Christopher Post 4

Christopher McCauley

1. Art allows people to think freely. Art is an outlet for people’s thoughts and ideas to wander, and for them to express those thoughts and ideas in a creative way. All types of art do this: paintings, drawings, sculptures, poems, novels, music, dance, plays, everything. The spread of ideas through art has existed for centuries. In a way, most art is propaganda, because an artist is trying to throw his beliefs at you, whether or not it has political motives. As wonderful as art may be for this purpose, authoritarian regimes do not like this very much.

It is unlikely that an authoritarian regime would want its people to disagree with the beliefs and principles of that regime. Art is an easy way to show disagreement with said regimes; therefore, such art is threatening to these regimes. Looking back at Book X, of The Republic, Plato’s whole argument is that art should be created for the state, and that any art that harms the progression of the state, regime, or nation, is bad, and should be condemned. Coherence, or unity with the large portion, namely the governing body, is what art should represent (although Book X seems to describe mostly poets and their writings, we can view this as all art). Plato says, “Speaking in confidence, for I should not like to have my words repeated to the tragedians and the rest of the imitative tribe—but I do not mind saying to you, that all poetical imitations are ruinous to the understanding of the hearers, and that the knowledge of their true nature is the only antidote to them.” In other words, Plato is saying that if you disagree, or have different opinions than the powers-that-be, this is bad, and that be getting rid of, or destroying this type of art and thinking, all will be fixed, and order will be restored.

Another example, much more recent than Plato, is the Nazi regime. As we all know, Hitler and the Nazi’s were very bigoted against Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Africans, and basically everyone who was not them, or of the Arian race. One of the large components of Hitler’s campaign was censorship of art. In his 1937 speech inaugurating the “Great Exhibition of German Art,” Hitler says, “Until the moment when National-Socialism took power, there existed in Germany a so-called ‘modern art,’ that is, to be sure, almost every year another one, as the very meaning of this word indicates. National-Socialist Germany, however, wants again a ‘German Art,’ and this art shall and will be of eternal value, as are all truly creative values of a people. Should this art, however, again lack this value for our people, then indeed it will mean that it also has no higher value today.” (440). This excerpt from Hitler’s speech quite obviously shows the aforementioned idea about different, or in Hitler’s terms, “modern” art, and how it has no positive value for the state. Instead, Hitler speaks of a “German Art,” that will be positive for the advancement of Nazi Germany society.

2. Otto Dix was a German expressionist during the time of the Nazi regime. He painted gruesome war scenes (he was himself a WW1 veteran of the German army), nudes, and portraits, despite his training as a wall decorator. Dix’s work showed the human body in incredibly distorted ways, with outrageous colors, and positions. His 1922 watercolor painting, Lady, shows a nude woman, who looks absolutely vulgar. She looks very messy, with make-up smeared all over her face, and dirt caked onto her skin. Dix’s color choices are also very odd—she does have brown her, like a real person might, however her eyebrows are an ashy blue, and her skin has the gray tint that a corpse might have.

Christ and Veronica, which he painted in 1943, seems also to be slightly outlandish. It depicts the famous scene from the bible, in which Christ is pinned to the cross, and pleads to a woman (Veronica) for help. Once again, the bodies in this painting are slightly distorted. Some figures have undersized heads, enlarged shoulders, squished faces, and colors running down their bodies. A few of the subjects are also wearing clothes from modern times, which seems to contrast the clothing of first century Israel on the others. By no means, do the people in the painting look beautiful.

1. According to the Mosse article, Beauty Without Sensuality, degeneration is a “medical term used during the second half of the nineteenth century to identify the condition of those who had departed from the ‘normal’ because of shattered nerves, inherited abnormalities, or behavioral or sexual excess.” (Mosse, 26) When applied to art, degeneracy in this sense is an accurate term. Looking at Dix’s work again, we see distorted bodies, abnormal facial expressions and strange body characteristics, such as atypical skin color.
2. Hitler certainly saw degeneracy in Dix’s work, since he was featured in the Entarte Künst exhibit. Hitler saw threat in the art because of its nonconforming characteristics. Hitler was quoted as saying degenerate art shows “women who can only arouse revulsion.” Dix’s Lady, is a prime example of that because of its outrageous appearance. Dix’s depiction of the human body makes it seem ugly. The Nazi regime preferred art which depicted the body as strong, and beautiful, like the statues and sculptures of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
3. The body is the main source of accusation for degeneracy because the body represents strength and stature. The Nazi regime was all about vigor—never weakness. To them, the art was weak, and weak meant Jew-like, gypsy-like, or gay-like. In his speech, Hitler stated, “As little as the character and the blood of our people will change, so much will art have to lose its moral character and replace it with worthy images expressing the life-course of our people in the steadily unfolding growth of our creations.” Much of the Nazi idea was about appearance, and about purity. A body that was not pure represented what the Arian race of people should not become. They did not want their blood to be unclean like they believed the Jews’ was.
4. Beauty with sensuality is a threat to social order because there is sex in it. “Beauty was perceived as somehow sexless…” (Mosse, 27). The Nazi’s rejected all forms of art that showed any sort of sexuality. They did not want there to be lust in their art; it was to show only beauty, strength, and stature. Ironically, there was nudity in “good” German art, however it was like the nudity in ancient Greek and Roman art. Depictions of strong, muscular male bodies which show stamina and presence—there is nothing sexual about that type of art.

3. (b) This image, by an unknown artist depicts a body as monstrously ugly and decaying. It almost looks evil in a way, or that it may be possessed by some sort of demon. It appears to me, that it depicts what happens to a person’s body from smoking. The lungs are charred black and look dry, cracked and broken. This could not possibly be good for the advancement of society, and using Mosse’s definition, is certainly degenerate. I think that this image shows the ethical question of whether or not it is okay to smoke. Smoking, is obviously harmful to one’s body. This image directly depicts that harm, but in such a way that it makes it seem wicked and immoral. Does it necessarily mean that smoking is immoral, or that those who do smoke are immoral? I do not think so, but I do think that this image is a good way to scare people away from smoking.