SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Against the Grain of History: Radical Traditionalism in Twentieth Century German Painting A Dissertation Presented by Travis William English to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History and Criticism Stony Brook University May 2015 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Travis William English We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Andrew V. Uroskie – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor of Art History and Criticism, Art Department Zabet Patterson - Chairperson of Defense Assistant Professor of Art History and Criticism, Art Department David Mather – Reader Assistant Professor of Art History and Criticism, Art Department Barbara McCloskey – Outside Reader Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Charles Taber Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Painting History Against the Grain: Radical Traditionalism in Twentieth Century German Art by Travis William English Doctor of Philosophy in Art History and Criticism Stony Brook University 2015 Focusing on the years immediately following World War I and concluding with the present, this dissertation examines the connections across a range of artists and periods in German art in terms of what I will call radical traditionalism. This analysis involves the work of George Grosz, Otto Dix, Gerhard Richter, and Neo Rauch, all artists who, despite their differences in styles and contexts, can be grouped together in their commitment to bringing forth a heterogeneous vision of figurative painting that looks beyond the limitations that have tended to frame the discussion of artistic modernism, namely, the opposition between abstraction and representation. These artists have in common not only a desire to engage with their world through figuration, but also through the adoption and adaptation of traditional models of painting that had been marginalized in mainstream modernism. Nonetheless, their turn towards tradition is anything but conservative or reactionary, as such turns in the twentieth century typically have been conceived, particularly in the long shadows of fascist and socialist realisms; neither does it represent the traditionalism that was a favored tactic of postmodern artists. Examining the work of these artists within a critical framework that draws upon Bertolt Brecht’s conception of dialectical realism, Walter Benjamin’s theory of allegory, Theodor Adorno’s discussion of natural history, and Kaja Silverman’s theory of analogy, among others, this dissertation argues that these artists produce a critical, dialectical form of realism expansive in its outlook and form, borrowing from tradition to put it into productive dialogue with their own historical moments and in ways that expand the concept and practice of realism, pointing to its continued significance in the present and future. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1................................................................................................................................................................26 CHAPTER 2................................................................................................................................................................63 CHAPTER 3................................................................................................................................................................96 CHAPTER 4.............................................................................................................................................................145 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................................183 BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................................................186 iv Acknowledgments This project has undergone many permutations over an extended period of time and was strengthened by the work of many other individuals. Foremost among them are the members of my defense committee, who worked along side me to see this work realized. Andrew Uroskie, Zabet Patterson, David Mather, and Barbara McCloskey brought a diverse expertise to their close readings and offered invaluable criticism and advice. Special thanks to David, who came on board in his first year at Stony Brook, having not known me or my work, but who nonetheless offered a broad attentiveness to and interest in my topic. My preliminary research was aided by a grant from DAAD to extend my study of the German language in Leipzig during the summer of 2008, where I was first introduced to the work of Werner Tübke and Bernhard Heisig. Back at Stony Brook, I was invited to participate in a Mellon Foundation dissertation seminar led by Peter Manning, which helped formulate some of my preliminary research into Dadaism and made me think more about the complexity of studying “things”. A Walter Read Hovey Fellowship from the Pittsburgh Foundation kept a roof over my head when I began writing the first draft. The first version of Chapter 1 was written for the Guggenheim Museum’s Emerging Scholars Symposium organized by Kenneth Silver and Vivien Greene to coincide with the museum’s Chaos and Classicism exhibition. I thank them for such an outstanding opportunity to present my work. At Frostburg State, Jacqueline Brown has shown ceaseless patience and support as my department chair and mentor. She was formative in seeing my appointment morph from contractual to tenure-track. Of course, I want to thank my friends and family, who unwaveringly offered their love and attention when it was needed most. As I’ve moved from one place to another over the past few years, it is my imagined community with them that sustained me throughout and continues to do so now. v Introduction The Role of Tradition in/against Modernism Trust in the eternal laws of the gods has vanished, and the Oracles, which pronounced on particular questions, are dumb. The Statues are now only stones from which the living soul has flown, just as the hymns are words from which belief has gone. The tables of the gods provide no spiritual food and drink, and in his games and festivals man no longer recovers the joyful consciousness of his unity with the divine. The works of the Muse now lack the power of the Spirit, for the Spirit has gained its certainty of itself from the crushing of gods and men. —G. W. F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit It is self evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to the world, not even its right to exist. —T. W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory Focusing on the years immediately following World War I and concluding with the contemporary, this dissertation examines the connections across a range of artists and periods in Germany in terms of what I will call radical traditionalism. The analysis involves the work of George Grosz, Otto Dix, Gerhard Richter, and Neo Rauch, all artists who, despite their differences in styles and contexts, can be grouped together in their commitment to bringing forth a heterogeneous vision of figurative painting that looks beyond the limitations that have tended to frame the discussion of artistic modernism, namely, the opposition between abstraction and representation. These artists have in common not only a desire to engage with their world through figuration, but also through the adoption and adaptation of traditional models of painting that had been marginalized in mainstream modernism. Nonetheless, their turn towards tradition is anything but conservative or 1 reactionary, as such turns in the twentieth century typically have been conceived, particularly in the long shadows of fascist and socialist realisms. Rather, these artists produce a critical, dialectical form of realism that is expansive in its outlook, borrowing from tradition to put it into productive dialogue with their own historical moments in ways that have expanded the conception of realism and point to its continued significance in the present and future. Modernity and Rupture Despite it being an odd place from which to open a discussion of the role played by tradition in modern German art, I want to begin with a passage by the French sociologist and philosopher of science Bruno Latour. In We Have Never Been Modern, Latour writes, Modernity comes in as many versions as there are thinkers or journalists, yet all its definitions point, in one way or another, to the passage of time.