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Abstract Art and Left-Wing Politics in the Weimar Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Vernon L. Lidtke
Vernon L. Lidtke
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University
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Extract

In the midst of the upheaval created by military defeat, the collapse of the Hohenzollern and other German monarchies, and the threat of radical social revolution, a movement that had been taking shape for some time became a visible presence in German public life. Intellectuals, writers, visual artists, and numerous others declared that they would no longer remain aloof from the world of politics, social reform, and even revolution. On the contrary, they would seek to merge the arts and politics into a synthesis that would help to mold a new and greatly improved society. They issued manifestos and programs, founded organizations and journals, joined political parties — primarily on the left — and went to the streets, at least to observe if not also to act. The majority of the participants in this movement were, at some point in their careers, part of new artistic trends and, as such, contributors to the formation and advancement of aesthetic modernism in Germany.

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Articles
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Central European History , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 2004 , pp. 49 - 90
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Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 2004

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References

1. See Schneede, Uwe M., ed., Künstlerschriften der 20er Jahre, 3rd ed. (Cologne, 1986)Google Scholar and Schmidt, Dieter, ed., Manifeste, Manifeste, 1905–1933 (Dresden, 1983).Google Scholar

2. On the relationship of the arts and politics historically, see Egbert, Donald Drew, Social Radicalism and the Arts: Western Europe (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; Shapiro, Theda, Painters and Politics: The European Avant-Garde and Society, 1900–1925 (New York, 1976)Google Scholar; Paret, Peter, The Berlin Secession: Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany (Cambridge, Mass. 1980)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, Art as History: Episodes in the Culture and Politics of Nineteenth-Century Germany (Princeton, 1988); Sonn, Richard D., Anarchism and Cultural Politics in Fin-de-Siècle France (Lincoln, 1989)Google Scholar; and Leighten, Patricia, Re-Ordering the Universe: Picasso and Anarchism, 1879–1914 (Princeton, 1989).Google Scholar

3. For example, the Arbeitsrat für Kunst and the Genossenschaft sozialistischer Künstler in Berlin; the Dresdner Künstlerrat and the Gruppe der sozialistischen Geistesarbeiter in Dresden; the Hessischer Arbeitsrat für Kunst in Darmstadt; the Rat für künstlerische Angelegenheiten in Frankfurt am Main; the Künstlerrat in Hamburg; the Rat geistiger Arbeiter in both Hanover and Königsberg; and the Rat der bildenden Künstler and the Aktionsausschuss revolutionärer Künstler in Munich. Information on the organizations is in Guenther, Peter W., “A Survey of Artists' Groups: Their Rise, Rhetoric, and Demise,” in German Expressionism 1915–1925: The Second Generation, ed. Barron, Stephanie (Munich, 1988), 99–115.Google Scholar

4. Examples are the Novembergruppe in Berlin; the Gruppe progressiver Künstler in Cologne; Junges Rheinland in Düsseldorf; the Dresdner Sezession, Gruppe 1919 in Dresden; and the Künstlergruppe Jung-Erfurt in Erfurt.

5. See Weinstein, Joan, The End of Expressionism: Art and the November Revolution in Germany, 1918–19 (Chicago, 1990)Google Scholar; Rigby, Ida Katherine, An alle Künstler! War — Revolution — Weimar, 2nd ed. (San Diego, 1987)Google Scholar; and Willett, John, Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: The New Sobriety, 1917–1933 (New York, 1978).Google Scholar

6. Internationale Vereinigung der Expressionisten, Futuristen, Kubisten und Konstruktivisten.

7. The officers who were elected at the founding meeting (10 June 1919) and confirmed at the first general membership meeting (27 October 1919) were: William Wauer, chairman; Arnold Topp, vice-chairman; and Rudolf Blümner, secretary. Georg Muche was elected treasurer at the October meeting, when absentee ballots were cast by Schwitters, Baumann, Campendonk, Händel, Oskar Fischer, and Kurt Liebmann. Lothar Schreyer, another of Walden's close associates, accepted a position on the “Aufnahmekommission” to replace a member who had withdrawn from the associa tion. Protokoll der Generalversammlung, 27 October 1919, held in the gallery of Der Sturm, Potsdamerstrasse 134a. Rep. 42, Acc. 1743/8986, Landesarchiv Berlin. Henceforth cited as LAB. Also, Frank, Tanja, “Oskar Nerlinger,” 2 vols., vol. 1: “Leben und Werk,” vol. 2: “Selbstzeugnisse” (Diss. [B], Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 1990), 1: 21–22.Google Scholar

8. The less talented group was the Bund für Schulkunstausstellungen.

9. Protokoll der ordentlichen Generalversammlung der Internationalen Vereinigung der Expressionisten, Futuristen und Kubisten, e. V. 9 May 1922. Rep. 42, Acc. 1843, no. 8986, LAB.

10. Ibid. The following officers were elected at the meeting on 9 May 1922: Walter Krug, chair man; Lothar Schreyer, vice-chairman; Arnold Topp, secretary; and Moholy-Nagy, treasurer. The minutes of the meeting, along with the revised statutes and a list of the officers were sent to the Gerichtsschreiberei des Amtsgerichtes Berlin-Mitte on 10 May 1922. Rep. 42. Acc. 1843, no. 8986, LAB.

11. Schröder-Kehler, Heidrun, “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus: Oskar Nerlinger und die Berliner Gruppe ‘Die Abstrakten’ (1919 bis 1933)” (Ph. D. diss., Universität Heidelberg, 1984), 152Google Scholar. Announcement of the Sturm's 114th exhibition, December 1922. Oskar Nerlinger Archiv, Akademie der Künste, Stiftung Archiv (Berlin). Henceforth cited as AdKSA.

12. Krejsa, Michael, “Text-Bild-Chronologie Oskar Nerlinger und Alice Lex-Nerlinger,” in Oskar Nerlinger 1893–1969, ed. Pforzheim, Kulturamt der Stadt (Pforzheim, 1993), 227–28Google Scholar. I use only one name for Alice Nerlinger, although at times she used several formulations: Alice Nerlinger-Pfeffer, frequently Alice Lex-Nerlinger, or occasionally simply Alice Lex. I also adopt the modern form of Oskar, not Oscar, which he used.

13. Grosz, Höch, and Hubbuch were not part of the circle around the Sturm, but on one occasion in the later nineteen-twenties Grosz exhibited with the Abstrakten and he mentioned Oskar Nerlinger in passing in a few letters of 1918. Grosz, George, Briefe 1913–1959, ed. Knust, Herbert (Hamburg, 1979).Google Scholar

14. It was number 103 in the ongoing series of exhibitions in the gallery of the Sturm. See Brühl, Georg, Herwarth Walden und “Der Sturm” (Cologne, 1983), 223.Google Scholar

15. Strecker, Jacqueline, “Modernist avant-gardes in Berlin 1918–1924,” in Erich Buchholz: the restless avantgardist, ed. Gallery, Queensland Art (South Brisbane, 2000), 17–18Google Scholar; Buchholz, Mo, “Memories of Germendorf,” in erich buchholz, ed., Buchholz, Mo and Roters, Eberhard (Berlin, 1993), 9–16Google Scholar. It is noteworthy that still in 1923 Buchholz participated — with Willy Baumeister, Max Burchartz, Oskar Fischer, László Péri, Karl Peter Röhl, Arthur Segal, and Walter Dexel — in an exhibition of the Jena Kunstverein entitled “Ausstellung neuer Künstler — Konstruktivisten.” It is not entirely clear when he first rejected the label for his work. Gassen, Richard W. and von Mengden, Lida, eds., Erich Buchholz: Graphik, Malerei, Relief, Architektur, Typographie (Cologne, 1998), 115–16.Google Scholar

16. Buchholz, Erich, “Begegnung mit osteuropäischen Künstlern,” in Avant-garde Osteuropa 1910–1930 (Berlin, 1967), 26–27.Google Scholar

17. Roters, Eberhard, “Erich Buchholz,” in erial buchholz, ed. Buchholz, and Roters, 18–22, 24, 27.Google Scholar

18. Buchholz, Erich, “Vorwort,” in Ausstellung Erich Buchholz (Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1971)Google Scholar; Kirker, Anne, “Erich Buchholz: The Restless Avantgardist,” in Erich Buchholz: the restless avantgardist, 8–9.Google Scholar

19. Schulz, Hans-Peter, Paul Fuhrmann (Leipzig, 1978), 6–7Google Scholar. As an art historian in the former German Democratic Republic, Schulz may have been inclined to overemphasize Fuhrmann's radicalism in the years immediately following the first World War. Unfortunately, there is little or no scholarly research on most of the members of the International Union and its successor, Die Abstrakten. The exceptions are Oskar Nerlinger (with some attention to Alice Lex-Nerlinger), William Wauer, and Erich Buchholz.

20. Of visual artists, Georg Grosz john Heartfield, and Rudolf Schlichter joined the Communist Party as soon as it was founded, but none of these participated in Sturm exhibitions or joined the International Union. Conrad Felixmüller, who joined the Communist Party for a few months in 1919 (possibly into 1920), exhibited with the Sturm in 1915 and 1916, when he was still in his late teens, but not after that.

21. See Brühl, , Herwarth Walden und “Der Sturm,” 66–73Google Scholar. Walden's deepened commitment to Communism was a major factor that led his wife to seek a divorce. Walden, Nell, “Aus meinen Erinnerungen an Herwarth Walden und die ‘Sturmzeit’,” in Der Sturm: Ein Erinnerungsbuch an Herwarth Walden und die Künstler aus dem Sturmkreis, ed. Walden, Nell and Schreyer, Lothar (Baden-Baden, 1954), 59–63.Google Scholar

22. The following Kommissionen were established to fulfill the objectives of the society: Ausstellungskommission (Schreyer); Kunstkommission bei der Polizei (Nebel, Wauer, Krug, and Albrecht); Pressekommission (Eckerts, Ring, and Scheiber); Künstlerkammer (Schreyer, Wauer, and Walden); Organisationsverhandlungen-Kommission (Nebel, Schreyer, Walden); Pädagogik- Kommission (Händel, Schreyer, Wauer); Finanzkommission (Fritz Wolff, Frau Händel-Marben, Scheiber, Albrecht, Grämlich); and a Studienkommission (Walter Krug, Grämlich, Lange-Broch). “Protokoll der Generalversammlung der Internationalen Vereinigung der Expressionisten, Kubisten und Futuristen,” 1 May 1925. Rep. 42, Acc. 1843, no. 8986, LAB.

23. Ibid.

24. Minutes for the meeting of 17 January 1926, and the Statut der internationalen Vereinigung der Expressionisten, Futuristen, Kubisten und Konstruktivisten e. V. Rep. 42, Acc. 1843, no. 8986, LAB. According to the minutes, the following were present: Else Wolff, Fritz Wolff, Ursula Scherz, Oskar Nerlinger, Thomas Ring, C. Heinz Kroll, Aurel Bernath, Paul Fuhrmann, Walter Krug, Walter Eckertz, Kurt Heinar, Paul Busch, Rudolf Bauer, Rudolf Blümner, Carl Piepho, Fritz Görz, Herwarth Walden, William Wauer, and Roseberry d'Arguto. New members accepted at the meeting, though not all were present, were: Görz, Heinar, Piepho, Scherz, Hildegard von Schoele, Wiederhold, Johannes itten, Bela Kada. The assembled members also elected the following as honorary members: Albert Gleizes, Paris; Ferdinand Léger, Paris; Wassily Kandinsky, Dessau; Marinetti, Rome.

25. Führer durch die Ausstellung der Abstrakten (Berlin, 1926), which included an essay on “Das Wissen um Expressionismus” (3–28) by William Wauer, at that time chairman of the organization, and personal statements on art by twenty-one of the participants (36–42).

26. These included Ernst Albrecht, Willy Baumeister, Erich Buchholz, Paul Fuhrmann, Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Georg Muche. Oskar Nerlinger, Kurt Schwitters, Nell Walden, William Wauer, Fritz Wolff, and Else Wolff. Ibid., 29–35.

27. Frank, , “Oskar Nerlinger,” 1: 22aGoogle Scholar; Schröder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 150–51.Google Scholar

28. Valstar, Arta, “‘die abstrakten hannover’ — Abstraktion als Weltgestaltung,” in die abstrakten Hannover — Internationale Avant-garde 1927–1935, ed. Hannover, Sprengel Museum (Hanover, 1987), 28–58.Google Scholar

29. Their participation in the Kartell is documented in the minutes of the membership meetings of the Abstrakten between 1928 and the end of 1932. The minutes are in Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, Deutsches historisches Museum (DHM), Berlin.

30. However, three artists alone accounted for 140 of the 188 works: Erich Buchholz entered 60, Kurt Schwitters (guest from the Hanover group) 44, and Thomas Ring 36. See the exhibition catalogue, Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1928 (Berlin, 1928). The entries of the Abstrakten constituted less than 10 percent of the total of 2,280 numbered works, in addition to which there was a section devoted to architecture. Cf. P. F. S. [Paul Ferdinand Schmidt], “Die Eröffnung der ‘Grossen Berliner’,” Vorwärts, 9 05 1928, Abendausgabe.Google Scholar

31. It is noteworthy that the Abstrakten carried on the affairs of their organization with busi nesslike efficiency, overlooking no detail, insuring that someone answered all correspondence and that all regulations with respect to reporting to the authorities were followed to the letter. Someone took the minutes for each meeting. Between 1929 and the end of 1932 Paul Fuhrmann normally kept the minutes, and in this matter the group was scrupulous. After each meeting several members read the minutes and signed for their authenticity. At the following meeting, the minutes of the session were again read and approved.

32. Schröder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 146–47.Google Scholar

33. Winkler, Heinrich August, Weimar 1918–1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Republik (Munich, 1993), 350.Google Scholar

34. In the Great Berlin Art Exhibition of 1929 they used the motto, “Wir propagieren ‘Gemeinschaftsarbeit’” (We propagate communal work), and attempted to give it substance by including “Transparente, Plakate, Kioske, Wandbilder, farbig gestaltete Nischen, Prospekte” that were produced by more than one artist. Schröder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 157.Google Scholar

35. In the Exhibition of 1929, as a result of the limited space, fourteen Abstrakten entered a total of forty-one works, a significant decrease from the number in 1928, See Grosse, Berliner Kunstausstellung 1929 (Berlin, 1929)Google Scholar. The art critic and museum director (Stadtmuseum Dresden), Paul F. Schmidt, though he did not regret the passing of the Landesausstellungsgebäude, complained that the exhibition lost its “purpose completely” in the limited space of the Bellevue Palace. “That is really no longer a ‘Great Berlin Art Exhibition.’ It is a caricature and an inadequate one at that.” Schmidt, Paul F., “Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung,” Vorwärts, 28 05 1930, Abendausgabe.Google Scholar

36. The eleven entries of Carl Paul Haacker, a loyal member of the Communist Party who had recently joined the Abstrakten, were listed as “8 Designs for Propaganda Sculpture” and “3 Models for Propaganda.” The other participants, with the number of their works in parentheses, were: Ernst Oskar Albrecht (11), Erich Buchholz (21), Walter Dexel (11) Caesar Domela-Nieuwenhuis (14), and Oskar Nerlinger (24). Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1930 im Schloss Bellevue: Amtlicher Katalog der II. Abteilung (Berlin, 1930), 46.

37. The five Abstrakten in the photography section, with the number of entries in parentheses, were: Erich Buchholz (1), Caesar Domela-Nieuwenhuis (1), Edmund Kesting (10), Alice Nerlinger (12), and Oskar Nerlinger (22). Hannah Höch, not a member of the group, entered 15 photomon tages. Ibid., 47.

38. Donath, Adolph, “Grosse Kunst-Ausstellung: Der zweite Teil,” Berliner Tageblatt, 8 09 1930. Clipping in Oskar Nerlinger Archiv, AdKSA.Google Scholar

39. Osborn also noted, with moderate approval, the sections on advertising art and photography. Max Osborn, “‘Grosse Berliner’ in Bellevue: Zweite Abteilung.” Clipping without date or source, but probably from the Vossische Zeitung. Oskar Nerlinger Archiv, AdKSA. The left-wing journalist, Ernst Kállai, never mentioned “The Street” by name, but he enthused about Nerlinger's work. Kállai, , “Strasse frei für die Kunst,” Die Weltbühne 26, part 2, no. 40 (1 10 1930): 532–33.Google Scholar

40. The Abstrakten, like most other artists at the time, earned very little from their art work. They applied unsuccessfully to the Prussian Kultusministerium for a subsidy, and prior to the exhibition in the fall of 1930 wrote to the Deputation für Kunst und Bildungswesen der Stadt Berlin, noting that it had never purchased any of their work and requesting that the deputation should make a special effort to view their entries with the possibility of purchases. In this instance, they were successful. Letter of Buchholz, Fuhrmann, Köglsperger, and Nerlinger to the Deputation für Kunst und Bildungswesen, 12 August 1930. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM. Also, Bericht. Generalversammlung, no date, but probably prepared for a meeting on 14 December 1930.

41. Durus, , “Von der Akademie bis zur Assoziation revolutionärer Künstler,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 128, 19 07 1929.Google Scholar

42. Durus, , “‘Himmel und Hölle’ oder revolutionäre Kunst?! Entwicklung der ‘Abstrakten’,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 229, 1 10 1930.Google Scholar

43. Becher, Johannes R., “Partei und Intellektuelle,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 273, 25 11 1928Google Scholar, Feuilleton der Roten Fahne. Reprinted in Stark, Michael, ed., Deutsche Intellektuelle 1910–1933: Aufrufe, Pamphlete, Betrachtungen (Heidelberg, 1984), 299, 301.Google Scholar

44. Around 1929 Oskar Nerlinger prepared a written statement on “Das zukünftige Gesicht der Abstrakten” which the members discussed and intended to deposit with the Berlin official who registered voluntary associations. Nerlinger's text has not been found and can not be reconstructed from other evidence. Frank, , “Oskar Nerlinger,” 1: 24.Google Scholar

45. Minutes of the Generalversammlung, 21 October 1928. Rep. 42, Ace. 1843, no. 8986, LAB. Wauer did not join the Communist Party, but I have not been able to determine whether Gertrud Ring did.

46. Minutes of meeting on 17 July 1929. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM.

47. Minutes of meeting on 1 October 1930, ibid.

48. Minutes of the Generalversammlung on 14 December 1930, ibid.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. Erich Buchholz to the Abstrakten, 8 October 1931, ibid. The vote on Buchholz was at a general membership meeting on 13 September 1931. Minutes of “Generalversammlung. ‘Die Abstrakten,’ 13 September 1931, ibid.

52. ‘die abstrakten Hannover’ [sic] to the Abstrakten in Berlin [date must be immediately before 13 September 1931]. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM. Note that Schwitters and the Hanover group used only lowercase lettering at the time.

53. See also Valstar, , “‘die abstrakten hannover’ — Abstraktion als Weltgestaltung,” 28–58Google Scholar; Schmalenbach, Werner, Kurt Schwitters (New York, n.d. [1977]), 24Google Scholar; and Elderfield, John, Kurt Schwitters (London, 1985), 126.Google Scholar

54. Minutes for meeting of 1 October 1930. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM.

55. Minutes for meeting of 15 October 1930, ibid.

56. The contract included the following condition: “Es dürfen nur Bilder usw. ausgestellt werden, die keinen Anstoss erregen. Derartige Bilder sind auf Verlangen des Vermieters vom Kartell sofort aus der Ausstellung zu entfernen.” Cited in a letter by the Abstrakten to the Kartell der Vereinigten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins, 10 September 1932, ibid.

57. Information as transmitted by Bernhard Heyde (Geschäftsführer, Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung) to Oscar Nerlinger, 12 May 1931, and minutes of the meeting of the Abstrakten on 13 May 1931. Both in ibid.

58. Letters from the Abstrakten to the following organizations: the Kartell der Vereinigten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins, 13 May 1931; the Reichsverband bildender Künstler, 26 May 1931; the Polizeipräsidium Berlin, 26 May 1931; the President of the Prussian Bau- und Finanzdirektion, 26 May 1931, ibid.

59. Hiller, Kurt, “Bildersturm,” Die Wehbühne 27, part 1, no. 21 (26 05 1931): 756–57.Google Scholar

60. Minutes of the meetings of the Abstrakten on 22 May 1931, 10 June 1931, and 24 July 1931. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM.

61. Minutes for meeting of 15 April 1931, ibid.

62. Minutes for meetings on 22 May 1931, and 10 June 1931, ibid.

63. Citation is from Oskar Nerlinger's untitled contribution to a series of statements by artists assembled by Paul Westheim under the title, “Gegen den Abbau des Geistes,” Das Kunstblatt 15, no. 3 (March 1931): 74–75. Nerlinger apparently wrote a similar brief exposition that accompanied the Abstrakten's special section "Old and New Form" in the second part of the 1931 exhibition. See Schröder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 204–5.Google Scholar

64. Minutes of the Generalversammlung, 13 September 1931. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM. Copy also in, Rep. 42, Acc. 1843, no. 8986, LAB.

65. Internationale Vereinigung ‘Die Abstrakten.’ Die Abstrakten und Neu-Realisten Berlin. See Schröder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 243–44Google Scholar; and Liska, Pavel, “Arthur Segal — Leben und Werk,” in Arthur Segal 1875–1944, ed. Herzogenrath, Wulf and Liska, Pavel (Berlin, 1987), 64–68.Google Scholar

66. Internationale Vereinigung “Die Abstrakten.” Ortsgruppe Berlin “Die Zeitgemässen.” Minutes of meetings on 22 September 1931, and 1 December 1931; also “An die Mitglieder der ‘ABSTRAKTEN’,” undated, typed report to the Berlin members. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM. Many years later, in 1962, when Nerlmger had managed to achieve a position of prominence in the German Democratic Republic, he maintained that with the new name they wanted to give public expression to their “political knowledge” (“politischen Erkenntnis”) and an indication of the “change in their creative artistic work.” Professor Oskar Nerlinger to Willi Wolfgramm (Präsident des Verbandes bildender Künstler Deutschlands), 10 April 1962. Oskar Nerlinger Archiv, AdKSA.

67. Westecker, Wilhelm, “Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung: Graphik und Sonderausstellungen,” Berliner Börsen Zeitung, 5 09 1931Google Scholar. Clipping in Oskar Nerlinger Archiv, AdKSA.

68. Wolfradt, Willi, “‘Grosse Berliner’: Die Ausstellung der Künstlerverbände im Schloss Bellevue,” Vorwärts, 8 09 1931, Abendausgabe.Google Scholar

69. Durus (i.e., Kemény, Alfred), “Bekenntnis zu Lenin und Stalin. Revolutionäre Kunst in der Juryfreien und der Grossen Berliner,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 177, 13 09 1931, 1st supplement. Since there is no catalogue for this exhibition, I have been unable to determine what works by Nerlinger and Fuhrmann were entered in the show.Google Scholar

70. Ibid.

71. Kemény was followed as speaker on 20 January 1932 by Fritz Schiff, also a cultural critic in the Communist Party. Arthur Segal pestered them for an invitation and he spoke on 22 February 1932 (on “Kitsch und seine Bedeutung in Kunst und Leben”), but there is no evidence of discussion evenings after that date. Ernst Kállai, the left-wing Hungarian whom Hannes Meyer appointed to a position at the Bauhaus in 1929, also wanted to speak on “Art and Technology,” but it is not clear that he did. Schröder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 243Google Scholar. Minutes of meeting of the Abstrakten on 15 December 1931. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do63/314, DHM.

72. Kemény, Alfred and Moholy-Nagy, László, “Dynamisch-konstruktives Kraftsystem,” Der Sturm 12 (1922)Google Scholar, reprinted in Künstlerschriften der 20er Jahre, ed. Schneede, , 238–39.Google Scholar

73. Kamen, A. (i.e., Alfred Kemény), “Ausstellung von Aurél Bernath im ‘Sturm’,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 65, 27 06 1924Google Scholar, and “Reaktionäre ‘Sturm’-Kunst,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 185, 18 December 1924. For his comment on Moholy-Nagy, see Kemény, Alfred, “Bemerkungen,” Das Kunstblatt 8, no. 6 (06 1924): 192.Google Scholar

74. Durus, , “‘Revolutionäre Bildmontage: Zur 4. Ausstellung des Bundes revolutionärer bildender Künstler,” Die Rote Fahne, no. 41, 25 02 1932, supplement.Google Scholar

75. Minutes for the meeting on 3 May 1932. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM.

76. The exhibition catalogue used the name Die Abstrakten, Ortsgruppe Berlin “Die Zeitgemässen,” and reviewers often referred to the group as the Abstrakten. I have not seen reproductions of most of their entries, but the following titles give an indication of a highly politicized orientation in some cases: Albrecht, Montage Antikrieg; Fuhrmann, Kriegsgewinnler; Oskar Nerlinger, Krieg; and Péri (a guest), Hände weg fon der Sowjetunion (sculpture). See Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1932 im Schloss Bellevue (Berlin, 1932).

77. G. B., “Eröffnung der Grossen Berliner Kunstausstellung,” Hamburger Correspondent, 11 May 1932. Clipping in Oskar Nerlinger Archiv, AdKSA. Willi Wolfradt complained that the limited space in the Bellevue Palace reduced the Great Berlin Art Exhibition to a shadow of what it had been and that the work of only a few artists had any merit whatsoever. He paid more attention to Nerlinger than any other artist in the whole exhibition, but that with only moderate praise. With Wolfradt, “Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung. Schloss Bellevue,” Vorwärts, 9 May 1932. Abendausgabe.

78. Kandinsky, Wassily to Grohmann, Will, 29 05 1932Google Scholar. Will Grohmann Archiv, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

79. We are at a disadvantage in treating the second part of the Berlin Exhibition of 1932 because no catalogue was published and the reviews and other limited sources give only incomplete infor mation about the art works.

80. “Ein Skandal: Die Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung darf so nicht eröffnet werden,” Der Angriff, no. 173, 1 September 1932. Clipping in Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin), Rep. 219, no.135. Joseph Goebbels was the editor of Der Angriff. Other right-wing news papers joined the attack on the exhibition sponsors for including work of Communist artists, as in “Abwehr entarteter ‘Kunst’: Vorspiel zur Eröffnung der Kunstausstellung im Schloss Bellevue,” Berliner-Lokal-Anzeiger, 3 September 1932. Clipping in Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135.

81. According to an anonymous Communist writer, the Nazis were privileged with their private advance showing of the exhibition: “Goebbels zensiert,” Die Welt am Abend, 3 September 1932. Clipping in Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135.

82. In a memorandum, dated 31 August 1932, a police officer (whose signature is difficult to decipher) explained that earlier in the day the three leading officials of the Bau- und Finanzdirektion inspected the exhibition with special attention to the works of the Association of Revolutionary Artists in rooms 12–14. He explained that some of the works could be banned on the ground of the Emergency Decree issued by the President of the Reich on 28 March 1931, but argued that it would be wise for the Police President to avoid intervening in a case like this because it was already evident that officials of the Bau- und finanzdirektion were about to act. “Vermerk” of “Dezernat 6,” 31 August 1932. Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135.

83. The left-liberal Berliner Tageblatt disapproved of the censorship but in moderate language, evident in the following articles (clippings in Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135.); a notice with out a title, 2 September 1932; and “Gegen die Hauszensur,” 5 September 1932. Essentially the same view appeared in an unsigned notice in the 8 Uhr Abendblatt, 3 September 1932. Of course, right- wing newspapers approved of the censorship, as the following unsigned article indicates: “42 Werke revolutionärer Künstler entfernt,” Berliner Nachtausgabe, 2 September 1932. Clipping in Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135. The Communist-oriented press carried numerous articles intensely critical, but the party's official organ, Die Rote Fahne, was unable to participate because it was banned from 9 September to 6 October when much of the public controversy took place. For other Communist responses, see the following in Berlin am Morgen, one of the papers in Willi Münzenberg's propaganda enterprise: “Gegen die Kunst-Zensur,” 19 September 1932, and “Kom munisten gegen Kunstzensur,” 24 September 1932.

84. Kartell der Vereingten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins e.V. Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Berlin, 15 September 1932. Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135.

85. Letter of the Abstrakten (signed by Nerlinger, Fuhrmann, and Albrecht) to the Vorstand des Kartells der Vereinigten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins, 11 October 1932; letter from the Kartell der Vereinigten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins to Die Abstrakten, Ortsgruppe Berlin “Die Zeitgemässen,” 14 October 1932. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM.

86. Letter from the Kartell der Vereinigten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins, signed by Baluschek, to the Präsident der Preussischen Bau- und Finanzdirektion Herrn Mooshake, 21 December 1932. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), Do 63/314, DHM.

87. Kartell der Vereinigten Verbände bildender Künstler Berlins e.V. Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Berlin, 15 September 1932. Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Rep. 219, no. 135.

88. , F. S. [Fritz Schiff no doubt], “Eine Kunst-Ausstellung für Arbeiter: ‘Verbotene’ Bilder in der Klosterstrasse,” Berlin am Morgen, 12 10 1932.Google Scholar

89. “Zeitlupe,” Das Kunstblatt 16, no. 9 (September 1932): 71–72.

90. The organization itself was not legally dissolved until 7 January 1934, when Oskar Nerlinger and Paul Fuhrmann were the only two members who attended what was recorded as a general meeting, but which the two of them attended for no purpose but to vote to dissolve the organization. The minutes show that the meeting began at 11:00 A. M. and then the report noted laconically: “Da bis 12.30 Uhr weitere Mitglieder nicht erschienen sind, ergibt sich, dass ein Interesse an dem Verein seitens der Mitglieder nicht mehr besteht, der Verein also somit praktisch aufgelöst ist.” Minutes of meeting on 7 January 1934. Sammlung Paul Fuhrmann (Die Abstrakten), DO 63/314, DHM. This was dutifully reported to the Amtsgericht Charlottenburg, which then dropped the Abstrakten from the list of registered associations.

91. Else and Fritz Wolff went to Paris, and apparently he committed suicide when the German army occupied the city. Schroder-Kehler, , “Vom abstrakten zum politischen Konstruktivismus,” 267Google Scholar. Arthur Segal and his family first found refuge in Palma de Mallorca, and then late in 1936 went to London where he taught art until his death in 1944. Liska, Pavel, “Arthur Segal — Leben und Werk,” in Arthur Segal 1875–1944, ed. Herzogenrath, Wulf and Liska, Pavel (Berlin, 1987), 68–76.Google Scholar

92. Schulz, , Paul Fuhrmann, 10–11.Google Scholar

93. Ibid.

94. For Buchholz's after 1933 until his death in 1972 see the essays in Buchholz, Mo and Roters, Eberhard, eds., Erich Buchholz (Berlin, 1993)Google Scholar, and in Gassen, Richard W. and von Mengden, Lida, eds., Erich Buchholz. Graphik, Malerei, Relief, Architektur, Typographie (Cologne, 1998).Google Scholar

95. The Exhibition of Degenerate Art included one lithograph by Wauer, Komposition mit Ovalen (Composition with Ovals) from 1921, taken from the Schloss-Museum in Breslau, and two works by Werner Scholz: a triptych, Das tote Kind (The Dead Child) from 1933, taken from the Wallraf- Richartz-Museum in Cologne, and a work in unknown medium, Stilleben mit Amaryllis (Still Life with Amaryllis), which had been acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Berlin in 1935! See Schuster, Peter-Klaus, ed., Die “Kunststadt” München 1937: Nationalsozialismus und “Entartete Kunst” (Munich, 1987), 158, 176Google Scholar; and Barron, Stephanie, ed., “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany (Los Angeles, 1991), 20, 62, 79, 348, 354–55Google Scholar. Wauer, already sixty-seven in 1933, was at least twenty years older than the other members of the Abstrakten, but he survived the Nazi years and resumed an active life in the Berlin art world until his death in 1962 at age ninety-six. Werner Scholz had been a member of the Abstrakten for little more than a year in 1929–1930. In the first four years of the Third Reich, when the Nazis had not yet fully implemented the suppression of modern art, his work appeared in a number of gallery exhibitions, but not after 1937. In 1939 he acquired a house in Alpbach in the Tirol where he continued to live until his death in 1982. There he became quite productive. After the war he traveled occasionally and his participation in exhibitions internationally brought him widespread recognition. See Grasse, Claudia, ed., Werner Scholz 1898–1982: Verzeichnis der Ölbilder mit einer Auswahl von Texten und Bildern aus dem Archiv des Nachlasses (Hamburg, 1998), 9–13Google Scholar. There is confusion as to whether an earlier work by Nerlinger — Arbeiterdemonstration (Workers' Demonstration) — appeared in one of the shows of degenerate art in 1936, as he reported after the fall of the Third Reich. It may have been included temporarily in the large Exhibition of Degenerate Art when it showed in Berlin in 1938.

96. My account of the Nerlingers in the Third Reich and after 1945 is based in great part on Mühlhaupt, Freya, “‘Ja, wie sollen wir denn nun malen?’ Oskar Nerlinger zwischen Politik und Kunst (1933–1969),”Google Scholar and Krejsa, Michael, “Text-Bild-Chronologie Oskar Nerlinger und Alice Lex- Nerlinger,” in Oskar Nerlinger 1893–1969, 185–221, 227–48.Google Scholar

97. Nerlinger entered a total of seven water colors and one colored drawing in five of the Great German Exhibitions. They are listed in the exhibition catalogues, Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung, for 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1944.