This lavishly illustrated book examines Berlin in-depth during a period of explosive growth between the two world wars.

Between 1871 and 1919, the population of Berlin quadrupled, and the city became the political center of Germany, as well as the turbulent crossroads of the modern age. This was reflected in the work of artists, directors, writers, and critics of the time. As an imperial capital, Berlin was the site of violent political revolution and radical aesthetic innovation. After the German defeat in World War I, artists employed collage to challenge traditional concepts of art. Berlin Dadaists reflected upon the horrors of war, and the terrors of revolution and civil war. Between 1924 and 1929 as the spirit of modernity took hold, jazz, posters, magazines, advertisements, and cinema played a central role in the development of Berlin’s urban experience. The concept of the “Neue Frau” — the modern, emancipated woman–helped move the city in a new direction. Finally, Berlin became a stage for political confrontation between the left and the right and was deeply affected by the economic crisis and mass unemployment at the end of the 1920s. This book explores in numerous essays and illustrations the artistic, cultural, and social upheavals in Berlin between 1918 and 1933, and places them in a broader historical framework.

About the Author:

Olaf Peters is Professor of Modern Art at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg and the author of Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany 1937 and Before the Fall: German and Austrian Art in the 1930s (both by Prestel).

This generously illustrated and comprehensive book examines German and Austrian artists in the 1930s as they reacted to a time of crisis and dissent.

The 1930s in Germany and Austria were marked by economic crisis, political disintegration, and social chaos. This beautifully illustrated catalogue surveys the development of the arts in these two countries between the two world wars. Presenting nearly 150 paintings and works on paper, this book reveals artistic developments that foreshadowed, reflected, and accompanied the beginning of World War II. Works by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Max Ernst, Oskar Kokoschka, and Alfred Kubin are presented alongside pieces by lesser-known artists such as Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Albert Paris Gütersloh, Karl Hubbuch, Richard Oelze, Josef Scharl, Franz Sedlacek, and Rudolf Wacker. This book features essays about the appropriation of artistic idioms, the reactions of artists toward their historical circumstances, and major political events that shaped the era.

About the Author:

Olaf Peters is Professor of Modern Art at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg and the author of Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany 1937 and Berlin Metropolis: 1918-1933 (both by Prestel).

This book accompanies the first major museum exhibition devoted to a reconstruction of the infamous Nazi display of modern art since the presentation originated by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1991.

]During the Nazi regime in Germany, “degenerate art” was the official term for much of the most important modern art of the day. “Degenerate art” was defined by the Nazi regime as artwork that was not in line with the National Socialists’ ideas of beauty. Their condemnation extended to works in nearly every major art movement: Expressionism, Dada, New Objectivity, Surrealism, Cubism, and Fauvism. Banned artists included Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, and Oskar Kokoschka. Richly illustrated, Degenerate Art elucidates the historical and intellectual context of the notorious exhibition in Munich in 1937, which spurred the attack on modern art.

The book contains reflections on the genesis and evolution of the term “degenerate art” and details of the National Socialist policy on art. Art works from the exhibition Degenerate Art are compared to works of art from The Great German Art Exhibition, which was held at the same time and displayed the works of officially approved artists. The book also presents the after-effects of the attack on modernism that are felt even today.

About the Author:

Olaf Peters is Professor of Modern Art at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg and the author of Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany 1937 and Berlin Metropolis: 1918-1933 (both by Prestel).