The period between the end of World War I and Hitler's ascension to power witnessed an unprecedented cultural explosion that embraced the whole of Europe but was, above all, centered in Germany. Germany housed architect Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus movement; playwrights Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator; artists Hans Richter, George Grosz, John Heartfield, and Hannah Hoch; composers Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schonberg, and Kurt Weill; and dozens of others. In Art and Politics in the Weimar Period , John Willett provides a brilliant explanation of the aesthetic and political currents which made Germany the focal point of a new, down-to-earth, socially committed cultural movement that drew a significant measure of inspiration from revolutionary Russia, left-wing social thought, American technology, and the devastating experience of war.

Examines the ideological motivations of Grosz's political cartoons in an effort to define further the relationship between art and his political involvements in Berlin of the 1920s. Provides a clearer understanding of the artist and an unusual insight into the Weimar Republic.

Between the end of World War I and the Nazi assumption of power, Germany's Weimar Republic (1919-1933) functioned as a thriving laboratory of art and culture. As the country experienced unprecedented and often tumultuous social, economic and political upheaval, many artists rejected Expressionism in favour of a new realism to capture this emerging society. Dubbed Neue Sachlichkeit - New Objectivity - its adherents turned a cold eye on the new Germany: its desperate prostitutes and crippled war veterans, its alienated urban landscapes, its decadent underworld where anything was available for a price. Showcasing 150 works by more than 50 artists, this book reflects the full diversity and strategies of this art form. Organised around five thematic sections, it mixes photography, works on paper and painting to bring them into a visual dialogue. Artists such as Otto Dix, George Grosz and Max Beckmann are included alongside figures such as Christian Schad, Alexander Kanoldt, Georg Schrimpf, August Sander, Lotte Jacobi and Aenne Biermann. Also included are numerous essays that examine the politics of New Objectivity and its legacy, the relation of this new realism to international art movements of the time; the context of gender roles and sexuality; and the influence of new technology and consumer goods. Published in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. AUTHOR: Stephanie Barron is a Senior Curator and heads the Modern Art department at the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art. Sabine Eckmann is the William T. Kemper Director and Chief Curator of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. 300 colour illustrations

"Weimar Centennial edition with a new preface by the author."--Title page.

The Weimar Republic was a turbulent and pivotal period of German and European history and a laboratory of modernity. The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic provides an unsurpassed panorama of German history from 1918 to 1933, offering an indispensable guide for anyone interested in the fascinating history of the Weimar Republic.

Reproduces (translated into English) contemporary documents or writings with an introduction to each section.

Examination of the role of women as producers and patrons of art in Germany after the First world war, while also considering the problematic area of women as subject and object in representation. Art forms discussed are the visual arts, photography, dance and film.