Why You Shouldn’t Miss Mia’s Modern Art and Politics in Germany, 1910–1945

Article by Becky Fillinger

Minneapolis Institute of Art's exhibition, Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin – Minneapolis Institute of Art, explores a turbulent period when artistic experimentation collided with dramatic political change. Bringing together paintings, sculpture, prints, and design pieces created during the final years of the German Empire, WWI, the fragile democracy of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Nazi Party rule, WWII and the Holocaust - the exhibition reveals how artists responded to war, social upheaval, modern technology and authoritarianism. The exhibit is on view through July 19 and you may want to visit more than once. Get tickets here.

Why might you want to visit more than once?

There are more than 70 paintings and sculptures on display. Each piece was selected for the story it tells of the art movements and German political history at the time.

Let me tell the story of just one object on display – Rudolf Belling’s Brass Head (1925).

The Brass Head sculpture is considered important because it helped mark a turning point in modern sculpture during the early 20th century. Rather than simply reproducing a realistic human likeness, Belling simplified the face into bold, geometric forms, reflecting the influence of modern movements such as Cubism and Expressionism. This was in contrast to traditional portrait sculpture and helped bring about a new way of imagining the human form. The principles of the “Belling System,” as he called it, included a conception of sculpture as seen from many different perspectives and the inclusion of empty space as an elementary compositional element. This was in opposition to the Nazi Party official viewpoint that sculpture had only one "best view."

Brass Head was classified as "degenerate art" by the Nazis. Degenerate Art was also the name of a 1937 exhibition held by the Nazis in Munich, consisting of 650 modernist artworks that the Nazis had taken from museums. More than 3 million people toured the exhibition over a six-month period. Brass Head was one of the sculptures in the exhibition.

Exhibit from Degenerate Art Munich 1937. Brass Head is on the far right pedestal.

(Search Getty 545725245 for a photograph of German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels touring the exhibit – Brass Head is in this photo. I did not have permission from Getty Images to include that photo.)

I asked Tom Rassieur, Mia's John E. Andrus III Curator of Prints and Drawings and curator of this show about the importance of Brass Head and what became of it after the Munich show. He responded, "Rudolf Belling's Brass Head is a prime example of artistic exploration - in this case, the attempt to find a Machine-Age esthetic for the human form - being swept up in politics. The National Gallery in Berlin purchased the sculpture in 1928, only to see it seized in 1937 by the Nazis - who put it into their "Degenerate Art" exhibition, then consigned it for sale to get hard foreign currency. After World War II, East German authorities discovered it on the premises of a deceased art dealer and placed it in the Nationalgalerie of East Berlin. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it entered the Neue Nationalgalerie that we know today with the consolidation of the collections of East and West Berlin."

And so, this one piece – Brass Head – has quite the backstory. The same is true for the other 69 artworks in this special exhibition. Take your time as you visit – you’ll be so grateful that this exhibition was assembled for us to enjoy.

Note: This exhibition includes depictions of nudity, scenes of war and violence, and Nazi and Holocaust imagery.