The Twentieth Century German Art Exhibition

Answering Degenerate Art in 1930s London

Lucy Wasensteiner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351004121
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

This book represents the first study dedicated to Twentieth Century German Art, the 1938 London exhibition that was the largest international response to the cultural policies of National Socialist Germany and the infamous Munich exhibition Degenerate Art. Provenance research into the catalogued exhibits has enabled a full reconstruction of the show for the first time: its contents and form, its contributors and their motivations, and its impact both in Britain and internationally.

Presenting the research via six case-study exhibits, the book sheds new light on the exhibition and reveals it as one of the largest émigré projects of the period, which drew contributions from scores of German émigré collectors, dealers, art critics, and from the 'degenerate' artists themselves. The book explores the show's potency as an anti-Nazi statement, which prompted a direct reaction from Hitler himself.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Plates
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 The Organisation of Twentieth Century German Art
• 2 Campendonk’s ‘Jumping Beast’: Neutrality and Resistance in Swiss Museums
• 3 Schmitt-Rottluff’s ‘Fishermen’s Houses’: Art and Status in Exile
• 4 Liebermann’s ‘The Potato Gatherer’: German Modernism, German Dealers and the London Art Market
• 5 Schwitters’s ‘The Golden Ear’: ‘Degenerate’ Artists as Lenders to London
• 6 Macke’s ‘Men on a Bridge’: Loans from the Reich
• 7 Baumeister’s ‘Kneeling Group’: The British and Twentieth Century German Art
• 8 The Reception of Twentieth Century German Art in Britain and Germany
• Conclusion
• Appendix I: Index of Twentieth Century German Art Exhibits
• Appendix II: Index of Twentieth Century German Art Lenders
• Bibliography
• Index
• Plates