sayre2e ch37 integrated_lecture_pp_ts-150678

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Nazi rally, Berlin, 1936. 1936.

The Glitter and Angst of Berlin

What was Berlin like in the 1920s?

• Kafka’s Nightmare Worlds — Kafka was a tortured soul, and the characters in his works of fiction typically find themselves caught in inexplicable circumstances that bear all the markings of their own neuroses. Berliners identified with these characters immediately.

• Brecht and the Berlin Stage — The leadership of Friedrich Ebert inspired Brecht to turn to Marxism. The Threepenny Opera was a work of musical theater focusing on the working class of Victorian London. This work is a social critique of capitalism and embodies a revolutionary approach to theater based on alienation.

• Kollwitz and the Expressionist Print — One of the most powerful voices of protest in Berlin during the 1920s was the artist Kathe Kollwitz. Her work before the war consisted of highly naturalist portrayals of the German poor. Her art permanently changed after the death of her son and she turned to the Expressionist media of woodblock and lithograph.

• Discussion Question: Describe Kafka’s imaginative world as evidenced by the selection from his Metamorphosis.


Map: Weimar Germany, 1919-33.


Georg Grosz. Stuetzen der Gesellschaft (The Pillars of Society). 1926.78-3/4" × 42-1/2’.

Active Listening Guide: Brecht - Weill: "Mack the Knife" from The Threepenny Opera

MyArtsLabChapter 37 – Fascism and Depression, Holocaust and Bomb

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Käthe Kollwitz. Never Again War. 1924.37" × 27-1/2”.

The Rise of Fascism

What is fascism?

• Hitler in Germany — While in jail, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf where he argued for the superiority of the German race. He felt that the forces of modernity, specifically under the leadership of Jewish intellectuals, were determined to exterminate the Aryan race. Hitler’s rise to power led to the closing of the Bauhus art school created by the architect Gropius. The school advocated the International Style of architecture and their “decadently modern” building. Virtually all avant-garde artists in Germany were removed from teaching positions and their works confiscated. Hitler organized an exhibition of Degenerate Art and used radio and film as important propaganda tools.

• Stalin in Russia — The rivalry between Trotsky and Stalin took the form of a debate over the speed of industrialization of the Russian economy. Stalin collectivized agriculture, consolidating individual land holdings

• Stalin in Russia (Continued) — into cooperative farms under the control of the government. Stalin’s economic plans were supported by a series of propaganda posters by Gustav Klucis and others. The Soviet authorities brought all musical activities under their control by decree in 1932.

• Mussolini in Italy — Mussolini exploited the climate of fear created by the Communist Party in Russia. Of all the Fascist leaders of Europe, Mussolini was the most supportive of modernist architecture.

• Franco in Spain — General Francisco Franco led his army into Spain from Morocco in a coup d’etat against the Popular Front government which led to civil war. Germany and Italy supported Franco’s right-wing Nationals, while the Soviet Union and Mexico supported the leftist Republicans.

• Discussion Question: What factors contributed to the rise of Fascism?


John Heartfield. Der Sinn des Hitlergrusses: Kleiner Mann bittet um große Gaben. Motto: Millonen Stehen Hinter Mir! (The Meaning of the Hitler

Salute: Little Man Asks for Big Gifts. Motto: Millions Stand Behind Me!). 1932.

Architectural Panorama: Villa Savoye (first floor)

Architectural Panorama: Villa Savoye (second floor)

Architectural Panorama: Villa Savoye (third floor [roof])

External Video: La Villa Savoye



Piet Mondrian. Composition with Blue, Yellow, Red and Black. 1922.16-1/2" × 19-1/4”.


Gerrit Rietveld. Schroeder House, Utrecht, The Netherlands: Exterior. 1924.


Gerrit Rietveld. 1924.


Le Corbusier. Domino House. 1914.


Le Corbusier. Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France. 1928-30.


Walter Gropius. Bauhaus Building, Dessau, Germany. 1925-26.


Leni Riefenstahl. Scene from Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia. 1936.

Active Listening Guide: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, IV



Gustav Klucis. The Development of Transportation, The Five-Year Plan. 1929.

28-7/8" × 19-7/8”.


Marcello Piacentini. Palazzo degli Uffici. Expositione Universale Europa (EUR). 1937-39.


Map: The Spanish Civil War on March 30, 1937.

Revolution in Mexico

What is the Mexican mural movement?

• The Mexican Mural Movement — The Mexican Revolution, fueled by guerrilla groups led by Zapata and Pancho Villa, fueled a wave of intense nationalism to which artists responded. A new school of muralists, led by Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco, arose to decorate the building schemes initiated by the government. Rivera transformed his style by using a much more realist and accessible imagery focused on Mexican political and social life.

• The Private World of Frida Kahlo — Although Kahlo was political, her paintings document her personal tragedy. Kahlo’s paintings—mostly self-portraits—bear witness to the trials of her health and marriage to Diego Rivera.


Diego Rivera. Sugar Cane. One of eight portable murals made for a special exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1931. 1931.

57-1/8" × 94-1/8”.

Video: Diego Rivera’s Frescoes



Diego Rivera. Man, Controller of the Universe. 1934.Main panel: 15’ 11" × 37’ 6”.


Pablo Picasso. Closer Look: Picasso's Guernica. 1937.11’ 5-1/2" × 25’ 5-1/4”.


Closer Look: Picasso's Guernica. Ruins of Guernica, Spain, April 1937. 1937, April.


Frida Kahlo. The Broken Column. 1944.15-11/16" × 12”.

The Great Depression in AmericaWhat was the WPA?

• The Road to Recovery: The New Deal — Upon his election in 1932, Roosevelt quickly implemented a host of measures that came to be known as the New Deal. He created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Recovery Act, the Social Security Act, the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation, the Civil Works Administration, and the Work Projects Administration. The WPA instituted a mural project led by Thomas Hart Benton. This group also created special programs focused on three centuries of African-American cultural accomplishments. The WPA’s Federal Music Project addressed the unemployment of musicians. Aaron Copland was one of the beneficiaries. Distinctly American themes emerged in film and literature such as The Plow That Broke the Plains and Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. One of the important cultural contributions of the new Deal was the photographic documentation of the plight of poor famers and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. The Farm Security Administration instituted a photographic project using the talents of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. Margaret Bourke-white documented the living conditions of poor tenant famers.

• Discussion Question: What is the impact of the Great Depression and the New Deal on the arts in America?


Thomas Hart Benton. Missouri Mural, Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri. Detail. 1936.


Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California. 1936.37-1/8" × 40-5/8”.


Walker Evans. Washroom and Dining Area of Floyd Burroughs’s Home, Hale County, Alabama. 1936.


Margaret Bourke-White. At the Time of the Louisville Flood. For Life magazine. 1937.9-3/4" × 13-1/2”.

Cinema: The Talkies and Color

How did sound and color change the motion-picture industry?

• Sound and Language — The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, was the first feature-length motion mixture to utilize sound. The Blue Angel was an early experiment with sound in a two-language production.

• Disney’s Color Animation — Disney’s animation gave rise to the art of postsynchronization, in which sound is added as a separate step after the creation of the visual film. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the studio’s first feature-length Technicolor animation film.

• 1939: The Great Year — More film classics than at any time before or since were created in 1939: Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Drums Along the Mohawk, Wuthering Heights, Of Mice and Men, Gone with the Wind, and The Wizard of Oz. Many believe that The Rules of the Game, made in France and directed by Jean Renoir, is the greatest film of 1939.

• Orson Welles and Citizen Kane — Directed by Orson Welles, one of the most cinematographically inventive films of the postwar era was Citizen Kane. Working as writer, director, producer, and actor simultaneously, Welles produced a film unprecedented in its fresh look.


Opening night crowd gathering to see Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer, Warner’s Theatre, Times Square, New York, October 6, 1927. 1927,

October 6.


Josef von Sternberg. Marlene Dietrich in Der blaue Engel/The Blue Angel. 1930.


Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM). Judy Garland, as Dorothy, sees the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz. 1939.


David O. Selznick and William Cameron Menzies. The burning of Atlanta scene from Gone with the Wind. 1939.


William Cameron Menzies. The burning of Atlanta scene from Gone with the Wind: Storyboard. 1939.


Orson Welles. Orson Welles as Kane campaigning for governor in Citizen Kane. 1941.

World War II

What was the Holocaust?

• The Holocaust — Hitler instigated a plan to rid Europe of what he considered its undesirable populations, particularly Jews. To this end, he constructed a series of concentration and extermination camps, most notably Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald.

• The War in the Pacific — The surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor led to the US declaration of war on Japan. Germany and Italy, with whom Japan had joined in an alliance known as the Axis, declared war on the US.

• The Allied Victory — Russian forces pushed westward driving back the Germans. Hitler was turned by the Allies at the Battle of the Bulge. The Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 leading to the surrender of Japan.

• Decolonization and Liberation — The war had drawn the military forces of the colonial powers back to Europe, and in their absence, indigenous nationalist movements arose in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Algeria became independent following violence between French and European settlers. Mohandas Gandhi began a long campaign against the British government using passive resistance.

• Bearing Witness: Reactions to the War — One of the most important memoirs to come out of the Holocaust is Night by Elie Wiesel. Resnais’ documentary, Night and Fog, poses the question of who is responsible for the Holocaust. One of the most powerful responses to the atomic bomb is a series of photographs entitled 11:02—Nagasaki by Shomei Tomatsu. In 1954 the movie monster film Godzilla was produced as a vehicle through which the Japanese could confront the unspeakable significance of the atomic bomb.

• Discussion Question: What was the impact of the Holocaust on postwar art and culture?


Map: European and Mediterranean theaters in World War II, 1939–45.


Philippe Giraud. Entrance, Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp. Photographed 2003. 2003.


Lee Miller. Buchenwald, Germany. April 30, 1945. 1945, April 30.


Map: German concentration camps in Europe. 1942–45.


Map: Asian and Pacific theaters in World War II, 1941–45.


Margaret Bourke-White. Ghandi. For Life magazine. 1946.14" × 11”.


Shomei Tomatsu. Man with Keloidal Scars. 1962. From the series 11:02—Nagasaki. 1966. 1962.

16-1/8" × 10-7/8”.


Ishiro Honda. Godzilla destroys Tokyo, in Ishiro Honda’s Gojira (Godzilla). 1954.


Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. Continuity & Change: The Bauhaus in America: Seagram Building, New York City. 1954-58.

sayre2e ch37 integrated_lecture_pp_ts-150678

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