Art Criticism - The State University of New York
Art Criticism - The State University of New York
Art Criticism - The State University of New York
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<strong>The</strong>se passages were meant to help guide the visitor through the exhibition.<br />
Along with these quotes, some pieces were accompanied by short descrip<br />
, tions, for example:<br />
This horror hung as a war memorial in the cathedral <strong>of</strong> Lubeck.<br />
An insult to German womanhood.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Ideal-cretin and whore.<br />
Deliberate sabotage <strong>of</strong> national defense.<br />
An insult to the German heroes <strong>of</strong> the Great War.<br />
Nature as seen by a sick Mind.<br />
Decadence exploited for literary and commercial 'purposes. 24<br />
Arid over one doorway it was written "<strong>The</strong>y had four years." Thi~ short statement<br />
refers to the grace period given by Hitler for those in the cultural community<br />
to adjust to the Nazi way <strong>of</strong> thinking while Hitler put ~ogether his cultural<br />
machine. From this point on, that which had not been proven as healthy would<br />
be eliminated. With the demonstration <strong>of</strong> the Degenerate <strong>Art</strong> exhibition and the<br />
Great German <strong>Art</strong> Exhibition, there was no room for an alternative view. Already,<br />
Goebbels had forbade art criticism:<br />
I granted German critics four years after our assumption <strong>of</strong> power<br />
to adapt themselves to National Socialist principles ... Since the<br />
year 1936 has passed without any satisfactory improvement in art<br />
criticism, I am herewith forbidding, from this day on, the conduct<br />
<strong>of</strong> art criticism as it has been practiced to aate ... <strong>The</strong> art critic will<br />
be replaced by the art editor .. .In the future only those art editors<br />
will be allowed to report on art who approach the task with an<br />
undefiled heart and National socialist convictions.25<br />
To practice art criticism was to be critical <strong>of</strong> the art which was presented. And<br />
as only healthy art was to be presented, there would be no place for the art<br />
critic. What is more, to criticize the art that was presented was to be critical <strong>of</strong><br />
the work that presented the ideals Hitler had set for·the nation; therefore, to be<br />
critical <strong>of</strong> art was, by extension, to be critical <strong>of</strong> Hitler. Goebbels would continue<br />
to justify his ban on criticism through 1944, declaring that the ancients<br />
had disregarded art critics and had judged works for themselves. 26 However,<br />
the ban on criticism can also be seen as an attempt to mask the shallowness <strong>of</strong><br />
a heavily censored art meant for mass consumption.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Great German <strong>Art</strong> Exhibition was meant to underscore the <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
art's triumph over degenerate works as well as to demonstrate what the Haus<br />
der Deutschen Kunst would house. <strong>The</strong> building was to be the first <strong>of</strong> a new<br />
German artistic tradition, housing contemporary works to help further shape<br />
.18<br />
<strong>Art</strong> <strong>Criticism</strong>