New German Painting”: Painting, Nostalgia & Cultural Identity in Post-Unification Germany
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The London School of Economics and Political Science “New German Painting”: Painting, Nostalgia & Cultural Identity in Post-Unification Germany Hannah Abdullah A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, October 2012 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 83.338 words. 2 To my parents Ruth and Haytham 3 Abstract During the past decade one of the bestsellers in the American art market was a group of figurative-representational paintings from post-Unification Germany. Dubbed “New German Painting”, this body of work included artists with explicit East German affiliations, such as the so-called “New Leipzig School”, as well as artists who trained at academies in former West Germany. While the American art critical discourse predominantly promoted the art as a new kind of German history painting, which confronted the country’s recent past of division and reunification, the reception amongst German art critics was more negative by far. The latter did not see a serious engagement with recent German history in the new body of art, and dismissed the painting as catering to a growing post-socialist nostalgia industry. Moreover, the traditional figurative style of painting, which was adopted in particular by artists trained at academies in post-Wende East Germany, was often criticized as an aesthetically and politically reactionary artistic position. In spite of the obvious social and political connotations of the art critical discourse on the “New German Painting”, art historical scholarship has barely examined this new body of art in light of underlying interactions between the painting’s aesthetic content and the social-political context of post-Unification Germany. This is a surprising omission, considering that scholars of modern German art are traditionally deeply concerned with the interplay between aesthetic and political continuities and discontinuities. A possible explanation for this gap in the literature is that art history lacks a framework to capture the intersecting aesthetic and social-political notions that have emerged in the discourse on the painting. This thesis aims to overcome this shortcoming by examining the phenomenon “New German Painting” from an interdisciplinary perspective that combines sociological with art historical approaches. The theoretical perspective builds on innovations in the sociology of art, which complement established concerns with social structure with a sensibility for aesthetic specificity. In the empirical parts of the thesis this perspective is used to trace continuities between the new painting and its reception with earlier moments in German post-World War II art history; as well as to examine the social context and historical moment in which the painting emerged. Particular attention is paid to affinities between the discussion of the “New German Painting” and current cross- disciplinary academic literature on nostalgia in post-Wende Germany. Overall, the thesis argues that this more encompassing approach is better suited for revealing how the phenomenon “New German Painting” sits at the centre of debates about collective memory and cultural identity in post-1989 Germany, including the complex relations between the former East and West that characterise these debates. 4 Acknowledgements I want to thank my supervisor Nigel Dodd for encouraging me to embark on the journey of writing a PhD and for his insightful and inspiring comments along the way. I also want to thank Christian Weikop who came to the project in its final stages as second supervisor. The thesis in its present form would have been inconceivable without the help I received from Christian in dealing with some of its art historical aspects. I was very fortunate to be a Research Assistant to the late David Frisby, who, in many conversations and through the many books he so generously gave me, inspired me by his fascination with German modernism. The PhD seminar group NYLON (based at LSE and Goldsmiths) provided me with an institutional framework in which cross-disciplinary work was welcome and where I learned a great deal about how to write a PhD. I am grateful to the LSE Department of Sociology for supporting my research with a number of Studentships. At the LSE Sociology Department I further want to name Don Slater, who commented on a draft version of the thesis during my Upgrade examination and who was generally very supportive. The Inter-Library Loans team at the LSE Library made it possible for me to access many of the art history and German language books I engaged with over the course of my research. I am much indebted to my colleagues Jerôme Hansen, for a shared exploration of recent debates in sociology of art, Matthias Benzer, for together venturing into the writing of Boris Groys, and Günter Gassner, for his feedback on all things related to aesthetics, his emotional support, and friendship. Other colleagues and friends who have encouraged me at various stages of this project and who I owe much to are Gwyneth Hawkins, Shela Sheikh, Mazen Touma, José Ossandón, Elisophie von Eulenburg, and Sabina Uffer. In particular I want to thank Borge Wietzke for being there – calm, understanding, and with a sense of humour. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the support, generosity, and patience of my parents, Ruth and Haytham Abdullah. 5 Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9 I. Research aims ................................................................................................. 11 The “German” in German art ............................................................................. 11 Nostalgia & its two sides ................................................................................... 14 Combining sociological & art historical approaches ......................................... 16 II. Chapter outline ............................................................................................ 16 III. A personal note on the choice of research subject & approach ................... 21 Chapter 1 An Aesthetically-Minded Sociology of Art ......................................... 23 1.1 Learning from art history ............................................................................ 25 1.2 A revised concept of aesthetic agency ......................................................... 28 1.3 Between aesthetic specificity & social mediation ....................................... 32 1.4 Aesthetic value judgements in sociology of art ........................................... 36 1.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 2 Empirical Materials .............................................................................. 42 2.1 The German and American art critical discourse ........................................ 42 2.2 Selection of interviewees, type of interviews & access .............................. 43 2.3 My position & identity in interviews .......................................................... 46 2.4 Anonymising interview voices .................................................................... 47 2.5 Selection of art and artists & methods of visual analysis ............................ 50 2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 3 Nostalgia in post-Wende Germany ...................................................... 53 3.1 The academic reappraisal ............................................................................ 54 3.1.i Bringing painting to the debate ............................................................ 58 3.1.ii Ostalgie/Westalgie vs. post-communist nostalgia ............................... 60 3.2 Germany’s post-1989 memory culture ........................................................ 63 3.2.i Postwar “Vergangenheitsbewältigung” ............................................... 63 6 3.2.ii The broadening of German memory .................................................... 66 3.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 4 A New Kind of German History Painting? .......................................... 76 4.1 The American reception of the “New German Painting” ............................ 78 4.1.i “New Leipzig School” & “Ostalgie” ................................................... 80 4.1.ii Expressionist continuities .................................................................... 83 4.1.iii Memories of an American golden age ................................................. 88 4.2 “Germanness” made for American eyes .....................................................