gabre lang
nicbt gejeben, ja faiim geatmt roorben finb. Sin leucbtenb feboner
9Kenfa)enti)p rodebft beran, ber nad> bbebfter Slrbeiteleiftung bem
febbnen alten Sprucb bulbigt: ©aurc 2Bo.cben, aber fro^e ^efte.
liefer OTenfcbentnp, ben roir erft im oergangenen gabr in ben
Olrmtpifcben ©pielen in fciner ftrablenben ftoljen tbrperlicben Kraft
unb ©cfunbbeit oor ber ganjen 2Bclt in (£rfc$>einung treten faben,
biefer OTlcnfcbentpp, meine §erren prdbiftorifd)en Kunftftotterer, ift
ber £i)p ber neuen 3eit. Unb roa& fabrijieren 6ie? OTi&geftaltetc
Kriippcl unb Cretins, JJraueu, bie nur abfcbetterrcgcnb roirten fbnnen,
OTdnner, bic Sicrcn ndbcr finb als OTenfcben, Kinbcr, bie, roenn

I* diew r\rr8to»^e°

Uoide\berv- Nicht-
si..«^e , r bo1<*«

1 rde ebedetn

aber *£^s fcunst-
erosthatt «l ben ood

v0° Kunstausste»
lunfeeo deeri:ite\des

W8tr°mmUbla»etn

This head .:

is the work ill m iik ur.ihlv insane man in lb. |
.llni i him in I li i d el II1C nofurlnlt should

h works is undersl.ind.ihk-

This abortion

was, on the other hand, seriously discussed as a work
of art and included in many exhibitions in the past as
a masterwork by E Hotfmann The title ot the mon
strosity is "Girl with Blue Hair", indeed, its coiffure is
a resplendent pure sky blue

1 Hugen Hoffmann, A1,iJc/ioi mil M.iurm Haar (Girl with blue hair), plaster
2. Karl Brendel, MaithmVopj (Head of a girl), 1912/13, chewed bread

lxh,h,l,cn Bwthur,

shape would be taken for the curse of God' And this
is what these cruel dabblers dare to serve up as the art
of our time, that is, as the expression of all that molds
and sets its stamp on the present age

Let no one try to say that such artists really see
things this way I have noticed among the works sub-
mitted many that compel the supposition that some
people's eyes fail to show them things as they really
are that is, that there really exist men who see our
people of the present day only as absolute cretins, and
who, as a matter of principle, perceive — or as no
doubt they would put it, "experience" — meadows as
blue, skies as green, clouds as sulfur yellow, and so
forth I have no intention of entering into any argu-
ment as to whether these individuals really see and fe<
that way or not, but on behalf of the German people
1 would like to ban any such pitiful unfortunates —
evidently the victims of defective eyesight — from

Our resolve was firm that the driveling Dadaist-Cubist
and Futuristic "expenence'-mongers and "objectivity"-
mongers would never under any circumstances be
allowed any part in our cultural rebirth This will
be the most effective consequence of our realizing
the true nature of the cultural decadence that lies
behind us

Tbi Fiibm

Reich Party Congress 1935

fie fo leben unirben, gerabeju als Slucb ©ottes empfunben roerben
mufjten! Unb bas roagen biefe graufamften ©ilettanteu unferer
beutigcn gmtroelt als bie Bunft unfcrcr Sett oorjuftellen, b. b. als
ben 2lusbrucf befjen, roas bie freutige 8eit geftaltet unb ibr ben
(Stempel aufpragt.

3Ron fage nur nicbt, baf5 biefe Kiinftler bas cben fo feben.
3d; babe frier unter ben eingefebjeften Silbern manebe Slrbeiten be-
obad;tet, bei benen tatfacblicb angenommen roerben muf$, bas ge-
roiffen OTenfd>en bas, 2lugc bie Singe anbers jeigt, als, fie finb, b. b.,
baf3 C6 toirtlicb banner gibt, bie bie beutigen ©eftalten unferes
Voltes nur als oerfommene Cretins feben, bie grunbfa^lid; SDiefen
blau, $immel grim, SBolfen fcbroefelgelb ufu>. empfinben ober, t»ie
fie Dielleicbt fagen, erlebeu. 3cb trill mid) nid>t in einen Streit bar-
uber einlaffen, ob biefe 23etreffenben bas nun roirtlicb fo feben unb
empfinben ober nicbt, fonbern id> mbcbte im Stamen bes beutfefren
Voltes es nur oerbieten, bas fo bebauerlidje Ungludlicbe, bie erficbt-
licb an ©ebftbrungen leiben, bie Srgebniffe ibrer $et>lbetrad>tung

Sett ftanb ber Gntfdjtu^ bit babaiftiffyfoM'
jtifdjen unb futuriftifefcn (Srlcbni^» unb
6ad?lid,feit$fd?tDQ|er unter feinen Kmftdnben
an unferer futtureften ^cugeburt teilnefymen
ju (often. ©ie$ tru'rb bit tDirfuna^Dollfte 3ota,e<
rung au$ bcr (Srfenntnte bcr 2Irt bti Winter
un$ liegenben Murjerfalte fci'n.

© e r 5ul,ccr
9*eid?sparteitag 1935.

28

and an amateur ■

how it looks

it incurable lunatu

a ..at this is

But when Haizmann,

[In another edition Hut when the lew Haizmann

praised in his own day as a sculptor of genius," takes
it into his head to create a "fabulous beast' to adorn
a fountain the resulting monstrosity looks like
this picture

This inferior work weighs
by the way

[In another edition The J(
hundred pounds, by the way

veral hundred pounds,
creature weighs several

1. Rudolph Haizmann, Fabtllm (Fabulous beast i, plaster
2 Karl Brendel, Katzt I Cat

Exhibition Brocbut

attempting to bluff the public into accepting the prod-

ucts of their distorted vision
No, there are only tw<
Either these so-called artists
and therefore believe in wha
case we would simply h
visual defects spring fro

I, or even as "art "
vo possible alternatives
s really see things this way
iat they represent, in which
to investigate whether their
mechanical or a congenita!

cause If the former, this would be a matter for deep
regret on behalf of these unfortunates themselves, if
the latter, then it would be a matter for the Reich Min-
istry of the Interior, which would make it its business
at least to forestall any further hereditary transmission
of such appalling visual defects Or else even they do
not believe in the reality of such impressions but seek
to foist their humbug on the people for other reasons,
then such behavior falls within the scope of criminal
law It is of no concern to me whether or r
amateur artists fall to clucking over each othe
and giving each other testimonials' For the art
not work for the artist, but like everyone else he works
for the people1 And we shall take good care that from
now on the people will be the ludges of his art

it these
ieggs
.t does

ber =mittoelt niit ©etoalt ab 2Birrlid>teiten aufsufd)roat$eu perfudjen,
ober it>r gar als „S?unft" porfeljen toollen.

9iein, t>icc gibt es nur jtrei 9Koglid)tcitcn: (Sntroebcr bicfe fo-
genannten „$iinftler" fefcen bic <S>inge roirflid) fo unb glaubcn babcr
an bas, was fie barftellen, bann ware nur ju unterfudjen, ob il)ic
9lugenfebjcr enttoeber auf med)anifd)e SBeife ober burd> 93ererbung
juftanbe gefommen finb. 3m einen gall ticf bebauerlid) fur biefe
ltngliicflid)en, im jroeiten roid)tig fiir bas Keic&sinnenminifterium,
bas fid) bann mit bcr ftrage 5U befd>dftigen batte, roenigftens cine
rocitere 33crerbung berartiger grauentjafter Sebjtorungen ju unter-
binben. Ober aber fie glauben felbft uid)t an bic 2Birtlid>teit fold;er
(finbrudc, fonbern fie bemiu)en fid) au5 anberen ©riinben, bie Nation
mit bicfem §umbug ju belafligen, bann fdllt fo ein 93ergeben in bas

©ebiet ber 6trafred)tspflege G& tutereffiert mid) babei aud> nid)t

im gcringften, ob fid) biefe 2lud)-Kunftler bie pon ibnen gelegten (£ier
bann gegenfeitig begacfern unb bamit begutad>ten ober nid)t! ©enn
ber Kunftler fdjafft nid)t fiir ben Kiinftler, fonbern er fdiafft genau
fo roie alle Sinberen fiir bas 33olf! llnb u'ir roerben bafiir ©orge
tragen, bafy gerabe bas 53ol! oon jefct ab ivieber jum 9*id>ter iiber
feine Shinft aufgerufen u>irb.

To draw attention to oneself by deliberate lunacies is
not only a sign of artistic failure but of moral defect

Thi Fuhm

Reich Party Congress 1933

©urd) betpujite 33erriicftf}eiten fid} au&
5U8efd?ncn, um oamit bit 3fufmcrffam»
feif 8U erringen, ba$ seugf nid?t nur oon cinem
funjilerifd?en ^erfagen, fonbern aud? Don
eincm moralifdjen ©efeff.

5>er 5 ii I) r c r
95eid)sparteitag 1933.

30

Welche von
diesen drei

Zeichnungen ist wohl eine
Dllettantenarbeit vom In-
sassen eines Irrenhauses?
Staunen Sie: Die rechte
obere! Die beiden ande-
ren dagegen wurden einst
als meisterliche Graphiken
Kokoschkas bezeichnet.

I these thr.

drawings is the work of an amateur, an inmate of a
lunatic asylurrT

You will be surprised thr ont on thr right ahovt' The
other two used to be regarded as master drawings
by Kvkoscbka

I. Oskar Kokoschka, Wihrr rUrmlnvr [Kepjnacb Rtcbts) (Walter Hascnclever I Head turned to the right]),

1917, lithograph
2 Unidentified
3. Oskar Kokoschka, SilhilbUms km zwa Soldi (Self-portrait from two sides), 1923, color lithograph

frbifolio. flrocfiM.

The ultimate in stupidity (

npude

Humiulieit oiler Freehheit — oder
beides — auf die Spitze getriebeii !

A valuable admission

"We can bluff like the most hardened poker players
We act as if we were painters, poets, or whatever, bu
what we are is simply and ecstatically impuden
impudence we take the world for a ride and tra
to lick our boots, parce Que c'tst rtotre plaisir We r
wind, raise the storm with our impudence"

From the manifesto by A Undo in 'Action" 1915

Kin wertvolleM GeNtandniN:

1. Max Ernst, Erschajfu»g der Eva (Belie Jardiniere) (Creation of Eve ["Belle Jardiniere"]), 1923, oil on .

2. Willi Baumeister, Fitjur mil Strife* auf Rosa III (Figure with pink stripe III), 1920, mixed media.
3- Johannes Molzahn, Zwilimge (Twins), c 1930, oil on canvas

Chronology

( ompiled by lonathan Petropoulos with Dagmat Lott Reschkc

II,:

I IttOVOn Hismank

[Tie victor) ol Prussia and its allies ovei tru French
culminates in the unification ih7i ,,i the I ■• rman
st.itcs .is the ( ierman Reich with Km*; Wilhelm I ol
Prui n nam d Kalsei i mpi

I he Ken hstag I ( ierman parliameni ad ipts 9 m w
constitution and elects Otto von Bismarck thi Hi 1
Ri i, h Lin 1, 1 1 hare elloi In the 1 ont< ki ol a unified
( ierman empire antagonism against .1 powerful ten
tralized Roman ( atholfi 1 hurch rises during thi
decade Bismarck spearheads the government's attack
on the church in a policy known widely as Kullurltampj
(cultural combat

1 1- ■]■■ ra house ,n Bayreuth opens -
ol Richard Warners l)rr Kmj Jrs N'lMuniloi The ring ol
the Nibelungen

1876

1B77
1880

For the tirst time the Socialists succeed in getting a
hall million votes in popular elections

Bismarck introduces restrictive legislation directed
against the Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Socialist
workers party)

1883

Publication of Fricdrich Nietzsche's Also spracfc
Zaralhuslra (Thus spake Zaratbustra

1888

The reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II is marked by economic
expansion and burgeoning imperial ambition during
the years prior to the First World War

1889

The first performance of Cerhart Hauptmann s Vor
Sonnenaujgang (Before dawn:, in Berlin, establishes
naturalism as a German literary movement eschewing
heroism, didacticism, and contrivance in favor ot the
depiction of quotidian experience

1890

The Kaiser dismisses Bismarck, whose anti -Socialist
law is repealed The Socialist party becomes the
Sozialistische Demokratische Arbeiterpartei Social
democratic workers party j, headed by August Bebel

1892

Publication of Max Nordaus Entartumj Degeneration)

1896

Creation of the Viennese Sezession under the presi
dency of Custav klimt

Advent ol Jugendstil

1898

Formation of the Berliner Sezession, an exhibition
society, Max Licbermann elected president Member
ship soon includes Lovis ( onnth and Max Slevogt

Kathe Kollwnz exhibits her series of etchings £i«
Webtraufstand (The uprising of the weavers! at the
Crosse Berliner Kunstausstellung Great Berlin art
exhibition)

Historical

Cultural

1900

Publication of Sigmund Freud's Dif Traumdeututu) (The
interpretation of dreams)

1902

Aby Warburg establishes a library devoted to art his-
tory in Hamburg

1905

Erich Hecke!
Title woodcut
Die Brucke catalogue
1910

March 3( Wilhelm II leads an expeditionary force
to Tangier in an imperialist challenge to Britain
and France

July 9 In Berlin the Social Democratic ;
denounces the Kaiser's imperialism

nbly

Imt 7 Formation of Die Brucke (The bridge) in Dre?
den by Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff They are soon
lomed by Max Pechstein (1906)

OdobiT-Novmbtr At the Salon d'Automne in Paris,
Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck,
and others present works that are subsequently
regarded as in the Fauve style

Publication of Albert Einstein's Sfirzifllf Rtlalip/lolslfwori
(Special theory of relativity)

1907

Der Werkbund, an arts and crafts society founded in
Munich by Peter Behrens, Joseph Maria Olbnch, and
others

Pablo Picasso completes his Cubist painting Les
Demoiselles d'Avigtton in Pans

1908

Publication of Wilhelm Wornnger's Abstraktic
Einfiiblung (Abstraction and empathy)

1909

i issues the Futurist

Filippo Tommaso Ma
manifesto

Wassily Kandinsky Paul Klee, August Macke, and
Franz Marc found the Neue Kunstlerveremgung
Munchen (New Munich artists' society), publishing
the Almanack des blauen Reiters (The blue rider almanac)
two years later

doubling in thtrty-hve years, fron
.llion, Berlin

1910

Its popul

than a million to more man two minion,

becomes a modern European metropolis

less Herwarth Walden founds the publishing house Der

Sturm (The storm) and the lourna! of the same name,
promoting modern art

First gallery exhibition for Die Brucke held at Calene
Arnold, Dresden

1911

Carl Vinnen publishes Ein Protest deutscber Kiinstkr
(A protest by German artists), inveighing against the
purchase of French Impressionist paintings by German
museums Max Beckmann, Kandinsky, Macke, and
Marc publish Im Kampf urn die Kunst (Fighting for art)
in response

1912

Gaming a plurality, the Social Democrats succeed for
the first time in becoming the largest party in the
Reichstag

First major international exhibition of modern
art, organized by the Sonderbund westdeutscher
Kunstfreunde und Kunstler (Special association of
west German friends of art and artists) in Cologne

Walden opens Galer.e Der Sturm in Berlin

Publication of Kandmsky's liber das Getstttje in der Kunst
(On the spiritual in art)

1913

Walden presents the faster Deutscber Herbstsalon (First
German autumn salon), Berlin

Influenced by the Sonderbund exhibition and including
works by Kandinsky Kirchner, and Wilhelm
Lehmbruck, the Armory Show, the first international
exhibition of modern art in the United States, opens
in New York

Marcel Duchamp
Bicycle Wbeel

his first "ready-made,"

Armory Show, New York

1914

The First World War begins The United States, enter-
ing the war in April 1917 helps stem the Germans' final
offensive in early 1918

1916

in thi battle ol Verdun, France

* imii i" is found d al I abatct Voltaire.

Zurk h

1918

Ntnrmber \ ■ A U ii 91 'It-

hands ol ihc Wfestern Entente Fran
th. l Inn, y\ si. Kf. revolution spreads throughout
th countr) Hie Kaiser abdicates and Philipp
St. heidemann a Social Democrat proclaim i nev»
German republic

Kurt Schwitters makes his I rm (inns

Public an t n* >i, 1 1 '-l.iiiii s Bttrat blunge*

UnpoUtisi ben politii al man)

Bernhard I tists sign a

■ I ■ in atii m "i up| ■ ii
menl publl I
newspapei

Formation <») tin Novembergruppi ' ber group

and the Arbcitsrai Fill Kunsi Worki rs m il i«<r an

In Berlin Both exhibition groups consisting o

artists, writers and architect advanci idea; al t tin

i' lationship betwi - n politit ■ and an

iimuiry 1 he kommuntstisi he Partei Deutschlands
k German Communist partvi is founded Governmenl
and right-wing p.namilitarv forces brutally suppress
Spartacist uprisings, leaders R<>s.i Luxemburg and Karl
I iebknecht art- murdered

Fcbmiry A newly elected national assembly meeting
in \V< inur selects I riednch Ebert as the first
Reichsprasideni (president i

( iermany accepts the terms of the Ircatv ol

lu
Versailles

luly A liberal con
frage and proportu
national assembly

February The Arbeitsrat fiir Kunst elects Walter
( iropius its t hairman

I he Novembergruppc issues an appeal lor political
involvement, An allr Kiittillerl fib all artists1' In
November the Arbeitsrat and Novembcrgruppe merge

Gropius forms the art and design school Staatliches
Hauhaus in Weimar The stall suon includes Marcel
Breuer, Lyonel leininger, lohannes Itten, kandmskv
Klee. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Man Ray, and Oskar
Schlemmer

tution guaranteeing universal sur-
al representation is ratihed by the

Ftbrutiry 24 The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei iNSDAI* National Socialist German
workers partv is lounded in Munich

March The Kapp Putsch, an attempt by right-wing
Forces to wrest control of the government in Berlin,
fails largely because of opposition of striking unions

First International Dada Fair held in Berlin

Film Das Kabinrtt ita Dr (.jlijun (The cabinet of
Dr Caligan, director Robert Wien,

Erwm [Vcator opens his Proletarian Theater in Berlin

Vladimir Tallin designs a monument ( never executed!
to the Third International of the Communist party

Kathenne Dreter, Duchamp, and Man Ray found the
Soctete Anonyme in New York

Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo publish the Realist
manifesto

Das Kabmett Jes Dr Caliban

1921

March France occupies Rheinland-Westfalen,
including the Ruhr mining region, in an effort to
enforce German payment of wartime reparations,
prompting strikes (April) by miners there

Influence of extreme right-wing secret organizatio
increases

Erich Mendelsohn completes his Einstein Tower
in Potsdam

Film hcktsptcl Opu
Ruttmann i

i Light play I, filmmaker Walther
nnounces the principle of the

Arnold Schoenberg ,
twelve-tone scale

Alban Berg premieres Wozzeck at the Staatsoper, Berlin

Publication of Hemnch Wolfflm's Das Erklarnt .*>«
Kunstwrrkev (The principles of art history)

Publication of Ludwig Wittgensteins Tractate
Lo$icophilo%pbuu<-

Einstein receives the Nobe! Prize for physics

Alexandr Rodchenko, Vavara Stepanova, the Stenberg
brothers, and others create Constructive works in
Moscow The Productivist movement begins shortly
thereafter with works by Ltubov Popova, Rodchenko,
and Stepanova

Avant-garde art group Zenit organizes and begins
publication of a periodical, Zenit, in Zagreb

Chronology

1922

Historical

April (6 The Treaty of Rapallo, signed by Germany
and the Soviet Union, codifies cooperation between
the outcast powers of Europe

June 2-
Rathe

Assassination of Foreign Minister Walte
m by National Socialists

Cultural

October Mann delivers a speech, "Von deutscher
Republik" (On the German republic), in Berlin in
support of the Weimar Republic

Publication of Hans Prinzhorn's Btldntret der
Geisteskrattkm (Image-making by the mentally ill)

Film Dr Mabuse (director Fritz Lang)

Film Nosjeratu (director F W Murnau)

Van Diemen Gallery Berlin, presents Russian avan
garde art in the Brste Russtscbe Kunstaussttllunt) (First
Russian art exhibition)

Publication of lames Joyce's Ulysses

T S Eliot writes The Waste Land

1923

"Beer Hall" putsch, Munich

October 15 With inflation peaking at one U S dollar
to 4 2 billion marks, currency reform is introduced

November 9 Seeking to induce the Bavarian state
government to rebel against the federal government
in Berlin, and modeling their actions on Benito
Mussolini's 1922 march on Rome, the Nazis, led
by Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff, attempt a
putsch in Munich

November (5 Street fighting between right- and left-
wing radicals, including the paramilitary Sturmab-
teilung (SA, storm troop), leads to the Reichstag's
banning both the National Socialist and Communist
parties

Publication of Arthur Moeller van den Bruck's Das
Dntte Reich (The Third Reich)

Publication of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems Sonnetie at
Orpheus (Sonnet to Orpheus) and Dumeser Elegien
(Dumese Elegies)

Popular radio broadcasts begin in Germany

1924

November French and Belgian soldi*
Rheinland-Westfalen following German accepta
of the Dawes Plan to restructure reparations an>
loan payments

Unemployn
Hitler servt

rotals 2 6 million workers

: year of a five-year sentence for

In connection with the 1923 publication of George
Grosz's illustrations for his Ecce Homo, Crosz and
publisher Wieland Herzfelde stand trial on charges of
publishing obscene material Found guilty they are
fined 6,000 marks, and plates for the book are
confiscated

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer establish the
Institut fur Soztalforschung ( Institute for social
research), widely known as the Frankfurt School

Publication of Mann's Der Zauberbera (The magic
mountain)

Hitler dictates Mem Kampj while imprisoned in
Landsberg

Andre Breton issues the first Surrealist manifesto and
begins publishing the periodical La Revolution surrialistt

1925

April Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg is elected
president following the death of Ebert

Autumn Hitler begins rebuilding the NSDAP

October (6 Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann nego-
tiates the Treaty of Locarno Germany promises to
respect its borders with France and Belgium

June u Neue Sacblichkcit (New objectivity) exhibition,
organized by Gustav Hartlaub, opens at the Stadtische
Kunsthalle Mannheim

The Bauhaus moves to Dessau

Publication of El Lissitzky and Hans Arp's Kunstismen
(The isms of art)

Publication of Lion Feuchtwanger's Jud Suss (Jew Suss)

Posthumous publication of Franz Kafka's Der Prozess
(The trial)

At the request of the Reichswehr (army) Sergei Eisen-
stein's film Battleship Potmkin is banned in Germany,

though the ban is subsequently lifted

In a resolution entitled "On the Party's Policy in the
Field of Artistic Literature" the central committee of
the Soviet Communist party calls for an artistic style
"comprehensible to the millions" while also advocating
continued open competition among various artistic
tendencies

Poster, Battleship Potemk

April i rertiany and tl« ' I

Stptmka Strew minn'i diplomat % li

■ >

.1 the Werkbund
Berlin

Kintlll.lMM Al.inn

Film Mrli

I ■!"(.■

Mttnpolii

1927

I ihiui i Vllied i ontn i) ovei ( ■- 1 many ends
Au0«5l 19 -1! Insi Nazi party rally in Nuremberg

' inn I h: appointed to the faculty of the
t unstakademie Dresden

PaulHindemith'sHiHU«aZuriicfc lb u

performed ,ii the Bad* n Baden festival

1 rnst Krenek's lomty ipidl .iu( lohnny strikes up opens
at the Stadtische Opei Leipzig

Otto Klemperer becomes conductor ol the Kroll-
Oper Berlin

Publication ol Martin Heidegger's Srin unJ Zo'l Being

and time

1928

lune 2H I he Social Democrats join with the ultra-
conservative Deutschnattonale Vblkspartei iDNVP,
German national peoples party i, the Deutsche
Demokratische Partei (German democratic party),
and the Zentrum (Center) in a "Great Coalition, "
selecting Hermann Muller chancellor

August 27 The combatants of the First World War sign
the Kellogg- Briand pact, renouncing war as a means of
settling disputes

Publication of Paul Schultze Naumburg's Kuml und
Rasst (Art and race

Publication of Erich Maria Remarque's !m Wnten rticbli
Neues (All quiet on the western front

Brecht and Kurt Weill's Ihe Drtigroscbenopa The three-
penny opera i opens in Berlin

A Berlin court finds Crosz and Herzlelde guilty ol
blasphemy in connection with the publication ol
Grosz's portfolio HmtergrunJ Background' Their
conviction is subsequently overturned on appeal

Lotte Lenva in the hi

of Die Dreitjroscbenoper

1929

May f Blutnuu I Bloody May I is marked by Communist
demonstrations in Berlin and the beginning of a long
series of street confrontations between Nazis and
( ommunists

Onset of the Great Depression worldwide
withdrawal of loans to Germany

ulting in

Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur Combat league for
German culture) founded in Munich by Heinrich
Himmler, Alfred Rosenberg, and other National
Socialists to promote Nazi-approved culture

Mann receives the Nobel Prize for literature

Publication of Alfred Doblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz

Opening of the Museum of Modern Art in New York
with Alfred Barr, fr. as its first director

March Unemployment totals 44 million workers

March 27 Muller's cabinet resigns, Heinrich Brumngs
Zentrum forms a new government (March 30)

September u In Reichstag elections the Nazis increase
their representation from 12 to 107 seats

1930

April-May In Thunngia. Wilhelm Frick, Nazi
minister of the interior, enacts the repressive
Ordinance against Negro Culture 'April 5) while
Schultze-Naumburg orders the elfacement of
Schlemmer's murals in the Bauhaus and the removal
of works by Barlach, Kandinsky and Klee from
the Schlossmuseum in Weimar

Election poster "Our last hope Hitler"

October Nazis disrupt the Frankfurt performance ol
Brecht and Weill's Aujstitg und Fall Jer Stadt Mahagonny
(The rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny :■ with stink
bombs

Publication of Rosenbergs Der Mytbus Jr> 30 Jabrbm-

dfrfs (Myth of the twentieth century)

Lewis Milestones film AH Quid on thr Western Front
( 1930), Josef von Sternberg's Der blaue Bnget (The blue
angel 1930 , and C W Pabst's Westfront IMS I 1930 are
banned

1931

Historical

January Unemployment reaches 57 million workers

June 5 Cuts in the salaries and pensions of public
employees are announced

July 13 Following the collapse of the Darmstadter
National Bank, all German banks are closed for two
days The German stock market closes shortly after-
ward, remaining closed until September

October Right-wing paramilitary forces, including the
Nazi SA and the Stahlhelm, a veterans' organization,
form a coalition, the Harzburg Front

Cultural

Junt 5-6 The Glaspalast (Class palace), Munich, site
of annual exhibitions of academic art as well as
installations of avant-garde works, is destroyed by fire

July 3 After consistently presenting performances of
music by Hindemith, Krenek, Schoenberg, and other
avant-garde composers, the Kroll-Oper closes

Like Brecht, Hanns Eisler, John Heartfield, and Bruno
Taut, Piscator leaves Germany to work in the Soviet
Union

1932

Yamawakt
The End oj the

Dessau Bauhaus

January Unemployment continues rising

April 10 Hindenburg is reelected president Hitl
running second, wins 37 percent of the vote

My

June i Fall of Bruning cabinet, Franz von Papen
is appointed chancellor by Hindenburg, but by
November his government also falls, and Kurt von
Schleicher, formerly minister of defense, is appointed
(December 31 in his place, falling in turn just seven
weeks later (January 28, 1933)

July 3( The Nazis poll 378 percent of the vote in
Reichstag elections, more than doubling their seats,
to 230

January 21 Dessau town council votes to dissolve the
Bauhaus The school is moved to Berlin as a private
institute under the directorship of Mies van der Rohe

All teachers at the Folkwang art school, Essen, are
dismissed

Grosz takes up residence in New York as an exile and
accepts a teaching post at the Art Students League

Der Sturm ceases publication Walden emigrates to the
Soviet Union

Publication of Hans Fallada's Kleiner Mann, mas nun?
(Little man, what now?)

1933

Hindenburg and Hitler

Nazi book-burning, Berl

January 30 Two days after the fall of Schleicher,
Hindenburg appoints Hitler chancellor Hermann
Goring and Wilhelm Fnck are initially the only other
National Socialists in the cabinet

Janmry 3( Hitler addresses the nation on radio "Gebt
uns vier Jahre Zeit" (Give us four years' time)

Ftbrmry 27 Reichstag fire and subsequent emergency
measures strengthen Hitler's control, approximately
four thousand Communists, blamed for the conflagra-
tion, are imprisoned

March 5 !n the last freely contested elections in
Hitlers Germany the National Socialists garner
44 percent of the vote, their current allies, the
DNVP, taking an additional 5 percent, yielding a
parliamentary plurality

March 24 Passage of an enabling act allows Hitler to
act without the consent of the Reichstag

April t The Nazis call for a boycott of businesses
owned by Jews

A/)nI 7 Jews and those deemed "politically unreliable"
are purged from government bureaucracies by the
Professional Civil Service Restoration Act, a crucial
early milestone in Nazi persecution

May 2 All trade unions are absorbed into the National
Socialist Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German labor front)

May 6 Nazi hooligans destroy the Hirschfeld
Institute for Sexual Science at Charlottenburg

May to In an action described as voider Jot undeutscben
Gent (against the un-German spirit) the burning of
books is organized by Nazis in Berlin and i
university towns

July t4 Hitler abolishes the founding of i

I poll!

February Kollwitz and Hemnch Mann solicit signa-
tures for an anti-Fascist poster, Dnndendcr Appelh
(Urgent appeal), for distribution throughout Berlin
Einstein and Ernst Toller are among the signatories

March i2 Joseph Goebbels named Reich Minister for
National Enlightenment and Propaganda

April First Schandausstellunaen (abomination exhibitions)
defaming modern art are held in Dresden and Mann-
heim During the year similar exhibitions are held in
cities throughout Germany

April (i In Berlin the Bauhaus is closed by the police
on Gonng's orders

July 25 Fnck orders the closing of 30 Deutsche Kiinstler
(30 German artists), an exhibition of modern art
including works by Barlach, Beckmann, and Emil
Nolde at the Galerie Ferdinand Moller, Berlin

September 22 The Reichskulturkammer (Reich chamber
of culture), a network of government-controlled
bodies, is established under Goebbels's leadership to
regulate all artistic endeavor

October (5 In Munich Hitler lays the cornerstone for
the first official National Socialist building, the Haus
der Deutschen Kunst (House of German art) A
parade and pageant mark the first Tag der Deutschen
Kunst (German art day)

i architect, is named
;r der bildenden Kunste

Noivmber (5 Eugen Hom$
president of the Reichskai
(Reich chamber of visual arts)

December The library of the Warburg Institute is
moved from Hamburg to London

Many artists— Grop.us, Kandinsky Klee, Hemrich
Mann, Thomas Mann, Toller, and Weill among them-
emigrate from Germany

Those who lose teaching posts include Willi
Baumeister, Beckmann, Dix, Karl Hofer, Kollwitz,
Ltebermann, Pechstein, and Schlemmer

Museum directors who lose their posts include
Ernst Gosebruch (Essen), Hartlaub (Mannheim),
Carl Georg Heise (Lubeck), Ludwig Justi (Berlin),
Gustav Pauli and Max Sauerlandt (Hamburg)

1934

'.imu.(»v m ( .rnn.inv ind Poland ij-''. . nonaggrcssion

him u Nacbl Jr> Umatn Mojo Nfghi ol lb long
knives Iti l iitlrr

Rdl 1 < ithei

il the SA lustifying I

luly i . \ustri.iii National

Although t\u Insurrection is quelled, <- ham i lloi

I iu" II" n I toil fuss i!- murd

Atuiu^i i I linden burg dies I litlei subsumes the
presidency under his new title, Rihrei leadci

Ah^iisI is In .i plebiscite «• validate I litlei s dii tatoi

ship tin- Nazi 19 pi n mi ol the vote

im entratit
tin end "i the yeai

1 t amps exist in t Germany by

/unujry 1 I it lei iuiiw. Rosenberg his depui ■
.»( Intellet lual .md kteologfi il training

March 21 Arrppittui

Berlin with spec. I,, b) I cpn
Inter and
poci Marl i

■

I heo Balcu n I I- artft Id and I ugt n I loffmai ■
others as members

Scptmbet t At the Nuremberg party rally I licit

demns both modernism ind tradii al rial ili: t an

I his is the address memorialized by Lcni Retfi
him Triumpl be will

■

niiu ial style by ihe I irsi All lb

Soviei Writers

January ti In a plebiscite 41 percent of voters in the
Saarland .1 western region ceded to I ranee after the
I jrsl World War, indicate their support tor rejoining

the Reich

March u> Universal military conscription is introduced
in violation ol the Treaty of Versailles

July 25 The Communist Third International declares
that partv members in democratic countries should
support their governments' efforts against Fascist
states In response "popular front'' movements begin
throughout Europe

Richard Strauss resigns as president ol the
Reichsmusikkammer Reich chambei ol mu
incurring official displeasure in response to his collab-
oration with a lewish librettist Stefan Zweig, on Dit
KOUfeiifSamt Frttu The silent woman

September I5-IS The Nuremberg Laws defin
lew and curtail the civil rights of Jews

vho is i

1936

Newspaper commemorating the Berlin Olympic

Febriutry io Representatives of the Popular front win
a majority of parliamentary seats in Spanish elections
From February through June 170 churches, 69 political
clubs, and 10 newspaper offices are destroyed by fire,
113 general strikes and 228 partial strikes are called
On July 18 an army rebellion begins the Spanish

March 7 Germany reoccupies the demilitarized
Rhetnland, another violation of the Treaty of Versailles

May J A Popular Front government wins a majority
of parliamentary seats in France, the Fascist party is
suppressed 1 June 30)

July 17 Reichsfuhrer He.nnch H.mmler of the
SS (Schutzstaffel, elite guard 1 is named chief of
German police

August 21 The Berlin Olympics concluded, German
courts resume mock trials of Roman Catholic priests
accused of immoral conduct, but a week later Hitler
orders an end to the trials when the German Catholic
Church publicly |oms the Nazi opposition
to Bolshevism

September 9 A four-year plan, aimed at reconciling
increased military expenditure with economic reform,
is announced under Goring's jurisdiction

Notxmber t A German-Italian pact forms the basis of
the Axis An anti-Comintern pact with Japan follows
a month later

Germany plays host to the winter Olympic ( lames
in Carmisch-Partenkirchen 1 February and summer
games in Berlin 1 August 1

Aiu/ust Count Klaus von Baudissm, Nazi director
of the Museum Folkwang, Hssen, sells Kandinsky's
Improvisation 19(2, the first modernist painting removed
from a public collection

October jo The modern section ol the Berlin
Nationalgalene in the Kronprinzenpalais is closed
by Minister of Education Bernhard Rust

November 2j The Nobel Prize for peace is awarded
to left-wing journalist and social theorist Carl von
Ossietzky Hitler forbids Germans to accept the
award, thus deepening the country's isolation from
the international community

November 2b Goebbels bans art criticism

December Adolf Ziegler, a painter of Nazi-approved
subjects, replaces Honig as president of the
Reichskammer der bildenden Kunste

December In an open letter to the dean of the phi
losophy faculty University of Bonn, Thomas Mann
protests the rescinding of his honorary doctorate

The Koliektiv deutscher Kiinstler (Collective of
German artists1 is founded by exiled publisher Paul
Westheim in Paris Members include Max Ernst, Otto
Freundlich, and Gert Wollheim

1937

GROSSE

DEUTSCHE

KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG

1Q37

1M HAUS DER DEUTSCHEN

ICUNSTZUMUNUIC.N

JULl-OKTOBFR 19^7

Poster, Grosst Dralscbt Kwislausslrfluty

Pageant on "Tag der Deutschen Kunst" (German art day)

Ernst Barlach, Magdeburg Wat Memorial

New Bauhaus logt

Russian avant-garde art, Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow

1937

March u \\.\-. Plus XI Issues his en< y< Ik .il "With
Burning i on < i n whh h I polk y

in support "i I !>■ i ■

I eglon flies bomblnj raid over* uernk ■< "> the
Basque region ol Spain

( ullurji

nfrrr I he ' rermai ,
mtmuiltofi i Irnu in

UTTMCd

is exhibited "> the Spanish |

/unf in ( locbbcls transmit |

enabling him to be] I i ntartcte

^ un i h imi . in, foi an exhibition

Poster / >ff fll'ljf IllJt

'uly is I litlei off* iatincj ai the opening --i tl

hen Kunst and its inaugural exhibition th<
nan art
exhibition fubmmgikrit^ i learning wan

I Ithibition friUr'rfr Kunst

nr.irthrf1i.UMM.il Munich direct!) across the park
from the Ha hen kunst

/uly o Beckmann emigrates to Amsterdam Feininger,
Kirchncr and Schwttters leave Germany soon
afterward

Au^ttsl Novmba I he purging ol ' ierman museums
continues Appruximatcly five thousand paintings and
sculptures and twelve thousand graphic wort
hscated and mnved to a warehouse on Kopcniker
Strasse, Merlin

October i* Laszlo Moholy-Nagy opens the New
Bauhaus in Chicago

Notvmrirr Numerous conhscated works o( art are
included in l)a twiat luJe [The eternal lewj exhibition
in Munich

Rosenberg begins publishing the periodical Die Kunst
m OriKn Rmri i Art in the Third Reith

al war memorials by Barlach are removed fr
an churches

Defamatory installation ol Russian avant-garde a
the Trettakov Gallery Moscow

Publication of Wolfgang Willnchs Sauberund des
Kumttempeh l Cleansing of the temple of art)

1938

Ftbruiiry Hitler replaces the moderate foreign
minister, Constantin von Neurath. with Joachim
von Ribbentrop and in a shakeup of the military
dismisses Werner von Blomberg, the minister of war,
and Werner von Fritsch, quartermaster general of
the army

March 12 The Anschluss i annexation) of Austria adds
7 million citizens to the Reich

September f2 loseph Coebbels decrees the exclusion of
lews from public cultural events

September 29 In return for Hitlers abjuring further
territorial claims in Europe, heads of state — Neville
Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, Hitler, and
Mussolini — agree to Germany's annexation of the
Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)

October 4 The Popular Front government falls in
France when the left abstains from a vote of
confidence

November \7 The Retchskristallnacht (Reich "night of
broken glass") pogrom leaves hundreds of German
lews dead, many imprisoned, and massive destruction
of property

May The Gestapo begins confiscating artworks
owned by lews in Vienna

May 4 Ossietzky dies of tuberculosis after his
incarceration in the Papenburg concentration camp

May 3( Expropriation of artworks deemed degenerate
is legitimized by passage of post facto legislation

June 26 Hitler authorizes Sonderauftrag Linz I Special
project Linzl, empowering Hans Posse, director of the
Dresden Cemaldegalene, to collect artworks for his
personal museum in Linz

July 8 20lr> Century German Art at the New Burlington
Galleries, London, opens with an address by
Beckmann, "On My Theory of Painting"

November In the wake of the Knstallnacht pogrom,
confiscations of artworks owned by lews begin

November 4 Freie Deutsche Kunst (Free German art an
exhibition of modern art organized by German exiles,
opens in Paris

Speer designs the Neue Reichskanzlei (New Reich
chancellery i, Berlin, construction completed in
mid-1939

Kirchner commits suicide in

nng synagogue, Rostock, Reichknstall

Barlach dies in Gustn
Switzerland

Coebbels establishes the kommission zur Verwertung
der Produkte entarteter Kunst (Commission for the
disposal of products of degenerate art 1 which spends
the next four years selling conhscated works

1939

German troops invade Poland

Historical

January 30 !n a speech to the Reichstag Hitler
prophesies the destruction of the Jewish people in
the coming war

March \4-i6 The occupation of Prague and dismem-
berment of Czechoslovakia begins

May 22 The Pact of Steel, codifying a military
alliance between Germany and Italy is signed

August 23 Germany and the Soviet Union sign a
mutual non-aggression pact

August 25 Britain guarantees the integrity of Poland

September t Germany invades Poland Britain and
France respond (September 3) by declaring war on
Germany, France invades the Saarland (September 9),
the Soviet Union invades Poland (September 17)

September 27 Warsaw falls as the Poles capitulate,
thereby creating a border between Germany and
the Soviet Union

November 8 Assassination of Hitler attempted in the
Lowenbrau-Keller, Munich

A policy of "euthanasia "-

mentally ill and others living "valueless lives" — is

undertaken, then abandoned following a public outcry

Cultural

June 30 The Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, auctions
125 paintings and sculptures purged from German
museums

September SS commandos, accompanying German
armed forces into Poland, plunder works of art,
especially those relating to German culture and
history

Publication of Ernst lunger's Auf den Mamorkltppen (On
the marble cliffs) and Ernst Wiechert's Das Emfacbe
Leben (The simple life), both viewed by many as veiled
criticisms of the Nazi regime

Kokoschka with Heartheld, Schwitters, and others
found the Freier Deutscher Kulturbund (Free German
cultural league) in London More than one hundred
exiled artists join

Artist Hans Grundig is imprisoned in the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp

1940

April 9 German armed forces invade Denmark and
Norway

May-Junt Germany invades the Netherlands, which
capitulates May 15, Belgium, which capitulates May
28, and France, which signs an armistice June 22,
dividing the country into a German-occupied north-
ern zone and a southern zone under the Vichy regime

August The success of the Royal Air Force in its
defense during the Battle of Britain induces Hitler to
cancel plans for

May io Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum is arrested in
his Brussels hiding place, deported, and later murdered
at Auschwitz

July 7 Death of Paul Klee in Switzerland

September Feuchtwanger, Hetnnch Mann, Klaus Mann,
and Franz and Alma Werfel escape across the French-
Spanish border and travel via Lisbon to the United
States Walter Benjamin commits suicide shortly there-
after when he finds the route closed

September 17 The German high command in France
authorizes the "Rosenberg task force" to seize art
from the private collections of Jewish families Similar
actions are authorized in Belgium, the Netherlands,
and other occupied territories

November 5 Goring inspects booty in the leu de Paume
and issues an order concerning the distribution of
desirable confiscated works Hitler first, Goring
second, various German museums and institutions
third

Felix Nussbaum's self portrait with identity card

November 28 Premieres of anti-Se
lude and Jud Suss

tic films Dei

vigt

1941

February German troops land in North Africa to
support faltering Italian forces

April 6 Germans bomb Belgrade and begin fighting in
Yugoslavia and Greece, the two countries capitulate
within the month

May (0 Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess Hies to Scotland,
where he is apprehended and imprisoned

June u Franklin Roosevelt freezes German and Italian
assets in the United States, seizes German and Italian
vessels in American ports, and closes German consu-
lates in American cities

June 22 Germany invades the Soviet Union and
massacres Jews at Babi Yar, near Kiev (September 29)

December The German offensive falls short at the out-
skirts of Moscow, Soviets use fresh Siberian divisions
to launch a counterattack

December i The Japanese bomb Hong Kong, Malaya,
Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and Singapore Within
one week the United States and the Axis powers have
declared war against one another

April 19 Premiere in Zurich of Brecht's Mutter Courage
und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and her children)
In July Brecht and his family arrive in Los Angeles,
having traveled via Finland and the Soviet Union

August 23 Nolde is forbidden to paint

September Requested by Baldur von Schirach, the
governor of Vienna, Strauss agrees to move to the
Austrian capital to make guest appea
conductor of the Staatsoper and Philhar

Ernst flees Pans for New York

1943

January X) Al i conference In Wannsci neai Berlin
m I taken to organl ■■ thi I luffo muj Rnal
solution thi ■ eft rm I nation ol the lews

luly Deportation ol lews from Warsaw to Irebllnka

Novmba Ml"' d troop land In North Mi ki i ind bj
December begin bombardmeni <ii Italian i Itli

capitula

r I ft) I ,- MM. I

Stalingrad

February ih In .1 speech iii sixteen thousand at the
Berlin Sportpalasi (Sports pavilion) ( roebtx \i rallii

thi I ■- 1 ni. m pe< iple v» ith .1 1 -ill l' 11 'total wai

April Warsaw ' ihetto uprising the herolt struggle
ends wuh the ^ destroying the lewish residential
quartet - il the ( ity

May 15 Field Marshal Rommel surrenders to Allied
!«>r( es in Africa

luly 25 Mussolini is forced from power and arrested

September n A new Italian government, led by Pietro
Badoglio, declares war on C.ermany

February 23 Zweig ind hh *\t< 1 ommii
Brazil

lunr in I he la ■
1 la ed

lunr 11 , whill

hiding in Arm ti i '

ienna
anni iun< 1 A theii la ;of 1 11

Martin Buber and Zwelg in tobi tripped of their

li

February ■ With Schlrach backing the controversial

exhibil lungt Kunst im Britten Reich New art in the

I IiikI Reich) opens in the Vienna Kunstlerhaus,
including some abstrai t works

March 1 Freundllch intercepted b> thi Gestapo as he

attempts to cross the Pyrenees, ,s deported to Poland
■ I' en he -lies at the Maidanel 1 ore entratlon tamp

May 23 Approximately hve hundred works uf modern
art are burned in the garden ol the leu de Paume,
Pans

August k The newspaper Frankfurtet Zeituiu) is banned

German prisoners-of-war, Stalingrad

1944

^**t

June 6 D-Day Allied forces make their landfall in
northern Europe at Normandy

July 20 Attempt by members of upper military
echelons to assassinate Hitler at his East Prussian
headquarters tails Count ClauS von Stauffenberg
and others are executed for their participation

August (5 Allied troops land in the
liberating Paris ten davs later

uth of rr-

Art stored in tr

February fi Most of the three thousand graphic works
stored in Nolde's Berlin atelier are destroyed during an
aerial attack on the city

June 30 The Staatsoper, Vienna, performs Wagner's
Gotterditmmrruni} (Iwilight of the gods > as us last reg-
ularly scheduled presentation after Coebbels orders a
reduction in cultural activities

August As an austerity measure the government limits
the number of publications produced in the Reich

Nazis sequester works of art in Tyrolian salt mines and
isolated castles

1945

January 26 Auschwitz is liberated by the Soviet army

January 30 Hitler makes his last radio address

Febtuiiry i-ii Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and
loseph Stalin confer at Yalta

Februtiry t3-i5 At least eighty thousand perish in the
English and American bombing of Dresden

March 7 The Allies cross the Rhine at Remagen

April 25 American and Soviet armies meet on the
Elbe

A^nl 29 Mussolini and Clara Petacci are executed
by partisans

April w Hitler and Eva Hraun commit suicide Coeb-
bels serves as chancellor for one day before his suicide

May 7 Unconditional surrender is signed by the
Germans at Reims and again the next day at Berlin

June 5 The Allied Control Commission assumes
control over Germany

July \7-Augmt 2 In conference at Potsdam the Big
Three — Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United
States — assume power within their zones of German
occupation, agree on the dismantling of German
industrial installations, and redraw the map of Eastern
Europe as they restore territory occupied by Germany
during the war

January 10 Kolberg, an extravagant feature him
personally supervised by Coebbels, depicting
the German defense of the homeland during the
Napoleonic wars, opens at the single cinema still
operating in Berlin

: dies at Schloss Moritzburg 1

April 22 Koll*
Dresden

May Thomas Mann delivers an address, "Germany
and the Germans," in the Library of Congress,
Washington, DC

Chronology

Register of Frequently Cited Names and Organizations

Compiled by Dagmar Lott-Reschke and U Claudia Mesch

'DieAktion (Action)
A journal published in Berlin (1911-32) by Franz
Pfemfert, Die Aklion was generally considered left-
wing and pacifist in its sentiments During the First
World War the magazine included poetry prose, and
letters from soldiers as well as prints and drawings by
such modernists as Lyonel Feininger, Otto Freundlich,
George Crosz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Ludwtg
Meidner

•von Baudissin, Count Klaus (b 1891)
Ministerial director of the Office of Public Education
under the minister of education, Bernhard Rust, dur-
ing the Third Reich, from 1925 to 1933 Baudissm had
been assistant curator at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
He organized the "chamber of horrors" exhibitions
of modernist art at the Berlin Kronpnnzenpalais
in 1933 and in 1934 was appointed director of the
Museum Folkwang, Essen, replacing Ernst Gosebruch
Baudissin sold Wassily Kandinsky's Improvisation 1912
in August 1936, making it the first modernist work
removed from a public collection as a "cleansing" act
Baudissin was a member of Adolf Ziegler's committee
for the confiscation of modernist art from German
museums and the organization of the Entartele Kunst
exhibition in Munich in 1937

'Boebmer, Bernhard A (d 1945)
See Andreas Huneke's essay in this volume

•Bucbholz.Karl
See Andreas Huneke's essay in this volume

' Cassirer, Paul ( 1871-1926)
Publisher, writer, and art collector Cassirer estab-
lished the Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, site of
modernist exhibitions and performances As a patron,
he was closely associated with the Berlin Sezession

•Fbcbtbam, Alfred (1878-1937)
Through his galleries in Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf,
Frankfurt, and Vienna, Flechtheim was a consistent
promoter of French and German modernism An art
collector himself and a publisher, he was cofounder
of the Sonderbund, an association of artists and their
supporters, which in 1912 presented the first interna-
tional modernist art exhibition Flechtheim emigrated
to London in 1930

'Fnck, Wilbelm (1877-1946)
Reich minister of the interior ( 1933-43 ), Fnck had
served as minister of culture in the state of Thunngia
(1930-31), where he initiated the first assaults on
modernist artists He played an active role in the
expropriation of the property of jews and was hanged
in Nuremberg after the war

' Goebbels. Joscpb (1897-1945)
Goebbels was appointed as Reich minister for public
enlightenment and propaganda in 1933 and in that
capacity masterminded the National Socialist propa-
ganda machine, which controlled all aspects of
German cultural life He was responsible for staging
the book burnings of May 1933 in which Jewish,
Marxist, and other subversive' authors were con-

demned Personally interested in German Expres-
sionist art, Goebbels tried initially to support such
artists as Emil Nolde By 1937, however, the tide had
turned against Expressionism, and on June 30 of that
year he authorized Adolf Ziegler to begin collecting
works for an exhibition in Munich "of the art of decay
in Germany since 1910 in the areas of painting and
sculpture" Goebbels's Kommission zur Verwertung
der Produkte entarteter Kunst (Commission for the
disposal of products of degenerate art) was respon-
sible for recommending confiscated art works for sale
for hard currency beginning in 1938 He died by his
own hand on May 1, 1945, after serving a single day
as chancellor following the death of Hitler

• Goring, Hermann ( 1893-1946)

Goring served as commander-in-chief of the German
air force, created the state secret police (Gestapo),
and together with Heinnch Himmler and Reinhard
Heydnch was responsible for setting up the first
concentration camps He served as president of the
Reichstag (Parliament) in 1932 and later as prime min-
ister of Prussia and was Hitler's second in command
Goring was an avid art collector, who employed a
personal art advisor Several well-known works from
the Berlin Nationalgalene were allegedly set aside for
his collection Following his 1946 conviction by the
Nuremberg tribunal, Goring committed suicide

•Gurlm. Hildebrandib 1895)
See Andreas Huneke's essay in this volume

• Hanfstaengl, Ebetbard < 1886-1973)
Hanfstaengl served as director of the Stadtische
Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, from 1925 to
1933, when he was appointed director of the Berlin
Nationalgalerie He remained in Berlin until he was
forced to retire four years later In 1939 he was
employed as an editor by the F Bruckmann Verlag
(publishing company) in Munich After the war he
became general director of the Bayensche Staats-
gemaldesammlungen, where he remained until hts
retirement in 1953

• Hoilzni, Alfred ( 1903-1985)

Hentzen, a German art historian, was appointed to
the curatorial department of the Berlin National-
galerie, first as an assistant and then as a curator
During his tenure he helped establish the depart-
ment of modern art in the Kronpnnzenpalais In
Berlin he edited the avant garde journal Museum der
Gegenwart (Modern museum, 1930-33) and was an out-
spoken critic of National Socialist policies concerning
modern art He wrote Deutscber Btldbauer der Getfenwart
(Modern German sculpture) in 1934, it was banned
the following year In 1937 he was forced to resign
his position, although he was able to find work
first as a curator in the Staatliche Museen at the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum and later at the Deutsches
Museum, Berlin, between 1938 and 1945 After the
war he worked at the Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover,
trying to rebuild the collection, he became director
in 1952 He served as director of the Hamburger
Kunsthalle from 1955 until his retirement in 1969

•Helscb, Rolfib 1903)
A lawyer and art historian by training, Hetsch was
responsible for inventorying the 12,890 confiscated
artworks stored by the National Socialists at the
Kopenicker Strasse warehouse in Berlin (Of his
six-volume inventory only one volume is known
to have survived the war) He also administered
the movement of works sold from storage at Schloss
Niederschonhausen Before joining the NSDAR Hetsch
had written a book on the German modernist Paula
Modersohn-Becker and begun another on Ernst Barlach

• Himmler. Hemncb ( 1890-1945)
From 1929 Himmler served as head of the SS
(Schutzstaffel, elite guard) and from 1936 as head of the
police and the state secret police (Gestapo) In 1943 he
was appointed minister of the interior and thereafter was
fanatical in his implementation of the "final solution," as
the regime's plan for the systematic annihilation of Jews
and other enemies was known Himmler committed sui-
cide in May 1945

•Htnkel, Ham (1901-1960)
Hinkel joined the NSDAP in 1921 and in 1923
became editor of the National Socialist newspaper,
the Volktscber Beobachier He was a member of the
Kampfbund fur deutsche Kultur (Combat league for
German culture) and in 1930 became supervisor of
non -Aryan cultural activities

■ Hoffmmn, Hemncb ( 1885-1957)
Hoffmann served as Hitler's official photographer
and was his confidant This proximity prompted his
appointment to the selection committee for the annual
Crosse Deutsibe Kunstausstelluni} (Great German art
exhibition) in Munich and to the Kommission zur Ver-
wertung der Produkte entarteter Kunst (Commission
for the disposal of products of degenerate art) He
published the National Socialist journal Kunst iw Volk
(Art of the people) His photographs were published
in numerous popular journals of the 1930s and 1940s,
his archives are housed today in the National
Archives, Washington, DC

'Hofmann, Franz (b 1888)
An art historian by training and an early supporter of
Hitler, Hofmann wrote polemical articles against mod-
ern art for the official National Socialist newspaper;
the Volktscber Beobacbter In 1933 he was appointed
director of the Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus,
Munich, and began purging works of modern art
from the collection before 1937, he remained as
director until 1938 He served on Adolf Ziegler's
commission for the confiscation of modernist art and
on the Kommission zur Verwertung der Produkte
entarteter Kunst (Commission for the disposal of
products of degenerate art) It was Hofmann who
suggested a symbolic burning of art works in Berlin
in 1938

'Justi, Ludwtcl (1876-1957)
See Annegret Janda's essay in this volume

i !w dnttscbt kultut
t ombai league t"i * ■- rmw i ultun
Alfred Rosenberg founded the league "> 1929 as an
rm of the National Socialist part) cxpllcltl)
in seek the condemnation of modernist an

bi inded as entartetc Kunsi 1 he league sup| I

Instead highly sentimentalized riMusca populai n I

• MUllti hrdmmd 1883 1956

See Andreas I lunekes css.iv m this volum

* Sew SacblicblttH (Ncm objectivity

usta\ Hardaub dlrectoi oi the Kunsthalle

m hi Im organized the exhibition Nan SacblkbbtH

Drafscfcr Moirrei ^ai Jem Btpmsionimm (New <<l'" i
n*. n\ i icrman painting after I xpressionism whk h
promulgate ■■ illstto styh and included

wort b) Ma* Beckmann Heinrich Maria I lavriruj
hausen (..eot^t Grosz and Kari lluhhut.li ("hese
.ir tists were rea< ting to the emotional aspect <>i
I Kpressionism and approached their subjects —
portraiture and ( ommonplat e objet ts— with a
sobei perspet tive that addressed the difficult eco
nomic and political situation * >t the 1920s

■ Novmbtrgruppt (Novembei group)
Fallowing the November 1918 revolution a significant
number of architects artists writers, filmmakers
and composers in Berlin -Bertolt Brecht, Lyoncl
Feininger, Walter Grophis I rich Mendelsohn, and
Max Pechstein among them —formed a group to
sponsoi exhibitions, organize readings create posters,
and puhlish catalogues to urge their fellow artists to
involve themselves tn the emerging society Ehey
called on Cubists, Expressionists, and Futurists to
unite, their strident graphics urged the citizenry
to work together to form ,i national consensus in
support of the revolution

'Piper Remhard (1879-1953)
One of the most important publishers of art history,
literature and philosophy in the modern German era,
Piper founded his hrm in 1904, publishing works by
Dostoyevsky and Schopenhauer During his career
he brought out works on recent and contemporary
artists — Cezanne, Daumier, van Gogh, Manet,
Renoir — and Old Masters — Bruegel, Cranach,
Durer. Rembrandt — as well as books by such critics
as Julius Meier Craefe and Wilhelm Worrmger and
such composers as Gustav Mahler and Arnold
Schoenberg In 1912 he published Wassily Kandinsky s
liber das Gastitjt j« Jer Kunsi On the spiritual in art) and
Kandinsky and Franz Marc's Alrrnnacb des Blauen
Raters The blue rider almanac I, two of the corner-
stones of Expressionism He also presented deluxe
portfolio editions of many of the most prominent
Expressionist graphic artists Piper was a lifelong
advocate of the work of Ernst Barlach In 1936 Joseph
Goebbels censured the hrm for its intended publica-
tion of Barlach s drawings which prompted the artist
to protest that he was a good German, neither
lewish nor degenerate

•Pnnzborn, Hans < 1886-1^
The Psychiatric Clinic of the University ol Heidelberg
emerged in the early 1920s as a center for the study
of the art of the insane under the direction of the
neurologist and psychologist Pnnzhorn, who col-
lected six thousand drawings, paintings, and objects
by patients at the clinic, mounted an exhibition of
their work, and published Dm BiUnerei der Ceisteskranken
t Image-making by the mentally ill) in 1922 Much
attention was focused on Pnnzhorn's pioneering
efforts, and many artists visited Heidelberg through-
out the 1920s to see the work Paul Schultze-
Naumburg used examples Irom the collection in his
treatise Kunsi und Rasse (Art and race), which in turn
influenced the Entartete Kunst exhibition guide

•K'.iiy Anil I
Rive loined th< curatorial staff oi ttai Natioi

rovislonal
dlrei '"' when I iusta\ I lanl
resign Ravi ■■'■ dire* toi

throughout the wai and subsequently ^ <
director until 1950 I It 1949 book K«ni«iiJrJdlur im
Driiini Rricb Vrt dictatorship in the I bird Rch h
was the lust act ouni ol the entartetc Kim i
ol tin- NSDAP I" 1953 Ravi I
oi tin- Neue Nai gal. i Wfesi Berlin

• RxicbskammtrdtrbildtndenKMnsU

Ri 1. 1. 1 haml I visual irtsi

Undci foseph ( ioebbelss diret tion tins him. h ol
thi Reichskulturkammei Reich chamber of culture
undertook universal control ol art production Irom

I'M* onward All artists were required to he registered
in order to obtain materials and permission ti

.imi niih tin isc wh. i < i mid prove their Aryan descent

were eligible foi membership It was through the
k< k hskammer der bildenden Kunste that the purge
ol modernism from visual .ui was organized and

a new German art imposed

•Rosotfcrnj Atfnd 1893-1946)
The leading cultural ideologue tit the National Social
ist party Rosenberg, an architect by training, had
lomed the party as early as 1919 In 1929 he organized
the Kamptbund fur deutsche Kultur i Combat league
tor German culture and the following year published

/)«■ Mytbus des 20 labrbundtrts iThe myth ol the twen-
tieth century), his tract on Aryan racial superiority
I le served as editor of Die Kunst im Dnttat Rocfa Art
in the Third Reich | and the Volkiscber Btobachter ( 1921 I,
the official NSDAP newspaper He became deputy
for the supervision ot all "intellectual and ideological
training and education" for the NSDAP in 1934, and
in 1939 he was temporarily appointed to replace Alois
Schardt as director of the Stadtisches Museum fur
Kunst und Kunstgewerbe (Montzburgi in Halle
In September 1940 he spearheaded the so-called
Rosenberg task force, charged with confiscating art
treasures from lewish collections and libraries in
France and other occupied countries and transporting
them to Germany Rosenberg was hanged in Nurem-
berg in 1946

• Rust. Bembard ( 1883-1945)

As Reich minister of science, education, and popular
culture from 1934 to 1945, Rust oversaw the purge of
German universities, during which thousands of Jew-
ish, Social Democratic, and other academicians in
official disfavor lost their |obs His victims included
such scientists as Albert Einstein and Otto Heinrich
Warburg as well as such renowned artists as Max
Liehermann Rust was responsible for the closing of
the modern art department of the Berlin National-
galerie at the Kronprmzenpalais in 1936 and ordered
the "cleansing" of the museum's collection He
committed suicide in 1945

•Schardt, Alois (1889-1955)
Schardt served as director of the Stadtisches Museum
fur Kunst and Kunstgewerbe l Montzburgi in Halle
from 1926 to 1933, when he was sent to Berlin for four
months to replace Ludwig lusti, who had been forced
to resign the directorship of the Nationaigalerie He
was arrested by the SS at the opening of a Franz
Marc exhibition in Hannover, his recently published
monograph on Marc had been condemned by the
NSDAP In 1939 he emigrated to the United States
and was affiliated with Marymount College in
Los Angeles

•Scfeofz. Robert (b 1902)
A follower of Alfred Rosenberg, Scholz contributed
art commentary to the Volkiscber Btobachter and Rosen-
berg's periodical Dm Kunst im Ihitten Rod) i Art in the

I hard Reich In 040 he ta

Rosenberg task force and participated in tK '

verwertung der Produktc rntartctcr kunst

ii >.! produi ts of

nines
humanity and sent him to prison in hMS

.U*r-Ura PtfuJ IV I

< > most powerful of I

nd n -

■

to artiste [ rudosi iciltiln

i led to demonst r ii between

>t the

physii illy bandit ippi d In was influenced by the
attention being accorded artists under \ lans Pnnz
horns care in Heidelberg As superintend* n
Weimarer Vereimgtr W< rkstatten Weimar unified

craft workshops in the 1930s S< hultze Naumburg
ordered the etfacement ol I '
in the st hoi J

. 1901
The National Socialist propaganda artist Schweitzer
produced exhibition posters tor the party and pub
lished caricatures in the V -under

the pseudonym Fvtjolnii Thunderhammer) loseph
I ioebbels appointed him Reich commission' i foi
artistic design with instructions to develop guide

lines for official Nazi art He served on Vdoll
i ommittee for the connsi ation ol

modernist art works

•Der Sturm i The storm
In Berlin in 1910 Herwarth Walden founded Drr Sturm.
a journal devoted to avant-garde art Published until
1932, it contained original graphics by such artists as
( )skar Kokoschka and members of Die Brucke Alfred
Doblin and Elsa LaskerSchulcr were among its
authors In 1912 Walden also established a puhlishmjj
house and gallery by the same name The gallery was
soon to become a venue for ground-breaking exhibi-
tions of European avant-garde art, showing modern
German, French, Italian, and Russian works

• Walden, Herwarth I 1H7S-1941
See Der Sturm

• Willnck, Wolfgang -b IH97

Will rich was a painter and influential art critic, closely
associated with the first "chamber of horrors" art
exhibitions m Dresden In 1937 he published his
mflamatory book, Sauberunt] des Kunsttempeh (Cleansing
of the temple of art:, which used collage techniques
to defame modernist art He was a member of Adolf
Ziegler's commission for the confiscation of art tor the
1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition and collaborated with
Walter Hansen on the installation

'Ziegler. Adolf ( 1892-1959)
Ziegler was one ol the painters favored by Hitler He
joined the party in 1925 and was considered the Reich
expert on art He taught at the Munich Academy of
Fine Arts in 1933 In 1936 Joseph Goebbels appointed
him president of the Reichskammer der bildenden
Kunste Reich chamber of visual arts and the follow
ing year authorized him to oversee a commission for
the confiscation of modernist art works trom public
collections Ziegler coorganized the Entartete Kunst
exhibition in Munich In 1943 as a result of his pacifist
tendencies he was briefly imprisoned in a concentra-
tion camp

Exhibition Ephemera

"Degenerate Art" The Fate of the Avanl-Gardt in Nazi
Germany included a representation of relevant books
and catalogues, musical selections and scores, photo-
graphs, film extracts and newsreel (ootage, posters,
newspaper clippings, and ephemera The introductory
gallery contained material on Entarletr Kunst, the Crosse
Deulscfce Kunstausslellun^, Nazi-approved art, the Galene
Fischer auction, a twenty -two -foot scale model of the
Enlartele Kunsl exhibition by Eric Marable, and Munich-.
1937, a film loop by Erwin Leiser The film gallery pre-
sented a program of extracts from twelve abstract and
Expressionist films by Oskar Fischinger, Fritz Lang,
Hans Richter, Robert Wiene, and others In the lit-
erature room forty books by such authors as Albert
Doblin, John Dos Passos, Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernest
Hemingway Thomas Mann, Karl Marx, and Erich
Maria Remarque, which were among those proscribed
by the Nazis in 1933, were displayed with a film,
Germany (933, by Leiser, focusing on the book burnings
I Exhibited books that also appear in the bibliography
of this volume are noted in that section ) The music gal-
lery contained material on the exhibition Enlartele Musik
as well as on Nazi-approved music, jazz, and those
composers and musicians who were defamed by the
Nazis and forced mto exile, musical selections included
were by Hanns Eisler, Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Weill,
and others

Posters and exhibition related
publications

Hans Schweitzer (pseud Mjolnir), posters National-
Sozia/ismus (National socialism), 1930, and Unsere
lelzlr Hojjnunj Hitler (Our last hope Hitler), 1932,
The Robert Core Rifkind Foundation, Beverly
Hills, California

Felix Albrecht, poster DeulscMand ermacbl (Germany
awakes), 1932, The Robert Core Rifkind Foundation,
Beverly Hills, California

Kathe Kollwitz and Heinrich Mann, poster Drmdenu'er
Appell (Urgent appeal), Berlin, 1933, Kathe-Kollwitz-
Archiv, Akademie der Ktinste, Berlin

For SonuWbau Enlartele Kunsl AbrechnunQ mil dtr jiidisch-
oolscljeuiisliscoen Kulturvergijtung (Special exhibition of
degenerate art Retribution for the Jewish-Bolshevist
poisoning of culture) at the Haus der Kunst, Dortmund

• Poster and exhibition leaflet, 1935, Stadtarchiv
Dortmund

For Olympiscbe Spiele Berlin 1936 (Berlin Olympic
Games 1936)

• Frantz Wurbel, poster, 1936, The Robert Gore
Rifkind Foundation, Beverly Hills, California

For Entarlett Kunsl at the Kunst- und Gewerbeverein,
Regensburg

• Exhibition leaflet, 1936, Stadtarchiv Regensburg

For Do- ewige Jude (The eternal Jew) at the Bibliotheks-
bau des Deutschen Museums, Munich

■ Postcard, 1937, private collection, Munich

For Enlartele Kunsl (Degenerate art)

• Fritz Kaiser, exhibition brochure, 1937, a) Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, The Robert
Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist
Studies, b) Gunther Thiem, Stuttgart,

c) private collection

Al the Arcbaologiscbes (nslilul, Munich

• Postcards and circular, 1937, private collection,
Munich

Al the Haus der Kunst, Berlin

• Invitation card, 1938, Zentralarchiv der
Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalene

• Postcards, 1938, George-Grosz-Archiv, Berlin

• Ticket of admission, 1938, private collection

Al (be Kunslpauisl am Ehrenhoj, Dusseldorj

• Ticket of admission, 1938, Archiv Lauterbach,
Stadtmuseum Diisseldorf

• Leaflets, 1938, private collection, Hamburg

For Grosse Deulsclje Kunstausslelluna (Great German art
exhibition) at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, Munich

• Richard Klein, poster, 1937, private collection,
Los Angeles

• Catalogue, 1937, Getty Center for the
History of Art and the Humanities, Special
Collections (Wilhelm F Arntz Archive), Los
Angeles I Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of
Chicago (Chicago only)

• Leaflet, private collection, Munich

For "Tag der Deutschen Kunst Miinchen 1937" (German
art day, Munich 1937)

■ Richard Klein, postcard and parade button,
1937, private collection, Munich

For Grosse Deulscbc Kunslausslelluno: (Great German art
exhibition) at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, Munich

• Richard Klein, poster, 1938, The Robert Gore
Rifkind Foundation, Beverly Hills, California

• Catalogues, 1938-44, Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, The Robert Gore Rifkind
Center for German Expressionist Studies

(Los Angeles only), The Art Institute of Chicago
(Chicago only)

For 20lb Cenlury German Arl at the New Burlington
Galleries, London

• Poster, 1938, The Trustees of the Tate Gallery,
London

• Catalogue, 1938, Dr Stephan Lackner

National Socialist propaganda

Other books included in the exhibition are listed as
primary sources in the bibliography (p 406)

Brochure publisher's release for Wolfgang Willrich's
Sauberung des Kunsttempels (Cleansing of the temple of
art), Munich J F Lehmann, 1937, private collection,
Munich

Brochure: Der Fuhrer mack Geschkble 1937 (The Fuhrer
makes history, 1937), with photographs by Heinrich
Hoffmann, Berlin Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen
Volkes, 1937, private collection, Munich

Max Simon Nordau, Enlarlung (Degeneration), Berlin
C Dunker, 1892 (vol 1), 1893 (vol 2), Widener
Library Harvard University Cambridge

Galene Fischer auction

For Gemalde und Plastiken moderner Meisler aus deutschen
Museen (Paintings and sculpture by modern masters
from German museums), auction, Galerie Fischer,
Lucerne, June 30, 1939 (all material courtesy of the
Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, unless otherwise indicated)
•Contracts with the Reichsministerium fur
Volksaufklarung und Propaganda, Berlin,
March 7, 1939, with the Marine Insurance
Company Zurich, March 11/14, 1939, with
the Schweizensche Kreditanstalt, Lucerne,
April 17, 1939

• Announcements of the auction in the program
of the Casino Kursaal Lucerne Saison 1939,
March 31, 1939, of the preview exhibition,
Zurich, of previews in Zurich and Lucerne

• Catalogues a) Galerie Fischer, Lucerne
(Theodor Fischer's annotated copy), b) Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, The Robert
Core Rifkind Center for German Expressionist
Studies, c) Los Angeles County Museum

of Art, Mr and Mrs Allan C Balch Art
Research Library

• Bidding cards Josef von Sternberg for lot 67
(Kokoschka, Tou>er Bridge in London), Jean
Buissert, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liege, for lot 39
(Ensor, Masks and Death), lot 44 (Gauguin, From
Tahiti), and lot 83 (Laurencin, Portrait oj a Girl)

• Payment records Josef von Sternberg, Ceorg
Schmidt, director of the Kunstmuseum Basel,
Pierre Matisse, Paris

Entartete Kunst": The Literature

The Ent.iricir Kintvi exhibition has intrigued three generations "I
scholars on both sides ol tin- Atlantic Paul ( >rtwin Rave's Kunstdik-
i.iiur im Drittm Reich (Hamburg GebriiderMann 1949 ed Uwc M
Schneede Berlin Argon 1987) has remained the standard account
fol infi ll m« Ition on the exhibition, the subsequent ( .alerie Fischer
auction in I ucerne in 1939, and the activities leading up to these
actions The hrst book to appeal in I nglish was I lellmut Lehmann-
Haupt s Art undei ,i Dictatorship New York Oxford University Press,
l''i l which was also a firsthand account The author was an
American-based scholar who served at the end of the war in the
United States government's Monuments, line Arts, and Archives
Section, which was responsible for investigating the art looting
by the Nazis in Germany and France Lehmann Haupt's book is
especially valuable for its assessment of Nazi cultural policies, he
also discussed the role played by culture in a totalitarian society and
compared Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia on this issue Another,
more recent study in Fnglish is Berthold Hinz's Art in the Third Reich
New York Random House, 1979), originally published in 1974 as
Dm Malerti im deutschen Faschismus 1933— 1945 Kunst und Kontcrtwolution
(Giessen Anabas, 1974) Two works that provide much documentary
material on art in Nazi Germany are Joseph Wulf, Die btldenden Kunste
im Drittoi Rficli Eme Dokiintentalion i Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullstein,
1983), and Otto Thomae, Die Pwjiittiandu Maschinerit Bildende Kunst und
Oficntlicbkritsarbeit im Dnltfn Retch (Berlin Gebruder Mann, 1978)

It was not until the twenty-fifth anniversary of Entartete Kunst
that any attention was focused on the exhibition by museums That
year, 1962, saw the first commemorative exhibition mounted at
Munich's Haus der Kunst, the building that had been built for the
first Crosst Deutsche KunstaussteUung but had been used after the war
to house the modern collection of the Bavarian region The 1962
exhibition featured artists whose work was seized as "degenerate"
during the 1937-38 sweep through the German museums, it did
not bring together exclusively those works that had been shown in
Munich Franz Roh's "Entartett" Kunst Kunstbarbarci im Dritten Reich
i Hannover Fackeltrager, 1962), also a twenty-fifth anniversary com-
memoration, contained valuable listings of several thousand of the
sixteen thousand paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints taken
from German museums and provided some information about their
whereabouts at that time Until recently this was the most frequently
consulted source for a museum-by-museum itemization of what was
confiscated

German historian Hildegard Brenner published her pioneering
book Dif Kunstpohttk des Nattonalsoziahsmus (Reinbek Rowohlt) in
1963 It remains the major source for the subject (unfortunately only
one chapter has been translated into English) For the next two
decades very little material appeared in Germany and none in Amer-
ica that dealt specifically with the Munich exhibition It was at the
time of the fiftieth anniversary of the 1933 book-burnings that atten-
tion was once again focused on the fate of modern culture during the
Third Reich, a number of books and exhibitions in Berlin, Hamburg,

and Duisburg provided important documentation On the
cil the 1987 anniversary of Eiiliirlclf Kunst the exhibition itself and
the actions leveled against the visual arts came under reexamination
by a new generation There were commemorative exhibitions in
Dusseldorl, Halle, Mannheim, Munich, Stuttgart, and in 1988
in West and East Berlin that dealt with specific aspects of thl i on
fiscations Many of these exhibitions were accompanied by well
researched, valuable catalogues, but most were focused on the
activities in a particular city or region and included onlv a modest
number of borrowed artworks The publication accompanying the
1987 exhibition in Munich, Dit "Kunstsladt" Mumhen i"(7 National-
soziahsmus und 'Entartete Kunsi 'Munich Prcstel, 1987), edited by
Peter- Klaus Schuster, is the most comprehensive Newspaper and
magazine articles as well as television programs proliferated Many
raised the question of the status of the Nazi-approved art and what
was to be done with the thousands of examples lying in the base-
ments of museum and government buildings ' Some controversy
erupted in 1986, for instance, when a leading German businessman
and collector, Peter Ludwig, and his wife Irene commissioned their
portraits by Arno Breker, the sculptor most highly favored by the
Nazis, who still lives and works in DiisseldorP The art produced
during the Third Reich and the issue of how it is viewed today
remains a very sensitive topic in Germany (S. B.)

Nolrs

1 After the war much of this art 16,337 works l was taken over by the United
States government and placed in the care of the Pentagon In 1982, after Congress
passed legislation providing for the return of the less inflammatory examples, over
5,001) works were delivered to the German government, which further classified
the Nazi art The more overtly propagandists pieces were kept under guard at

an army base in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, and the remainder was put in the care of the
Oberhnanzdirektion in Munich

2 The attitude of Peter and Irene Ludwig toward Nazi art and artists and the
larger issue of how to handle Nazi art emerged as controversial topics of public
discussion in Germany in the mid-1980s For an anthology of relevant articles and
manifestos see Klaus Staeck, NS-Kuml ins Museum) (Cottingen Steil/Zirk, 1988 1
and a special issue of the art lournal Imdntzm that was devoted to the debate,
"Nazi Kunst ins Museunr" {Imdmzm, no 157 [March 1987])

Selected Bibliography

Compiled by Jonathan Petropoulos, with the assistance of U Claudia Mesch

Primary sources

indicates a volume in the exhibition "Degenerate Art" The
Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany

Barr, Allred H , Ir "Art in the Third Reich Preview
1933 " The Magazine of An 38 (October 1945) 211-30

Benn, Gottfried Kunst und Mack Stuttgart Deutsche
Verlags-Anstalt, 1934

Boston Institute lor Modern Art Forbidden Art in the
Third Reich Exh cat , 1945

Causton, Bernard Art in Germany under the Nazis "
The London Studio 12, no 68 (November 1936) 235-46

Dresler, Adolf Deutsche Kumt und entartete "Kumt" Kunsl-
werk und Zerrhild .lis Spiegel der Weltanschauung Munich
Deutscher Volksverlag, 1938

Eberlem, Kurt Karl Was ist deutsch in der dtulschen KunsO
Leipzig E A Seemann, 1934

Fetstel-Rohmeder, Bettina, ed Im Terror des
Kumtholscheuvsmus Urkundensammlung des Deufscben
Kunsthenchtes aus den dahren 1927-1933 Karlsruhe
C F Muller, 1938

Fischer, Theodor Cemalde und Pl.ist.ken moderner Meistrr
uus deutschen Museen Auction cat , Lucerne Galerie
Fischer, 1939

Goebbels, Joseph Die Tagebucber von loseph Goebbels
Srimllicfcf Fragmenle Part I Au/zeicbnuniien 192J-I9-II
Edited by Elke Frohlich 4 vols Munich
K, G Saur, 1987

Gunther, Hans F K R.issr und Sid Munich J F
Lehmann, 1926

Hansen, Walter iudenkunsl in Deutschland: Quelle., und
Studien zur Judenfrage auj dent Gehiet dei hddenden Kumt Ein
Handhuch zur Gescb.cble der Verjudung und Entartung deutscher
Kumt (900-1933 Munich/Berlin Nordland, 1942

Hmkel, Hans, ed Handhuch der Retchskulturkammer
Berlin Deutscher Verlag fur Politik und Wirtschaft,
1937

Hitler, Adolf "Speech Inaugurating the Great Exhibi-
tion of German Art, 1937'" In Theories of Modem Art A
Sourcebook hy Artists and Critics, ed Herschel B Chipp,
474-82 Berkeley University of California Press, 1968

1 Kaiser, Fritz Ausstellungsfuhrer Entartete "Kunst" Berlin:
Verlag fur Kultur und W.rtschaftswerbung, 1937
Reprint Cologne Walter Kbnig, 1988 (A facsimile
and translation can be found in this volume )

Kohler, Gerhard Kunstamchauung und Kunstkritik in
der nationalsoztahsltschen Presse Die Krtlik fffl Feudleton des
Volfascben Beobiicblers' 1920-1932 Munich
Zentralverlag der NSDAP 1937

1 London New Burlington Galleries Exhibition of 20th
Century German Art Exh cat , 1938

Medley Robert "Hitler's Art in Munich " Axis, no 8
(winter), 1937

Menz, Gerhard Die Aujbau des Kulturstandes Die
Reichskulturkammergesetzgebung. ihre Grmidlagen, und ihre
Erjo\ge Munich C H Beck, 1938

Munich Haus der Deutschen Kunst Crosse Deutsche
Kunstausstellung Annual exh cat, 1937-1944

Prinzhorn, Hans Bildneret der Geisteskranken Em Beilrag
zur Psychology und Psychopalhologie der Geslallung Berlin
Julius Springer, 1922, 2d ed 1923 Published in English
as Artistry of tbr Mentally HI A Contribution to tbr Psycbol-
ogy and Psycbopatbology o\ Configuration Translated by
Eric von Brockdorff New York Springer, 1972

Rosenberg, Alfred, ed Kunst im Drilten Reich [Kumt
im Deutschen Rricb from 1939) Monthly periodical,
1937-44

Memoirs of Alfred Rosenberg, with Commentaries by

Serge Lang and Ernst pon Scbrmfe Chicago Ziff-Davis,
1949

The Myth of trie Tu>enlielb Century An Evaluation

of the Spiritual-Intellectual Confrontations of Our Age Tor-
rance, Calif Noontide, 1982 Originally published as
Der Mytbus Jrs 20 Jahrhunderts Eine Wertung der seeliscb-
geistigen Gestaltenkampfe Munich Hoheneichen, 1930

"Race ,in<i Race History" Selected Writings of Alfred

Rosenberg Edited by Robert Pois London Jonathan
Cape/New York Harper and Row, 1970

Rn.olul.on in der bildenden Kunst Berlin Franz

Eher, 1934

Sauerlandt, Max Im Kampj urn die moderne Kunst Briefe
(902-1933 Edited by Kurt Dingelstedt and Heinz
Spielmann Munich Albert Langen/Georg Muller,
1957

Schirach, Baldur von Zu>e. Reden zur ifeulscbni Kunst
Weimar Cesellschaft der Bibliophilen, 1941

Schmidt, Diether, ed In Irlzter Stunde Kunstlerschriften
1933-1945 Vol 2 of Scbriftcn deutscher Kunstler des
zwanzigslen Jahrhunderts Dresden VEB Verlag der
Kunst, 1964

Schreiber, Karl Friedrich Die Reichskulturkammer
Organisation und Ziele der deutschen Kuflurpofitife Berlin
Junker and Dunnhaupt, 1934

Schultze-Nai
I F Lehman

nburg, Paul Kampf urn die Kunst Mu
1932

Kunst ,jus Blul und Bodtn Leipzig E A

Seemann, 1934

Kunst und Rasse Munich I F Lehmann,

Willrich, Wolfgang Sauberung des Kunsllempels Eine
bunstpol.ttscbe Kampfschnfl zur Gesundung deutscher Km
Geisle nordischer Art Munich I F Lehmann, 1937

Ziegler, Hans Severus Enlartrlr Musik Eine Abrechn
Dusseldorf Volkischer Verlag, 1938

"Entartete Kunst''

Arntz, Wilhelm F "Bildersturm in Deutschland " Das
Scbonsle, May 1962, 45-48, June, 30-35, July 26-29,
August, 36-39, September, 42-15

Backes, Klaus H.lle. mi die bildenden Kumte Cologne,
DuMont, 1988

Behne, Adolf Entartete Kunst Berlin Carl Habel, 1947

Berlin Akademie der Kunste "Das war em Vorsptel nur
BUcberverbrennung in Deutschland 1933: Vorausseizungen und
Eolgen Exh cat, 1983

Sbulfilur und Macht Figurative Plasiik m Deutsch-
land der 3orr und 40er lahre Exh cat , 1983

Ztoiscben Wiierstani und Anpassung Kunst m

Deutschland 1033-1945 Exh cat, 1978

Berlin Berlinische Galerie Station™ der Moderne Die
bedeulenden Kumlausslelluniten des 20 Jahrhunderts m Deutsch-
land Exh cat, 1988

Berlin Bildungswerk des BBK "Als die SA in den Saal
marscbierle " Dos Ende des Reichsmrbandes bildender
Kiimtler Deutschlands Exh cat , 1983

Berlin Neue Gesellschalt fur bildende Kunst
Inszenterung der Macht Asthetische Faszinalton m Fasclnsmus
Exh cat edited by Klaus Behnken and Frank Wagner,
1987

Berlin Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalene
Das Scbicfe.il einer Sammluni) Aufbau und Zerstorung der
Ncuen Abteiluntl der Nationalgalene im rbemal.den Kronprmzen-
Palais (inter den Linden 1918-1915 Exh cat , 1987 Rev ed
edited by Annegret landa, Berlin (West) Neue
Cesellschaft fur bildende Kunst, 1988

Bielefeld Kunsthalle Bielefeld "Wird unser Reich Jahr-

tausend dauern " Bielefeld 1933-19-15 Kunst una" Kmislpolilik
im Nationalsozialismus Exh cat edited by Ritdiger
Jorn, 1981

Bonn Rheimsches Landesmuseum 1936 Verbotene BiUer
Exh cat, 1986

Brenner, Hildegard "Art in the Political Struggle of
1933-34 " In From Republic to Reicb The Making of tbe Nazi
Resolution, ed Hajo Holborn New York Pantheon,
1972

EnJe einer biuarr/iibm Kiinst-lnstitution Die

polittscbe Formierung da Preussischen Akidemte der Kunste
ab 1933 Schnftenreihe der Viertelsiahreshefte fiir
Zeitgeschichte, no 24 Stuttgart Deutscher Verlags-
Anstalt, 1972

Die Kunstpo/ilit des Nationalsozialismus Reinbek

Rowohlt, 1963

Busch, Cunter Enlartrlr Kunst Gescbicbte und Moral
Frankfurt Societats-Verlag, 1969

Bussmann, Georg '"Degenerate Art' A Look at a Use-
ful Myth " In German Art in the 20I/1 Century Painting and
Sculpture (905-1985, 113-24 Exh cat edited by C M
Joachimides, N Rosenthal, W Schmted, London
Royal Academy of Arts, 1985

i hametzk) IVtei Marginal I omments Oppositional
Worl Willi Baumeisters ( i atlon with Nail An

In Willi BuumeillO /n.l>iiun.|rii GoiucImh ( o//.i.l«i I xh

..ii Stuttgarl Staatsgalerie Stuttgart 1989

Ducnkel Gtinrei Die Liquldlerung dei Kunsl
ImAim i i lanuar) Man h 198 1 1 53

hi. vcrzdgeru Helmkchi dei Vferfcmten

Irndrnzre no IS8 Kprll lure 198 63 69

Dutsburg Wllhelm Lehmbruck Museum IMwIre
„.|,.|.ji KuNsU/itlolxr in , Relet Exh cai bj Barbara
Leppei 1983

Dunlop Ian ITk SlwcxoJ AeNnii Store Hislori
lion oj Modern An New York American Heritage

I.

DUsseldori Kunstmuseum DUsseldori DUatliorJei

Kun.i.joif nil i-.i, I xh , ,,i 198

DUsseldori Kunstsammlung Mordrhein Westfalen

MuSfltm Jn CegOttPari Kunsl iii .■llrttllklim X.imitilun,Jru bis

, , I (h i .ii 198

mi,/ in, In Jir leisesfc spur rmr. /oncon/l'

Fosilioncn unabbangifti Kunst in Europd Mm IM7 I xh ..it
1987

DUsseldori StSdtische Kunsthalle Diisseldorl DieAxl
batgtbliibl " EunpHiscbr Konjlikll Jet ion Faorr in Erin-
nrrmu an Jir friiBe Avantgaril 1 xh cat, 1987

Essen Museum Folkwang Oolfiimniiiilion zur Gtscbicbtt
Jr- Museum K'l'ln. i .. ,; I9I1-1945 I \h tat, 1983

Fassmann. Kurt 'Kildersturm in Frankreich Das
Scbonsfe Decembei 1962, 75-83, February 1963, 28-29,
March, 68-71

Fischer lens Make "Entartete Kunst Zur Ceschichte
tines hVgnlts Atr.ltur 38, no 3 April 19841 346-51

Fischer-Defoy, Christine Kunst, Al.i.k Polirik Die
'inij in Kunst- und Miui/efcocbscou'en m Halm
Berlin I lefanten Press, 1988

, ed Spurn der Asthuk aes IV'iJnsi.inJs Berliner

KunslstuJnttni im WiJfrst.md 1933-1945 Herlin Prcssestelle
der Hochschule der Kunste, 1984

Frankfurt Frankfurter Kunstverem Kunsl un Ontini
Rmb Doltummir Jn Unterwtrfung Exh cat edited by
Georg Bussmann, 1974

Frankfurt ludisches Museum Exprrssiomsmus und Exil
Die Summluna LuJu'iil unj Rosy Eisc/irr Exh cat edited
by Georg Heuberger, 1990

Frommhold Erhard. ed Kunst im WiderslunJ Malerei,
Grapbib, /'lustit im fns i9<; Dresden Verlag der Kunst,
1968

Frowein, Cordula "The Exhibition of 20th Century
German Art in London 1938 Eine Antwort auf die
Ausstellung 'Entartete Kunst' in Munchen 1937"
Exil/orscbun^ Em Internationales Jabrbucb 2 (1984)
212-37

Gilman, Sander "The Mad Man as Artist Medicine,
History and Degenerate Art" Journal of Contemporary
History 20 (October 1985) 575-97

"Madness and Representation Hans Prmz-

hnin s Study of Madness and Art in Its Historical
Context" In Tbr Prmzborn Collection, 7-14 Exh cat.
Champaign, III Krannert Art Museum, 1984

Grosshans, Henry Hillrr and tbr Artists New York
Holmes and Meier, 1983

Hafrmann Wfernei Banned oiid Prneculed DicurtorsbiJ oj

An /.. Hal,, translated by I Been Mai

I luMonl 1986 Publlshi ,1 i Iti isl) , rirjimli

Kunil Bilfatit Klfntlfri Jr. innerre mi uussrmi Emigration i«
inl i ologm I KiMonl 1986

11,11, Staatllchi I lalerli MorlBburg Halk /.» Kamftf

urn ,1,. modem Ki Do! Scbicfaal tinn SummUa ,„ fa i

Hulflefa jo labrkundrru I «h cai edited I". Pet.
R.iin.nuis, 1983

Alii.rin., „„,/(, r.ln.ir.iH /um .'n/ullms von

>,)in Kunsl mi,' Alusruin iii ,/ri mini //,il/lr

I. io labrbunderts m Deulscbland I xh cai 1985

I lamburg I lamburgei Kunsthalle Wr/olal mi,/ ixrfubrl
Kunsl miirim Hakaibma m Hamburg mi \94S I .1, , al
1983

Hamburg Museumspadagogischei Diensi AUHamburg

.mi /\l|[.i,; mi N,ili,,ii,il.,'.-i.i/iMniiN I xh ..il,
1983

I lannovei Landesmuseum I lannovei BrscWa^naBme

Altliou mi L,iii,/rsiiiu.riim //.iiiiioiti 1937 /.islr ,/rr tiiii/is;irrlrn
Wtrlu uni unntrbflmllicblt Dokummtt I xh . ,,i 1983

I lannovei Sprengel Museum I lannover Druisclirr

Kiiiislln/.i,..,/ I'll.. Krlwlrur (Ji/./n I xh . al 1986

Heller, Reinhold "The Expressionist Challenge lames
Plaul and the Institute "I I ontemporary Art " In Dissrel
TI>r laut of Moirrn Art in Boslon, 16-51 Boston Ninth
eastern University Press, 1986

Hcntzen, Allred Die Btrlmer HaUo«a\-Ca\trii im
BiUrrsturm C ologne Grote, 1972

"Das l;nde der Neuen Ahteilung der

National-Galene im ehemaligen Kronprmzen-Palais"
l,i/n/.ii./. Milimi,/ Prrussisclwr Kullurteirz 8 (1970) 24-89

"Die Entstehung der Neuen Abteilung der

National-Galene im ehemaligen Kronprmzen-Palais "
fabriucl Sli/tuiu; Prrussiscfcrr Kullurdesilz 10 (1972) 9-75

Hicpc, Richard Gtwissm mi Galaltomj Deulichr Kuml
m IVuIrrslunJ Frankfurt Roderberg, I960

Hinkel, Hermann Zur Funtlicm fa Ufa im Jrulscnni
fiiscoismus— Bilibdspiile, Analysoi, iiiaktiscbt Voncblagi
Giessen Anabas, 1974

Hmz, Berthold Art in ibl Third fined Translated by
Robert and Rita Kimber New York Random House,
1979 Originally published as Die Maltrn im Jeulscfcrn
Fdscljisinus lon-iSMS Kunsl unj Konlrrrn>olu(it)H Giessen
Anabas, 1974

et al , eds Die Defcorahon Jer Gnrall Kunsl mi

MrJim mi f.is.riisinus Giessen Anabas, 1979

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Munich Haus der Kunst Die Drcissiger Jahre Scbauplatz
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Nerdmger, Winfried Rudolf Belling und die
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Berend-Connth, Charlotte Die GemalJe run Lows
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Heusinger von Waldegg, Joachim H M Daimngbausen
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Leppien, Helmut R Max Ernsl Das grapbiscbe Werk
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Bonn Rheinlsches Landesmuseum OHo FmmdUeh

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Duckers Mexandei GeordrGrosz Dos drudeara^biscfM
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Dube, Annemane and WolfDieter Encb Htckrl Das
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Vogt, Paul Enid Htsktl Recklinghausen Aurel
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Munich Stadtische Galene im Lenbachhaus Alrxrj
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Roethel, Hans K , and lean Benjamin KanJimky
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Washington National ( lallery <>l An Hi. Art oj
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Lankheit, Klaus ham Man Kalaloa drr Wall
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Franz Mart. Sen Lrl'rn u.tj stmt Kunsl

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Busch, Cuntcr Gerhard March Dai pUsliscbt Wtrk
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Schade, Herbert Johanna Mollahn Einfuhnmj m das

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Haftmann, Werner Eml Noldt Unpamttd Pictures
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1965

New York Museum of Modern Art Em,/ Noldr Exh
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Schiefier, Custav, and Chnstel Mosel £mil Noldt
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Urban, Martin Em,! Noldt Werkverzeiclmis drr Gmaldt
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Kriiger, < liinther Das druckaraphscbt Wtrk May
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Wtrlamdctmii vol i GmiUt Aau
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Paris I dli i

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( lirisiui, Robf/s ' Irur/rr-Kaialoa Jrr (,rmjljr

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Maur, Kann Dslwr Sinlmimrr Munich Prestel

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Bremen Kunsthalle Bremen Karl Sihm.dl-ltotllujj
ktirosprktm Exh cat edited by Cunther Thiem

and Armin Zweite, 1984

Crohmann, Will Karl SdmiA-RoHlaf/ Stuttgart

W Kohlhammer, 1956

Schapire, Rosa K.irl SinmiJl-Rolllu//s ^rajirnsclirs Wrrk r>,s
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Storch, Wolfgang Crora Scbrmpj uni Mana Uhdtn
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Elderheld, luhn Kurt Scounllrrs London Tham
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Schmalenbach, Werner Kurt ScfeuHtlm 2d ed
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Bardi, P M Lisar Staall Milan Edizion, del Mill.
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General reading on modern German art

Berlin Neue Nationalgalerie et al Tmdmzm in
Ztvanziger Jahre Exh cat , 1977

Berlin Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin "Wem gehbrl die
Will" Kunsl und Gesellschajt in in Weimarrr RrpuMit
Exh cat, 1977

Berlin Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Expressionistm Die
Avantgarde in Deutscbland I905-I92Q Exh cat , 1986

Dube, Wolf-Dieter The Expressionists Translated by
Mary Whittall London Thames and Hudson, 1972
Reprint 1985

Cay Peter Weimar Culture: The Outsider us Insider New
York Harper and Row, 1968

London Royal Academy of Arts German Arl m the 20lh
Century Painting ani Sculpture 1905-1985 Exh cat edited
by C M Joachimides, N Rosenthal, W Schmied, 1985

Los Angeles Los Angeles County Museum of Art
German Expressionist Prmls and Drawings The Robert Gore
Rifleind Center jor German Expressionist Studies 2 vols
Cat, 1989

Miesel, Victor H , ed Voices oj German Expi
Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, 1970

Selz, Peter German Expressionist Painting Berkeley/Los
Angeles University of California Press, 1957

Willett, John Arl ani Politics in ll>e Weimar Period
London Thames and Hudson, 1978

W.ngler, Hans Maria The Bauhaus Weimar, Dessau.
Berlin. Chicago Edited bv Joseph Stem, translated by
Wolfgang Jabs and Basil Gilbert Cambridge
MIT Press, 1969

Culture during the Third Reich

Arndt, Karl "Die Munchner Architekturszene 1933/34
als asthetisch-pohtisches Konfliktfeld " In Bayrrn in in
NS-Zeit, ed M Broszat, E Frohlich, and A Gross-
mann, vol 3 Munich/Vienna Oldenburg, 1981

Balfour, Michael Propaganda in War 1939-1945 Organiza-
tions. Policies, ani Publics in Britain and Gernumy London
Routledge and Kegan, 1979

Bartetzko, Dieter Illusionen in Stem Slimmungsarchitehur
im ieutschen Fascfcismus /lire Vorgescbicble in Theater- mi
Filmbaulen Rembek Rowohlt, 1985

Zu'iscben Zucbt uni Ehslasc Zm

NS-Arcbifeklur Berlin Gebruder Manr

Tbeatralik i
1985

Blatter, Janet, and Sybil Milton Arl o/ ibe Holocaust
New York Rutledge, 1981

Bollmus, Reinhard Das Ami Rosenberd uni seine
Gegner Stuiien zum Macbtktimpj im naliOHalsoziallstlscbrn
Herrscba/lssystfm Stuttgart Deutsche Verlags-
Anstalt, 1970

Boyers, Robert, ed The Legacy oj tile German Refugee
Intellectuals New York Schocken Books, 1969

Bramsted, Ernest K Goebbels anil National Socialist Propa-
ganda 1925-45 East Lansing Michigan State University
Press, 1965

Breker, Arno lm Strahlungsfeli ier Ereigmsse 1925-1965-
Lebrn uni Wirben eines Kunstlers Preussisch Oldendorf
Schutz, 1972

Cassou, Jean Le pillage par les Allemands ies oeuures i'art
et ies bihlwtbtgties apparlenanl a its mils en France Paris
Editions du Centre de documentation juive contemp-
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Cazden, Robert German Exile Literature in America (933—
(950 Chicago American Library Association, 1970

Cecil, Robert The Myth oj loe Master Race Aljrei Rosen-
berg ani Nazi Urology London B T Batsford, 1972

Chamberlain, Russell tool The Heritage oj Plunier New
York Facts on File, 1983

Corino, Karl Inttllebtuelle nn Bann ies Nationalsozialismus
Hamburg Hoffmann und Campe, 1980

Dahm, Volker Die judiscbe [.iterator im Dnllm Reich
Vol I, Die Ausschaltung ier jiidiscben Auloren, Verleger, uni
Buchhaniln Frankfurt Archiv fur Ceschichte und
Buchwesens, 1979

Damus, Martin Sozialisliscbtr Realismus uni Kunsl ,m
Nationalsozialismus Frankfurt Fischer Taschenbuch,
1981

Decker, Andrew "A Legacy of Shame" Arl Neu>s,
December 1984, 53-76

De Jaeger, Charles The bnz File Exeter, Eng Webb
and Bower, 1981

Dornberg, John "The Mounting Embarrassment of
Germany's Nazi Treasures " Arl News, September 1988,
130-41

Dumling, Albrecht, and Peter Girth, eds Enlailele
Musife Zur Dussrldor/rr Ausslellund i>on 1938, Eine leommenlierle
Rrkonslruktion 2d ed Dtisseldorf Klemherne, 1988

Eisner, Lotte The Haunted Screen Expressionism in ll.e
German Cinema and (lie Influence oj Max Retnharit
London Thames and Hudson, 1969

Faison, S Lane Consolidated Interrogation Report no 4
Ltnz — Miller's Museum ani Library Washington
Strategic Services Unit of the War Department,
December 15, 1945

Flanner, Janet Men ani Mo
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nls New York Harper

Fleming, Donald, and Bernard Bailyn, eds Tbe Intellec-
tual Migration Europe ani America 1930-1960 Cambridge
Harvard University Press, 1969

Fnedlander, Saul Reflections on Nazism An Essay on Kilscb
ani Death New York Harper and Row, 1984

Friemuth, Cay Die deraubte Kunsl Dei dramatiscbe Weltlauj
urn iie Rettung in Kulturscbalzr nach dm Zweiten Welltnea
Braunschweig Westermann, 1988

Glaser, Hermann The Cultural Roots oj National Socialism
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Spirsser-ldrolodie Von ier Znstorung ies ieutschen

Getsles im 19 uni 20 Jabrhuniert unif ifem Aujstieg ies
Nationalsozialismus Frankfurt/Berlin/Vienna Ullste.n,
1979

Grimm, Reinhold, and lost Hermand Fascbismus und
Avantgarie Kbnigstein Athenaum, 1980

Herding, Klaus, and Hans-Ernst Mittig, eds Kunsl und
Alltag im nalionalsoziulisliscbr System Alberl Speers Berliner
Slrassenlalernen Giessen Anabas, 1975

Herf, Jeffrey Reactionary Moienusm Technology, Cullure,
ani Politics in Weimar ani ibe Thiri Reicb Cambridge
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Hochman, Elaine Architects oj Fortune Mies mm ier
Rode ani the Thiri Reicb New York Weidenfeld and
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Hoffmann, Hemrich Hitler Was My Friend* Translated
by R H Stevens London Burke, 1955

Howe, Thomas C Sail Mines ani Gislles The Discovery
ani Restitution oj Lootei European Art Indianapolis/New
York Bobbs-Merrill, 1946

Hull, David S Film in tbe Tbird Reich A Stuiy oj the
German CiHema (933-1945 Berkeley University of
California Press, 1969

lackman, larrel C , and Carla M Borden, eds The
Muses Flee Hitler Cultural Transfer ani Adaptation 1930-1915
Washington Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983

Jelavich, Peter Cabaret in Berlin (904-(944 Cambridge
Center for European Studies, Harvard University 1986

Jezic, Diane Peacock The Musical Migration ani Ernst
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Kaes, Anton From Hitler to Hernial The Return oj History as
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Kaiser, lutta "Die Aktion 'Wider den undeutschen
Geist' und die Bucherverbrennung des Mai 1933"
In 1933 Wege zur Diklatur, 222-41 Exh cat edited
by Dieter Ruckhaberle, Berlin Staatliche Kunsthalle,
1983

Karetnikova, Inga, and Igor Golomstock "Totalitarian
Culture The Encounter in Paris " National Rn'ieu', May
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Acknowledgments

From the outset it was clear that to reconstruct as much as possible
of the original EnUtrtete Kunst exhibition of 650 works of art, let alone
to place German events of more than fifty years ago in perspective
for American audiences, would be a formidable undertaking
Ultimately conceiving, organizing, and mounting "Degenerate Art"
Ttje Fate o) the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germwy required five years of
intense effort This could not have been accomplished without the
confidence and constant encouragement of museum director Earl A
Powell III, for which I am very grateful Our board of trustees,
under the direction of Daniel N Belin and then Robert F. Maguire
III, wholeheartedly supported the exhibition as an important
endeavor One trustee in particular, Franklin D Murphy deserves
my special thanks Dr Murphy saw the Munich show in 1937, when
he was traveling in Germany during the summer following his col-
lege graduation His recollections, advice, and enthusiasm were
much appreciated

Without corporate sponsorship it has been difficult to mount an
exhibition as complex and ambitious as this one Consequently we
relied on government support to help fund this challenging project
This exhibition was only realized through funding from the National
Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts
as well as through an indemnity from the Federal Council on the
Arts and the Humanities In addition, a National Endowment for the
Arts fellowship for museum professionals in 1986-87 helped under-
write my several months stay in Germany enabling me to complete
a significant portion of the archival work

We were delighted that early in the planning stages the Art
Institute of Chicago expressed keen interest in the exhibition and
that they became the sole venue after Los Angeles It was a pleasure
to work with director lames Wood and curator Charles Stuckey
whose enthusiasm for the project rivaled my own

The original Entartete Kunst exhibition has become one of the
most frequently cited but little understood events in the history of
our century Unfortunately until recently it was impossible to deter-
mine exactly what had comprised the exhibition, not to mention the
fate of the works themselves With the discovery of several dozen
photographs in the archives of the Nationalgalene in the Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin, added to material from archives in Munich and
the Arntz archives at the Getty Center for Art History and the
Humanities in Los Angeles, the task of reassembling the original list
of works became a possibility The meticulous work and dedicated
scholarship of Annegret Janda, Andreas Hiineke, and especially
Mario-Andreas von Liittichau made it a reality Their contributions
over the past several years to the documentation of the contents of
Entartele Kunst and their participation in this volume are greatly appre-
ciated Liittichau was helpful at every step of this project, generous
in his advice, in assisting in securing loans and tracking down archi-
val photographs He has been a model collaborator Janda, formerly

the archivist al the Nationalgalerie In the Staatliche Museen zu

Berlin treelv shared the treasures undei hei jurisdiction and hei
cooperation made much of the visual part ol this hook a reality

In ll>H7 Germany commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the
Original Enl.irtflr Kunsl show with a series ol hooks articles, lectures,
and exhibitions I am grateful to the following museum colleagues
who have also worked On this subject Manfred lath, Sabine

Fehlemann, Dagmar Lott-Reschke, Karin von Maur, lorn Merkert,
Werner Schmalenbach, and Peter-Klaus Schuster Klaus Gallwitz,
director of the Stadtischc Calcrie (Stadelsches Kunstinstitut) in
Frankfurt, deserves my special thanks for adjusting the opening
dates of his exhibition of modern art collections in prewar Frankfurt
so as to not jeopardize loans to our exhibition

Since it was conceived as a reconstruction of several rooms of
the original EnUirlelt Kutisl show, ours was an exhibition in which
there was no margin for substitution in the roster of requested
works Much of the art we sought required exceptions to long-
standing loan restrictions by colleagues to whom we are particularly
grateful Christian Geelhaar, Basel, Wolf-Dieter Dube, Magdalena
Moeller Angela Schneider, and Peter-Klaus Schuster, Berlin, Ulrich
Weisner, Bielefeld, Evelyn Weiss, Cologne, Klaus Gallwitz, Frank-
furt, Werner Hofmann and Helmut Leppicn, Hamburg, Norbert
Nobis and Ursula Reuther, Hannover, Irene Martin, Lugano, Carla
Schulz-Hoffmann and Armin Zweite, Munich, and Peter Beye and
Kann von Maur, Stuttgart, have all been generous with works under
their care In the United States Robert Gore Rifkind and Fiorella
Urbinati, Los Angeles, Vivian Endicott Barnett, Riva Castleman, Lisa
Dennison, John Eldertield, Kirk Varnedoe, and Diane Waldman,
New York, William I Chiego, Oberlin, and Michael Shapiro, Saint
Louis, were particularly accommodating All the lenders, who are
listed on page 416, were extremely cooperative To them goes our
heartfelt gratitude for making this endeavor possible

The arduous process of locating works of art was aided by
numerous conversations I had with many colleagues who always took
an interest and often provided valuable leads I was privileged to
speak at length with the eminent scholar and bibliophile Wilhelm
Arntz shortly before his death His encouragement in this area, one
to which he had devoted more than thirty years of his life, was very
heartening in the project's early stages It was extremely helpful that
his library and archive were acquired by the Getty Trust, housed at
the Getty Center for Art History and the Humanities, and made
immediately accessible to me by the willing and able staff In par-
ticular I would like to acknowledge those who guided me to works
included in the original show, confirmed suspicions that certain
works had been destroyed, or provided other assistance Marcelo
Mattos Araujo, Vivian Endicott Barnett, Timothy Benson, Hans
Bolliger, Marco Crameri, Werner Crisp, Andrea Firmenich,
Katherine Fleet, Stefan Frey Wolfram Gabler, Hans Geissler, Peter
Grosz, Wolfgang and Ingeborg Henze, Rainer Horstmann, Joop
loosten, Felicitas Karg-Baumeister, Florian Karsch, Eberhard

Kornfeld, Georg Kreis, Ulrich Krcmpel, Stephan l.ackner, Godula
I iebig Angelika Livie, ( iilbert Lloyd, Ulm h I ui kh.iidt Kann von

Maur, Achim Moeller, Peter Nisbit, Max Pechstem, Leonie von
Ruxsleben Serge Saharsky Siegfried Saltzmann, Scott Schaefer, the
late 1 lelen Serger, ( .ranvil Specks, Laurie Stem, Martin Summers,
lohn lancock, Gunther Ihiem, Raymond I homas, Martin Urban,
Paul Vogt, 1 lans Wingler, Wolfgang Wittrock, and Mona Wollheim

During my research on the 1939 Galene Fischer auction, the
staff of the gallery in Lucerne most graciously opened their files
and archives to me on several occasions I thank Anna Fischer and
especially Marco Crameri, who has devoted much time to investigat-
ing the fate of the auctioned works

As the exhibition developed, it expanded beyond a reconstruc-
tion of the original show to include documentation on the pro
senption by the National Socialists of film, music, and literature It
was a privilege to collaborate with outstanding scholars who gener-
ously acted as our advisors in the creation of separate exhibition
rooms devoted to these arts

In music, Michael Meyer of California State University North-
ridge, contributed an essay to this volume and with Leonard Stein,
director of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, helped organize the
documents, texts, and selections of music that were made available
to visitors on audio tapes Together with the Los Angeles County
Museum's director of music programs, Dorrance Stalvey we planned
two evenings devoted to the performance of music of the period
Albrecht Dumling and Peter Girth, who organized an exhibition in
Germany on the 1938 Eiilurlrle Mustk show, were generous, sharing
material from their exhibition as well as texts from their catalogue
for our presentations in Los Angeles and Chicago It is gratifying
that during the course of the Los Angeles exhibition, the Los
Angeles Philharmonic presented several concerts of music of the
period, sponsored a related exhibition at the Hollywood Bowl
Museum, and hosted a symposium and presentation on Eiiliirlfle
Musik It was a pleasure to work with Ernest Fleischmann and Ara
Guzelimian of the Philharmonic

In literature, I relied on the expert advice and scholarship of
Ehrhard Bahr, professor of German literature at the University of
California, Los Angeles, who worked tirelessly with Jonathan
Petropoulos of our research team to shape the content, write the
text panels, and locate archival materials for the exhibition vitrines
Bahr was unfailing in his guidance and willingness to review material
(often on short notice) and take time from his own archival research
in Germany to find material for us

Ron Haver, the Los Angeles County Museum's distinguished
curator of film, and William Montz of the California Institute of the
Arts were enthusiastic about programming a retrospective of Ger-
man films, "From Caligari to Hitler," in the museum's Bing Theater to
coincide with the exhibition Montz, who contributed an essay to
this volume, worked closely with us on the selection of film clips to
be shown in the exhibition itself I relied on the talents of the award-

winning filmmaker Erwin Leiser of Zurich to locate and assemble the
documentary film footage shown in the introductory and literature
rooms of the exhibition Discussions about film of the period with
Leiser and Anton Kaes of the University of California, Berkeley,
proved most helpful

An article by Grace Clueck in the New York Times about the
exhibition several months prior to the opening led to the startling
discovery of actual footage taken by American newsreel and docu-
mentary filmmaker Julien Bryan I am indebted to Raye Farr and the
filmmaker's son, Sam Bryan, as well as the Library of Congress, for
making this footage and related stills available to us

One of the most gratifying responses during the course of pre-
paring this exhibition was that of other cultural institutions in Los
Angeles that offered to participate with us in collateral program-
ming It is with pleasure that we collaborated with Gordon Davidson
and his staff at the Mark Taper Forum, who eagerly responded to our
suggestion of an evening of cabaret to be mounted during the run of
the exhibition Peter Jelavich and John Willett provided material and
translations for the production Stein organized a related exhibition
and lectures at the Schoenberg Institute, and at L1CLA Bahr orga-
nized an interdepartmental seminar with many invited lecturers to
coincide with the exhibition The Martyrs of the Holocaust Museum
in Los Angeles mounted a small show, Polluting the Pure An Exhibit
on Racial Hyoiene ciml Eugenics, and the Simon Wiesenthal Museum
of Tolerance brought several lecturers to Los Angeles

Through the generosity of the Getty Program in Art History
many of the 1989-90 Getty scholars provided great enthusiasm and
expertise during their time in Los Angeles I particularly benefitted
from discussions with Stephan Barthelmess, Albrecht Dumling, Peter
Jelavich, Klaus Kropfinger, Annette Michelson, Ellen Handler Spitz,
Nancy Troy, Peg Weiss, and lain Boyd White The center's admin-
istrators, Kurt Forster, Tom Reese, and Herbert Hymans, were
unfailingly cooperative and resourceful in the development of this
project The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Human-
ities cosponsored several lectures at the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art

Research for this exhibition took place in collections and
archives throughout Germany Switzerland, and the United States
I am grateful to the following, many of whom also facilitated loans
of archival material to the exhibition Frau Heuss, Kunstmuseum
Basel, Angela Schneider, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Achim Wendschuh, Akademie der Kiinste,
Berlin, Annegret Schottler and Herr Raillard, Bildarchiv Koblenz,
Hans-Joachim Hecker, Stadtarchiv Munich, and Werner Roder,
Institut fur Zeitgeschichte, Munich In the United States Roger Stod-
dard, Widener Library Harvard University, Adair Kline, Simon
Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, Mike Olson and Don Sloane,
UCLA libraries; Maria Schutz-Coburn and Victoria Steele, Univer-
sity of Southern California, Janis Ekdahl and Rona Roob, library of
the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Agnes Peterson, Hoover

Institute, Palo Alto, and in Washington, DC, Tom Noonan,
Library of Congress, Dale Connelly National Archives Still Pictures
Division, all provided courtesies to us Don Anderle, Annamieke
Holbrook, Pamela Johnson, Steven Nonack, Nicholas Ullsberg, and
other staff members at the Getty Center for the History of Art and
the Humanities were also most helpful

The keen interest in the project evinced in the Federal Republic
of Germany was especially meaningful and helpful I would like to
acknowledge the Federal Republic's former consul general in Los
Angeles, Leopold Siefker, and deputy consul general Klaus Aurich
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs supported the exhibition and cata-
logue with a generous grant, for his assistance in this and his advice I
am grateful to Werner Schmalenbach Remhard Dmkelmeyer, direc-
tor of the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, was an enthusiastic colleague
Not only did the institute cosponsor the symposium, several lec-
tures, and the film series, but it helped to facilitate many related
aspects of the project during the past five years There was continual
interest in the German press in this project, and in particular the
writing of Petra Kippoff in Die Zfil brought forth new sources of
information I enjoyed working again with Joe Zucker and his col-
leagues in the Los Angeles office and Charles Croce in the New York
office of Lufthansa German Airlines in soliciting their support to
transport the show

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art I am once again
indebted to the extensive library, collection, and staff of the Robert
Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies for both
research materials and the loan of many graphics and books The
staff of the Mr and Mrs Allan C Balch Research Library in particu-
lar Eleanor Hartman and Anne Diederick, helped to locate many
important newspaper articles and arrange endless interlibrary loans.

I was fortunate in having an excellent team of assistants during
the last several years who were as committed to the project as if it
were their own Leslie Rubin carefully helped establish the begin-
nings of the checklist and set up photo files Christoph Zuschlag, a
native of Heidelberg, spent several months in Los Angeles collecting
research materials and contributing to the checklist Upon his return
to Germany he traveled to the site of every venue of the original
exhibition, interviewed eyewitnesses, and collected important mate-
rial, some which we displayed in the exhibition vitrines His contri-
bution to the catalogue brings together much of the results of his
significant original research U Claudia Mesch, a graduate student
in art history from L1CLA, now at the University of Chicago,
worked with me for almost two years She coordinated the graphics
checklist, drafted the register, and contributed to the bibliography
Jonathan Petropoulos, a historian from Harvard University joined
our team, bringing a different, and much needed, perspective to
our work He contributed to the literature section of the exhibition,
under the guidance of Ehrhard Bahr, and to the bibliography and
chronology in this publication Dagmar Lott-Reschke of Hamburg
worked with us for the last eight months She was a valuable liaison

with ^ .ciin.in lenders and authors .mil hei meticulous work on the
Anal stages cit the bibliography chronology and register were sig
niflcanl contributions She worked on the educational components
nt the installation and helped with all the last minute details and
Crises with resourcefulness and dedication Eric Pals, coordinator,
Twentieth (. entury Art Department, has been the anchor during the

entire project watching ovei every phase of the exhibition and cata-
logue with a discerning eye good judgment, and expedient problem-
solving I le coordinated the loan checklist, the acquisition of extant
photographs tor the book, and the development of material for
several grant applications I am extremely grateful to him tor his
dedication For a five yeai period I have depended on the good
graces and versatile language skills ot volunteer Crete Wolf, she-
has given countless hours of her time to this project, which evoked
memories ot her own experience as an emigre from Frankfurt in
the 1930s

Once again I was fortunate to work with the distinguished
architect Frank Gehry who designed the installation He took time
from his busy schedule and international commitments, and I am
extremely grateful for the opportunity to have conceptualized the
look and feel of the show with him and his associate Greg Walsh
The design, which was adapted for the Chicago installation,
expressed the sensitive nature of the exhibition The graphics, which
formed an integral part of the installation, were conceived and
executed by Los Angeles County Museum designer Inn Drobka with
imagination and skill Modelmaker Eric Marable painstakingly recon-
structed the original exhibition in a twenty-two-foot-long model, at
three-quarter-inch scale for our introductory gallery He received
invaluable assistance from Drobka and museum photographer Peter
Brenner, whose resourceful ability to produce photographs from
seemingly impossible material proved essential

This publication, which will be the lasting record of the
exhibition, was sensitively designed by Drobka, who patiently,
resourcefully and imaginatively responded to its challenges His
meticulous attention to the details of its complicated layout and his
solutions for handling less-than-perfect quality archival photographs
was creative, imaginative, and contributed to make this a beautiful
and readable book Brenner and his staff were responsible for many
of the excellent original photographs in this book and also worked
carefully to accommodate the demands of reproducing archival
photographs The editing and the coordination of texts from many
authors has been skillfully handled by Susan Caroselli Her precise
work, her grace with authors, and dedication to the project are
gratefully acknowledged I am also indebted to the expert guidance
ot Mitch Tuchman, the museums managing editor, for overseeing
the conception and execution of this book with great interest,
knowledge, and enthusiasm I owe him my thanks for his cogent
suggestions in the reading of my manuscripts for the book I am
delighted to work with Paul Cottlieb and his staff at Harry N
Abrams, Inc , in the publication of this volume

Dagmai Grimm, Peter Guenther, and Pamela Kort wrote the

ai lists biographies, which in many cases present little-known or
previously unpublished information about the artists who were
subjected to repressive and defamatory actions in ( .crmany in the
1930s

As always, I relied on a team of colleagues at the museum
to budget, mount, and tour the exhibition Art Owens, assistant
director/operations, Elizabeth Algermissen, assistant director/
exhibitions, and lohn Passi, head of exhibition programs, each
enhanced the project immeasurably In the design of the exhibition
Mary l.aughlm, architectural assistant, and Peggy Olson and I Ivin
Whitesides of the audio-visual department were most creative and
helpful lulie lohnston, director of development, and Tom ]acobson,
head, grants and foundation giving, in particular are to be saluted for
their efforts in writing and rewriting the grant proposals that led to
the successful funding of the project Registrar Renee Montgomery
and assistant registrar Sheri Saperstein deftly handled the arrange-
ments for collecting, packing, shipping, insuring, and touring the
exhibition Joseph Fronek, Victoria Blyth-Hill, and Joanne Page
oversaw matters of conservation Pamela Jenkinson and Ulnka Brand
ably coordinated the publicity of the exhibition In the education
department Lisa Vihos worked closely with us to coordinate the
array of lectures, symposia, films, and concerts that accompanied the
exhibition both at the museum and throughout the city and oversaw
the publication of the exhibition brochure and the related-events
booklet My colleagues in the department of Twentieth-Century Art
were supportive during the long gestation of the project and assumed
additional chores during my protracted research trips away from the
museum I especially value my conversations with Maurice Tuchman
and in particular with ludi Freeman, who was always available to
discuss problems, offer encouragement, and share the excitement
of discoveries

My husband, Robert Rifkind, not only tolerated my commit-
ment to this project but was enthusiastic and supportive To him,
and to our son Max, I can only say that their encouragement and
patience allowed me to dream, ponder, and wrestle with the creation
of this exhibition, book, and related events

At this moment the arts in America are the subject of much dis-
cussion and controversy and the issue of government support for the
arts has been questioned for the first time since the founding of the
National Endowment for the Arts more twenty-five years ago An
exhibition that reflects on a dark moment in cultural history but
focuses on those works of art and creative geniuses that survived is
a celebration of the power of art to transcend the most daunting
circumstances

Stephanie Barron

Curator, Twentieth -Century Art

Los Angeles County Museum oj Art

List of Lenders

Akademie der Kunste, Berlin

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

Archiv Baumeister Stuttgart

Archiv Lauterbach, Stadtmuseum Diisseldorf

The Arnold Schoenberg Institute, Los Angeles

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson and Burnham Library

Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin

Bayensche Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Staatsgalerie

moderner Kunst, Munich
Bildarchiv Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
Brucke-Museum, Berlin
Buch- und Kunstantiquanat Jaeger, Hamburg
The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Cambridge
Department of Special Collections, University of Southern

California, Los Angeles
The Detroit Institute of Arts
Deutsche Bank AC

Deutsche Stadte-Reklame CmbH, Munich
Fiorella Urbinati Gallery, Los Angeles
Fotographische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen
Calerie Fischer, Lucerne
Calerie Remmert und Barth, Diisseldorf
George-Grosz-Archiv, Berlin
Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Resource

Collections, Los Angeles
Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Special

Collections and Wilhelm F Arntz Archive, Los Angeles
Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, University of California,

Los Angeles
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Harvard University Fine Arts Library
Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt
The Hilla von Rebay Foundation, New York
Houghton Library Harvard University Cambridge
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Institut fur Zeitgeschichte, Archiv, Munich
International House of Photography, George Eastman House,

Rochester, New York
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld
Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Sammlung Berg, Hagen
Kathe-Kollwitz-Archiv, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin
Kulturhistorisches Museum, Rostock
Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Zurich

Kunsthalle Bielefeld

kunsih.ilk' in I mden Stiftung I lenri Nannen

Kunstmuseum I Hisseldorf

I us Angeles l ounty Museum ol An

I (is Angeles ( ounty Must-urn oi Art. Mr and Mrs Allan ( Ball h

Art Research library
I us Angeles C ounty Museum of Art I he Robert Core kit kind

C enter lot C.erman Expressionist Studies
Marlborough International line Art, London
The Metropolitan Museum ol Art, New York
\ti tropolitan ( >pera Association
I he Minneapolis Institute ol -Aits
Munson Williams Proctor Institute, Museum of Art, Utica,

New Virk
Musee d Ait moderne, Liege

Musees royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique, lirussels
Museo Civico, Locarno
Museu Lasar Segall, Sao Paulo
Museum lolkwang, Essen

Museum lur Gestaltung, Plakatsammlung, Zurich
Museum Ludwig, C ologne
The Museum oi Modern Art, New York
Museum Ostdeutsche Calerie Regensburg
Museum Wiesbaden, Verein zu Forderung der bildenden Kunst

in Wiesbaden e V, Sammlung Hanna Uekker vom Rath
Music Library University ot California, Los Angeles
Neue Galene der Stadt Linz, Wolfgang-Gurlitt-Museum, Linz
Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum
Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kupferstichkabinett
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Saarland-Museum, Saarbrucken
The Saint Louis Art Museum
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York
Sprengel Museum Hannover
Staatliche Calerie Montzburg Halle
Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz,

Nationalgalene, Berlin
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie
Staatsarchiv Wurzburg

Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
Staatsgalene Stuttgart

Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main
Stadtarchiv Dortmund
Stadtarchiv Munchen

Stadtische Calerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
Stadtische Calerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut,

Frankfurt am Main
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

lextil und Kunstgewerbesammlung ( hemnitz

The Trustees ot the Lite ( iallery I ondon

University Research Library Llniversity of California, Los Angeles

Von der Hcydt-Muscum, Wuppertal

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Westfalisches l.andesmuscum fur Kunst und

Kulturgeschichte, Minister
Widener Library Harvard Llniversity Cambridge
Wilhelm-Hack-Muscum und Stadtisi hi

Kunstsammlungen, Ludwigshafcn

Michael Beck, Calerie Lltermann, Dortmund

Alfred Neven DuMont, Cologne

Thomas Entz von Zerssen Trust

Rudi Fehr, Los Angeles

Ludwig and Rosy Fischer Collection

Alan Frumkin, New York

Peter M Grosz Collection

Gabriele Henkel, Diisseldorf

Collection Kugel

Dr Stephan Lackner

Leopold Collection, Vienna

Michael Meyer, Los Angeles

K Nakayama

The Robert Core Rifkind Collection, Beverly Hills, California

The Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation, Beverly Hills, California

Harry Robin, Los Angeles

Arnold A Saltzman Family

Marion and Nathan Smooke

Granvil and Marcia Specks Collection

Leonard Stein, Los Angeles

Mrs Max M Stern

LaVonne and George Tagge

A Alfred Taubman

Cunther Thiem, Stuttgart

Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano

Debra Weese-Mayer and Robert N Mayer

Dr David Witwell

Christoph Zuschlag, Heidelberg

Several private collections

Photo Credits

The works of art in this volume are subject to claims of copyright m the United States
of America and throughout the world None may be reproduced in any form without
the written permission of the owners

Archival photographs of the original exhibition EnUulrlt Kunsl have been obtained
through the courtesy of the following Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin,
Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (Wilhelm F Arntz Archive),
Los Angeles, Mario-Andreas von Luttichau, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stadtarchiv
Munchen

Unle

of Ar

vledgment appears below, the photographs in this volume have been
3wners of the works of art or by the Los Angeles County Museum

Jorg P Anders, Berlin, figs 186, 201, 311, 371

Eduard Bargheer Nachlass Archiv, figs 58, 65

Very Barth, fig 90

Foto Behrbohm, fig 180

Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, figs 106, 109, 110, 111, 113, 119, 120, 137, 139,

pp 212 (Burger-Muhlfeld), 297 (Matare)
Joachim Blauel-Artothek, figs 95, 156, 169, 284, 293
Brucke-Museum, Berlin, p 340 (Schmidt-Rottluff 1
Chester Brummel, figs 345, 386, 387
lulien Bryan, courtesy of Sam Bryan, International Film Foundation, Inc ,

New York, fig 5
Bundesarchiv Koblenz, fig 86
Michael Cavanagh/Kevin Montague, fig 318
G Cussac, fig 126

Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, figs 145, 150
Deutsches Museum Munchen, fig 6
V Dbhne, fig 338

Prof Mathias Driesch, p 231 iDnesch)
Ursula Edelmann, Frankfurt am Main, fig 231
Hugo Krfurth, p 202 iBeckmann)
Hans Feibusch, p 232 (Feibusch)
Frankjmltr Volhblalt, fig 82
Fuhrmann, figs 135, 140
Galerie Fischer, fig 121

Galerie Fischer (Photo Schutl. figs 122-25, 129-32
Gallena del Levante, Munich, pp 224 (Dix), 258 (Hoffi

Collande), 349 (Schubert), 354 (Voll)
Peter Garbe, figs 206, 226, 307, 314
Getty Center for Art History and the Humanities (Wilhelm F A

Los Angeles, figs 41, 45, 47-50, 56
A Grimm, Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, figs 51-55
Carmelo Guadagno, fig 333
Peter Guenther, fig 38
Hamburger hmimblaU, figs 77, 78
President and Fellows of Harvard College, fig 319
David Heald, fig 245
Reinhard Hentze, fig- 15
Colorphoto Hans Hinz, figs 31, 37, 93, 118
Bernd Kirtz BFF, fig 290
KSltlischt /lluslntrtr Zlitunj, fig 61
Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf, pp 242 (Gleich
Kunstverein, Cologne, p 232 (Ernst)
Archiv Carl Lauterbach, Dusseldorf, fig 83
Foto-Studio Endrik Lerch, fig 271

Mario-Andreas von Luttichau, figs 28, 40, 43, 57, 66, 67
Robert E Mates, fig 107
Kunstarchiv Meissner, pp 216 (Caspar), 217 (Caspar-Filser)

i, 3110 iMitschke-

127, 165, 332 3o5

312 (Nauen), 325 (Pankok)

figs 116, 204, 254, 286, 292, 309, 370

Beverly Hills, California, figs 88, 288, 363, pp 298

fig 227, p 314 (Niestrath)

George L Mosse, figs 19, 20

Photo-Atelier Willy Miiller, Munich, p 262 (Kallmann)

Museum fur Cestaltung, Zurich, fig 87

Museum of Modern Art/Film Stills Archives, p 395 (1926, 1928)

National Archives, Washington, DC, figs 9-11

Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler, figs 315, 316

Galerie Michael Papst, Munich, p 253 (Heister)

Die Pause, figs 80, 81

Hans Petersen, fig 108

James Pnnz, fig 242

Profil Marek Lange, fig 378

Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Cologi

Robert Gore Rifkind Collectk

(Meidner), 331 (Rohlfs)
Friedrich Rosenstiel, Cologne,
Sai&urja VoWablaU, fig 76
A Schneider, fig 142

Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, p 399 (1938)

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalene, Berlin, figs 114, 115
Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Werneberg,

fig 112
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, figs 92, 94, 96-99, 101, 103-5
Stadtarchiv Dortmund, fig 84
Stadtarchiv Dusseldorf, fig 72

Stadtarchiv Munchen, figs 14, 16, 23, 26, 62-64, 85, 155
Stadtische Galerie Albstadt, p 290 (Lange)
Stadtische Gustav-LubckeMuseum, Hamm, p 212 iBrun)
Stadtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Archiv, figs 7, 8, 60

Stadtische Museen Chemnitz, Stadtische Textil und Kunstgewerbesammlung, fig 8
Stadtmuseum Dusseldorf, fig 71
Swiiiitr Gaurauuiziijtr, hgs 73-75
Stiftung Deutsche Kmomathek, Berlin, fig 148
Suddeutsche Verlag, figs 25, 59
Tbiiringer Gauzeitung, fig 79
Reinhard Truckenmuller, fig 160
UFA, fig 149

Ullstein, figs 39, 133, 134, 136, 138
VSlkischtr Bmbachltr, fig 44
Foto-Wagner, fig 331

Elke Walford Fotowerkstatt, Hamburg, figs 210, 270, 279, 379, p 231 (Drexel)
Bildarchiv Grace Watenphul Pasqualucci, p 329 ( Peiffer Watenphul I
Kunstamt Wedding, Berlin, pp 212 (Burchartz), 284 (Klein), 303 (Molzahn), 352

(Stuckenberg)
Hrl Wukblai, fig 151
Jens Willebrand, fig 268

Brigitte Wurtz-Moll, p 302 (Margarethe and Oskar Moll)
Chnstoph Zuschlag, fig 91

Index

nrr.lls in ilali. Iitalr iIIuiImIlwi

\hi.ili.ini Paul 180
VII. , lankcl

biogi iph] I'M 96

work 15 98 101 133 n 44

work in Enlarfrtt Kmsl It 52 53 76 93 M 1 17 n 43
196 150

Anml ' mm 269

work in I isi hi > Mil tion 140 148 Ml
Archipenko Alts. unlet 15

work 98 99

woik in I is( In! .an tion 148 ii"
Aschcr, Leo 180

B

Bak> I. is, i von 185

Barlach I rnsl 9, 12 13 92 107 109 115 n 2.
119 n 92 124 128 129 137 250 »I4

biography 196-98

work 96 n 22, 106, 110. 112, 1(2, 115 n I, lid n 24,

117 n IS 118 ii '-' 119 ii 86 122 135 136 I""

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl !6 55 57 ' 67 197, 198

woik iii I is. lict jiiili.in m I IN 49 us m
Barr Alfred II Ii 13, 116 n 8 129
Barraud Maul H i

work in Fischer auction, 141! 149, no
Bartok Ik-la, 182
Bartosch Bertold 191

him i»i
Baudissin ( ounl Klaus von 19 45, 99, 113, 118 n 73,

122, 124, 336, 402
Bauer Rudoll

biography 198-99

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 76, 198, 199
Bauknecht, Philipp 95

work in Em.uirtr Kunsl, 57, 199
Baum, lulius 99

work m Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 57
Baum, ( lit. i

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 21, 199
Baumeister, Willi, 9, 110, 201, 256. 338

biography 200-201

work 15 98 i

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 16, 61, 76, M, mi, 201.
202 303
Bayer, Herbert, 81 n 21. 95

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl. 69, 202
Beckmann, Max, 9 II 13, 16, 110, 112, 250, 294, 319

biography. 202-4

work, 15, 16. 18. 8(. 98 'i>i int. in.. III! 112,
119 n 86, 129, 130, 131, 133 n 44

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl it, :i 48, 49, 57, 59, 61, 62,
76, 78, 79, 82, 92 106 107, ;m 204-9 305-S m

work in Fischer auction, i», 149-50, M9-50
Behne, Adolf, 106
Bekkcr Paul 180
Bellini;, Curt, 190

Belling Rudoll 9
biography 210 11
work 18 S i 106

work in I ,ii... Irti l „,, I ■> i 9 ioi IH no " 'ii
Bi ,,,, ' ,ottfried is '| ||] ||6 n 2
Berend < orinth ( harlorti

work 99 118 n 72
Berg \H. ..n 95 I 'I 180 182

Bergei II bi I 9

Berlin

I l.ius dei Kunsl «i 102

Nationalgalerie (Kronprinzenpalais 13 15, io«
105-14, 106, ins 109 in ii?. 115, 131
Utile Heinrkh, 180
Bielefeld

Stadtisches Museum, 99
Biermann Ceorg, 67, 117 n 51
Bindel Paul, 64

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl 1.5, 211-12
Blachei Boris, 179
Blech, Leo, 178
Bleyl, Fritz, 250, 269
Bloch, Ernest, 180
Bloch Ernst 83
Blumner, Rudolf, 80
Bocklin, Arnold, 80, 115 n I, 220, 307
Bockstiegel, August, 300

work 99
Boehmei Bernhard A 114 128 129 135 144
HiiIiih Karl 161 176
Bossmanl, lures, 141, 143
Braque Georges

work, 106, 119 n 80, 130, 133 n 44

work in Fischer auction, 140, MO, 150 150
Braunsfeld, Walter, 178
Brecht, Bertolt, 171, 180, 185
Breker, Arno, 18, 201

work, 21, 28, 124
Breslau

Schlesisch.es Museum der bildenden Kiinste 74 nil
Briin, Theo

work in Enl.irlrtr Kunsl, 55, 57, 57
Buchholz, Karl, 114. 119 n 80. 122, 127, 128, 129, 130,

131, 135, 138, 256, 341
Buhler, Hans Adolf, 98, 101, 220. 240
Buhrle, Emil, 140
Buissert, lean, 141
Bullcnan, Hans, 174, 175
Burchartz, Max

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 78, 212
Burger-Muhlleld, Fritz, 64

biography, 2l2-t3

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl. 65, 212. 213

Ii Paul

■,s,„l In Eittnrlrl I
. ,,,,,., ndonl Heini

I,,,,;., iph

woik 'is iii I iih ,, -'i 129 m 133 n 44

,,, Enlarlrtr Kunsl ■ 14, 211

■ Karl

biography 216-17

woik ii, Ni.,,m. I „„ I, 64, 6 /i',, 217
i aspai I ilsei M iri

worl ii, I nfarlrti I ,.„ , 64 65, 217
i ,i . I Pol

work

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl. 68, 218
( .issuer, Paul, 117 I'll,, 219, 255 402
Cezanne, Paul, 117

work 13 I2s H2 n 21
Chagall, Mare 17 194

biography 218 19

work, 15, 98, 125

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl I,, • i in 141

2IH. 219, 2(9 1511 ,„i

work in Fischer auction, in 14' 150 i
Chemnitz

Stadtisches Museum, 99
I ormlli LoviS 13 II. 38 42 216 297
biography 220-22
work 15, 98, 101. nil 113, 118 n 71 12s 129

Ml, 138
woik in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, lo 62, 63, 64, 143, 220-22,

222-23
work in Fischer auction. 138, 141 144 151-53 I5i-si

■ Lull

Kunsthallc llll
I )avnns;hausen, Heinnth

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 61, 223
Dehmel, Richard, 340
Delaunay Robert

work, 15, 16, 84, 98, I2S
Deram, Andre, 16

work, 15, 98, 130

work in Fischer auction, 141 is< (t,
Dessau

Anhaltischc Gemaldegalerie, nil
Dexel, Walter

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 21, Id. 57, 61, 223
Diesner, lohannes

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 61
Dix. Otto, 9, 12, 40, 84 194, 251

biography 224-27

work, 15. 97 n 50 98 49 lull ml IIH, llll n,
117 n 41, 118 n 62, 122, 128, 129 131 n 44

163 !!.«. 171

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl iu 41 1 M

71, 74, 76, 78, 79, 82, 86, 92, 128, 22<-26, 227-30,

228-30 Ii
work in Fischer auction, 143, 154 isi

Dorner, Alexander, 13
Dortmund

Haus der Kunst, 100
Dreier, Katherine, 213, 304, 352, 353
Drtissig aVulscfer Kiimtlir. 96 n 22, 122
Dresden

Stadtmuseum, 85
Dresler, Adolf, 280
Drewes, Heinz, 176, 178, 180
Drexel, Hans Christoph

work in Enlarltlf Kuml. 61, 78, 231
Driesch, Johannes

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 78, 231
Dubi-Muller, Certrud, 140
Diisseldorf

Kunstpalast, 102

Eberhard, Hetnnch

work in Entartiti Kuml. 69, 231
Egk, Werner, 175, 177 178, 179, 182
Eichenauer, Richard, 171
Einstein, Alfred, 174
Einstein, Carl, 9
Eisner, Kurt, 52, 54, 371
Ensor, James, 13, 16, 250

work, 15, 98, 125

work in Fischer auction, 143, 154, 154
Entarltlr Kunsl (1933-37), 85, 100-101
Enlarltlf Mmik. 95, 170, 173, 180, 180-83, 182
Erlangen

Orangerie, 98
Ernst, Max, 199, 305, 400

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl. 54, 57, 69, 232, 390
Erpf, Hermann, 180
Essen

Museum Folkwang, 15, 19, 122
Ewtge ludt, Dir. M, 15, 399
Ey Johanna ("Mutter"), 325
Eysler, Edmund, 180

F

Falk, Sally 15
Feibusch, Hans

work in Enlarltlf Kuml. 53, 232, 350
Feimnger, Lyonel, 13, 81 n 21, 109, 255, 260, 319

biography 232-36

work, 38, 98, 99, 100, 101, 106, 107, 110, H5,
116 n 24, 117 n 49, 119 n 80, 129, 130, 131,
133 n 44, 312

work in Enlarltlf Kuml. 38, 55, 57, 61, 67 70, 79, 92,
233-36, 236-37

work in Fischer auction, 144, 154-55, 154-55
Feistel-Rohmeder, Bettma, 121, 315
Fehxmuller, Conrad, 300

biography 237-38

work, 99, 100

work in Enlarltlf Kuml. 21, 57, 59, 68, 76, 78, 82, 95,
238, 239, 369
Fion, Ernesto de

work, 15, 118 n 71, 128, 135
Fischer, Oskar

work, 98, 101
Fischer, Theodor, 137-45, 139, tii, til
Fischer- Kosen, Hans, 191
Fischmger, Hans, 191
Fischmger, Oskar, 185, 191

film, 191
Flechtheim, Alfred, 91, 92, 197, 213, 255, 402
Fohn, Emanuel, 114, 128, 227
Fortner, Wolfgang, 180

Franke, Cunther, 122, 241, 255, 313
Frankfurt am Main

Kunstausstellungshaus, 103
Frankfurter, Alfred, 139, 140, 141
Freundhch, Otto, 22, 66, 298

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 8, 57, 57. 66, 67, 91, 239,

357, 379

Frick, Wilhelm, 12, 96 n 22, 116 n 15, 107, 402
Fuhr, Xaver

biography, 240—41

work, 98, 133 n 44

work in Enlarlflt Kuml, 21, 61, 240, 241
Furtwangler, Wilhelm, 171, 175, 175, 176, 176, 182

Gallen-Kallela, Axel, 269
Casch, Walter, 100
Gauguin, Paul

work, 13, 125, 132 n 21, 137

work in Fischer auction, 135, 136, 140, 143, 155, 155
Cebele von Waldstein, Otto, 96 n 19, 98
Ceibel, Hermann

work, 34
Genm, Robert

work in Entartetl Kuml. 79
Gerigk, Herbert, 180, 182
Cerster, Ottmar, 177
Gies, Ludwig, 9

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 22, 36, 37, 49, 49. 51, 74, 79,
91, 93. 95, 241
Gilbert, Jean, 180
Giles, Werner

work, 110

work in Enlartflt Kunsl, 76, 241
Gleichmann, Otto, 213

work, 98

work in Enlartrtf Kunsl, 69, 79, 95, 242
Goebbels, Joseph, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 27, 28-29, 45,
46, 57, 85, 86, 89, 91, 113, 121, 398, 402

on degenerate art, 123-25, 128, 135

and him, 185-87 190

and music, 174, 175, 176, 177 178, 179, 182
Gogh, Vincent van

work, 13, 106, 119 n 82, 125, 132 n 21

work in Fischer auction, 135, 136, 137, 140, 141,
141, 143, 155, 155
Goring, Hermann, 85, 85, 119 n 82, 124-25, 135, 176,

177, 402
Gosebruch, Ernst, 123, 336
Gottschalk, Joachim, 190
Graener, Paul, 172, 174, 178, 179
Gns, Juan

work, 106, 1 19 n 80
Grohmann, Will, 256, 300
Gropius, Walter, 12, 81 n 20, 232, 233-34, 258, 259,

263, 304, 305
Crosse anliimlscnrunslisc/ir Ausslflluni), 14, 15
Grossf Dmlscdf Kunslausslrlluiy. 9, 17 17, 18, 19, 25, 30,

33-35, 35, 36, 89
Grossmann, Rudolph

work, 98, 99

work in Entarlrtt Kuml. 79, 242
Grosz, George, 9, II, 16, 52, 54, 57, 84, 248, 280, 298

biography 242-45

work, 15, 98, 99, 100, 101, 129, 133 n 44, 361, 363, 371

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 54, 57, 61, 67, 70, 76, 78, 79,

89, 93, 243, 244, 245-47, 246, 248

work in Fischer auction, 143, 155, 155
Grundig, Hans

work, 100, 369

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 68, 85, 247
Guggenheim, Solomon R , 199
Gurhtt, Hildebrand, 114, 115 n 2, 127, 128, 129, 131,

135, 138
Gurhtt, Wolfgang, 128

H

Haberstock, Karl, 19, 125, 128, 135, 137, 145

Hagemann, Carl, 270

Hagen

Stadtisches Museum, 100
Haizmann, Rudolf, 22, 121, 356

work, 379, 387

work in Entarttte Kuml, 54, 57, 70, 80, 92, 94, 121, 247
Halle an der Saale

Staathche Galene Montzburg (Museum
Montzburg), 101
Halvorsen, Harald, 127, 128
Hanfstaengl, Eberhard, 109-10, 113, 1 16 nn 8 and 12,

117 n 50, 315, 402
Hanfstaengl, Ernst, 109
Hansen, Walter, 19, 45, 55, 87, 112-13
Hiring, Hugo, 81 n 20, 306
Harlan, Veil, 190

Hartlaub, Gustav, 13, 15-16, 203, 239
Hartmann, Richard, 298
Harvey Lillian, 190
Hausmann, Raoul, 280

biography 248-49

work in Entartete Kuml. 57 88, 248, 249
Havemann, Gustav, 172, 178
Heartfield, John, 248

work in Etitartcti Kuml, 57, 248
Hebert, Guido

work, 100

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 68, 249
Heckel, Erich, 13, 107, 121, 307, 326, 340

biography 250-51

work, 98, 99, 100, 106, 110, 113, 115 n 1, 116 n 13,
117 n 43, 118 n 79, 119 n 86, 122, 129, 130, 131,
133 n 44, 326, 377. 392

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 57, 59, 61, 62, 68, 76, 78, 85,
92, 251, 252

work in Fischer auction, 155-56, 155-56
Heckrott, Wilhelm

work, 99 100

work in Etitartiti Kunsl, 49 252
Heemskerk, Jacoba van

biography 253

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 79, 253, 253
Heise, Carl Georg, 13, 16, 313
Heister, Hans Siebert von

work in Entartcte Kuml, 79, 253
Hentzen, Alfred, 105, 1 15 n 2, 1 16 n 7 118 n 64, 402
Hermann, Hugo, 180
Hermann, Rudolf

work, 103
Hermann-Neisse, Max, 71

Herzfelde, Wieland, II, 74, 80, 242, 248, 361, 383
Herzog, Friednch, 177
Herzog, Oswald

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 57 254
Hess, Rudolf, 176

Hetsch, Rolf 113, 124, 125, 127, 128, 130, 402
Heuser, Werner

work, 99

work in Enlarltlf Kunsl, 64, 65, 254
Hilz, Sepp, 35

Himmler, Hemrich, 30, 112, 402
Hindemith, Paul, 95, 176, 177, 180, 182
Hmkel, Hans, 106, 172, 172. 176, 177, 178, 402
Hippler, Fritz, 96 n 22, 190, 340
Hirsch, Hugo, 180

Hlllei Moll 10, 12, 15

105 i"

and musk 173 175 176 180
photographs ■>) • ■• u i^r. ws
quoted I
I '8
IK.JIci Ferdinand

ssoik Mil.

I loerk I leinrk h

IN 'IS

ssi.rk in fnl.iililr Kiiiim' ,

Hofei Karl " .""I m
biograph) 255 56

s,...k i. 98 99 iiki li". no II n 43, II
19 n 44, ft]

ssi.rk In (iit.irtllr Kun.l 54 5 59 6] "I

156 i

vs. nk ir. I is, hi I ,u, li,,,, III IV,

I lorhnann I ugen 22

work »

work in Enlartrtr KumI i ;i ss 5
-
Hoffmann I leinrk I. i " I] 125 135 103
Hoffmann Wallet 124
Hofmann Franz I" 124 125 128 129, 130, I

139 I'' 145 216 260 402
Hollaendei Vlctoi 180
H6lzel Adolph, 258

Holzinget Ernsl r 55 63 64 65 66, 67, 74
I loppe Mi in annc its 189
Hubet Othmai 145

I

Ingolstadi

Neucs Schloss 101
Ittcn lohannes 81 n 21 303, 305

biography 258-59

sssork in Enl.irlrtr Kun-I 76, 79, 259, 250

J

lansen Franz

work m Etilarteti Kmi.i 79
lawlensky Alexej von, 260

biography 260-61

work 40 ii 98 99 101 133 n 44

work in Enl.irlrlt Kunsl. 40, 74, 76, 79, 260-61, 261
lessel, Leon, 182
lode Fritz, 180

lohanson, Eric

work in Enlartrtr Kunsl, 68, 262
Ionian Mas 1 15 n I
/uJmsfiiMfl Orr 100
lunghanns, lulius Paul

work 3s
lusti, Ludwig 9 13 lo 105 106, 107 109, 114

1 15 nn I and 4 1 16 nn 8 and 13, 202, 222

Kaesbach, Walter, 105, 250, 297
Kallmann, Hans lurgen

work in Entartrtr Kunsl. 62, 262
Kaminski. Heinnch, 179
kampmann, Walter

work in Entartrtr Kunsl, 79
Kandmskv Wassily 13 3H 81 n 21, 110, 233, 235, 260,
293, 326

biography 262-65

work, 88. 99, 100, 101, 122, 122. 133 n 44, 198

work in Entartrtr Kunsl 54, 55. 57, 61, 67, 69, 70,
71, 73, 76, 79, 89, 95, 109. 263-63. 265-68.
266-67. 303
kanehl, Oskar, 57
Karlsruhe

kunsthalle, 98

k in I 11, I, 190

, I'M

. 190

,. I . ,, 1 1 180
1 rnsi I iul»in 'ii
69-71

«,.ik 13 in 'is 99 11111 nn nn, 1111 ,,. 11.' m

119 11 HI. 129 HO Ill ',
ss.,ik III J nl.iilrlr KlIIUl

68 69

271- "s
w,.ik 111 I Ischei aw lion 143 iss i ifl
Klei Paul 9 22 80 si n 21 si 109 214 255

biogi iph

work is 99 100 101 106 10 117 n 19 129, 130

113 n 44 is. 112

work in Entnrtrti Kunsl 20 if, 54

1,7 73, ~4 V. ''I ss s'l '.', ,

1
work in 1 1-> hei .hi. tion 143 iss 1 ,,
Klein, ( esai

work in Enfant* Kum.i 4'i 74, 79 284
Klein Richard 3s
Kleinschmidi Paul

ss, ilk 'IS 99 I'.l

ss. irk in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 54 57 69 9] 285 |7S
klempercr, Otto, 172, 176, 180, 183 n 5
Klimsch, Fritz, 34
Klipstein, August, 145
Knorr, Lothar von, 180
Kdhler, Wilhelm, 115 n 2
Kokoschka, Oskar, 9, 22, 80 137

biography 285-86

work, 9K, 99 100, 101, IIO, 115 n I, 117 n 49,
118 n 79, 122, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133 n 44,

173. 389

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 19. 40, 30-32. 59, 61, 62,
65, 67 70, 78, 93. 95, 128, 138, 143, M3, 286-88,

2S6-NO

work in Fischer auction. 143, 159-60, 159-60
Kolbe, Georg 18, 116 n 13

work, 34
Kollwitz, Kathe, 9, 92, 197 314
Krauss, Werner, 176
Krenek, Ernst, 95, 174, 180, (80, 182, ibj
Kretzschmar Bernhard

work, 48, 100
Kricka, Jaroslav, 178

Kronprinzen-Palais Stt Berlin Nationalgalene
Ku/turMscWsliscflr. fiilaVr, 16, S3, 85, 98
Kummel, Otto, 110, 117 n 32
Kunsl drr Gmtesricbtung 1918-1933. 101
Kunsl. die nicfcl aus unsrrrr Sctlt him. 99
Kunsl zu'rirr IVrltrn. 100
Kurth, Fritz

work, 367

work in Entartrtr Kunsl, 91
Kurth, Willy 124

I ing 1 1 11. 183 181, 187

Itto ll"l
wort 100

dlOrt 11, )..'.,•:

I .hi

wort 99

is,,. i In I 1,,.

•1, 113
Lehmbruck Willi

... ,

wot* I 106 Ii: 113 III, n 24 118 n ;

119 n 86, 1211 122 124

w.nk in EiriflTlete Kunsl 62, 63 65 104

work in Fischer auction 136 146 n '.'? 161 m

I , ,|, Eg

( .r.issi -Museum 102

Lent 1 1. in in, ,, 1

Levy Unci. .It 129

work in 1 1-., hei .in, 11, ,11 ii, 1 62 161 '

I IT Rohll! I '.

I ichtwark Alfred, H

Liebermann, Max 9 13 84. 220

work 15 'is 99 105 HI 133 n 44

work in I ischcr auction, 143. 162, 162
Liebknecht, Karl 204 222 303
Lindmar, Richard

Wi irk IS
l.issitzky El 13 301

work, 98

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 61, 292
Loeper, Wilhelm I 99
Luthy Osk.n

work, 100

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl, 49, 292
Luxemburg, Rosa, 204, 303, 375

M

Macke, August, 9, 13. 92, 112. 213. 294

work, 96 n 22, 106, 113, 116 n 24. 122. 130,
133 n 44

work in Entiirttlt Kuttst, 64

work in Fischer auction, 162, 162
Mackensen, Fritz

work, 35
Mann, Heinnch, 197
Mann, Thomas, 216
Mannheim

Kunsthalle, 15, 16, 19, 83, 98
Mannferimrr Ca/rrilanJrau/r. 98
Mannnrimrr SctWItrnstammrr 9S
Marc, Franz, 13. 92. 109, 213, 326, 352

biography 293-95

work, 33, 48, 98, 101, 106. 116 n 24, 199 n 82,
122. 125. 128, 129, 129 130, 132 n 21. 138

work in Enlarlrtr Kunsl. 62, 63-64, 65, (OS. 132

293-94, 295

work in Fischer auction, 138, 143 162-63, 362-63
Marcks, Gerhard, 18, 83

biography 296-97

work, 97 n 50, 100, 122, 129, 133 n 44

work in Enlarlrtt Kunsl, 40, 62, 91, 296. 297

work in Fischer auction, 164, 163
Marees, Hans von. 307

work, 98, 100, 1 16 n 24
Mam loscph 179
Marx, Woll nil
Matare Ewaid

biography 297

work, 99, 106. 129

work in Enldrlrtr Kunsl. 57. 109. 297, 297

work in Fischer auction, 164, 163

Matisse, Henri

work, 13, 106, 130

work in Fischer auction, i», 139, 143, 146 n 22,
164-65, 164-65
Matisse, Pierre, 140, 146 n 22
Maurick, Ludwig, 179
Meder, Carl, 19, 125, 135
Mehrmg, Franz, 232
Meidner, Ludwig, 54, 194, 237

biography 298-300

work, 98, 99, 101, 133 n 44

work in Enldrtrte Kunsl. 53, 71, 76, 91, 298, 300, 379
Meier-Graefe, Julius, 80, 255, 290
Melzer, Montz, 52
Metzinger, Jean

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl. 61, 104, 300, 381
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 9, 81 n 20, 250
Minztrick, E

work in Eiilarlrlf Kunsl, 79
Mitschke-Collande, Constantin von, 237

biography, 300-301

work, 100

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl. 68, 78, 301, 101
Modersohn-Becker, Paula, 125

work, 100, 122, 129, 130, 133 n 44

work in Enlarttff Kunsl, 64, 79

work in Fischer auction, 143, 165, 165
Modigliani, Amedeo, 12

work, 12, 106, 133 n 44

work in Fischer auction, 165, 165
Moholy-Nagy Laszlo, 304

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 79, 302
Moll, Margarethe (Marg

work, 101

wurk in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 57, 302
Moll, Oskar

work, 101, 119 n 86

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 61, 302
Mdller, Ferdinand, 114, 121, 122, 127, 128, 135
Molzahn, lohannes, 201, 306

biography, 303-4

work, 101

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 61, 76, 92. 303, 304, 381, 390
Mondrian, Piet, 13, 92

work in Entartttl Kunsl. 61, 68, 303
Morgner, Wilhelm, 353

work, 128, 128, 365, 367

Muche, Ceorg, 201, 258, 303, 338

biography, 305-6

work, 99

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 79, 305, 306
Mueller Otto, 250

biography, 307-8

work, 18, 48, 100, 101, 110, 119 n 86, 122, 130,
133 n 44, 326

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 21, 38. 40, 44, 54, 57 59, 61,
69, 70, 74, 76, 78, 79, 95, 143, 307-n, 308-1 1

work in Fischer auction, 143, 146 n 22, 165, 165
Muller, Richard, 85, 100, 226
Munch, Edvard, 16, 92, 137, 216, 313, 331

work, 98, 99, 106, 116 n 24, 118 n 71, 119 nn 80
and 82, 124, 125, 127, 128, 132 n 21, 135

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 64
Munich

Archaologisches Institut, 45, 102

Haus der Deutschen Kunst, 9, 17, 34, 89

N

Nagel, Ench-

work in Extartltl Kumt, 61, 312
Nauen, FJemrich

work, 129

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 64, 65, 312
Nay Ernst Wilhelm, 129, 255-56

biography 312—13

work in Entartttl Kumt, 61, 69, 313, 313
Nebel, Otto, 198
Nedden, Otto zur, 177, 180
Nelson, Rudoll. 182
Neubeck, Ludwig, 171
Ntutrmtrbungtn itr Anbaltiscbm Gtmaldtgaltrit aus fun]

Jahrhunitrltn. 101
Neumann, I B, 129
Nierendorf, Joseph, 240
Nierendorf, Karl, 122, 129, 140, 144, 226, 240
Niestrath, Karel

huturaphy 314

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, -I. 57 91, 314, in
Nolde, Emil, 9, 12, 13, 16, 107 112, 250, 352

biography 315-20

work, 18, 96 n 22, 98, 99, 100, 101, 106, 107, 109,
116 n 24, 119 n 80, 122, 123, 129, 130, 133 n 44

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 18, 21, 22, 36, 49, 54, 57, 59,
61, 62, 65, 69, 76, 78, 79, 91, 95, 108, 109, 123. 127.
142. 143, 315-24, 320-25, 365. 367

work in Fischer auction, 139. 143, 166-67, 166-67
Nordau, Max, II, 12, 26

Noifmbtrgast Kumt int Dioislf itr Ztrsttzung, 99
Nuremberg

Stadtische Calerie, 99, 100
Nussbaum, Felix

work, 400

0

Orff, Carl, 178

Osthaus, Karl Ernst, 13, 250, 331

Pankok, Hulda. 325
Pankok, Otto

biography 325

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 79, 325, 325
Pascin, Jules

work, 99

work in Fischer auction, 143, 167 167
Paul-Pescatore, Anni, 105
Pechstein, Max, 9, 52, 57, 250, 340

biography 326-28

work, 18. 98, 99, 100, 101, 106, 110, 119, 122, 361, 3<

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 54, 57, 59, 61, 70, 76, 78,
117 n 43, 326-28. 328-29

work in Fischer auction, 139, 167, 167
Peiffer Watenphul, Max

work, 128

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 62, 65, 329
Perls, Max, 110
Pfemfert, Franz, 237
Phtzner Hans, 171, 179
Philipp, Wilhelm

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 79
Picasso, Pablo, 13

work, 99, 106, 115, 119 n 80, 125. 133 n 44, 398

work in Entarlttt Kunsl, 79

work in Fischer auction, 135, 136, 137, 140, 143, 143,
145, 168, 168
Piper, Reinhard, 403
Piscator, Erwin, 54
Pistauer, Hartmut, 20, 22, 89, 91, 92
Poelzig, Hans, 211

Pnnzhorn, Hans, 12, 22, 92, 280, 403
Probst, Rudolf, 80
Pulitzer, Joseph, Jr., 140
Purrmann, Hans

work, 98, 99

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl. 64, 65, 330
Puyvelde, Jules van, 141

Raabe, Peter, 176, 177, 178, 180
Rantt, Hans, 138
Rauh, Max

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl. 49, 330
Rave, Paul Ortwin, 13, 19, 47, 63, 64, 65, 87, 105, 113,

114, 250-51, 403
Rebay Hilla von, 129, 198, 199
Redslob, Edwin, 52, 54, 57, 80
Rtgitmngskunst 1918-1933. 98
Remiger, Lotte, 185, 191
Reutter, Hermann, 177, 180
Ribbentrop, Joachim von, 127
Richter, Hans, 185

work in Entartttl Kunsl, 61, 330
Riefenstahl, Leni, 28
Roder, Emy

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 57 57, 331
Roh, Franz, 71
Rohlfs, Christian, 13, 80

biography 331-32

work, is, 96 n 22, 98, 105, 110, 116 n 24, 120, 121,
133 n 44

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 21, 49, 59, 61, 62, 65, 68, 69,
73, 74, 78, 95, 331-34, 333-35

work in Fischer auction, 168-69, 168-69
Rohm, Ernst, 29
Rosenberg, Alfred, II, 12, 29, 46, 52, 54, 86, 89,

96 n 22, 119 n 92, 121, 171, 172, 176, 197, 319,
328, 403
Rosenthal, Alfred, 186
Roth, Carola, 47, 66, 74
Rubsam, lupp

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 57
Rudiger, Wilhelm, 99
Rudolph, W, 12, 29

work, 99, 100
Rust, Bernhard, 106, 107, 109, 113, 121, 131, 176,
255, 403

Sacbsiiche Kunstaussttllung 1935, 85
Sauerlandt, Max, 13, 16, 107 319
Schaefler, Fritz

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl. 79
Schardt, Alois, 13, 89, 105, 107, 109, 202, 234, 315, 403
Scharff, Edwin

work, 98

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 64, 65, 74, 79, 335
Scheibe, Richard, 296

work, 28, 34
Scheyer, Emmy (Galka), 129, 235, 260
Schiebel, Hermann, 101

Schlemmer, Oskar, 16, 81 n 21, 86, 100, 201, 233, 255,
270, 303, 306

biography 335-38

work, 15, 81 n 11, 98, 99, 101, 128, 129, 133 n 44,
183. 312

work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 16, 61, 67 68, 69, 76, 79, 94,
95, 104, 105, 337-38, 339

Schlichter, Rudolph
work, 98, 117 n 43
work in Enlarltlt Kunsl, 79

Schlossei Rilnei I
Schmidt Gcorg 128 ns 143
Schmidt Paul I I

Schmidt Rottlufi Karl •> 13 !, 121 I iO

biograph) 140 13

work a a 96 " 23 98 99 100 mi 106

129, 130 mi
work m Enlartrtl KmhI H 19, 54 ' 61 0

8,94,9; ; 144—4

lol l-l

*..rk in 1 1st het aut tion h

S* limit j I

St hm i, K i \| i. I I

Schocnbcrg \rnold 95, 171 173, (7] 177 isd

s, holi ',

ss.tlk m I nt.itttlt Kuri.f 74

Schoh Robert 19 4s 106 121 123 125 128 131

135 103
Schoh Werner
work 117 n 55

work 111 EnUrltte kuM-l <>2 64 65 >>s UK

Schramm August 80

SctWhasioimia Halle 84 101

SctWkmsfcmuiin (Nuremberg 99

Schreckcr, Fran; 173 ISO

Schreibei Otto Vndreas 96 n 22 iton 15

Schreibei Wlegand Dt 15 16

Schreyet I othat B0

biography 348

work, 99

vwirk in Entartett Kvnst, 76 H9-49 149
s«. hnnipt Gcorg

work. 128

work in Entartete Ku»si 64
Schubert Otto

work. 100

work in Entartett Kunsl, 68 14>>
Schultzc Norhert 174, 182
SchultzeNaumburg, Paul, 12, 22, 47, 61, 81 n II,

115 n 2 IK. n 13 197 250, 299, 403
Schunzel Ranh.Jd ins iho, 188-89

films isr. <s i iss
Schweitzer, Hans, 19, 45, 123, 125, 403
Schwitten; Kurt. 57, 71, 100, 195, 248, 280

work. 99, 100

work in Entortete Kunst ts>, 20, 54 57 59, 7b, «s, 94,
144 Bl
Scgall, Lasar, 194, 300

biography 350-51

work, 99, 100

work in Entartete Kunsl. 19, 52. 53, 76, 78, 79 150 351
Selpin, Herbert, 190
Shaw George Bernard, 1 1
Sierck, Detlef (Douglas Si rki, 189
Signac, Paul, 13, 119 n 82, 125, 132 n 21
Skade, Fnednch

work, 100

work in EnUrlrlr Kunsl 68, 95, 351, m
Slcvogt, Max, 13, 220

work. 98, 99, 106, 135
Sfiirililbildn Jrs Vcrjalh in da Kunsl Sit Entartete
KunsM 1933-371

Spollansk) Mischa in J
Stahl i mil 99 100

,, Ml

' I...11 I I... 190

rheophll 182
Steppei I dmund »t 98
Sterl Robi

Sternberg losel von no iss
Stettin

I andeshaus 103
Str.ius ( i

St, .„.,-.% Richard 175, I 176, I 179
Stravinsk) I,-" 9
Striibing I dmund 96 n 19
Stuckenberg I rledrk I. I ritz

I. n igi i| i

work in btl.irlrlr KhmI, >

Stuttgart

Kronprinzenpalais 99
Suren I lans, 28
Swarzcnski (,enrn H 16

Tacuber, Max, 19, 125, 128, 135
l.ipperl t .cor^ 126

Taut Bruno 9 303
Thalheimer, Paul

work in Enl.irlrlr Kunsl, 49, 352
rilKssen, Heinz, 180
Thommen, Bettie, 145
Thorak, losef

work, 17, 34, 15
Thormaehlen, Ludwig, 105, 106, 1 16 n 13
Thorn Pnkker, Ian, 213, 214, 215, 250
I ietz, lohannes

work in Entarlrte Kunsl. 59, 353
Toch. Ernst, IH0
Topp, Arnold

biography 353

work in Entartete Kunsl, 76, 353, 353
Trapp Max, 174, 178
Tsthudi, Hugo von, 13, 115 n 1

u

Ucicky Custav, 190
Udo, A, 52, 54, 57, 390
Ulm

Stadtisches Museum, 99

V

Valentien, Fritz Carl, 122

Valentin, Curt. 129-30, 131, 137, 140

Valentiner, William R, 129

WrfalUkmsl srrt isio, 113

Vienna

Kunstlerhaus, 103
Vlaminck, Maurice de

work. 99, 129

work in Fischer auction, 13(5. 169, 169
Volker Karl

work in Enlarlrlr Kunsl, 70, 354
Voll, Christoph, 55

work, 100

work in Entartelr Ki

w

■

Waltci B 172 176

Wauei William
blogi

9 ■ 178, 180, II]
\V. i.!< rkoi

Weill Kurt 95 171 174 180 182
Weimai

n 103
Weissmann A.I. .11 mo
Werelklll. Marianne von 253, 260
W. rtheim Mauri, e 139 140 141

v..,, Mi, in, Paul .i [06 ' ■
\v„ hen Int.- 13 n
Wiene, Roben i

him, rsf, |..i
Will,,, li Wolfgang 19 15 46, 55, 74, 87 89 112 13

117 nn 58 and 59, 119 n 92, 123 403
Wintei I ri
With, Karl BO
Wolfei rheodoi 140

W.llr.rdl Willi, 80 226

Wollheim I lerl 194

work in Entartete Kunsl 53 76 93 355
Wysbar, I rank 188

him, 187

Zrbn U,h„ Ulmrr Kunslf-olrlrfc. 99
Zervos, Christian. 264

Ziegler, Adolf, 17 17, 19, 20, 29, u, 45, 87, 113, 123, 124,
125, 135, 197, 201, 220, 250-51, 295, 403
work, 29, 35, 35
Ziegler, Hans Severus, 93, 95, 177 180, is:
Zoege von Manteullel K , 80
Zorner, Ernst, 85, 85
Zweig Stefan, 176

57 (.2 64 70, 85 86. 354

369. 377

Vomel. Alex, 122

County oi Los Angeles

Los Angeles County Museum oi Art Board oi Trustees,
Fiscal Year 1990-1991

Board of Supervisors, I99i

Michael D Antonovich, Chairman

Deane Dana

Edmund D Edelman

Kenneth Hahn

Peter F Schabarum

Chief Administrative Officer
and Director of Personnel
Richard B Dixon

Daniel N Belin, Chairman

Robert F Maguire III, President

Julian Canz, Jr, Chairman of the Executive Committee

Dr Richard A Simms, Vict President

Walter L Weisman, Vice President

Dr Ceorge N Boone, Treasurer

Mrs Lionel Bell, Secretary

Earl A Powell III, Director

Mrs Howard Ahmanson

William H Ahmanson

Howard P Allen

Robert O Anderson

R Stanton Avery

Norman Barker, Jr

Donald L Bren

Mrs Willard Brown

Mrs B Gerald Cantor

Mrs Edward W Carter

Hans Cohn

Robert A Day

Mrs F Daniel Frost

David Geffen

Herbert M Gelfand

Arthur Gilbert

Stanley Grinstein

Robert H Halff

Felix Juda

Mrs Elizabeth A Keck

Mrs Dwight M Kendall

Mrs Harry Lenart

Eric Lidow

Steve Martin

William A Mingst

Dr Franklin D Murphy

Mrs Barbara Pauley Pagen

Sidney R Petersen

Joe D Price

Hiroyuki Saito

Richard E Sherwood

Nathan Smooke

Ray Stark

Frederick R Weisman

David L Wolper

lames R Young

Julius L Zelman

Selim Zilkha

Honorary Life Trustees
Mrs Anna Bing Arnold
Edward W Carter
Charles E Ducommun
Mrs Freeman Gates
Mrs Nasli Heeramaneck
Joseph B Koepfli
Mrs Rudolph Liebig
Mrs Lucille Ellis Simon
Mrs Lillian Apodaca Weiner

Past Presidents

Edward W Carter, 1961-66

Sidney F Brody 1966-70

Dr Franklin D Murphy 1970-74

Richard E Sherwood, 1974-78

Mrs F Daniel Frost, 1978-82

Julian Ganz, Jr, 1982-86

Daniel N Belin, 1986-90

■Hi

mat

T

H m NnBni

(lonttniutl from front flap)

chronology and extensive documentation on the fate of the
works in the 1937 exhibition and those that were sold at auc-
tion in Lucerne in 1939 A facsimile of the rare guide to the
1937 exhibition, with a new English translation, helps place
the reader in the ambience of the show A room-by-room
photographic survey along with an illustrated list of all works
shown, will be valuable to students of twentieth-century art
and of German culture.

About the authors

Stephanie Barron, curator of twentieth -century art at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, organized the exhibition
"Degenerate Art": The Fate of tbf Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany,
which accompanies this book

Peter Cuenther is professor emeritus of art history Univer-
sity of Houston

Andreas Hiineke is an art historian in Potsdam, Germany

Annegret Janda was formerly archivist at the Nationalgalerie,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

Mario-Andreas von Liittichau is curator, Stadtisches
Kunstmuseum Bonn

Michael Meyer is professor of history, California State
University, Northridge

William Moritz teaches film studies at California Institute
of the Arts

George L Mosse is the Weinstein-Bascom Professor of
History at the University of Wisconsin

Christoph Zuschlag is at the University of Heidelberg

750 illustrations, including f64 plates in full color

Cover View of section of the south wall of Room 3
in the exhibition Enlarltlt Kunst, Munich, 1937

Harry N Abrams, Inc
100 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 1001 1

Printed in the United States of America