Abstract

In the National Socialist conception of art, “blood” and “race” were the sources of artistic intuition. The photo shows the supposedly distorted representation of German peasants by the “Jewish-Bolshevist” artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, three leading representatives of German Expressionism. In contrast, “truly German” artists such as Leopold Schmutzler were said to strive solely for beauty and perfection.

Degenerate Art: “German Peasants – From a Jewish Perspective” (1937)

Source

Source: Exhibition “Degenerate Art” in the arcades of the Munich Hofgarten (opened on July 19, 1937).
bpk-Bildagentur, image number 30024682. For rights inquiries, please contact Art Resource at requests@artres.com (North America) or bpk-Bildagentur at kontakt@bpk-bildagentur.de (for all other countries).

Recommended Citation

Degenerate Art: “German Peasants – From a Jewish Perspective” (1937), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/nazi-germany-1933-1945/ghdi:image-2081> [May 11, 2024].

Related Sources

Degenerate Art: Exhibition Guide (1937)

Working Maidens, Painting by Leopold Schmutzler (1940)

Letter by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner to the Prussian Academy of Art (July 12, 1937)

Storage Room in Niederschönhausen Castle for Confiscated Works of Degenerate Art, including Works by Pablo Picasso and Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1937)

Storage Room in Niederschönhausen Castle for Confiscated Works of Degenerate Art, including Works by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Gauguin (1937)