The period between the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1918 and Adolf Hitler's seizure of power in January 1933 was one of great creative ferment in Germany. Expressionism, which had dominated the German avant-garde before World War I, survived into the early 1920s, merging with various newer trends. The Dada movement, founded in 1916 by a group of expatriate artists disgusted with the war effort, brought its free-form iconoclasm to bear on the postwar German society. Identifying themselves with the proletariat and taking their cue from the recently founded Russian socialist state, artists felt a duty to offer guidance and inspiration to the masses. Many participated in the flurry of activity preceding the first general election, scheduled for January 1919, which officially established the new republic's Constituent Assembly in the city of Weimar. Three major artists' coalitions were formed during this period with the purpose of shaping future cultural policy.
Unfortunately, the faith artists had placed in the infant republic soon proved to be hopelessly idealistic, as did their goal of rousing the masses through revolutionary art. The masses did not understand avant-garde art, and those who hoped that the new regime would provide more artistic freedom than its predecessor were quickly disappointed. Dire social and economic circumstances seemed to demand a more pragmatic and realistic aesthetic, and by 1925 the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) was widely hailed as the principal mode of the decade. Though not united by a single style, German artists in the 1920s did share a willingness to confront political issues and an overriding concern with humanitarian themes. Today, when contemporary artists are again turning to overtly political subjects, a look back at Weimar Germany offers a useful object lesson about the capabilities and limitations of socially motivated art.
This exhibition features lithographs and etchings by a number of the leading artists in post-World War I Germany, including Otto Dix, George Grosz, Lea Grundig, John Heartfield, and Käthe Kollwitz, as well as a number of political posters made during the years between the wars.
Organized by Galerie St. Etienne, New York.
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Guest Curator Lecture
Jane Kallir, Co-Director, Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Wednesday, November 18, 7 p.m. in The Trout Gallery |
Images:
(Above): Käthe Kollwitz, The Agitator, 1926, Lithograph on white wove paper
(Below): Keil Gü, Mothers, Have You Borne Your Children for This?, Color lithograph on thin wove paper
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Gallery closed November 25 - 30 and December 21 - January 4
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A Revolutionary Image
Thomas Sully's Portrait of Benjamin Rush
October 9, 2009 - February 20, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, October 9, 5 - 7 p.m. |
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This exhibition celebrates The Trout Gallery's recent acquisition of Thomas Sully's brilliant portrait of the co-founder of Dickinson College. Painted for Benjamin Rush during the final years of his life, the canvas represents the Revolutionary figure seated before a study, amid books, documents, and a distant view of the Pennsylvania Hospital where he served on the medical staff from 1783 until the time of
his death in 1813. The portrait is one of Sully's finest works and reveals the artist's fluid brushwork and command of the leading trends in European portraiture. The work boasts an incomparable
provenance, having passed from the hands of the artist to Benjamin Rush and remaining in the Rush family until its acquisition this year by The Trout Gallery. The portrait is the centerpiece of an exhibition that features artifacts associated with Benjamin Rush and the founding of Dickinson College.
Curatorial assistance by Emma Bennett '10
Thomas Sully, Benjamin Rush, c. 1813, oil on canvas. 2009.8
Acquired through gifts from Lockwood and Jacklyn Rush, the Ruth Trout Endowment, the Helen E. Trout Memorial Fund, and the Friends of The Trout Gallery.
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