_1912_No_known_copyright_restrictions_17-20_(3).jpg) Cover of the exhibition program: Degenerate Art Exhibition, 1937. The word "Kunst," meaning art, is in scare quotes; the artwork is Otto Freundlich's sculpture Der Neue Mensch. | |
| Date | 19 July – 30 November 1937 (5 months) |
|---|---|
| Location | Institute of Archaeology in the Hofgarten |
| Theme | Propaganda |
| Motive | To scapegoat the avant-garde and exalt classical and neoclassical art, which lionized Nazism |
| Target | Jewish artists, Modernism and 650 pieces of art confiscated from German museums |
| Organized by | Adolf Ziegler and the Nazi Party |
The Degenerate Art exhibition (German: Die Ausstellung "Entartete Kunst") was an art exhibition organized by Adolf Ziegler and the Nazi Party in Munich from 19 July to 30 November 1937. The exhibition presented 650 works of art, confiscated from German museums, and was staged in counterpoint to the concurrent Great German Art Exhibition.[1] The day before the exhibition started, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech declaring "merciless war" on cultural disintegration, attacking "chatterboxes, dilettantes and art swindlers".[1] Degenerate art was defined as works that "insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill".[1] One million people attended the exhibition in its first six weeks.[1] A U.S. critic commented that "[t]here are probably plenty of people—art lovers—in Boston, who will side with Hitler in this particular purge".[1] This view was controversial, however, given the greater political context of the exhibition.
- ^ a b c d e Spotts, Frederic (2002). Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics. The Overlook Press. pp. 151–68. ISBN 1-58567-507-5.