The antisemitic exhibition 'Entartete "Kunst"- three items

The antisemitic exhibition 'Entartete "Kunst"- three items

* Entartete "Kunst" Austellungsführer - Guide to the Degenerate 'Art' Exhibition - Berlin, [1937]. German. First Edition. 30, [2] pages, 21 cm. Very good condition.

* Accompanying book to the exhibition DEUTSCHE KUNST und Entartete Kunst "- German art and degenerate art by Dr. Adolf Dresler, Munich 1938, first edition. 80 p. Very good condition.

* Official souvenir postcard from the exhibition Entartete "Kunst" with a photograph of the building where the exhibition took place in Berlin with the sign of the exhibition: "Entartete Kunst" with Hitler stamp and special stamp of the exhibition - February-April 1938.

The antisemitic exhibition Entartete "Kunst" ["Degenerate Art"], initiated and run by the German Reich Propaganda Office, opened in Munich in July 1937 and featured some 650 works by about 100 famous artists confiscated from museums and galleries throughout Germany [including Chagall, Monk, Matisse, and Kandinsky]. At the same time about 20,000 works of art found in public museums in Germany were sold or destroyed. The works were hung in the exhibition rooms in a chaotic crowded manner, and were accompanied by text labels that ridicule the art.

The booklet and accompanying book for the exhibition open with a venomous antisemitic introduction in which the author describes that the purpose of the exhibition is to show the public the 'decay of civilization' through original works of the human race, facing the great turning point in German works striving for a clean and progressive future. The Nazis called this art an "insult to German feelings"."Degenerate art" was defined as non-German, Jewish, or communist art in nature. The exhibition is designed to present everything that the Nazis perceived as corrupt, degenerate and perverted in modern art. In the accompanying book, a "degenerate" work was presented opposed to a German-made work (page to page) as for the purpose of comparing and highlighting the 'rotten' versus the 'perfect'.

The exhibition traveled to several cities in Germany until 1941. It was accompanied by propaganda materials such as pamphlets, postcards and posters which created the antisemitic atmosphere within the framework of Nazi propaganda. Culturally, the exhibition was the culmination of the presentation of the Nazi 'enlightenment' and 'progress' in the face of the Jewish 'decay' that threatens to destroy the world in the field of art as well. The entry to the exhibition was free and was visited by over two million people during the years of its presentation. During the exhibition avant-garde German artists were now classified as enemies of the state and a threat to German culture. Many went into exile, others continued to live in Germany, but were banned from teaching at universities and the Gestapo would make surprise visits to them to make sure they were not engaged in art. Jewish artists who did not flee were sent to the extermination camps.

The three items are in very good condition.