
German art between the wars

From Augustus, to Mussolini, and now Bulgari, the long strange history of the Mausoleum of Augustus.

Arndt’s choice to pose among so many textures, clothes, and props suggests she was aware of the power of photography to interrogate gender roles.
Gertrud Arndt, Self-Portrait with Veil

Who was this dancer, and why was her body not shown?
Lotte Jacobi, Head of a Dancer

Horst's Mainbocher Corset photograph journeyed across oceans and time to transform Vogue into a concept and a verb.
Horst P. Horst, Mainbocher Corset, Paris

Explore the concept of ‘Degenerate Art’, a term adopted by the Nazi Party in 1920s Germany to describe art that did not conform to their ideal vision of the world.
What is: Degenerate Art?

In Rome, murals were harnessed to the political agenda of 1930s Fascism, a one-party state led by an authoritarian ruler.
Murals and Public Art in 1930s Rome

The German Neue Sachlichkeit painters lived through the violence of World War I and their art reveals the disillusionment and cynicism that resulted from their often psychologically-shattering experiences.
Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) – An Introduction

“The Bauhaus believes the machine to be our modern medium of design and seeks to come to terms with it.”
The Bauhaus: Marcel Breuer

Today, Bauhaus designs are so familiar and so simple that they don’t seem to have required a designer, but they were as radical in their time as they are commonplace now.
The Bauhaus, an Introduction

When female applicants at the Bauhaus threatened to equal or even outnumber male applicants, the masters at the school agreed to channel women into the pottery, bookbinding, and weaving workshops.
The Bauhaus: Marianne Brandt

Nazi violence forced many artists and intellectuals to leave Germany in the 1930s, and like Grosz, many came to the United States.
George Grosz, Remembering

Moholy-Nagy claimed to create these objects without touching them or even seeing them—how does that work?
László Moholy-Nagy, Telephone Pictures

The first of many buildings commissioned by Hitler, this was meant to seem timeless, like ancient ruins.
Paul Troost, House of (German) Art

A worm’s eye view: this photograph upends our expectations, helping us think more deeply about seeing.
László Moholy-Nagy, Climbing the Mast

Sander documented German people from all walks of life, but the goals of his project remain unclear.
August Sander, Portraits

A Czech journalist is depicted as a collage of modern technology. What would Umbo make of our 21st-century tech?
Umbo, The Roving Reporter

Klee playfully evokes sound, energy, and motion with these mischievous birds—all in two dimensions.
Paul Klee, Twittering Machine (Die Zwitscher-Maschine)

This woodcut embodies the hopes of the Bauhaus, a new German school for craft and architecture.
Lyonel Feininger, Cathedral for Program of the ...

Moholy-Nagy influenced the Bauhaus in its shift toward industrial aesthetics and materials.
László Moholy-Nagy, Composition A.XX

Unusually, two figures make up this self-portrait, which is all sexuality but no passion.