Escape Into Art? the Brücke Painters in the Nazi Period

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Escape Into Art? the Brücke Painters in the Nazi Period Escape into Art? The Brücke Painters in the Nazi Period 14 April –11 August 2019 In 1937, the Nazis confiscated thousands Works from the Brücke-Museum collection materials. However, until the summer of of artworks from German museums, in- form the backbone of Escape into Art?, 1937 they were still exhibiting their works cluding key works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, supplemented by selected loans from the at galleries and art associations, and in Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max estates of the various artists and from pri- fact Pechstein continued to do so until Pechstein and Emil Nolde. In the propa- vate collectors. The exhibition also marks 1939. Their respective personal situation ganda exhibition entitled Degenerate Art, the first time the museum is opening out and stance during the Nazi era can thus public scorn was then poured on them. in spatial terms: While the period up to not be seen as some unchanging status, These aggressive attacks on their art have 1945 will be portrayed at Brücke-Museum, but must rather be construed as a dynamic tended to overshadow to this day how the the neighbouring Kunsthaus Dahlem will process. Brücke painters themselves experienced house the second part of the show and the Nazi regime. This focus on the events shed light on the immediate post-war era. It bears mentioning here that there were in the years 1937/38 has led to the artists Both galleries are united in their interest many artists who were victims of physical primarily being considered victims of the in a critical inquiry into the history of their persecution: Charlotte Salomon, Otto Nazi policy on art. respective venues and institutions, as well Freundlich, Moissey Kogan and Felix as the wish to fulfil their role as enlight- Nussbaum, for example, were murdered The exhibition Escape into Art? The Brücke ened, transparent and socially relevant in concentration camps; countless collec- Painters in the Nazi Period is the first to establishments. The artworks on display tors and patrons of Brücke were forced be devoted to the oeuvres and every- thus challenge viewers to critically explore into exile after being classified as Jewish day realities of the artists and the room the customary narratives, such as that according to the Nuremberg Race Laws. to manoeuvre they actually had under surrounding terms like ‘inner emigration’ Any discussion of the outlawing of expres- National Socialist rule and in the immedi- or ‘Zero Hour’. sionism and the living conditions of the art- ate post-war period. The show focusses ists needs to be carefully contextualized, on Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein and Karl Indeed, all the artists remained active particularly against the backdrop of this Schmidt-Rottluff. Emil Nolde, a staunch professionally throughout the years in racist and politically driven persecution. Nazi, constitutes a special case amongst question, the only exception being the final the Brücke artists. Simultaneously, a major months of the war. The destruction of their exhibition on him is taking place in the Berlin studios and their forced relocation Neue Galerie at Hamburger Bahnhof – to rural areas made artistic work as good Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin. as impossible, not least owing to a lack of Please note that you can find the translation of all longer texts in this booklet, some captions are not translated. We included a list of techniques for your convenience. XIX VIII X XI VII XII VI IV III XIII XIV V II XV I XVI Brücke Museum Kunsthaus Dahlem I The Dispute over Expressionism (p.5) IX ‘Exploitation’ ( p .1 7 ) XVII The Politization of Art and II The Art Public until 1937 ( p .11 ) X The Fates of the Jewish Culture after 1945 ( p.2 5) III Figural Depictions of the 1930s ( p .1 2 ) Collectors and Patrons ( p .1 8 ) XVIII Art Exhibitions 1945–1949 ( p.2 6) IV Images of Germany ( p .1 2 ) XI Rosa Schapire ( p .1 8 ) XIX Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Exhibition V Early Condemnation ( p .1 3 ) XII Pechstein’s Situation ( p .1 9 ) in Chemnitz in 1946 ( p.2 7) VI Max Pechstein at Auto Union AG, XIII Retreat into Private Life ( p.2 0) XX Losses and Recreations ( p.2 8) Chemnitz, June 1937 ( p .1 4 ) XIV Schmidt-Rottluff’s XXI Links to the Period before 1933 ( p.2 8) VII The Degenerate Art Exhibition, 1937 ( p .1 4 ) Situation in the 1940s ( p.2 2) XXII Museum Concepts VIII Attack on Modernism: The Nazi XV War Years 1939–1945 ( p.2 3) of Reconstruction ( p.2 8) Campaign ‘Degenerate Art’ ( p .1 5 ) XVI After the War ( p.2 3) Artistic Techniques Ahorn maple wood Aquarell watercolour Aquarell über Bleistift watercolour on pencil Aquarell und Deckfarben watercolour and opaque paints Aquarell und Farbkreide watercolour and coloured chalk Aquarell und Tusche watercolour and ink Bleistift pencil Bronze bronze Erlenholz alder wood Federzeichnung ink drawing Fichtenholz spruce wood Holz wood Holzschnitt woodcut Holzstock Fichte spruce woodblock Leimfarbe auf Rupfen distemper on hessian Lithografie lithograph Tempera auf Leinwand tempera on canvas Tempera auf Pressplatte tempera on hardboard Öl auf Leinwand oil on canvas Pappelholz poplar wood Tusche und Farbkreide ink and coloured chalk 4 1 Paul Fechter, Der Expressionismus at Galerie Ferdinand Möller in The Dispute over (Expressionism), Munich 1914, cover Berlin. Works by Brücke artists The 1914 book Der Expressionismus were contrasted with works by Expressionism (Expressionism) by the art writ- young unknown artists with a view er Paul Fechter played a role in to demonstrating lines of devel- demarcating expressionism as a opment towards a potential Nazi From a nationalist, conservative point of German movement from other Euro- modernism. The exhibition was view, expressionism came about as a pean trends in art. After 1933, initially banned on the orders of counter-model to French-inspired impres- Fechter championed expressionism Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick. sionism: its proponents emphasized the as an official art form in the Around two weeks later, with the links with German gothic and romanticist country. As an example, he quoted help of the artist and Goebbels’ art. This is why the Brücke members initial- fascist Italy, where the futur- aide Hans Weidemann in the Propa- ly hoped that their works would meet with ists enjoyed official recognition. ganda Ministry, it reopened, on the approval of the Nazi regime. Heckel, the condition, however, that the Nolde, Pechstein and Schmidt-Rottluff also 2 Ludwig Thormaehlen, Bildnis Erich NS Student Union was no longer assumed that through their membership Heckel (Portrait of Erich Heckel), 1924, mentioned as the official organ- of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts, which bronce, Brücke-Museum, 1966 donated izer. the Propaganda Ministry had established by Erich Heckel in autumn 1933, they were still accepted In 1932 Ludwig Thormaehlen, cu- 4 Ludwig Hohlwein, Der Deutsche as artists. rator at the Nationalgalerie and Student kämpft für Führer und Volk himself a sculptor who for dec- (The German Student Fights for Führer As early as the summer of 1933, there was ades had been acquainted with and the People), poster, ca. 1933, bpk / a heated debate in the art world about the Heckel, organized the major ex- Kunstbibliothek, SMB role of expressionism, which reflected hibition Neuere Deutsche Kunst The National Socialist Student the dispute within the Nazi Party about (Recent German Art). In Oslo, Union was a sub-organization of the direction to be taken: it was about the Copenhagen, and Bergen, among the NSDAP, the Nazi Party. Found- position of Brücke artists such as Nolde, others, it showcased contemporary ed in 1926, it was intended to Heckel, and Schmidt-Rottluff in the new German art and triggered spirit- spread Nazi ideology among stu- state. The dispute revolved around the ed debates in Berlin. His inten- dents. question of whether ‘Nordic’ expression- tion with the show was to provide ism could represent Nazi ideology better a representative insight into 5 Alfred Rosenberg, ‘Revolution in der than the reactionary-völkisch art ideal, current art in Germany, though bildenden Kunst’ (‘Revolution in the Fine with its academic, naturalist influence. ultimately what was displayed Arts’), Völkischer Beobachter (Norddeut- Responding to National Socialist support- was a selection which, for exam- sche Ausgabe), 188, 7 July 1933, p. 7, ers of a moderate modernism, opponents ple, deliberately ignored works bpk / Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – SPK, were frequently especially vociferous. In by the German impressionist Max Zeitungsabteilung particular Alfred Rosenberg, the founder Liebermann. For Thormaehlen with As early as 1928 Alfred Rosen- of the Militant League for German Culture his nationalist, conservative berg, one of the leading Nazi and head ideologist in the Nazi Party, rant- mindset, Liebermann was part of ideologists, founded the anti-Se- ed against anybody in his own ranks who an influential art scene which he mitic Militant League for German promoted modernism. perceived to be dominated by Jews Culture, whose stated objective and which he could not reconcile was to influence German cultural In 1933, the outcome of this dispute over with his idea of national contem- life in keeping with national- expressionism, which continued until 1937, porary art. Protests by numerous ist ideas – especially within the was still unclear. Even during the Degen- artists followed quickly, and the Nazi Party. As a declared enemy erate Art exhibition it had not resulted in liberal press was also incensed of modernism, in July 1933 Rosen- a clear official stance on individual artists by the touring exhibition. The berg described the controversy and works. show marked the beginning of the surrounding expressionism as a dispute about the direction of ‘spirited discussion’ within the German art, which continued in party’s own ranks.As Reichsleit- summer 1933.
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