DEGENERATE! Hitler’s War on Modern Art explores how modern art was used as a tool to sway public opinion by the Nazi party. Running through April 20, the part-history, part-art show exhibition features famous works labeled as “degenerate” by the regime.
This exhibition includes six sections, which explore the time between the end of World War I and the Nazi’s rise to power. It explores a time when Germany’s Weimar Republic experienced a complex period marked by social, economic, and political disorder—and thriving cultural and artistic exploration. The Nazis rejected the modern, expressionist artwork surfacing during this period, confiscated the work (which he labeled “degenerate”), and manipulated the works to indoctrinate public opinion.
Visitors to this exhibition will interact with these famous works of modern art and be encouraged to consider the relationship between art, culture, and society.
Section #1: Styles and Techniques
Works feature multiple perspectives, non-realistic use of color, abstract compositions, nuanced meaning, technological innovations, and unidealized figurative depictions.
Section #2: Class Divisions, Weakness, and Protest of Military Authority
This section features diverse figurative depictions of workers and individuals experiencing social, emotional, and/or economic challenges or differences. It also includes depictions of WWI veterans with physical injuries and those affected by trauma.
Section #3: Urban and Rural Landscapes
Cityscapes, busy streets, and lively bars packed with mixed-class crowds are depicted in this section alongside compositions with transparent layers and sketched or unfinished elements. These are presented with works of abstractly rendered structures, unnatural elements, and unconventional uses of color.
Section #4: Offensive Depictions of Women
This part of the exhibition includes images of older women, showcasing signs of aging, worn facial expressions or body language, and non-Aryan features. Other works show images of sex workers, dancers, or depictions of women in various stages of undress.
Section #5: In Hitler’s Crosshairs
Pieces by Ludwig Meidner and Marc Chagall are in this section—two of the six Jewish artists shamed in the Entartete Kunst exhibition. Works vary in technique from woodcuts to watercolors and explore themes like primitivism, psychological trauma, and boredom.
Section #6: Responses
This section is unique to the Maltz Museum’s installation of DEGENERATE!, and showcases works by Hungarian artist, Jolan Gross-Bettelheim, who lived in Cleveland from 1925 to 1956. She had a successful career in the U.S. as a printmaker, producing works rich in social and political commentary.
Buy general admission tickets here.
The Maltz Museum is located at 2929 Richmond Road in Beachwood.
Image provided by Maltz Museum: The Standard Bearer, German propaganda art depicting Adolf Hitler in Medieval armor, by Hubert Lanzinger.
