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 Die
Neue Sachlichkeit (The New Objectivity) was a pseudo-Expressionist
movement founded in Germany in the aftermath of World War I by
Otto Dix (his
painting "The Skat Players" shown left) and George Grosz. It is
characterized by a realistic style combined with a cynical, socially
critical philosophical stance. Many of the artists were anti-war. In
their paintings and drawings they vividly depicted and excoriated the
corruption, frantic pleasure seeking and general demoralization of
Germany following its defeat in the war and the ineffectual Weimar
Republic which governed until the arrival in power of the Nazi Party in
1933. But their work also constitutes a more universal, savage satire on
the human condition. Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, who was the director of the Kunsthalle in Mannheim, coined the term in 1923 in a letter he sent to colleagues describing an exhibition he was planning. In his subsequent article, "Introduction to 'New Objectivity': German Painting since Expressionism," Hartlaub explained, "What we are displaying here is distinguished by the — in itself purely external — characteristics of the objectivity with which the artists express themselves". He identified two groupsas the Verists and the Magical Realists, whom he called classicists in the article. The so-called Verists, including Otto Dix and George Grosz, aggressively attacked and satirized the evils of society and those in power and demonstrated in harsh terms the devastating effects of World War I and the economic climate upon individuals. Max Beckmann was connected with these artists. Although the distinction between Verists and Magic Realists is in fact rather fluid, the Verists can be thought of as the more revolutionary wing of the New Objectivity. Their vehement form of realism distorted appearances to emphasize the ugly, as ugliness was the reality these artists wished to expose. This art was raw, provocative, and harshly satirical.  A
second term, Magic Realists, has been applied to diverse artists,
including Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Alexander Kanoldt,
Christian Schad, and Georg Schrimpf, whose works were said to
counteract in a positive fashion the aggression and subjectivity of
German Expressionist art. The Magic Realists more clearly exemplify the
post-World War I "return to order" that arose in the arts throughout
Europe, and that found expression in neoclassicism. The Magic Realists
were a diverse group that encompassed the nearly photographic realism of
Schad (her painting " Count St. Genois d'Anneaucourt" is shown here) and
the gentle neo-primitivism of Schrimpf. The paintings of Räderscheidt
show echoes of the metaphysical art of the Italians Giorgio de Chirico
and Carlo Carrà, and the influence of the Swiss painter
Félix Vallotton is
apparent in the sour realism of several of the Magic Realists and
Verists as well. |
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