Vinzent Identity and Image

Refugee Artists from Nazi Germany in Britain (1933-1945)
1. Auflage 2006
ISBN: 978-3-95899-303-7
Verlag: VDG Weimar - Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 400 Seiten

This book explores the image and identity of émigré painters, sculptors and graphic artists from Nazi Germany in Britain between 1933 and 1945. It focuses on a neglected field of Exile Studies, that of exiled artists in Britain. Methodologies used in this study have been developed by Exile Studies and History of Art, but also by Postcolonialism, scholars of which usually apply their ideas to the Afro-Asian emigration of the second part of the twentieth century. Thus this study represents methodologically a new way of looking at the emigration from Nazi Germany. Identity and Image is divided into five chapters: After an introductory Chapter One (historiography of the topic, methodology of the study, structure of the book), Chapter Two establishes socio-political patterns of emigration and provides an historical framework for Chapters Three and Four, which concentrate on the image and identity of the refugee artist, the former based on written sources and the latter on visual material. In detail, Chapter Three analyses the British image of the refugee artists and their works on the one hand and the émigrés' self-representations on the other, the latter exemplified by refugee organisations (the Free German League of Culture/Freier Deutscher Kulturbund, the Austrian Centre, the Anglo-Sudeten Club and the Czech Institute) and institutions founded by émigré artists (Jack Bilbo's Modern Art Gallery and Arthur Segal's Painting School). Chapter Four examines the works produced in internment and those exhibited and produced for the refugee organisations discussed in Chapter Three. Chapter Five discusses the results of this study in the light of three postcolonial concepts: diaspora communities, the notion of home and the gendered identity of the refugee. The appendix lists all painters, sculptors and graphic artists from Nazi Germany in Britain with biographical details. Apart from visual and written sources discussed for the first time, there are two major results of the study: First, although the artists were united as refugees, this unity did not lead to a unity in art - 'refugee art' is a construction put forward by the British press and the refugee organisations, particularly the Free German League of Culture. Second, contrary to claims that modern art was international and formed a universal unity that 'transgressed' nationality, neither the West/Europe nor modernism form unities; instead, in the 1930s and 1940s, cultures in Europe constructed conceptions of other European cultures on the basis of nation-state identities.

Zielgruppe

Kunsthistoriker, wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vinzent, Jutta

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;COVER;1
2;IMPRESSUM
;5
3;TABLE OF CONTENTS;6
4;ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;8
5;I INTRODUCTION;10
5.1;1. Historiographic Outline: From Betroffenen-Wissenschaft to a Theoretical Discourse of Exile;11
5.2;2. Towards a Methodology;20
5.3;3. Structure;22
6;II PATTERNS OF EMIGRATION. A SOCIO-POLITICAL FRAMEWORK;24
6.1;1. Becoming an Emigré: Jewish, Political and Cultural Persecution;24
6.2;2. Countries of Transit and Britain as an Exile Country;30
6.2.1;2.1 Exile Countries en Route;30
6.2.2;2.2 Emigrating to Britain;31
6.3;3. In Great Britain;35
6.3.1;3.1 Before World War II;35
6.3.2;3.2 Internment and Release;41
6.3.3;3.3 The War Years after Internment;48
6.4;4. After the End of World War II;55
7;III CONCEPTIONS OF REFUGEE ARTISTS;64
7.1;1. Refugees in General and Refugee Art and Artists in the Context of Modern Art;65
7.2;2. Refugee Associations;74
7.2.1;2.1 Self-Representations;74
7.2.2;2.2 British Conceptions and Supporters of the Associations;81
7.3;3. Institutions Founded by Emigré Artists;86
7.3.1;3.1 Jack Bilbo’s Modern Art Gallery;86
7.3.2;3.2 Arthur Segal’s Painting School;92
7.4;4. Summary;96
8;IV REFUGEE ARTISTS’ VISUAL NARRATIVES;98
8.1;1. Internment Art;99
8.1.1;1.1 Limitations of Subject Matter and Style;100
8.1.2;1.2 Inventiveness with Material and Technique;107
8.1.3;1.3 Summary: A Stylistic Unity Characterised by Gender;108
8.2;2. Art for Refugee Associations;109
8.2.1;2.1 Joint Ventures: United in Persecution and Being in Exile;109
8.2.2;2.2 The “Fine Arts Section” of the Free German League of Culture;112
8.2.2.1;Exhibits and Illustrations;112
8.2.2.2;The President: Oskar Kokoschka and His Political Paintings;120
8.2.2.3;A Key Figure: John Heartfield and His Anti-National Socialist and Communist Photomontages;129
8.2.2.4;Concluding Remarks;136
8.2.3;2.3 The Austrian Centre’s “Association of Austrian Painters, Sculptors and Architects”;137
8.2.3.1;Exhibits and Illustrations;138
8.2.3.2;The President: Georg Ehrlich and His Sculptures and Drawings;141
8.2.3.3;A Major Representative: Otto Flatter and His Anti-National Socialist Caricature;144
8.2.3.4;Concluding Remarks;156
8.2.4;2.4 The Anglo-Sudeten Club and the Czech Institute;157
8.2.4.1;Pro-Soviet Illustrations in Einheit and Wolfgang Schlosser’s Austrian Communist Drawings;157
8.2.4.2;Exhibiting the Works of Czech Citizens and Marie-Louise von Motesiczky’s Portraits of Women;159
8.2.5;2.5 Concluding Remarks;164
9;V CONCLUSION: EXILE AND POSTCOLONIAL DISCOURSE;168
9.1;1. Summary;168
9.2;2. Outlooks;169
9.2.1;2.1 Diaspora Communities;170
9.2.2;2.2 The Concept of Home;172
9.2.3;2.3 The Gendered Identity of the Refugee;174
9.3;3. The Contribution of the Present Work to the Postcolonial Debate;175
10;ENDNOTES;178
10.1;I Introduction;178
10.2;II Patterns of Emigration. A Socio-Political Framework;181
10.3;III Conceptions of Refugee Artists;196
10.4;IV Refugee Artists’ Visual Narratives;207
10.5;V Conclusion: Exile and Postcolonial Discourse;218
10.6;Appendix;219
11;ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY;220
11.1;Abbreviations;220
11.2;1 Documents and Sources;221
11.3;2 Secondary Literature;230
12;APPENDIX;248
12.1;LIST OF REFUGEE ARTISTS (PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND GRAPHIC ARTISTS) FROM NAZI GERMANY IN BRITAIN (1933–1945);250
12.2;LIST OF PEUDONYMS AND OTHER NAMES USED IN EMIGRATION AN BEYOND;296
12.3;LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS;300
13;ILLUSTRATIONS;308
14;INDEX;392