detail from an installation
Detail of in situ photographic reconstruction of Kurt Schwitters' Merzbarn (1946-1948), Cylinders Estate, near Ambleside, Lake District (Original in Hatton Gallery, Newcastle)

Dr Shulamith Behr and Dr John-Paul Stonard

course description

 

This course investigates the political and legislative impact of the Third Reich on modern artistic subjectivity, from the 1930s until the 1950s. In 1946, the writer Frank Thiess ignited a major controversy when he claimed that he and his fellow ‘Inner Emigrants’ were morally superior to those (namely Thomas Mann) who went into ‘outer’ emigration (äußere Emigration).

 

Raising considerations of artistic quality, ethics and narratives of history, this special option explores the heated debates surrounding the two models of emigration through an analysis of problematic individual cases of artists and art historians. On the one hand, it examines those who remained in Germany (such as Otto Dix or Hannah Höch) and who, under persistent surveillance from a dictatorship, were caught between conscience and compromise. On the other, it follows the fates of those who were forced to leave. Taking Britain as a case study of their destination, the course will examine exilic artistic identity within the discourses of collective endeavours (refugee cultural organizations, dealership and exhibitions), mid-war political constraints (the Internment of Aliens) and Holocaust knowledge. A crucial component in the reconstruction of post-war German cultural life was the return of exiles to a nation occupied by Allied and Soviet forces and in the process of denazification. Tinged by a distinctly West (e.g. Ludwig Meidner) or East German (e.g. Lea Grundig or Theo Balden) reception, the field of remigration – largely the pursuit of other disciplines - offers great potential for art historical enquiry. 

 

In the autumn term, alongside attending sessions of the Modern and Contemporary Section introductory programme, students will pursue a course devoted to problems and issues in twentieth-century German art prior to 1937. The latter – nationalism and internationalism, high art/mass and popular culture, official culture and structures of the avant-garde - will be considered under the broad title: ‘From Unification to Third Reich: Case Studies in German Art’ and will involve weekly lectures, seminars, readings and/or workshops. The Special Option will commence in the last two weeks of the autumn term and, apart from attending seminars and giving presentations, students will be introduced to local émigré collections and archives, both private and public, and advised of those abroad.


language and other requirements


Standard entry requirements. A reading knowledge of German is beneficial.