Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Crazy Role Play Exercise, a.k.a. The HH 214 Revolution, Take Two
Each of you is assigned to one historical "character."
If your character is mainly an artist or aesthetic theorist, you should start by finding one piece of art he would like and another he wouldn't (the "like" could be his own art). Explain why in 2-4 sentences. Then try to figure out how that art might relate to his political stance. Theorize in 2-4 sentences... you may have to guess his political beliefs. If your character is mainly a political doer, you should start by sketching her political beliefs in 2-4 sentences, then try to find one piece of art she would like and another she wouldn't. Then explain why this would fit with her political stance in 2-4 sentences.
You should all do this assignment for Friday and post it to the blog in reply to this entry. If there is a * next to your name, I will ask you to present your images & explanations at the podium on Friday. If there isn't a * next to your name, you'll present on Monday. I know students are scared of presentations sometimes, but this really isn't a big deal, and I'll guide you with questions as you present. Just be prepared to say something about/as your character.
I recommend Artstor for finding the images... this will actually give you a head start on the next "Discovery Task"... in fact, you'll be about 1/3 done before you even start. It will also give you a head start on the next essay, which is about analyzing visual images. On the Artstor site, click "enter digital library." You have to register and make a password, and the first time you use it, you have to do it from on campus.
READING REMINDER: Be comfortable with Reader 9-42 and Guide ch. 15
Disclaimer 1: We are focusing heavily on visual art because it ties into essay #5, and because it's easier to view on the projector. But playwrights, composers, poets, etc. were equally important to these various social and political movements.
Disclaimer 2: The other problem here is what is known as the "great man" distortion... the idea that history boils down to a small number of important thinkers/makers/doers, a small number of geniuses, heroes, or villains... Moeller already warned us against that kind of thinking in his agitprop trial against Lupton... still, it's a useful shorthand... we should just remember that we're dealing with a lot of thinkers/makers/doers who rejected this idea, in particular the various socialists and communists who saw the entire people or entire working class as the "hero" or major historical actor
"Thinkers" (Political Theorists)
MARXISTS:
*Karl Marx [Sarah]
(Marx famously rejected the distinction between thinking and doing, however... these terms can be reductive)
"Doers" (Politicians/Activists)
GERMAN EMPIRE:
*Wilhelm II [Yen]
-Paul von Hindenberg [Scarlett]
-Max von Baden [x]
MODERATE SOCIALISTS: (a.k.a. "Majority" and "Independent" Socialists):
*Friedrich Ebert [Lorena]
-Philipp Scheidemann [Thao]
-Matthias Erzberger [x]
-Walther Rathenau [x]
SPARTACUS LEAGUE (a.k.a. KPD, Communists):
*Karl Liebknecht [Grant]
-Rosa Luxemburg [Connie]
-Alfred Kimenyi [x]... a.k.a. "Durus"... not a perfect fit here, but kinda
POST-IMPERIAL RIGHT-WING (a.k.a. Army, Freikorps):
-Hermann Ehrhardt [Rante]
-Wolfgang Kapp [x]
ALLIED NATIONS (a.k.a. Germany's World War I enemies, creators of Versailles Treaty):
*David Lloyd George [Chris]
-Henri Poincare or Georges Clemenceau [x]
-Woodrow Wilson
-Nicholas II [x]
SOVIET COMMUNISTS (a.k.a. Bolsheviks, October Revolution):
-Vladimir Lenin [Aidin]
-Leon Trotsky [x]
"Makers" (Artists or Aesthetic Theorists)
ACADEMICS (e.g. Dresden Academy of Fine Arts)
*Oskar Kokoschka [Nicholas]
BAUHAUS (affiliated with November Group & Worker's Council for Arts):
*Walter Gropius [Martha]
-Max Pechstein [Alyssa]
-Friedrich Wolf [x]... kinda sorta... I think he fits best here
EXPRESSIONISTS:
*Max Beckmann [Amanda So]
-Otto Dix [Amanda Hansen]
-Kasimir Edschmid [x]
-Theodor Daubler [x]
-Kurt Hiller [x]
DADAISTS:
*George Grosz [Ankita] (a.k.a. Georg Grosz)
-John Heartfield [Marko] (a.k.a. Helmut Herzfeld)
-Hannah Hoch [Alyssa]
-Tristan Tzara [x]
-Hugo Ball [x]
-Raoul Hausmann [x]
-Jean Arp [x]
-Marcel Janco [x]
NAZIS:
-Adolph Hitler [x]
-Joseph Goebbels [Aaron]
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WALTER GROPIUS (MAKER)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huntfor.com/absoluteig/gallery/Feininger/feininger1.jpg
Walter Gropius was a modernist architect. He valued clean lines with little ornamentation. His political views were not highly apparent, but I know that he moved to USA in order to escape from Nazi Germany, and that he designed buildings to be working class friendly. He even proclaimed his design school, Bauhaus, to be unpolitical.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Dove.jpg
I do not think that Gropius would have liked this artwork because not only does it highlight a political party he was not fond of, but it does not contain clean lines. This image is busy with life-like characters and ornamentation. Artwork completed at Bauhaus was much more abstract.
Oskar Kokoschka
ReplyDeleteThis man fought in the Austrian army during WW1 but was injured and deemed mentally unstable by the hospital. The Nazi's deemed his art as degenerate so he fled to Prague, then fled to the UK when the Czechs were mobilizing their army. I think we can tell from his actions that he does not really have a political stance and only seeks to promote his expressionistic art.
http://members.cox.net/valkyrie123/Kokoschka-WindBraut.jpg
Piece of art that he like, it was dedicated to this girl he had an affair with, Alma Mahler.
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/2001-3/images/b4.jpg
Painting by Maurice Braun, he would not like this because it is impressionism, something he did not promote nor draw.
Philipp Scheidemann, a German socialist politician, declared a German republic (better known as the Weimar Republic) on the Reichstag balcony in 1918. Before that, in 1903, he entered the Reichstag as a member of the Social Democratic Party. He was an effective orator and was very much an anti-monarchist. Rather, he desired to re-establish Germany as a liberal democracy. He was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic supporters of the First World War.
ReplyDeletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Ddp20.jpg
Philipp Scheidemann would approve of this piece because it represents his views as a liberal democratic. His goal in the Weimar Republic was to prevent the government from becoming too “left” or “right” winged because he believed that it would lead to dictatorship. Hence is why he is considered a moderate socialist.
http://library.artstor.org/library/iv2.html?parent=true#
I don’t believe that Scheidemann would approve of this piece because it promotes Adolf Hitler who favored totalitarian anti-liberalism. The Weimar republic was never established because of Hitler and his diligence to attack the promotion of liberal democracy.
John Heartfield
ReplyDeletehttp://heathenworld.com/swastika/Images/heartfield_butter.jpg
John Heartfield is associated as being one of the main artist in photomontage. He would use photomontage to send political messages to the masses. This image, which he created, is called "Hurray, the butter is all gone!". In this photo Heartfield comments on how iron makes a country strong and butter only makes the people fat.
http://horsesbymcgee.com/images/pagemaster/Big_Buckn_in_Big_Bend500.jpg
John Heartfield probably would not have like this painting due to its lack of political message. Also the painting expresses nothing of human emotion or feeling as it only portrays nature.
Note: John Heartfield broke from the Dada movement. He also changed his name as a form of protest to German political actions and in a way, to make it sound less German.
Hannah Hoch
ReplyDeletehttp://harpymarx.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/hhoch1.jpg
Being a member of the Berlin Club Dada, Hannah Hoch’s political views were similar to those of other Dadaists; she was critical of the Weimar Republic and supported radical movements and revolution. However, much of the political commentary of her art focused not on the state of the country or the war, but on the treatment of women in Germany. “The Beautiful Girl” is one such piece that showcases Hoch’s discontent with the faceless roles females were given and their lack of freedom and control. As a feminist, Hoch sought to defend the “new woman” of the Weimar Republic through her art.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Kirchner-Street.jpg
Hoch probably would have not have liked “Street, Berlin”, an expressionist painting by Ernst Kirchner, because of its expressionistic style and because it was the kind of art that promoted the degradation of women. As in this painting, women were typically portrayed as prostitutes in paintings, and Hoch was trying to change that view through her own art.
Note: Hoch wasn’t in line with all Dadaist sentiments, as they too were probably not entirely taken by the idea of women having more power.
Otto Dix-
ReplyDeleteWould Like:
http://www.thecityreview.com/arcadi10.jpg
Dix’s style is grotesque and horrifying, which reflect his traumatizing experiences in World War I. He was an expressionist so his paintings did not depict reality, rather an abstract and personal style linked to the emotions.
Would Dislike:
http://blog.woundmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/gustave-courbet.jpg
This painting by Gustave Courbet is a part of the realist movement in the mid 19th century. Realist painters’ style is precise, detailed and unembellished because they reject imaginative or unrealistic images.
Otto Dix was first influenced by the Dadaist movement in the earlier stages of his career as an artist; however after he returned from the war, his work began to represent more abstract and nightmarish images. However, the Dadaist influence can still be traced when considering the distortion of the visual representation. By the mid 1920s Dix was very critical of contemporary German society and Nazi ideals (later of which he was arrested for allegedly conspiring against Hitler).
Friedrich Ebert
ReplyDeleteEbert was the political leader of the new government for only a few months and eventually led the split of political views because he was in favor of the war. When the split occurred he became the leader of the ‘moderate revisionist wing’ and he believed that this war was something that they collectively needed to conduct as a defense and it also represented patriotism for the country.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERebertdraw.JPG
This seems like something he would be okay with; even though there’s a deeper message behind it, it’s not too abstract, you can see the politics occurring and you can see how they’re riding Ebert because he’s not independent and he’s also not a communist.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/beckmann/night.jpg
Ebert probably wouldn’t like this because it wasn’t as moderate as his views were; it seems to be crossing the line of being too expressionistic rather than in between.
Max Pechstein
ReplyDelete•Would like: Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
•Would not like: The Last Communion of Saint Jerome by Sandro Botticelli
Max Pechstein would like Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night because Van Gogh inspired Pechstein to be an expressionist painter. Pechstein would not like The Last Communion of Saint Jerome by Sandro Botticelli because he was more interested and into expressionist paintings, not religious Italian Renaissance paintings that were supposed to portray perfection.
(Guessing Pechstein’s political beliefs): The Nazis were against expressionism and admired Romanticism; they confiscated Pechstein’s paintings from Germany and disallowed him from teaching at Berlin Academy. I am guessing that he believed that expressionism allowed the existence of freedom, which is what the Nazis opposed. I think he was a left-winged thinker, who overall had a hippy attitude toward life, painting whatever he felt like expressing.
GEORGE GROSZ
ReplyDeleteWould like:
http://library.artstor.org/library/iv2.html?parent=true
He would like this painting because Grosz wanted art to portray the lifestyle of the working class people. He didn't want art to merely be an ornament in the houses of the bourgeoisie.
Wouldn't like:
http://library.artstor.org/library/iv2.html?parent=true#
Again, Grosz wanted art to reflect what was REALLY happening with the working class people.
George Grosz was a Dadaist. He was unhappy with the Weimar Republic. He wanted a more radical revolution. He also antiwar and against wartime propaganda. They were anti art and completely ignored aesthetics. They believed that the bourgeois had let to the first world war and agreed with the communists after the war.
Doer: Wilhelm II
ReplyDeleteWilhelm II was influenced by religious mysticism, militarism, anti-semitism despite his parent's efforts to give him a liberal education. He was a conservative who proved uncontrollable. Wilhelm wanted to make Germany all powerful. His policies and rein lead to Germany's downfall; Socialists declaring republic soon after.
http://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=%2BTpHfCYqOCYrLiYkFTx8S3EoWXotflx%2B&userId=gDZFczAg
Wilhelm would approve of this Renaissance style painting because it represented a traditional view of how painting should be. Also, it connects to Wilhelm's interest in religious mysticism.
http://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=8CJGczI9NzldLS1WEDhzTnkrX3gveVRxdCg%3D&userId=gDZFczAg
He would not approve of this because it promotes abstract thinking and can be considered too liberal.
Rosa Luxemburg
ReplyDeleteRosa Luxemburg was a leader of the radical Spartacus League, alongside Karl Liebknecht. As a Marxist theorist, she, like Liebknecht, wished to transform Germany into a government of workers’ and soldiers’ councils emulative of the republic established by the Bolsheviks in Russia. She believed that the war was only fought for the sake of capitalist profits and imperialism; an end of capitalism means an end to war.
http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/img/obra422/1978.23_569_600.jpg
She would not like this painting, because although it makes a statement about the evils of capitalism, it seems too chaotic and does not make that statement clear. Luxemburg would prefer a painting with a more straightforward point, such as:
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/blog/images/march06/heartfield.jpg
Hermann Ehrdaht was a leader of a Freikorp unit that took over Berlin in March of 1920. On the political spectrum he was located on the extreme-right: the Treaty of Versailles was an insult to the German people, suspected the German army of being betrayed by people on the home front, accused the Jewish of seeking to control the world, etc. Very conservative man.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=%2BSxWZCQ7RDQyLyw6eDx4Q3Ym&userId=gDZFczMh
I think that Ehrdaht would appreciate this painting, as the traitors he would see within the German army would be portrayed as inhuman: these men are distorted and bug-like. There is a sense of resentment,and disillusionment with the army.
http://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=8CJGczI9NzldLS1WEDhzTnkrX3gseVx8fSk%3D&userId=gDZFczMh
Erdaht would not appreciate this image, as it represents the change and revolution he wants to suppress; Erdanht would much rather restore the status quo before the war.
Max Beckmann
ReplyDeleteMax Beckmann was a German expressionist painter, sculptor, and writer whose work--mostly paintings--was tremendously influenced by his experiences in the first and second World Wars, the political upheavals during the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of Nazism, his exile in Amsterdam, and his move to the United States. Due to his refusal to join any art movement, he kept his focus on new artistic developments; his style, however, after World War I, still was closely related to German expressionism as well as Cubism. In regards to art on his political stance, any art that scorns Hitler (who also hated modern art and deemed Beckmann as a degenerate artist) and Nazism would be approved by Beckmann.
He would like
http://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=8CJGczI9NzldLS1WEDhzTnkrX3kvel51cyc%3D&userId=gDZFczMs"
because it captures a scene that takes place during his time; it perhaps can explain deep mysteries that he thinks exists within human existence.
He would not like
http://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/nazi-propaganda.jpg
because it brings Hitler and Nazism into a good light.
Paul Von Hindenberg was the second president of the German Empire. Before he became president, he was the general of the German army. Hindenberg's military abilities were not strong, but he had many loyal and talented subordinates working for him. Hindenberg was a firm monarchist, and there were many times when he publicly announced his retirement, but he was pressured to run against Wilhelm Marx. Hindenberg won the election after the second round of voting in 1925. During his presidency, Hindenberg wanted Germany to be the republican equivalent of a constitutional monarch.
ReplyDeletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Emperor_Taizong_in_Dunhuang.jpg
Hindenberg may not like this painting because this painting show the emperor having absolute power. Instead, Hindenberg may appreciate this painting:
http://www.artmargins.com/content/art/tabakova/On_The_Peaceful_Fields.JPG
This painting reflects a peaceful environment that Hindenberg has been craving to experience after war. He's tired. He wants rest, and to rest forever.
http://library.artstor.org/library/iv2.html?parent=true
ReplyDeleteDavid Lloyd George was the Prime minister of Britian during World War 1. He was a political doer, who had a large hand in the treaty of Versaile. He also was in charge at the height of the British Empire, and his goal during the war was to protect the British Commonwealth.
Even though this image is from World War 2, PM George would love this image. Simply, it shows the power of britain and its ability to come together to defeat any who would threaten it.
Lenin was the first head of the USSR and inspired the communist revolution. It's most likely that the hanging of his brother was the spark which drove Lenin to promote a new type of government. He emphasized the importance of the working class.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crestock.com/uploads/blog/2008/propagandaposters/29.jpg
He would like this because it clearly supports him and his ideas. The man shown is a strong working man who seems extremely focused on his important task.
http://shuperlocodesign.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/grosz_eclipse-of-the-sun_1926.jpg
He wouldn't like this painting because although it is against capitalism, it's message is too subtle and hidden. Lenin would prefer a much more direct approach.
Hindenberg cont.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=8D1EczUtPCgoOSY0Y1N7R3spXXMmfVt5&userId=gDZFczIl
Hindenberg would probably like this painting because it supported his presidency. It also showed a giant man sweeping away the Nazis and communists, parties which he did not trust.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/images/art/padua.jpg
Hindenberg initially did not trust Hitler or the Nazis, and therefore would not want Nazis to be in complete power. Although he later became a support of Hitler, he did not completely support the Nazis.
So I did some more research on what Otto Dix would'nt like because I wasn't too confidence about my previous example and i think this would be more befitting from what i had originally chosen:
ReplyDeletehttp://arttoheartweb.com/images/Claude%20Monet%20Water%20Lily%20Pond2.jpg
http://www.artstor.org/artstor/ViewImages?id=8D1EczUtPCgoOSY0Y1N7R3spXXMkfFNw&userId=gDZFdDUn
ReplyDelete