HAVC 135B : German Art 1905-1945

Unit One: "German" Art or Art of the World?

In this unit, we will examine the art, culture, and aesthetic philosophy of Germany's 19th century.

Guiding QuestionsComments on Guiding Questions are due Saturday before Assignment #1 is due at 5PM. Make your comments at the bottom of THIS page. (Click here for more instructions.)

Assignment Information
20% of final grade; due on the first day of Unit Two at the beginning of class

Unit Schedule


 

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  1. Germany was struggling with finding its own cultural identity and traditions during the 19th century. Occupied by France, a channel was needed where Germans felt as though their cultural history and background could stand along with the traditions of the other, some might say stronger, nations that surrounded them. This channel became art and art practices. German art was used to show not only the world but the citizens of Germany themselves that this nation too had a rich cultural history of fine art. Romantic nationalism was depicted in art pieces, portraying landscapes and figures in uniquely German ways. Art and culture was used to show the citizens of the country that they too were from a great nation with a historical legacy, bringing a huge sense of pride into the nation. Furthermore, art was used to show the German discontent with their occupation by France. It was used as a channel to express the pride in the country and its cultural history that was trying to be covered.

    - Summer 2016
  2. Race, class, and social issues influenced both traditional and non-traditional artworks in a time when critics like Pecht, wanted to see art that actually reflected contemporary life with accuracy, unlike academic art, that failed to show contemporary realities. Therefore, artists such as Max Liebermann, Theodor Esser, and Adolph Menzel, who brought about the use of light-color paintings, began to produce artworks that focused on the lower class and their working conditions. Since these non-traditional artworks depicted the harsh working conditions of the labor workers, middle class and upper class people were repulsed with the art that depicted the German people as unclean. The upper class feared that this Socialist movement was affecting German art and also their reputation through these depictions of contemporary realities. In regards to race, non-traditional works such as Liebermann's painting of Twelve Year Old Jesus in the Temple received harsh criticism because it depicted a Jewish scene. Those that were against this painting argued that it portrays an inaccurate depiction of Jews since this painting did not portray the stereotypes of Jewish people that German people were so accustomed to seeing.

    - Summer 2016
  3. Modernization and economic development in the late 19th century lead to many social inequalities. This new culture of industrialization was marked by advanced technologies, a massive population boom, and elevated social tensions. Artists began to reflect the unadorned “everyday” life and subjects, without a false romantic or heroic depiction like most academic art enforced. They particularly began representing the life of the urban working class, painting their working conditions as a way critique the changes and effects of a new modern nation. These paintings often created uneasiness for the upper and middle class, believing it reflected an uncleanliness and unruliness, made even stronger because it was accompanied by an anxiety of increasing socialism. Pecht reflects a conflict true for many, he believed true national art would depict contemporary life yet critiqued these very styles and subject matter because of the dirty urban bodies and their masses of people. Yet these urban masses reflected the true contemporary life during the time.

    - Summer 2016
  4. Germany had never truly been unified until 1870 and Germans were searching desperately for a cultural identity to call their own. They wanted to separate themselves from the rest of Europe especially the French who had ruled them for over a half a century. German philosophers looked to their landscape while the people looked to their past. The visual philosophy of Romanticism was taken up to be distinctly German, and it began to reflect in their paintings. Paintings captured the natural environment by painting broad grandiose panoramas with solitary men facing away from the audience. This philosophy of being able to experience God in nature worked really well with the protestant populations of Germany. Because of their lack of a centralized German culture scholars searched for something that could be authentically German. For example, the old Grimm Fairy Tales became a national text akin to great epics, and modernization encouraged more and more people to become literate.
    - Summer 2016