Why did the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York, as well as art collectors and curators such as Katherine Dreier and Alfred Barr, collect German art in the first half of the twentieth century? And why did certain works of art belong to the canon while others did not?
In this book, Gregor Langfeld argues that National Socialism played a crucial role in the canonization of German art between 1904 and 1957. He shows that art promoters depicted artists condemned by the Nazis as standing against fascism while proclaiming art linked with them ?unworthy of the canon.” As a result, the post-1945 reputations of many artists associated with Neue Sachlichkeit, the New Objectivity movement, suffered. Ultimately, Langfeld offers important insights into the political and ideological motivations behind the New York art world’s fluctuations in opinion, fashion, and price.
Why did the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York, as well as art collectors and curators such as Katherine Dreier, Hilla Rebay, William Valentiner, and Alfred Barr collect German art in the first half of the twentieth century? And why did certain works of art and movements belong to the canon while others did not? Gregor Langfeld examines how modern German art was received, collected, and assessed. In the process he questions the political and ideological motivations. The National Socialist period gave crucial impetus to American collecting of German art. Promoters of art stylized the artists who had been condemned by the National Socialists as the opposite pole of fascism. The political attitudes of artists close to National Socialism were systematically obscured, downplayed, or reinterpreted in order to justify their art in this way. Conversely, the promoters of such art tabooed art associated with National Socialism that was thus considered "unworthy of the canon." As a result, after 1945 the reputation of many artists associated with Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and sculpture who had previously been more highly esteemed waned.
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