German Post-Expressionism I:

Dada and Die Neue Sachlichkeit (The New Objectivity)

Janet Owen DriggsArt 114C-Presentation 13

World War One: 1914-1918

42 million soldiers, 52% killed or wounded. 7

million civilians killed.

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

1918: Revolution

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

1918: Revolution

1919-2010: Reparations

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

1918: Revolution

1919-2010: Reparations

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

$32 BILLION

Gold

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

1922-1923: Hyperinflation

1918: Revolution

1919-2010: Reparations

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

$32 BILLION

Gold

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

1922-1923: Hyperinflation

1918: Revolution

1919-2010: Reparations

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

$32 BILLION

Gold

GERMANY IS DEFEATED

1922-1923: Hyperinflation

1918: Revolution

1919-2010: Reparations

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

$32 BILLION

Gold

Economic collapseGERMANY IS DEFEATED

1922-1923: Hyperinflation

1918: Revolution

1919-2010: Reparations

3 Million disabled veterans return from war2010: Reparations

$32 BILLION

Gold

Social and political turmoil

GERMANY IS DEFEATED Economic collapse

Rudolf SCHLICHTER (1890–1955)Woman With Tie (1923)

Oil on canvas George GROSZ (1893–1959)

The Hero, c. 1936Lithograph

German Post-Expressionism• Grew out of WW1.• Rejected the Expressionist’s (“helpless”)

focus on personal angst and collective anxiety.

• Artists wanted to express outrage and encourage political action.

Above: John HeartfieldAdolf The Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk (1932)Left: Otto Dix: Café Couple (1921). Watercolor & ink on paper.

Die Neue Sachlichkeit

• Artists worked in a realistic style in contrast to the pre-war emphasis on Expressionism and Abstraction.

• Better translated as 'New Matter-of-factness’ or 'New Resignation.’

• Ended in 1933 with the rise of Adolf Hitler, who labeled it “degenerate.”

Otto DIX: Portrait of the JournalistSylvia von Harden (1926)

Dada

• Dada rejected reason and logic and embraced irrationality and nonsense.

“We have had enough of the intelligent movements…What we want now is

spontaneity.”

Tristan Tzara, 1925

Hugo BALL’s sound poem Karawane, 1916

Die Neue Sachlichkeit

Artists rejected the self-involvement and romantic idealism of the Expressionists.

Right: George GROSZ: Pillars of Society (1926)

"Come out of your rooms, even if you find it an effort, pull down your individual barriers, let yourselves be caught up by the ideas of working people and help them in the struggle against a corrupt society.”

Georg Grosz, 1921

George GROSZ: Pillars of Society (1926)Oil on canvas, 42.5 x 78.7 in.

George Grosz: Pillars of Society detail (1926)

Otto Dix: Metropolis (1928)

Otto DIX: Three Wenches (1926)

The New Objectivity is characterized by a naturalistic style combined with a cynical and socially critical stance.

Otto DIX: Three Wenches, detail (1926)

George GROSZ: Daum Marries her Pedantic Automaton George, John Heartfield is Very Glad of It

(1920) Watercolor, pencil, pen and collage on cardboard

Otto DIX (1891–1969)Café Couple (1921)

Watercolor and pencil on paper20 x 16.2 in.

Otto DIX:Skin Graft (1924) Etching, aquatint, and drypoint. 7.8 x 5.7 in.

Otto DIX: Skat Players (1920)Oil on canvas with photomontage and collage. 43.3 x 34.2 in

Otto DIX : The Skat Players, detail (1920)

How are these works OBJECTIVE?

They’re grotesque – aren’t the artists exaggerating for effect, just like the Expressionists?

"The Neue Sachlichkeit is Americanism, the cult of the objective, the hard fact, the predilection for functional work, professional conscientiousness, and usefulness.”

Dennis CrockettGerman Post-expressionism: The Art of the Great Disorder, 1918-1924

(1999)

1. “The Tin Noses Shop,” est. 1916, London2. Veterans march for pensions, Berlin, 19193. Man with no hands or feet working a lathe, Germany 1915

1.

2. 3.

August SANDER: Secretary at West German Radio, Cologne(1931)

“None of these men were satisfied with just an ordinary woman…they all desired this ‘New Woman’

... But they more or less brutally rejected the notion that they too had to adopt new attitudes…This ledto these truly Strinbergian dramas that typified the private lives of these men.”

—from undated notes found among Hannah Höch’s possessions.

NEXT WEEK: DADA

HOMEWORK: 1. Read Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto for Oct 232. Ongoing Museum Paper. Due Nov 6