Online project to shine light on Nazi art

By Britta Schultejans Oct 19, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Munich - The shadow the Nazis cast over German art was particularly visible in Munich, where an online project now intends to demystify the huge art exhibitions staged by Adolf Hitler's regime.

Hitler named the Bavarian capital 'the capital of the movement,' as it is here that Nazism started off.

On July 18, 1937, the Fuehrer opened the Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German Art), a key architectural and artistic project of the Nazi era, where an annual showcase of German art was held.

The building in Munich was 'the temple of Nazi art,' according to Okwui Enwezor, the Nigerian-born head of what is now called simply the Haus der Kunst (House of Art). It soon came to represent the suppression of free art.

There has been extensive research into - and even more has been written about - the building.

Yet what was actually shown behind these massive walls, at events called the Great German Art Exhibitions (GDK), is little known.

A research project involving the Haus and other German institutes now intends to shed light on Nazi art.

The project called GDK Research, which will be launched online on Thursday, deals with the exhibitions staged in the Haus from 1937 to 1944. The one planned for 1945 never took place, because the Nazis were defeated in World War II.

'For the first time, we will be able to see what these works actually looked like,' project spokesman Christian Fuhrmeister says.

So far, research into the Munich art which the Nazis held up as 'pure' has only focused on particular themes, such as the Nazi image of women, or has applied ideological analysis rather than neutral scholarship to the topic.

'The National Socialist period was not talked about. It was a taboo subject and was long suppressed in this as in other areas,' Fuhrmeister explains. 'The GDK seemed to be precisely the kind of thing that people did not want to be reminded of.'

Fuhrmeister believes the exhibition will demystify Nazi art, much of which was in fact not overbearing, nor overtly propagandistic.

Idealism and escapism were central to many of these works, particularly during the war years, art historian Iris Lauterbach says.

'Female nudes, more nudes and occasionally a dead soldier,' she summarizes.

Nazi art was 'at times totally banal,' Enwezor says.

Art historians participating in the project worked for two years to document the 12,550 exhibits, only 10 per cent of which were known through reproductions.

The online platform allows researchers and others to get an impression of the exhibitions that drew up to 600,000 visitors annually.

All the works, artists and sometimes the buyers are documented, along with the price paid. Around half of the exhibits were sold.

The whereabouts of only about 10 per cent of the works are currently known, according to art historian Ralf Peters. Some works turn up at art auctions from time to time. The research has been largely based on 2,500 photographs taken of the exhibition rooms.

Some of the buyers remain anonymous in the database for fear that someone may sue under privacy laws, but prominent buyers are named.

Nazi leaders spent vast sums of money on art, the project shows.

Over the eight years that exhibitions were held, Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels bought 1.2-million-reichsmarks worth of art there, while Hitler's architect Albert Speer spent 900,000 reichsmarks.

Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe and Hitler's chosen successor until he fell from grace in the middle of the war, appeared less interested. He only spent 250,000 reichsmarks, despite being an avid art collector.

The uncontested top buyer was Hitler himself, who spent a total of 7 million reichsmarks, including 15,000 for a picture showing a squirrel and a unicorn.