Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung

Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung
Name	Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung
Native name	Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung
Location	Munich
First	1937
Last	1944
Venue	Haus der Deutschen Kunst
Organizer	Reichskulturkammer
Type	Art exhibition

Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung was an annual state‑sanctioned art exhibition held in Munich from 1937 to 1944 at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst. Conceived under the auspices of Adolf Hitler and administered by the Reichskulturkammer, it sought to promote officially approved visual arts alongside competitions and purchases by institutions such as the Deutsches Reich procurement agencies. The exhibitions became a focal point for debates involving figures like Paul Troost, Ludwig von Schwanthaler, Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch, and the conservative art establishment represented by Hans von Tschammer und Osten.

Background and Origins

The exhibition emerged from cultural policies shaped by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Alfred Rosenberg, and the Reichskulturkammer after the 1933 purge of artists associated with the Weimar Republic, the Bauhaus, and the Neue Sachlichkeit. Responses to the 1937 simultaneous displays—the Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich and the state presentations at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst—involved curators such as Hans Posse, Karl von Lützow, Paul Westheim, and administrators tied to Martin Bormann. Earlier precedents included exhibitions at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Glaspalast, and shows promoted by patrons like Alfred Kerr and Max Liebermann.

Organization and Venues

Administratively, the exhibition was run by the Reichskulturkammer under the supervision of the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, with logistical input from the Deutsche Arbeitsfront and local bodies in Bavaria. The permanent site, the Haus der Deutschen Kunst designed by Paul Troost and completed by German Bestelmeyer, provided galleries similar in scale to the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München and hosted state acquisitions by institutions such as the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Satellite displays and traveling selections involved venues linked to Reichsparteitag programming in Nuremberg and cultural offices in Wien and Danzig.

Exhibitions and Notable Works

Exhibited art emphasized themes favored by Adolf Hitler and ideologues like Alfred Rosenberg—heroic realism, rural genre scenes, and martial tableau—produced by artists whose works resonated with audiences who had previously seen canvases in institutions like the Kunsthalle Hamburg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and the Nationalgalerie Berlin. Notable paintings and sculptures shown included works by Arno Breker, Adolf Ziegler, Anna von Hausswolff, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Emil Nolde, and Christian Schad—although several named artists also featured in debates surrounding the Entartete Kunst exhibition. Purchases and commissions from the exhibitions entered holdings of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, and municipal collections in München, while some individual pieces toured exhibitions connected to the Kulturgutverluste programs and wartime cultural diplomacy promoted by Alfred Rosenberg.

Artists, Selection, and Jury

Selection committees included officials and artists such as Hans Posse, Adolf Ziegler, Arno Breker, Paul Hartmann (actor), and curators drawn from the Akademie der Künste (Berlin), the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, and the Reichskunstkammer. The juries operated under criteria articulated by Adolf Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg, and the Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda and reflected rivalries among figures like Gustav Stresemann’s cultural heirs, advocates from the Bündische Jugend scene, and older academic circles exemplified by Ludwig Thiersch and Friedrich von Thiersch. Many artists whose work was accepted had prior exhibitions at the Secession societies, the Glaspalast, or the Kunstverein networks; others had been excluded by purges associated with the Entartete Kunst show.

Reception and Criticism

Reception ranged from official praise in organs linked to Joseph Goebbels, Völkischer Beobachter, and the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung to satirical and scholarly criticism in circles connected to émigré journals featuring writers such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Stefan Zweig, and critics like Siegfried Kracauer. International reactions involved commentary from institutions like the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée du Louvre, and critics in Paris, London, and New York City, while dissenting German voices included members of the Bauhaus diaspora, artists tied to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and émigrés in Zürich and Stockholm. Legal and moral controversies touched holdings later implicated in restitution claims under protocols influenced by the London Charter and postwar measures by the Allied Control Council.

Legacy and Post‑War Assessment

Postwar evaluations by institutions such as the Bundesrepublik Deutschland cultural agencies, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and museum professionals at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz have scrutinized provenance, acquisitions, and the role of curators like Hans Posse and Adolf Ziegler. Scholarship from historians affiliated with University of Munich, Humboldt University of Berlin, Free University of Berlin, and international researchers at the Institute of Contemporary History (Munich) has recontextualized works displayed at the exhibitions alongside restitution cases pursued in courts influenced by the Nürnberg Trials jurisprudence and later archival projects by the Bundesarchiv and the Central Collecting Point. The Haus der Deutschen Kunst itself, later the site of exhibitions curated by the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus network and the Pinakothek der Moderne, remains a contested architectural and museological symbol in debates led by institutions including the Bayerische Staatsregierung and civic bodies in Munich.

Category:Exhibitions in Germany