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Article: How German is it? A landmark exhibition of art in East and West Germany from the end of WWII to the fall of the Wall offers a fresh perspective on points of difference, and unity, between former Cold War antagonists.
- Article from:
- Art in America
- Article date:
- June 1, 2009
- Author:
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IN HIS PROVOCATIVE BOOK The Germans and Their Art: A Troublesome Relationship (1998), art historian Hans Belting considers the uneasy role visual art has played in German culture since the Renaissance. Belting describes the constant derailment of German art by neurotic self-doubt, ponderous theorizing, Lutheran restraint and compensatory nationalistic fervor. The devastations of the Third Reich, World War II and the Cold War complicated the formation of a coherent artistic identity in the second half of the 20th century. Today, in a reunited Germany, Nazi-sanctioned art is still taboo, and the Socialist Realism promoted by the former East ...