We need to remember first of all that Hitler was a failed
artist. He didn’t manage to get into art school after applying twice and he spent
a lot of his time before he became the great dictator painting pictures on post
cards. He liked Romanticism and detested modern art. For him painting had to be realistic and
heroic.
A main concern for the Nazis was getting rid of Jewish influence
in art. For this reason they admired classical
art, Greek and Roman, as this had no Jewish input. They also despised art
produced by homosexuals and communist artists.
Much modern art and what we may now label “modernism” was condemned
as being “degenerate”. Expressionism was
particularly despised. Also classed as “degenerate” was what we refer to as
Cubism, Dada, Fauvism and Surrealism. Works by Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse
were destroyed.
In Munich in 1937 there was an exhibition of “Entartete
Kunst” which showed much of the “degenerate” art deliberately displayed in chaotic
manner to discredit it. This includes work from Klee and Kandinsky. The Nazis
had confiscated 650 modern paintings, graphic works and sculptures from 32
museums.
Meanwhile, around the corner at the respected Haus der Deutschen
Kunst there was a more sober exhibition of Nazi approved artists.
In the 1940s, the Nazis compiled a list of favoured artists.
These were considered to be ‘divinely gifted’. 42,000 artist were given government approval
and had to register with the Reich Chamber of Visual Arts. They were not
allowed to be “politically” unreliable and could be expelled if they were deemed
to be so, A tribunal was created in 1936.
One favoured sculptor was Arno Breker who produced between
1933 and 1945works that resembled Greek sculptures. He continued to work on
this style into the 1950s.
The Reichskulturkammer was established in 1933. This was to promote
the Aryan race through art. This marked the end for the Bauhaus art school and
movement, situated in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau. The Bauhaus created what might
be called German modernism and which became by Nazi definition degenerate. The
Bauhaus also fostered the idea of a community of artists working together. It
was in its time the most progressive school of art known.
Art was used to create propaganda posters: https://www.dw.com/en/how-the-nazis-used-poster-art-as-propaganda/a-55751640
The work produced by the Nazis was classical and a little
dull.
Much of the Nazi produced art still exists and there has
been a call for a work by Adolf Ziegler to be taken down. Ziegler persecuted Jews and “degenerate” artists. The
work ‘The Four Elements’ is displayed in Munich’s Pintothek museum
The Nazis also stole great works of art from Jewish owners.
Some valuable works of art were hidden and served as a type of investment. This led to some talented
artists producing forgeries in order to keep the original out of Nazi hands. Many
British artistic treasures were hidden inside mountains in Wales in case of a
German invasion.