Entartete Kunst
Art Appreciation 1301
December 3, 2012
Entartete Kunst
A government or governing body controlling the public through the control and confiscation of art, music, literature and media is not a new phenomenon. In every culture, censorship is present in some form or fashion. It could be true government regulation or just social prejudice. The Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler used the laws of his regime to control the art world at that time. One of the most documented round up of art occurred during World War II. The Nazi Party not only seized people considered undesirable, they also seized degenerate art. Entartete Kunst or Degenerate art is “a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were subject to sanctions.”(“Degenerate Art”) The art teacher was relieved from their positions at universities. Some artists were forbidden sell their art or even exhibit it in public. The worst punishment for the artist was being forbidden to even produce the art they loved. (“Degenerate Art”) The Modernism culture was seen as disgusting by the Nazis. “Their response stemmed partly from a conservative aesthetic taste.”(“Degenerate Art”) They preferred the classical Greek and Roman art for it “embodied an inner racial ideal.”(“Degenerate Art”) This type of art was “uncontaminated by Jewish influences.”(“Degenerate Art”) “Modern art was [seen as] an act of aesthetic violence by the Jews against the German Spirit.”(“Degenerate Art”) The “Jewish nature of all art that was indecipherable, distorted, or that represented “depraved” subject matter was explained through the concept of degeneracy.”(“Degenerate Art”) Hitler not only drew most of his ideas from the writing of Paul Schultze-Naumburg’s writings (“Degenerate Art”), but he also used his emotional pain from rejection from admission to the Vienna Academy of
December 3, 2012
Entartete Kunst
A government or governing body controlling the public through the control and confiscation of art, music, literature and media is not a new phenomenon. In every culture, censorship is present in some form or fashion. It could be true government regulation or just social prejudice. The Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler used the laws of his regime to control the art world at that time. One of the most documented round up of art occurred during World War II. The Nazi Party not only seized people considered undesirable, they also seized degenerate art. Entartete Kunst or Degenerate art is “a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were subject to sanctions.”(“Degenerate Art”) The art teacher was relieved from their positions at universities. Some artists were forbidden sell their art or even exhibit it in public. The worst punishment for the artist was being forbidden to even produce the art they loved. (“Degenerate Art”) The Modernism culture was seen as disgusting by the Nazis. “Their response stemmed partly from a conservative aesthetic taste.”(“Degenerate Art”) They preferred the classical Greek and Roman art for it “embodied an inner racial ideal.”(“Degenerate Art”) This type of art was “uncontaminated by Jewish influences.”(“Degenerate Art”) “Modern art was [seen as] an act of aesthetic violence by the Jews against the German Spirit.”(“Degenerate Art”) The “Jewish nature of all art that was indecipherable, distorted, or that represented “depraved” subject matter was explained through the concept of degeneracy.”(“Degenerate Art”) Hitler not only drew most of his ideas from the writing of Paul Schultze-Naumburg’s writings (“Degenerate Art”), but he also used his emotional pain from rejection from admission to the Vienna Academy of