Particularly interesting is how he chose to depict human forms. All the individuals express their horror with open mouths and hands. Not only are the bodies distorted, most are also dismembered or incomplete. Each is clearly shown as an individual who is no longer whole because of this event. It has not only altered them psychologically, but also physically. The positioning of each body also appears to have hidden meaning. The soldier with the broken sword in a crucified position appears to have been the first to fall as all other forms are on top of his. The two grieving women moving towards the center, one with no body seem to be wailing and arriving from elsewhere.
Though none of the bodies in this work are “beautiful”, I believe this work clearly expresses the beauty of each human being. Each form, be it grotesque, missing a limb, or in a different stage in life is made very relevant and important by the uniqueness Picasso gives. No body is similar in position, shape, or situation even as they are all faced with the same horror. This is intentional. He could have placed huge numbers of bodies to depict the death of more than 1500. Physical beauty is not conveyed. The exquisiteness and uniqueness of each human is very important to the artist and a main theme. Deviation from other usual ways to convey the terrible event on a human helps make this very interesting. A conventional method of expressing this would have been showing German bombers dropping armaments on a city with large numbers of causalities. The departure from the usual portrayal of the human form helps underscore the affect on the victim.
2.
(a) The Nazis used the concept of degeneracy to describe anything or anyone that did not conform to their own “traditional” values and beliefs. Anyone who did not conform to the Nazi’s ideology was branded as being a “degenerate”. This term was applied to describe: Jews, Bolsheviks, homosexuals, and many artists; groups that all blatantly deviated from German “respectability” (Mosse 25). In his speech inaugurating the “Great Exhibition of German Art”, Hitler expresses his intolerance for artists that suffer from an “eye disease” and impose their “distorted” perceptions of reality on the German public and nation. In order to restore
(b) Hitler would be appalled by this particular work of art for several different reasons. Firstly, it does not represent or promote the beauty, perfection, and immortality of the Aryan race (Mosse 25). Secondly, it does not propagate Germanic moral values to its audience, but instead overtly criticizes war, promotes freedom, and does not represent reality (Mosse 26). Finally, this artwork is highly abstract and leaves room for interpretation by the individual and therefore would be considered to be a direct threat and danger to respectability and therefore German society itself.
(c) The human body is often used as a metaphor for the state, nation, or country because like any organism, it too is a living, breathing entity that can become easily “infected” and “diseased”. The Nazis used the image of the “ideal” God like body, to act as a direct representation of the “perfect” Aryan nation that yearned so badly to create. Hitler was disgusted by how the body was distorted and often grotesquely portrayed in modern art. He believed that the body was meant to be exalted and glorified, not as a sexual object, but as an immortal symbol of “Aryan beauty” (Mosse 28). The body just like the nation was to remain “pure” from any imperfection of any kind or sort. In his inaugural speech for the “Great Exhibition of German Art”, Hitler passionately asserts that he will take the “diseased body” and purify the German nation of the “putrefaction” that threatens its very health and survival.
(d) Mosse states that the concept of beauty was a direct reflection of society’s traditional morals and values, and therefore “helped to maintain control over the passions” ( 25). The act of suppressing sensuality in art is a tactic that asserts complete control over freedom of expression. Sensuality tests the boundaries of accepted “norms”, and allows individuals the opportunity to express their inner most thoughts and passions. The Nazis viewed beauty with sensuality as a danger because this was something that they could not have complete control over and therefore possessed the power to threaten the social order and very well being of the great German nation.
Economic, social, religious, and political issues make war one of the most consequential events a society will encounter. Manipulation of public opinion has always been a crucial tool utilized by governments as well as those wishing to express dissent. Wars are fought on two grounds: the field of battle and that of public opinion. The utilization of visual imagery for political purposes is certainly not new. The Egyptians and Romans frequently depicted there exploits on arches and columns. Modern governments continue to use these techniques not only to communicate these ideas to their populous and military, but also their adversaries. Exaggeration, distortion, fabrication, and over simplification can all be utilized in an attempt to obtain legitimacy and support. Terms such as “weapons of mass destruction, axis of evil, and war of liberation” would be examples of contemporary verbal imagery.
This concept is considered so important that developed nations routinely have “propaganda” or “psychological operations” divisions as parts of their military. As these entities are felt to be effective, they are well funded and are integrated into the logistics of war. The imagery created can be in the form of radio broadcasts, posters, or leaflets. Examples of these would be the British dropping leaflets on German troops in 1914, Tokyo Rose’s radio show, and the famous World War II posters. The motivation of workers back home, and the military, as well as the demonization and demoralization of the opponent are the clear objectives.
A contemporary example of the use of propaganda in this manner would be the literature dropped by the
Below is an example of how this propaganda has been utilized in the conflict. It has been translated from Arabic and was produced by the
3 comments:
I think it is interesting that you touched upon Hitler’s assertion of the damaging nature of “false illusions”.
In my post I also elaborated upon this. In his speech, he targets surrealism, cubism, Dadaism, and impressionism as waste products of the human mind. This catalogue insinuates at a sort of aversion to all things “imaginative”.
To quote from the movie that we saw in class, the man who was explaining Hitler and the Nazi regime’s aversion to introspective art said, “That which is inward must be outlawed.”
In other words, any inner rumination is a threat to the order of Nazi Germany because the people, under Hitler, should not have to think for themselves. They are told what to think. They are harmonious masses, not individual people. Rumination and introspective are predecessors to opinions, and those opinions may not match up to the “facts” that the Nation Socialist party feeds to the public.
Surrealism, cubism, Dadaism, and impressionism are tangible products of this very introspection and rumination. They are “proof” of the individuality and the opinion of man, his ability to think outside of reality and to express these mental anomalies beautifully. In essence, these movements glorified the kind of thinking that Hitler knew could jeopardize his power.
Thus Hitler classified this type of art as deformed desecrations of the mind, testaments to the “danger” and “vices” of thinking outside of reality. He attributed their expressive nature to the indulgences of the imagination.
You also expound upon this principle in your analysis of Picasso’s piece. Had the Nazis wanted to portray the death of many people (they would not have since they were the perpetrators), they would have painted all 1,500 of them in order to qualify them as “harmonious masses”. Each individual would not have been depicted distinctly, and the extent of human suffering that each person experienced would not have been made as personal as it is in this piece. Nazi Germany was engineered to be one nation under one leader – Hitler. He was the only distinguishing feature, all other people were simply auxiliaries of the greatness of Germany as a single nation.
I think, in addition to your explanation, it is important to note that Hitler used “the body” as an example of potential degeneracy because he wanted to associate political degeneracy with physiological degeneracy – he wanted the equalize the damaging effect of degeneracy in these two aspects. Also, he wanted to reinforce the singular nature of the nation. If everyone has a perfect body, there is less distinction to suggest individuality. Everyone is an image of Aryan perfection, nobody deviates from normalcy.
In reference to your final picture about Iraq, you brought up an interesting point about choice and how the media endorses “options”. You said, they (Iraqis) have two choices: “Ours or theirs…” One should note that the “good” decision is associated with the American entity and that the “bad” decision is associated with the Iraqi entity. Essentially, this image is saying that the only way any good can come of a situation is to concede to the American vision, otherwise, your world will be destroyed. In this way, the media simplifies and amplifies decisions and consequences. To the Iraqi soul, this picture must be, like you mentioned, emotionally energized.
Simplification is often one of the hallmarks of media manipulation. Political maneuvers are rarely such a clear cut formula as the following that the media portrays: American Way = Happiness, Iraqi Way = Destruction.
This formula is unfaithful to all of the complexities, nuances, intricacies, and dynamics of war, power, economics, ideology, religion, etc. Similarly, Nazi Germany simplified choices for the German people. The Nazi way lead to supremacy, the “other” individualistic way lead to degeneracy, madness, and impracticality.
I thought it interesting that you pointed out that the people portrayed in Picasso's painting were are unique. They all have different facial expressions, different body positions, different shapes, etc. I think that this makes them all seem more human even though they are deformed. In contrast, anything described by Hitler as "good German art" would depict every person as exactly the same. No one would be depicted as deformed; everybody would be portrayed as perfect. This, even though the portrayal is an almost exact representation of the human body, makes them seem like inhuman objects. This sort of depiction could, in a way, desensitize the German people. They probably would be led to believe that the people the Nazis are killing and torturing don't have feelings and are not human.
In response to your last image, I would like to say that it is a very good example of over simplifying the situation. The picture gives them two options: the American way or a path of violence. However, there are many other paths that the Iraqis could take that is not necessarily entirely American. To believe that the American way is the only good and peaceful is very prideful and ethnocentric on our part.
I thought that your analysis of why Hitler was so critical of the human body in art was very insightful. Your comparison of a nation to a human body, a living organism that can live, die, flourish, or decay, was very accurate. To Hitler, this may have been more than a metaphor. It could have been an actual connection. Hitler saw the future of Germany as dependent upon the body of its citizens. In order for the nation to be powerful and beautiful, its citizens must be strong and attractive. If the people are disfigured and weak, then by consequence the nation will be weak.
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