'Decent' Vs. 'Degenerate' Art: the National Socialist Case

"Decent"vs."Degenerate"Art TheNational Socialist Case

MARY-MARGARET GOGGIN

artistic censorshipis discussed, the case of severalvan Goghpaintings in 1929, and in 1930 the director When National Socialist (Nazi) Germanyfrequently of the Stadtischesmuseumin Zwickau was dismissed be- comes to mind. Nazi Germany'sart policies of cause of his supportfor modernart.2 the 1930s and early 1940s and their consequencesprovide a Even before Hitler became chancellorof the German historicalperspective on what may happenwhen government Reich on January30, 1933, local NationalSocialist leaders determineswhat art is decent or indecent, uplifting or "de- were censoringmodern art. In 1930 WilhelmFrick, National 84 generate." Socialist minister of the interior and minister of popular Precedentsfor artistic censorship in Nazi Germanycan educationin the provinceof Thuringia, orderedthe removal be found during the Weimar Republic, as the following of the works of Ernst Barlach, Paul Klee, and Lyonel incidents indicate. In Berlin in 1928, a local court filed Feininger from the collection of the Schlossmuseum in chargesof blasphemyagainst GeorgeGrosz for severaldraw- Weimar, as well as the destructionof Oskar Schlemmer's ings published in an album titled Hintergrund(backdrop). murals and reliefs in the formerBauhaus.3 Although originally found guilty, Grosz was ultimatelyac- Althoughthese attacks on modernart were not new in quitted on appeal. The most provocativeof these drawings Germany,under Hitler they became more systematic and was one of Christ wearinga gas mask and boots, captioned, continuous. One of Hitler's priorities was to organize and "Keepyour mouth shut and do your duty"(fig. 1).1 Grosz's centralize the institutions necessary to carry out Nazi art drawing is echoed in a recent photographicimage with a policies. In orderto do anythingconnected with the creation, female nude (fig. 2) by the Americanartist BarbaraKruger, buying, or selling of art, one had to belongto the Kunstkam- one of manyU.S. artists who risk censorshipbecause of their mer (chamberof art). By the late 1930s there were around engagementin similar moralconfrontations. In otherattacks forty-twothousand members, excluding Jews, Communists, on modernart duringthe Weimarperiod, the Munichchapter or other"enemies" of the state.4 "Acceptable"artists did not of the Reichsverbandbildender Kiinstler (federal association suddenlyappear after the NationalSocialists assumedpower, of artists) protestedthe Berlin Nationalgalerie'spurchase of nor were they necessarily schooled in NationalSocialist art theories. Rather, they were already creating art that corresponded in content and style to-or at least did not conflict

-'p with-the National Socialists' ideals and goals. Provisions were even made to educatethe public in mattersof art, under the auspices of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront(German labor front) and an organization called Kraft durch Freude (strengththrough joy).5 diI -:X. Firmly believing that culture is the cornerstoneof any enduring society, Hitler recognized that art must play a iiiii...... major role in the building of his ideal Germannation. He articulatedthe goals of what he consideredtrue Germanart: it must develop from the collective soul of the people and express its identity;it must be national, not international;it must be comprehensibleto the people; it must not be a passing fad, but strive to be eternal;it must be positive, not critical of society; it must be elevating, and representthe the beautiful, and the healthy.6 FIG. 1 GeorgeGrosz, Christ with GasMask, 1928, crayonon paper, good, 17?8x 221/4inches. ? Estateof GeorgeGrosz/VAGA, New York, 1991. Art that was encouragedand supportedhad to reflect

WINTER1991 Forgetmoralit

Forget heroes"

FIG. 2 BarbaraKruger, Untitled (It's our pleasure to disgustyou), 1990, photographicscreenprint on paper,192 x 276 inches.Courtesy Mary Boone Gallery, New York. the spirit and ideals of the Germanpeople as the National their silencing of nonconformingartists had a devastating Socialists envisionedthem. Peasantsand artisansengaged in effect on modernart and artists in Germany. their labors were popularsubjects. Womenas mothers(fig. In the NationalSocialists' anti-modern-artcampaign, 3) were especially importantbecause they representedthe artists who are nowrecognized as the great names in modern future of the "Aryanrace." Landscapes symbolized the "fa- German art were characterizedas enemies of the German therland." Female nudes often illustrated the beauty of people;their workwas labeled "degenerate"because they did healthy bodies (fig. 4). Not to be forgottenwere the "heroic" not meet the artistic criteria outlined by Hitler and other subjects, which included not only soldiers, but also workers National Socialist leaders. At the end of the nineteenth (fig. 5) and images of Hitler.In sculpture, the worksof Arno century, in his book Degeneration,Max Nordau had applied Brekerand Josef Thorakconveyed heroism on a monumental the term"degeneration" to art.9 Later,in Kunstund Rasse (art scale. Many works that were endowed with significant or and race), 1928, Paul Schultze-Naumburgdeveloped his profoundtitles, however,were simple subjects with no ulte- theories of the aesthetic connection between artistic styles rior meaning intendedby their creators.7 and the supposed racial characteristicsof the artists.10o Such The names of most of the artists who producedthese works provided Hitler with the theoretical precedents on works are forgotten. At the time, even Hitler seemed to which he formulatedhis own ideas aboutthe roleof race in art acknowledgethe lack of greatness in the art exhibited at the and the role of art in society; more importantly,he pursued first "GrosseDeutsche Kunstausstellung"(great German art programsto implementthose ideas. exhibition) in 1937, when he said, "I HAVE NO DOUBT, Hitlerand the NationalSocialists recognizedthat there THE ALMIGHTYWILL ELEVATEA FEW FROMTHIS was an almost unbridgeablechasm of incomprehensionbe- MULTITUDEOF DECENT CREATORSOF ART INTO tween the public and modernart, which they exploitedearly THE STARRYREALM OF THE IMMORTAL,DIVINELY on in orderto consolidatetheir powerover the people.11They INSPIRED ARTISTS OF THE GREAT PAST."8The Na- manipulatedthe public by focusing its accumulatedpolitical tional Socialists promotedart thatwas "beautiful,""decent," and economic dissatisfactions and frustrationson scape- and "good," but their enforcementof these standards and goats, including artists, as well as the dealers, critics, and

ARTJOURNAL museumdirectors who supportedthem. The NationalSocial- ists made modernart a symbolof corruptionand degeneracy. Supposedly of "Semitic inspiration,"modern art was also portrayedas representingKulturbolschewismus or "cultural Bolshevism."2 The purge of modernart was not, however, limited to the art producedby Jewish, foreign, or Communist artists. Whateverthe Nazis claimed undermined"desirable" aesthetic, social, cultural, or political values, or physical or racial ideals, was to be eliminatedfrom German society; this included all the modernmovements, such as Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism,and Dada.13 The NationalSocialists claimed that, because modern artists considered everythingsuitable as a subject for art, "thebeautiful, the heroic and the pure"were relegatedto the same level as "the ugly, the base and the erotic,"resulting in an amoralart.14 Modern art was thus perceivedas a threatto German morality. The Nazis characterized many modern images, Expressionistones in particular,as "pornographic," appealingto the basest instincts of humanity.15 This moraliz- 86 ing was not only misleading, but also hypocritical, since many of the countless images of nude womenwith perfect FIG. 3 AdolfWissel, Kalenberg Farm Family, 1939, oil. Courtesythe ArchivfOr bodies that were officially sanctionedand exhibited during Kunstund Geschichte, Berlin. those years depict them in passive or submissive roles, implicitly, if not explicitly, as sex objects available for the pleasure of men (fig. 6).16 The National Socialist ideas on art were based on abstract theories whose catchwordswere "soul," "genius," "tragedy,""race."17 They considered "race and homeland"or Blut und Boden (bloodand soil) the basis of a Germanicart thatwould express the true spiritualvalues of the Aryanrace, purifiedof all Bolshevistand Semitic influences. The practi- cal applicationof these vague notionsto a coherentart policy was difficult, however,and led to many contradictionsand inconsistencies. Althoughthe NationalSocialists claimed to encouragean art that was a productof the Germanicspirit, they rejected the art of Germanartists such as Emil Nolde (fig. 7) and Barlach,who were at the centerof a debatewithin the partyover the Germanicand Nordiccharacter of German Expressionism.In fact, this debateover art policy reflecteda broaderstruggle for powerwithin the party.18 Alfred Rosen- berg, party "philosopher" and competitor with the minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, for control of art policy, noted that even National Socialists could have differences of opin- ion in matters of art, citing the debate over Nolde and Bar- lach. Rosenberg acknowledged that both artists were tal- ented, but asserted that did not seek the Nordic ideal of Frc. 4 JohannesBeutner, Time of Ripeness.Photograph reproduced from Art they in the ThirdReich (New York: Pantheon, 1979, 134),with permission. physical beauty necessary to the development of a National Socialist aesthetic.'9 This Nordic ideal was based not only on presumed Aryan features, but also on the Greek ideal of the perfect, healthy, athletic body, to which neither Nolde's nor Barlach's figures corresponded. In contrast, some intellectuals and younger members of the party defended Expressionist art as a spiritual force that expressed the Germanic character, while others believed that

WINTER1991 FIG. 5 ArthurKampf, Rolling Mill, 1939, oil. Courtesythe Archivfuir Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin.

deutMcher.,Off nbarusngen. Rel gieolit" ha die deRvnjidischen reunseindlern. ile Presseccinmal| solhe:hn

Die Titel lauten: ,,Christus and die Sitnderin", ,,TodWder Maria aus Agypten". ,,Kre•mzbahnahme"and ,Christus". Die' ,K0instler" heiIten: Nolde, Morgner and Kurt Ih.

FIG. 6 JohannSchult, Expectation. Photograph reproduced from Art in the ThirdReich (New York: Pantheon, 1979,134), with permission.

FIG. 7 Page9 of Entartete"Kunst" Ausstellungsfiuhrer, guide to the exhibition "DegenerateArt," showing, top and middle,Emil Nolde, Christ and the Sinner and Deathof Maryof Egypt,and bottom,works by WilhelmMorgner and Fritz Kurth.Courtesy the Archivfur Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin. the revolutionarycharacter of Expressionismcould be linked In his speech the previous day Hitler had called on the to the NationalSocialist revolution.20 Even Goebbelsappre- Germanpeople to be the judges of Germanart, and issued a ciated the worksof some Expressionists,particularly Barlach warningto the "pitiful misfortunates,""incompetents," and and Nolde. However,when Hitler expressed his disapproval "artcriminals" whose workswere hung haphazardlyon the of some Noldewatercolors that the architectAlbert Speer had walls of the "DegenerateArt" show (fig. 8) that he was going installed in his remodelingof Goebbels'sresidence, Goeb- to "clean house":"National-Socialism has madeit its primary bels orderedthem removed.21 In the end, the Expressionists, task to rid the GermanReich, and thus, the Germanpeople including Nolde, who was himself a member of the Nazi and its life of all those influences which are fatal and ruinous party, lost the battle to have their art accepted as to its existence."23Those influences includedthe dealersand "Germanic." critics, as well as the artists, whom Hitler referred to as The German authorities recognized the propaganda "cliques of babblers, dilettantes and art crooks," and "pre- value of art, both as a tool in their negative campaign to historic stone-age culture-vultures and art stammerers."24 denigrate modernart and in their promotionof a "new and On ordersfrom Hitler, the "DegenerateArt" exhibition true Germanart." In his speech of July 18, 1937, dedicating had been organizedby AdolfZiegler, president of the Reichs- 88 the Haus der Deutschen Kunst and the Grosse Deutsche kammerder bildendenKiinste (reich chamberof visual arts), Kunstausstellungin Munich, Hitlercontrasted the "degener- although this was not the first exhibition of its kind.25 The ate"modern-art movements (see fig. 7) with the artthat "will purposes of this exhibition were to show the public what impress you as being beautiful, and, above all, as decent, constituted"degenerate" art, to indoctrinatethe public about and which you will sense to be good" (seefigs. 3-6).22 its dangers, and to demonstratethat this "corruption"of art The propagandacampaign against modern art was was not just an aberrationor experiment,but an organized dramatizedwith the infamousexhibition "EntarteteKunst" (degenerateart), which opened in Munichon July 19, 1937, F I G. 8 JosephGoebbels visiting the "DegenerateArt" exhibition in Berlin, and was shownin the largercities in all regionsof Germany. February27,1938. Courtesythe Archivfur Kunstund Geschichte,Berlin. zuIil ttliehen Ideal erl.obeii? attemptby Bolshevistsand Jewsto create cultural and political anarchyby underminingtraditional values.26 Visitors to the exhibitionwere also remindedhow much public money- in inflatedDeutschmarks-had been paid forthis "degenerate" art. Worksin the exhibition of "degenerate"art had been confiscated from German public collections.27 They were described in a guide and on wall labels in a derogatoryand inflammatorymanner. The exhibitionwas divided into nine categories, each representing some "negative" aspect of modern art.28 Worksin one group supposedly encouraged political anarchythrough artistic anarchy by depicting the struggling working class and capitalists who "mockingly make light of the misery of the workers."Another group was ll'asdilebol~scjhvwis6ische Jiidist lsa iixunniorgall t 89 characterizedas Bolshevistpropaganda against military con- iiruiss n Literatiur besoder' liebte for soldiers as murderersor victims, for 4n rua.i he Ltratur.ade ude scription portraying Pstituteder, ver chalt Ilr H e- example, contraryto the NationalSocialist ideal of a heroic el nese.1erhwviten de~r Cfvs?wII- art;one such "undesirable"work was OttoDix's WarCripples weni~nessiemems.,- n.hafi erhubt isicns aem Ft.-e.iwrneouseiianwo der UHorrupfioas snow umd which a of nei.. II h i LbIiuanimts die (1920, destroyed), depicts grotesqueprocession IBh Liteher e i heIt nd mutilatedsoldiers. The exhibition also denigratedthe religious worksof such artists as Nolde (see fig. 7), referringto them in the FIG. 9 17 of Entartete"Kunst" to the guide as a kind of that makes an "insolent Page Ausstellungsfuhrer,guide "hocus-pocus" exhibition DegenerateArt," showing, lower right, a paintingby ErnstLudwig mockery"of religion. The worksin anothergroup were sup- Kirchnerand worksby KarlSchmidt-Rottluff and PaulKleinschmidt. Courtesy the Archivfir Kunstund Geschichte,Berlin. posed to representthe immoralside of "Bolshevist"art, in which the "wholeworld is one big whorehouse"(fig. 9). Some were also forbiddento exhibit and sometimeseven to workin of the works were called "nigger art" (fig. 10), with the their own studios. Artists whose workwas labeled "degener- African and SouthSea islandersupposedly exemplifying the ate" had to turn to other ways to earn a living, preferably undesirableracial ideals of modernart.29 Finally, therewas anonymously;Willi Baumeister worked as a typographic a group of works characterizedas "total insanity"that in- designer and Schlemmer, among other things, decorated cluded examples of abstractart. ceilings and camouflaged barracks.31 Many, like Klee, The Nazis suppressedart whose contentthey perceived Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Feininger, Max as a threat to traditionalvalues and institutions. Images of Beckmann, and Kurt Schwitters, left the country. Others prostitutesby ErnstLudwig Kirchner (seefig. 9) or Grosz,for continuedto workand sometimeseven to sell in secret, but example,were criticized for glorifying their subjects, thereby they lived in fear of being discoveredby the authorities.Karl contributingto society's moraldecay and erodingtraditional Schmidt-Rottluff,Kathe Kollwitz, Gerhard Marcks, Barlach, family values. The Germansalso consideredstyle a determi- Nolde, Baumeister,and Schlemmerwere among those who nant of the "degenerate"character of art. The figural distor- stayed in Germany,despite pressures, threats, and ostra- tions of Expressionism were directly linked to the inferior cism. They had to endure seeing their work not only deni- racial traits of the artists or to a "gruesomemalfunctioning of grated, but sometimes destroyed.32Barlach was one of the the eyes" caused by their inferior genetic background; or the artists who enduredan "innerexile." He wrote, "Apimp or distortions were characterized as a hoax perpetrated on the murdererhas it much better; he enjoys the benefit of an unsuspecting public.30 orderlytrial and even has a chance to clear himself. Wewere National Socialist art doctrine and the resultant art simply repudiatedand if possible destroyed.In this respect, policies were carried to extremes. Not only did the Nazis my condition is more disastrous than that of an actual ex- denigrate modern art and denounce artists, they also confis- ile."33 Artists throughoutGermany received the message cated modern art from museums and other collections. In loud and clear: "degenerate"art wouldnot be tolerated,even addition, they expelled artists from their teaching posts; Klee in the artist'sown atelier. was one of those to lose his position in 1933. Many artists Althoughthere are profounddifferences in the histori-

ARTJOURNAL cal circumstancesand the respective political institutionsof Nazi Germanyand the United States today, leaders in both societies have utilized rhetoricto politicize art and to exploit deep-rootedconcerns shared by large segmentsof theirpopu- lations, namely,that an erosionof traditionalvalues threatens a familiar way of life. This rhetoricappeals to the passions and prejudices of a significant numberof people who view offensiveor "degenerate"art as a factorcontributing to society's moraldecline. In 1989 SenatorSlade Gorton(R-Wash.), for example, referredto "'art'-I put that wordin quotation marks-which attacks the faith, morals, or firmly held be- liefs of large numbers."34 Like many examples of modernGerman art that hung in the Nazis' "DegenerateArt" exhibit, Scott Tyler'sWhat Is the ProperWay to Display a U.S. Flag (1989), in which an American flag was displayed on the floor, was attackedas unpatriotic;Andres Serrano's 1987 Piss Christ, a photograph of a plastic crucifix immersed in a containerof the artist's urine (fig. 11), has been described as blasphemous;35and 90 some of Robert Mapplethorpe's homoerotic and sado- masochistic photographshave been labeled obscene and indecent. When the Mapplethorpeand Serranophotographs Ein sehr uf hu rei he were called "garbage"and "trash"by UnitedStates senators ras %Ci (lictt on the floor of the Senate in 1989,36 they were no less denigratedthan worksin the Nazis'"Degenerate Art" exhibi- in the wakeof the recentwar in the Persian one can Man btachhte esouders auh die tion; Gulf, iuntenstehenden drei Malerbild- imagine that the Tylerwork would now arouse even greater nisse, Essind vo ulinks nach rerhis.- Der Iater Morgner, geshein von "patriotic"passions than it did in 1989. sie selstI . b 'Mlr Rad~iwiIl The in the United States gesebe n Otto DixD e r Mater political right todayemploys Schlemmer, gesebn von E.'L. rhetoricnot only to denigrateart it disapprovesof, but also to Kirchner discredit artists and othermembers of the arts community.37 On the Senatefloor, SenatorHelms disparaginglyreferred to "so-called art experts," and said of Serrano,"He is not an artist, he is a jerk."38 When such derogatory rhetoric is employed,it escalates controversyand inflames prejudice.It legitimizes personal attacks and opens up avenues for per- secution of individuals, as well as groups. The NationalSocialist case exemplifiesthe extremesto which a governmentcan go to controlthe arts or to exploitart for propagandapurposes, and puts in sharprelief the perils which FIG. 10 Page7 of Entartete"Kunst" AusstellungsfiJhrer, guide to the forthe UnitedStates of adoptingpolicies by politicians exhibition Art."The works are from "Degenerate pictued (clockwise, top left) have the power to enforce cultural standards and determine by EmilNolde, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (painting and sculpture),Ernst Ludwig Kirchner,Otto Dix,and WilhelmMorgner. Courtesy the ArchivfOr Kunst und whether art is decent or indecent, uplifting or "degenerate." Geschichte,Berlin. It reminds us that we must remain vigilant and not assume that our democratic processes and institutions will necessarily check excesses in government control of the arts. It also reminds us of the power of art to inflame prejudice or touch our deepest concerns. Notes This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the College Art Association annual conference in New York,February 1990. It also drawsupon a paper, "Artand Politics:Jesse Helms and the NationalEndowment for the Arts,"that I presentedat the SouthwesternSocial Science Association meeting in FortWorth, March 1990, as well as my doctoraldissertation, "Picasso and His Art during the GermanOccupation of Paris, 1940-1944" (StanfordUniversity, 1985). I would like to thank RobertStorr, Lenore Malen, and Barbara Hoffmanfor their comments on earlier versions of this

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FIG. 11 AndresSerrano, Piss Christ,1987, Cibachrome,60 x 40 inches.Courtesy Stux Gallery, New York. paper. This research was supported in part by a Limited Grant-in-Aid from the Darstellungder Frau,"in Kunstim 3. Reich:Documente der Unterwerfung,exh. cat. Universityof Houston. (Frankfurtam Main: FrankfurterKunstverein, 1975), 182-92. 1. Grosz'sdrawings were issued in connectionwith ErwinPiscator's stage production 17. See Sabile, "Introduction,"in Le Pillage par les Allemands, 20-22. of TheGood Soldier Schweik, from which the Germancaption, "Maulhalten und weiter 18. Brenner,"Art in the Political PowerStruggle," 398. dienen," was taken. In his first trial, the local court in Moabitrejected Grosz'sclaim 19. Alfred Rosenberg, "Revolutionin the Fine Arts?" Selected Writings,ed., with that he had not "intended to defame the church or to be blasphemous in these introduction, by Robert Pois (London:Jonathon Cape, 1970), 159-60. Originally In his first Grosz was drawings." appeal acquitted; the Second Criminal Chamberof publishedin Blut und Ehre, ein Kampffiirdeutsche Wiedergeburt, Reden undAufsitze RegionalCourt III, Berlin-Moabit,interpreted Grosz's drawing of the crucified Christ von 1919-1933 (Munich:Thilo von Trotha,1935). as a legitimate protest"against the idea of war. . . and any actions on the part of the 20. Lehmann-Haupt,Art undera Dictatorship,72-73; Brenner,"Art in the Political churchthat lend supportto the idea of war."The case subsequentlywent through more PowerStruggle," 400-401, 407. trials and appeals, into 1932, when the Reichsgericht(national court) decided thatthe 21. Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, trans. Richard and Clara Winston (New printing plates and all copies of the drawing "in the possession of the author, the York:Macmillan, 1970), 32-33. printer, the editor, the publisher, or any booksellers" were to be destroyed. The 22. Hitler, in Chipp, ed., Theories,482. had publisher,however, already destroyedthe plates and sold impoundedcopies of the 23. Ibid., 480. Forpersonal accounts of the exhibitionsee Paul O. Rave, Kunstdik- portfolioof drawings. An ironic footnote:after the Nazis came to power in 1933, tatur im Dritten Reich (Hamburg: Verlag Gebr. Mann, 1949), 56-57; and Peter Goebbels's ministry requested a copy of Grosz'sdrawing Christ with Gas Mask from Guenther,"Three Days in Munich, July 1937," in Barron, ed., Fate of the Avant- the of the prosecutor Generalstaatsanwaltschaft(superior regional court) for a bro- Garde, 33-43. See also Mario-Andreasvon Liittichau, "EntarteteKunst, Munich chure on cultural Bolshevism. Uwe M. Schneede, George Grosz:The Artist in His 1937: A Reconstruction,"in Barron, ed., Fate of the Avant-Garde,45-81. Society, trans. Robert and Rita Kimber (Woodbury,N.Y.: Barron's,1985), 170-75. 24. This and the previous quotationare from Hitler, in Chipp, ed., Theories,482. 2. Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt,Art undera Dictatorship(New York:Oxford University 25. Wilhelm Treue,Art Plunder, trans. Basil Creighton(New York:John Day, 1961), Press, 1954), 66-67. 233. Ziegler was also a painterof realistic nudes, who was dubbed "masterof German 3. Hildegard Brenner,"Art in the PoliticalPower Struggle, 1933-34," in Republicto pubic hair." Hinz, Art in the Third Reich, 38. The first exhibitions in Hitler's Reich: The the Nazi Making of Revolution,ed. Hajo Holborn,trans. Ralph Manheim Germany to denigrate modemrnart were installed in 1933. One in Nurembergwas (New York:Pantheon, 1972), 396; Lehmann-Haupt,Art under a Dictatorship,67. called "Chamberof Horrors."See a list of these exhibitions in ChristophZuschlag, Frick acted on the advice of ProfessorPaul Schultze-Naumburg,an architect whose "An 'EducationalExhibition': The Precursorsof Entartete Kunst and Its Individual theories on art were racially motivated. See also Oskar Schlemmer,The Lettersand Venues," in Barron, ed., Fate of the Avant-Garde,98-101. Diaries ed. TutSchlemmer Ill.: 92 ofOskarSchlemmer, (Evanston, NorthwesternUniver- 26. See Entartete "Kunst"Ausstellungsfiihrer, 2, 4. sity Press, 1990), 272-75. 27. Forworks in the "DegenerateArt" exhibition see Rave, Kunstdiktatur,79-81, 4. Lehmann-Haupt,Art undera Dictatorship,68. and Mario-Andreasvon Littichau, "EntarteteKunst, Munich 1937: A Reconstruc- 5. Ibid., 69, 181. tion," in Barron, ed., Fate of the Avant-Garde,49-80. Forworks confiscated from 6. Adolf Hitler, speech inauguratingthe Haus der Deutschen Kunstand the "Grosse Germanmuseums see Roh, "Entartete"Kunst, 123-248, and several reproductions Deutsche Kunstausstellung," in Herschel B. Chipp, ed., Theoriesof ModernArt, following. trans. Ilse Falk (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 476-82. For the 28. See Entartete "Kunst"Ausstellungsfiihrer, 6-22. Germantext see Hitler:Reden und Proklamationen,1932-1945, ed. Max Domarus 29. In Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts(Munich, 1933), Alfred Rosenbergwrote (WOrzburg:Verlagsdruckerei Schmidt, Neustadt a.d. Aisch, 1962), I:705-10. See that Paul Gauguin was "inwardlyrotten and confused," seeking ideal beauty in the also Hitler's speech of November11, 1935, in Nuremberg,in The Speechesof Adolf South Seas, until this search resulted in chaos. Cited in JosephWulf, Die bildenden Hitler: April 1922-August 1939, ed. and trans. Norman H. Baynes (New York: Kiinste im Dritten Reich (Guitersloh:S. Mohn, 1963), 269, my translation. HowardFertig, 1969), 1:569-84. 30. Hitler, in Chipp, ed., Theories, 480; and Hitler:Reden und Proklamationen,I: 7. BertholdHinz, Art in the ThirdReich, trans. Robertand Rita Kimber(New York: 709; cf. n. 9 (Nordau, Degeneration, 483, 27). See also Entartete "Kunst"Aus- Pantheon, 1979), 77-83, 102-3. stellungsfiihrer,18. 8. Hitler, in Chipp, ed., Theories, 482; and Hitler:Reden und Proklamationen,I: 31. See Lehmann-Haupt,Art undera Dictatorship,84-87, including Baumeister's 709. personal account; Schlemmer, Lettersand Diaries, 371-78; and Roh, "Entartete" 9. Hinz, Art in the ThirdReich,46. MaxNordau, Degeneration, with introductionby Kunst, 61-65 and 115-19. George L. Mosse (New York:Howard Fertig, 1968). ForNordau (born Sfidfeld), one of 32. Schlemmer,Letters and Diaries, 272-75; Carl Dietrich Carls, Ernst Barlach the characteristicsof degeneracyis reliance upon the imagination,rather than nature. (New York:Praeger, 1969), 172, 197-98, 201-2; and WernerHaftmann, Emil Nolde: Therefore,any art that does not reproducenature is degenerate. Nordauexcuses the UnpaintedPictures (New York:Praeger, 1971), 12-13, 17. Impressionists, however,for sincerely recordingoptical perceptions,whether they be 33. Barlach, quoted in Roh, "Entartete"Kunst, 65, my translation. a result of the visual sensation of "a mass of colour composed of spots of different 34. SenatorSlade Gorton, CongressionalRecord, October7, 1989, S 12970. greens, on which the sun flashes here and there points and rays of light," or the result 35. Serranohas said that his photographwas "absolutelynot calculated to offend."It of "nystagmus, or trembling of the eyeball." In either case, however,the artist will represents "first and foremost. . . my Catholic upbringing, and my ambivalence to have producedan aesthetically and intellectually inferiorproduct. Nordau, Degenera- that upbringing,being drawnto Christyet resisting organizedreligion." He explained tion, 483, 27. It is ironic that Nordauwas a Jew and a Zionist, given the anti-Semitic that he used urine because it is one of "life'svital fluids," like blood and milk, which context in which the concept of degenerationwas used by the Nazis. he has also used in his work, and that it produced"a quite vivid and vibrant color." 10. Lehmann-Haput,Art undera Dictatorship,39-41. Quoted in William H. Honan, "AndresSerrano: Contradictions in Life and Work," 11. Jacques Sabile, "Introduction,"in Le Pillage par les Allemandsdes oeuvresd'art New YorkTimes (national edition), August 16, 1989, 22. et des bibliothdquesappartenant t des Juifs en France:Receuil des documents,ed. Jean 36. SenatorJesse Helms, CongressionalRecord, October 7, 1989, S 12969, S 12973; Cassou (Paris: Editions du Centre, 1947), 33; Hinz, Art in the ThirdReich, 45-46. SenatorTrent Lott, CongressionalRecord, October 7, 1989, S 12975. 12. Because modern, "degenerate"artists often created within an international 37. In the United States the conservatives, especially those on the Christian right, context, they were accused of being Bolshevist. Hinz, Art in the ThirdReich, 11. also campaign against offensive content in the print media, television, movies, and 13. Carl Einstein's Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, vol. 16 (Berlin: Propylaien- music videos. See, for example, Richard Bolton, "The Cultural Contradictionsof Kunstgeschichte, 1931), which deals exclusively with art and artists considered Conservatism,"NewArt Examiner 17 (June1990), 24-29, 72. Fora discussion of the "modern"by its author,was used by the NationalSocialists as a referenceto identify broaderaims of the political right and how art issues fit in, see Goggin, "Artand their opponentsin the visual arts. Hinz, Art in the ThirdReich, 24-25, 228, n. 22. Politics: Jesse Helms and the National Endowment for the Arts." The anti- 14. See Sabile, "Introduction,"in Le Pillage par les Allemands, 25. "degenerate"cultural campaign in Nazi Germanywas aimed at books, music, and 15. See Entartete "Kunst"Ausstellungsfiihrer, published by Fritz Kaiser (Berlin: film as well as art. See Michael Meyer,"A Musical Facadefor the Third Reich," and Verlagfur Kultur-und Wirtschaftswerbung,1937), 14. This was not a catalogueper William Moritz,"Film CensorshipDuring the Nazi Era," in Barron,ed., Fate of the se, but rathera guide to the travelingexhibition that presented the NationalSocialist Avant-Garde. propagandaabout "degenerate"art, including excerpts from Hitler's speech inau- 38. Helms, CongressionalRecord, October7, 1989, S 12968; and Helms, Congres- guratingthe Haus der Deutschen Kunst, illustratedwith examplesof "degenerate"art sional Record, May18, 1989, S 5595, cited in CaroleS. Vance, "TheWar on Culture," that may have been in the exhibition. Note the use of quotationmarks around the word Art in America 77 (September1989): 39. Kunst (art) in the title. The guide is reproducedin Franz Roh, "Entartete"Kunst: Kunstbarbereiim DrittenReich (Hanover: Fackeltriger-Verlag, 1962) and in Stephanie Barron, ed., "DegenerateArt": The Fate of the Avant-Gardein Nazi Germany,exh. MARY-MARGARET GOGGIN is assistant professor at the cat. Los Museum of with (Los Angeles: Angeles County Art, 1991), 356-90, University of Houston. She is currently completing a book- translationby David Britt. 16. The iconographyof woman in NationalSocialist painting is discussed in Hinz, length study of Picasso and his art during the German Art in the Third Reich, 149-55, and Christian Gross and Uwe Grossman, "Die occupation of Paris.

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