Abstraction as resistance?

The public perception of the aesthetics of the 1930s and 1940s in Germany is dominated by the Nazi state's fight against ‘degenerate art’. The Nazis used this term to subsume almost the entire artistic avant-garde of the first third of the 20th century that did not conform to their ideological notions of Aryan-German, naturalistic art.

Anyone in Germany in the mid-1930s who dared to work purely abstractly against the doctrine of aesthetic conformity faced consequences such as exhibition bans or exclusion from public office.

Due to the political restrictions, numerous artists toned down their artistic production, ceased working, or protected themselves and their work by fleeing into exile. Nevertheless, German modernism did not end in 1933 – it continued in secret.

Selected artistic positions are used to present the diversity of abstraction in Germany during National Socialism: it was escapist, playful, archaic, concrete and anarchic. From the mythically abstract works of Willi Baumeister and Fritz Winter, to the non-representational collages of Kurt Schwitters and Hannah Höch, to the geometric constructions of Vordemberge-Gildewart and Dresden-based Hermann Glöckner, a wide variety of abstract forms of expression emerged during the Nazi era in Germany. In addition to these well-known names, the exhibition also takes into account artistic positions that have hardly been recognised to date. Among other things, the constructive drawings of Ella Bergmann-Michel, the photographic experiments of Martha Hoepffner and the textile designs of Woty Werner will be on display.

The exhibition is curated by Maike Steinkamp, curator at the Neue Nationalgalerie, together with author Florian Illies.