The Visual Arts in Germany, 1890-1937: Utopia and Despair

Shearer West introduces the visual arts in Germany from the early years of German unification until the beginning of the Second World War. Germany during this period was the site of key movements, including Secessionism, Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter, Expressionism, Bauhaus, Dada, and Neue Sachlichkeit. It was a time when artists of the stature of Klimt, Kirchner, Kandinsky, Marc, Macke, Beckmann, Schwitters, Ernst, Kollwitz, Grosz, Hoch, Heartfield, and Dix were all producing their best work.

This book is more than just a survey of artists and movements; it brings a much-needed context to the analysis of not only painting, but sculpture, graphic art, design, and film and photography by relating them to a wider set of cultural and social issues that were specific to German modernism. West concentrates on the ways in which the production and reception of art interacted with—and were affected by—responses to unification, conflict between left and right political factions, gender concerns, contemporary philosophical and religious ideas, the growth of cities, and the increasing importance of mass culture.

[Well written and accessible, this book will be essential reading for students of art history and German cultural history.]