1. Authoritarian leaders have been historically concerned with one thing: the pursuit of power. Whether it is to tighten their own grip upon the state they control or to spread their dominion as far as it can reach, their objective is always to maximize the power that they wield. This power is real; the dictator uses earthly means to obtain it, to maintain it, and then its effects can be felt tangibly as far and wide as his influence stretches. This separates the dictator from the artist. The artist is free from the constraints of reality. He is not forced to look at the world as it is, but is instead free to create whatever his imagination presents him with. If he wishes to create something that could never exist outside the realm of art, he may do so, as he may create something that is conceivable, though not currently in existence, a work that serves as a window to possibility. It is this latter form of art that scares the dictator, for it presents the people with an alternative to the status quo, the reality that he must maintain to hold is state together. Should the people depart from the earthly pursuits of industry and military and instead accept idealism as their guide, the state shall lose what once gave it power, and shall gain a new adversary, one called "dissent." For a dictator's power lies in the unity and single-mindedness ofhis people in following orders. When alternate plans are put forth, whether peaceably or not, his grasp on his State is weakened, for the people will cease to follow him so readily. Plato lamented art's ability to undermine the sovereign when he said, "For if you... allow the honeyed muse to enter, either in epic or lyric verse, not law and the reason of mankind, which by common consent have ever been deemed best, but pleasure and pain will be the rulers in our State."
2. The portrait above of boxer Max Schmeling was painted by George Grosz in 1926. In Grosz's art, he did not tend to advertise the beauty of humanity. The subjects of his paintings often appear sunken and unglamorous. For instance, Schmeling, a very successful boxer, is not here portrayed in a manner that would imply victory or triumph. Instead, his strong body appears weighed down by the burden of a violent lifestyle, his sunken features worn, without any brightness or optimism.
a. Degeneracy generally implies a state of falling apart or unraveling. Something is generally described as degenerate if it has a negative effect on its surroundings, allowing these surroundings to fall apart at the seams. Hitler believed art could have a deceptive effect on people, and that its illusions would distract the people and allow the Third Reich to fail.
b. Hitler would consider the portrait of Schmeling above degenerate because it marginalizes a character that Germany could be proud of. He would want Schmeling to be portrayed in a light of triumph, an example for the German people to admire and emulate. Instead, Grosz paints this warrior in a way that makes him look sorrowful, a specimen that no one would want to emulate.
c. The body was the main site for accusations of degeneracy because it had the greatest potential to represent emotions that Hitler did not want felt by his people. He wanted them to see ideal bodies to emulate, which were, to him, useful bodies: muscular men intent on doing battle, or submissive women good for sex or motherhood. These archetypes were useful to the Third Reich. Frivolity, the kind that could be displayed best through art, was not.
d. According to Mosse, beauty with sensuality appeals to the base instinct of lust. However, German society was meant to be above instincts, instead based on control and reason. Lust was a weakness, and Germany could not appear weak. Beauty was meant to be an emboldening force, one that promoted pride, not one that promoted the shame of such demoralizing instincts. The German art that Hitler supported was the ultimate testament to the value of control: Soldiers held control of the battlefield through strength and husbands held control of their wives through patriarchy. The degenerate art that Hitler despised lacked any such restraints.
3. The above image exemplifies authoritarian worries about art because it offers a scathing challenge to the morality of conquest. Under an authoritarian state, the sovereign would want to portray such a successful conquest as a source of national pride. The power to overtake an entire group of people could be a huge boost to nationalism, perhaps the key adhesive of a totalitarian state. However, this image questions the morality of what was done, and leaves us not with pride, but with shame.
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