Art played a major role in the politics of early twentieth-century Germany and Italy. Two New York City institutions currently have exhibitions that share the theme of the convergence of art and politics in this period of European history. The two exhibitions are: “Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937” at the Neue Galerie, and “Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. While they are from the same era, the shows reveal a telling dichotomy of the governments from two European nations in how they each approached art. A concluding paragraph is dedicated to confronting why art no longer plays such a crucial role in politics and shaping public opinion.

The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, or National Socialist German Workers’ Party), more commonly referred to as the Nazi Party, is remembered by history as one of the world’s most notorious groups founded on hate. The Nazis were meticulous in preserving records of their methods of destruction, which has allowed for historians to endlessly study their brief time in power. This blog post, however, will be limited to the Nazis’ conservative and repressive stance on art.

Entartete kunst (“degenerate art”) was a term first conceptualized by the Nazis. It was used to describe modern art and works with supposed Jewish themes. The notion was the cause of ruination for many German and Austrian artists, as well as the confiscation and destruction of many works.

Adolf Ziegler was Adolf Hitler’s favorite artist. Ziegler, a Nazi Party member, painted in a classical style that was embraced by Nazi Germany and preferred by Hitler. Ziegler’s The Four Elements (1937) hung above Hitler’s mantel. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda, appointed Ziegler to head a commission that traveled the country and seized art they hastily deemed degenerate. The Neue Galerie estimates that 21,000 works were confiscated, of which one-third vanished without a trace, one-third were destroyed, and one-third were sold.

The Degenerate Art Exhibition, which was made up entirely of the aforementioned confiscated works, first opened in Munich from 19 July through 30 November 1937. It was hosted in the Institute of Archaeology building, which was chosen for its dark and narrow rooms (elements that pose viewing challenges). Nazi administrators purposefully put the artworks at a further disadvantage as many paintings were not framed.

The Nazi Party expected that the show would incite its viewers to ardently oppose modern art. The exhibition traveled across Germany and Austria for a three-year period.

Not far from the Degenerate Art show was Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (“Great German Art Exhibition”). This was held in the House of Art in Munich, which was completed in 1937, and was the structure’s inaugural exhibition. The two shows were intentionally opened simultaneously. As the Neue Galerie notes, the Great German Art Exhibition displayed works that were considered by the Nazis to be classical and “racially pure”. Interestingly, it only attracted about half of the just over two million visitors who attended the Degenerate Art Exhibition.

The Italian Futurists had a different position than the Nazis. They were not tied to Mussolini and his fascist regime, no matter how much they wanted the position. The Guggenheim exhibition does a nice job explaining the Futurists’ desire the be the official state art of Italy; and does an equally successful job discussing Mussolini’s lack of interest in the group, as he viewed it as too modern and even stylistically “Jewish”. The Italian leader instead gave such patronage to a number of different artistic groups and movements. Once Italy became allied with Nazi Germany, it embraced the ideology of degenerate art and condemned Futurism.

Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, quite discernibly, used art as propaganda. This trend does not happen today like it did during the first half of the twentieth-century. The Nazi Party bullied and manipulated its way to promote racism and repress modern works and diversity. While the Futurists are mostly forgotten about outside of circles of historians and artists, the actions of the movement are just as revealing. The progressive, technology-driven group sought hard for the top rank of the national art style, but lost. The honor was shared among other movements.

What I find most interesting is the sense of taboo in what was denounced by the Nazi and Fascist regimes. This feeling was shared, at least by German and Austrians, as the number of visitors to the Degenerate Art Exhibition was twice that of the Great German Art one. Many artists who were labeled “degenerate” refused to conform. An exemplary case was Oskar Kokoschka, who in 1937 painted, “Self-Portrait as a Degenerate Artist”. Kokoschka, an Austrian artist, recognized the government-led, repressive shift of the time and stood firm in embracing his style. The Futurist movement did the exact opposite, as it tirelessly tried to win the favor of Fascist leaders in vain. Futurist artists began incorporating elements into their works that they believed would win political favor. However, no amount of paintings that glorified the Italian military, or idealized images of Mussolini could propel the Futurist movement to the status it hoped.

As was the case when the German-Italian alliance became official, I believe that had Futurism been a German or Austrian movement, it would have been deemed degenerate art. This is for reasons similar to why Mussolini chose not to recognize the group. The Futurist style was too modern, geometric, and progressive for the Nazi party. However, I think that Futurism’s attempt to conform would have pleased Hitler and his staff. If the group agreed to eradicate its earlier innovative works, the Nazi Party would likely have promoted the glorified and idealized paintings of the military and national leaders.

I would like to conclude with a brief look at the modern world and why art and politics are no longer intertwined as they were like the examples above. The Nazi Party and Italian Fascists were totalitarian regimes that no longer exist in first-world countries. Such an absence allows artists of those countries the comfort to create what they like without fear of persecution. In today’s digital world, there are more immediate and effective outlets for government propaganda than art exhibitions. Some of these include: television, journalism, photography, and film, among others. There is also a much closer etiquette of political correctness in the modern, global world we live in today.