What were the cultural
achievements of the Weimar period?
Activities
Resources
In pairs or small groups research and
make either linear (i.e. not interactive) PowerPoint
presentation or Website on the cultural
achievements of Weimar Germany. Which ever format you choose, your
assignment should make the most of the multimedia potential
of the software. There should be four sections to
your presentation:
American Influence
Art, Architecture and Design
Cinema and Photography
Music and Literature
Grey and Little (27-29)
You will be shown extracts from two films: All Quiet on the
Western Front and Metropolis
The following names might be a good place to start: Bertold
Brecht, Erich Remarque, Arnold Zweig, Hermann Hesse,Stefan George, Thomas Mann, Alban Berg, Arnold Schaumburg, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, George Grosz, Walter
Gropius, Herman Mathesius, Mendelsohn...
no clues as to what they were famous for I'm afraid!
Individual assignment based upon above
group work. Produce a one page revision sheet on four themes listed
above: American Influence, Architecture and Design, Cinema and Photography,
Music and Literature and a general introduction that explains
modernism, expressionism, avante-garde and the attitude of the Nazis
(degenerate art).
As
above and on Nazi views of 'degenerate art' see: http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/artDegen.htm
The site includes links to examples of Weimar art (and other 'degenerate'
art) in museums around the world today.
'In July 1937, Adolf Hitler's Nazi party
mounted an exhibition of confiscated art, "Entartete Kunst,"
meaning, "Degenerate Art." It showcased--and
ridiculed--the work of contemporary artists such as Max Beckman,
Emil Nolde, Otto Dix, Oskar Kokoschka, and over 200 others. The
exhibition was intended to show the public the insanity, atrocity,
and depravity of the modern art movement. Artists included in the
show, many of whom are now recognized as modern masters, were
depicted as demented, deranged, and subhuman. On March 20th, 1939,
the Degenerate Art Commission ordered over one thousand paintings
and almost four thousand watercolors and drawings burned in the
courtyard of a fire station in Berlin. ' from http://www.ovationtv.com/artszone/programs/degenerate/
