Art and Controversy - Essay Example

Art and Controversy 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition; 1937 Great German Art Exhibition Two of the 20th centuries most controversial art exhibitions were the concomitantly presented Degenerate Art Exhibition and the Great German Art Exhibition. These 1937 art exhibitions were presented by Nazi Germany to spread the message of the National Socialist movement. The Degenerate Art Exhibition contained Modern works of art accompanied by passages of text that derided them for their perceived degenerate value.

Among the notable artists whose works were featured at the Degenerate Art Exhibition were Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, as well as less well-known artists as Max Beckmanm and Ludwig Kirchner. The slogans posted within the exhibition derided the work as being anti-religious and attempted to delegitimize the work as popularized by a Jewish-Bolshevist conspiracy. It’s clear the controversy related to this exhibition is related to state sponsored means of deriding the work through what can be seen today as propagandistic means.

The controversy was also related to not only a single work, but the entire exhibition. While my own values reject the anti-Semitic overtone of the exhibition, I recognize that the nature of government censorship or criticism of art is not a matter unique to Nazi Germany. Rather, censorship of artwork along political lines can be argued to occur even in contemporary American society. In considering what this exhibition tells us about how art is perceived, it’s notable that the government read such political undertones into these works of art and considered them revolutionary enough to organize an exhibition against them.

In these regards, the exhibition places great emphasis on the power of art. Conversely, the Great German Art Exhibition presented works of art that were considered to exemplify the ideals of the Third Reich. Artists such as Arno Breker were glorified for their proximity to the Nazi values. In terms of controversy one can argue that this is caused by the controversial nature of the government, as well as their outward embracement of certain types of art over others. Similar to the Degenerate Art Exhibition, my values reject the Nazi ideals but recognize that the United States government has embraced propagandistic art to achieve political measures.

In these regards, one can consider the famous picture of the men raising the flag on Iwo Jima that was implemented to promote the American military. To some extent then I believe the government should stay out of making qualitative assumptions on art, as this is an infringement of freedom of speech and a means of political censorship. For me, perhaps the most notable elements of these exhibitions are related to what it tells us about how art is perceived. While it would seem heretical to claim that Picasso’s work is without artistic merit, these exhibitions called into question the value of art and subjective nature of its value.

In these regards, it seems that Nazi Germany recognized this subjectivity and attempted to redirect public perception to appreciate art that was more beneficial to its political aims. One wonders if this is at the root of many qualitative evaluations of art. Images http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133c/133cproj/04proj/GinderNaziArt047.htm#gdk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art#The_Entartete_Kunst_exhibit http://der-stuermer.org/kunst/kunst.html