Degenerative Art

During the Second World War, Hitler and the Nazi government declared a war against anything modern and that wasn't considered a part of his new perfect race and culture, for example he attacked literature by some of the greatest modern thinkers such as Marx, and labelled everything that he didn't consider a part of his new race and culture - this included various works of art and the Bauhaus School which was closed down and was never to reopen until its move to Weimer.

Degenerative art was anything that wasn't almost realistic and picturesque was considered different, degenerative and delinquent - the work the artists from the Bauhaus e.g. Wassily Kandizy would have been considered degenerative and banned.

Expressionism was a big part of Degenerative art and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was the leader of the first Expressionist movement - if 'normal' painting was painting the outside of a person, degenerative art and expressionism was painting the bones, muscles and sinew of a person. Degenerative and Expressionism as a way of looking at the psychological aspects of a person and painting it as you feel/how you feel about something and not really trying to capture a complete physical likeness of an object in front of you.

Hitler declared war on all things degenerative and then set up an exhibition in Munich 1937, which 3 million people attended, of the dangerous degenerative art so that people could come in an mock the work being seen, there was work from the Dada movement as well as the new expressionism. The degenerative work and the whole exhibition was unlike any other, the walls were crammed with works and were hung differently unlike a regularly gallery - mocking the work with poor presentation and written attacks on the work on the walls.

Most artists had fled Germany and began banding together in other cities to create new movements, for example Dadaism in Cabaret Voltaire Zurich, some stayed and taught traditional painting at art schools, Emil Nolde was a highly respected artists that actually supported the Nazi party and joined them but was still condemned as a Degenerate - he continued to paint but called his work the "Unnamed Pictures." Some artists even went to war and came back with even more Expressionist style after their experience in the war - some artists were never to recover psychologically and sadly committed suicide.  

Artist

Otto Dix

Frans Marc

Paul Klee

My Feelings On Degenerative Art

First of all - Hitler was a sore loser, just because you didn't get excepted into art school doesn't mean you should have to attack the entire Germanic art world! Jesus wet! Also I hate the fact that he thought he could take the progress that creative and progressive thinkers and destroy it and turn back time to so he could have control over the populace of Germany and keep them brainwashed - which he did for a while, but we know that suffocating a populace of progress and expressions eventually bite back.