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22 arts Review of reviews: Art

Exhibit of the week here too. An unfinished 1937 self-portrait : The Attack on by the expressionist in Nazi , 1937 gains symbolic power once we learn that the artist would be an exile and suicide Neue Galerie, New York City, through June 30 within one year. “It was one of the most infamous exhibi- tions of the 20th century; it was also one Hitler’s artistic preferences also win of the best attended,” said Jason Farago in space here, said Peter Schjeldahl in The The Guardian (U.K.). In 1937, more than New Yorker. At the same moment that 2 million people rushed to see the Munich the Munich public was flocking to the showing of a touring collection of avant- “Degenerate Art” show, it was mostly garde art that the Nazis considered entar- ignoring a simultaneous exhibition dedi- tete, or “degenerate.” , Paul cated to so-called Great . But Klee, Otto Dix, and Hitler nabbed a triptych from the less were among the 112 modernists singled popular show to hang above his fireplace, out for derision, but while only six of those and it appears at the Neue alongside a 112 were Jewish, the organizers used wall 1933 masterpiece whose labels to pointedly blame Jews for the cul- side panels depict various acts of sadism. tural contagion the show intended to warn The juxtaposition of Beckmann’s The against. In revisiting that portentous event, New York’s Neue Galerie wisely decided Departure with Adolf Ziegler’s The Four not to re-create the 1937 exhibition. Elements asks us to consider whether we’d Though the museum’s 80-work show feels have known in 1937 which to rate higher. “a little thin in parts,” it excels at illumi- Kirchner’s A Group of Artists (1925–26) Ziegler’s four Aryan nudes are “kitschy nating context. enough,” but they’re also handled well German before Adolf Hitler enough that “the pleasure imparted is “Context means a lot” here, and the ordered him to demonize and destroy it. disturbing.” Would tastes have evolved curators don’t shy from highlighting para- Painter and printmaker , who entirely differently if Hitler hadn’t inad- doxes, said Holland Cotter in The New led all artists in the number of his pieces vertently boosted the expressionists by York Times. As the catalog explains, the included in the “Degenerate Art” show, blacklisting them? We’d like to think not, originator of the term “degenerate art” later spent years trying to win Nazi Party but “divorcing our thinking about modern was Jewish himself, while the Nazi propa- membership by making anti-Semitic state- culture from the residual consequences of gandist Joseph Goebbels deeply admired ments. But many martyrs show their faces ‘Degenerate Art’ probably can’t be done.”

The Art of Leadership: A WashingtonPost.com. From W’s vantage Where to buy President’s Personal Diplomacy point, “most world leaders look like terrify- A select exhibition in a private gallery The George W. Bush Presidential Library ing potatoes with red eyes.” Joanne and Museum, Dallas Greenbaum The show is at least a brilliant PR move, never waits for Our 43rd president turns out to be “some- said Jonathan Jones in TheGuardian.com. thunderbolts. thing of a natural when it comes to making “Americans do tend to forgive their more The 60-year- oil ,” said Roberta controversial presidents,” and old New Yorker Smith in The New York Times. Bush is helping the public regularly just Many in the art world may along by taking up a hobby sets to work wish to dismiss George W. that humanizes him more than instead, trust- Bush’s creative ability, but any globe-trotting charity mis- ing that if she the 30 new portraits he’s just sion could. “It’s like being nice keeps add- Untitled (2014) unveiled at his presidential about the family idiot’s lat- ing layers to library prove that he’s at least est art project: ‘Aw, isn’t that her various canvases in progress, the resulting images will argue for them- “a decent amateur.” If you’re sweet, poor George has done selves. Her latest abstract series may expecting old-master-style paintings of world leaders.’” be her most effective yet. Each precision in the likenesses he’s Never mind that they “look the hits the eye like a storm, often combin- created of fellow world lead- work of someone you wouldn’t ing network-like lines, bold color fields, ers, you’ll be disappointed. W’s portrait of his dad trust to mow a lawn without frantic scribbling, and dripping stains But Bush picked up a brush cutting someone’s foot off”: to spread energy across all 90 by 80 less than two years ago, and already he’s Trying and failing just makes Bush more inches. This is process painting that showing “an uncanny ability to translate sympathetic. Not that he doesn’t sincerely hints at a mechanical origin but conveys photographs into more awkward images care about being liked, said Douglas Lucas an unbridled life force, like big-screen enlivened by distortions and slightly and Amy O’Neal in Salon.com. This is blueprints that have been pollinated by ham-handed brushwork.” His Vladimir a man who “sees the leaders as a child several garden species all at once. At Putin appears “suitably stony faced and would.” He’s not aiming to capture how Rachel Uffner Gallery, 170 Suffolk St., ruthless,” his Angela Merkel “girlishly any of his subjects experience the world. New York City, (212) 274-0064. Paintings are priced at $55,000 each. nonthreatening.” Soaking in his perspec- Mostly, he’s just trying to enumerate other

tive is instructive, said Alexandra Petri in members of the club he once ran with. AP , Bildarchiv Rheinisches

THE WEEK April 18, 2014