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German History: 4 Culture - Weimar Germany - Coggle Diagram
German History: 4 Culture - Weimar Germany
Key Features
Modernism
Cosmopolitan Urbanism
Highly creative expenditure
Social and political criticism satirical
Abstract Expressionism
Emphasised artists inner emotions
Wassily Kandinsky was important figure (he taught at famous Bauhaus)
Showed freedom though expression through shapes and colours
Dadaism
avant-garde art movement which was new and experimental
It rejected traditional social norms and embraced 'anti art'
Hannah Hoch addressed issues through this art form (eg gender discrimination
New Objectivity
George Grosz with "The Pillars of Society" (hyprocrisy of the political and social elite)
Otto Dix with "Metropolis" (contrasts of urban life)
Provided realistic but satire art of social problems in post war Germany
Cinema
Outbreak of German Expressionist cinema which used visual distortion, symbolism and emotional intensity too show darker themes post WW1
Lots of use shadows which caused emotional intensity (edgy and anxious)
Fritz Lang with "Metropolis" 1927 (Science fiction film set in a divided futuristic city)
Theatre
"The Threepenny Opera" 1928 by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill
The Beggar's Opera was a critique of German society
Anti- War works
Artistic response to the trauma of WW1
Erich Marina Remarque's book 'All Quiet on the Western Front' then made into a film in 1930s
Otto Dix served on the front lines and then put his experiences into art
The Bauhaus school of art and design
Founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius and shut down by the Nazis in 1933
Wanted to dissolve boundaries between fine art and applied arts and unite it with industrial techniques
Wanted architecture and art to regenerate the working class and make complex art more affordable
Renowned for simplicity, clean lines, geometric shapes and focus on functionality
Resulted in the establishment of IKEA
Inspired Willis building in Ipswich and Apple designs
Music
Lots of American and jazz influence (Duke Ellington Orchestra)
Arnold Schoenberg abandoned pleasing chord structure to push back on classical music
Urban Culture
Vibrant, urban, cosmopolitan culture (Berlin espcially)
Popular entertainment included cinema and cabaret clubs (eg 1925 Josephine Baker with "Revue Negre")
Liberal attitude to sexuality eg gay writer Christopher Isherwood with "Goodbye to Berlin" 1939
New department stores eg Karstadt on Berlin's Hermannplatz in 1929
Urban life was celebrated with Walther Ruttmann's Berlin Symphony of a Great City (1927) which were daily shows along streets
Conservative Culture
Many uncomfortable and resisted change (wanted tradition)
Nazi's disrupted film showing of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' in 1930 seeing it as unpatriotic
Rejected the modern artwork and jazz music
Films reflected unease eg "The Blue Angel" 1930
Hans Grimm was a popular writer of fairytales which embraced tradition
Hiking became popular pastime
New Technology
1920s introduction of radio mass dissemination of information
Growth and innovation in Weimar cinema
1920s synchonised sound, lighting and camera development