Christine Birnbaum
Annotated Bibliography

Degenerate Art Museum

 

1) Dinsmore, Brianna Louise. “Art as Propaganda in Nazi Germany,” n.d., 25. Art as Propaganda in Nazi Germany (calpoly.edu).

This article gives a deeper understanding to the rise of Hitler. It goes on to state that prior to Hitler’s rise in power, the Weimar Administration of the 1920s saw a cultural revival in art through Expressionism, Dada and Cubism. However, expressionist artists did not portray images of reality, but instead portrayed emotional images that
questioned reality. Although there were many Nazi leaders, such as Joseph Goebbels, who supported German expressionism, it unfortunately did not stick. Because the Weimer Republic faced many problems throughout its 14 years of rule, many Germans felt uncertain and were ready to follow a leader that could make Germany a united
nation. As Hitler rose to power, he sought to expel any ideas of modern art, equating it
to being “Jewish” due to its distorted reality.

2) Facing History and Ourselves. “Facing History and Ourselves.” Accessed February
8, 2021. https://www.facinghistory.org/.

This article, again, goes into a little bit of background leading up to Hitler’s dictatorship. However, this source discusses the Degenerate Art Exhibition of 1937. The Degenerate Art Exhibition became a traveling exhibition of all banned modern artwork, which allowed for millions of people to have access to it. The idea of the exhibition was to
demonstrate Hitler’s distaste for modern art, with the intention of showing that the art was not “national”. Because it was not created by a unified group of German people, Hitler saw modern art as an international movement. Since Hitler was set on German’s being the “superior” race, he equated anything outside of that unified perception to
being inferior. The author touches on various pieces displayed in the exhibit and points out distorted elements comparing gender roles in German art vs. gender roles in degenerative art, along with how Nazi-approved art portrayed Nazi’s as being superhuman.

3) “Degenerate Art: Why Hitler Hated Modernism.” BBC News, November 6, 2013, sec.
Magazine. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24819441.

This article revisits how the Nazi party installed two different art exhibits in Munich in 1937. The Great German Art Exhibition was designed to show work that Hitler approved of – blonde statues and idealized soldiers. However, the Degenerate Art Exhibition was meant to show the “abstract” side of German art, which Hitler disapproved of. The article names various artists that were involved in the Degenerate Art Exhibition, including Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. According to the author, the exhibition was laid out with the intention of creating a negative reaction. To help create a distaste, pictures were purposefully hung crooked, making the art seem even more outlandish. I think that this article will help to give a more detailed analysis of what type of paintings were labelled inferior, and how the museum was one piece of the propaganda puzzle used to help rally thousands of people behind Hitler.

4) Listverse. “10 Works of Art the Nazis Deemed ‘Degenerate,’” April 3, 2016.
https://listverse.com/2016/04/03/10-works-of-art-the-nazis-deemed-degenerate/.

This is a very brief article showing 10 out of the 650 pieces of artwork displayed in the Degenerate Art Museum. The author starts with giving a brief background of Hitler’s overhaul of German art, as he only approved of the work of old masters or realistic paintings. This article describes the museum and the derogatory captions for the artwork displayed there, such as “An insult to German womanhood.” Of the many pieces from various artists, one piece in particular that gained notoriety was from German painter Otto Dix in his painting titled “War Cripples.”. Otto’s painting is in black and white, and is painted in a way that makes it seem as if it if made of magazine clippings. In it, Otto depicts 4 soldiers happily marching down the street in uniform. However, they all appear to be crippled from war as some are missing limbs or are walking with canes. According to the author, the painting ridicules everyone, including
the” military for crippling poor men, the public for their strange fascination with the handicapped, and the injured men themselves for retaining pride in a country that sent
them to war.”

5) The Artist’s Job. “Defining Heroism: Otto Dix’s ‘War Cripples.’” Accessed February 13,
2021. http://theartistsjob.weebly.com/1/post/2015/09/defining-heroism-otto-dixs-warcripples.html.

This article gives a deeper analysis of Otto Dix’s painting “War Cripples.” The author goes through Dix’s background, including his participation in WWll as a machine gunner and his rising interest in expressionist art. The author describes Dix’s work in detail, describing his use of finely painted lines to enhance angles of his subjects and the
environments along with his caricature-like depictions. According to this analysis, by portraying the veterans as being more machine-like opposed to human-like, Dix uses the wounded soldiers as a metaphor for the dangers of the country’s national pride. In the painting, although the men were deteriorating, they still proudly marched along,
unaware that they weren’t the heroes they imagined. Overall, this article gives a more thorough view into the idea that Dix was critical of the German military due to the fact that everyone viewed WWll as a way to create a new sense of national pride. Byportraying the soldiers of War Cripples as deteriorating, Dix is showing that there is no pride in war.
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6) “Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-Portrait as a Soldier – Smart history.” Accessed February 12,
2021. https://smarthistory.org/kirchner-self-portrait-as-a-soldier/.

This article explores Ernest Ludwig Kirchner, whose work “Self Portrait” was also a famous piece in the Degenerate Museum. This article gives a good look into Kirchner’s background  regarding how he became a key player in creating an expressionist group, The Bridge. The author goes further into explaining the Bridge as being influenced by promotive art, where artists would adopt a natural state with rough sketches and long limbs. In his painting “Self Portrait,” Kirchner is seen in military uniform and his right hand had been cut off, leaving a stump. In the background is a studio and next to him is a nude model. According to this analysis, the severed hand in Self-Portrait is not
a literal injury, but a metaphoric one. Unlike Dix’s depictions of wartime amputees, Kirchner instead used his injury to show that his identity as an artist was being taken. The article goes deeper into comparing Kirchner’s previous painting titled Self Portrait with Model, in which he appeared much healthier and happier. With this comparison,
the article shows how Kirshner was once able to paint, but can no longer do so.

7) “Degenerate Art – Modern Artworks Dismissed by the Nazi as ‘Filth’ | Wide walls.”
Accessed February 12, 2021. https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/degenerate-art-naziartworks.

This was an interesting article that also went into detail regarding the various artists included in the Degenerate Museum. However, this author goes further into details regarding the setup of the exhibition, noting that different rooms contained art pieces that were considered demeaning of religion, were done by Jewish artists, or were
pieces that could be used to ridicule German women and farmers. The author describes how rooms were overfilled, pictures were displayed crooked and how visitors were greeted with a sculpture of Jesus, which was meant to intimate them. The article also looks into the differences between degenerate and Nazi approved artwork, comparing degenerative artist Max Beckmann’s painting, “Departure,” which depicted a modern spiritual departure, to an “approved” artist, Adolf Ziegler, whose painting “Die Ver Elemente,” portrayed classic ideologies of the past.

8) Spartacus Educational. “Great German Art Exhibition.” Accessed February 14, 2021.
https://spartacus-educational.com/German_Art_Exhibition.htm.

This article gives a good look into the German Art Exhibition, along with some of the artists that were a part of it. The author shows what the requirements were for the German Art Exhibition, in which only German artist could participate. Throughout this article, there are quotes from various pro-Nazi artists, explaining what the Exhibition was trying to achieve, such as “the perfect beauty of a race.” The article goes through the events on opening day, which is much different than the opening of the Degenerate Exhibition. Every painting on display projected pride
or heroism, and there were many rustic family scenes. According to this article, all the work exhibited portrayed a life free of problems. However, one piece of life that was missing was urban and industrial life. The article names various artists that were shown in the Nazi-approved museum. Some included Elk Elber’s “The Last Grenade,” which
depicted Nazi troops marching, as a young boy gazed in amazement at a soldier holding a swastika flag. Another included Adolf Ziegler’s “The Four Elements,” which depicted naked women and highlighted the importance of Greek mythology.