The Sprengel Museum in Hannover is hosting since the 20th of June 2007 a new exhibition, dedicated to the so-called "degenerate art campaign" organised by the Nazis in 1937, at a time when Hitler's regime was at the top of it's power. Trying to control and regulate the German art world, the Nazis banned many artists, "guilty" for being of Jewish origin, contestants of Hitler or simply if their style and themes didn't follow the official rules. The works incriminated were taken out of German museums and presented later in exhibitions dedicated to the "degenerate art", as it was called, to show the germans the "obscenity and lack of talent" of the artists.
To mark the 70th anniversary of those surrealistic campaigns, in the summer of 1937, the museum is once again bringing to life some of the works then considered to be "degenerate", which have luckily survived time. The show features the works of 19 artists, that represent an important part of the avant-garde at that time. The artworks featured in the exhibition, both paintings and sculptures, are signed by artists such as El Lissitzky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Otto Muller and others.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Kranker in der Nacht; Der Kranke, 1920
Photo : sprengel-museum.de
2007-08-23
