Germany in the 1920s and 1930s mixed post-WWI trauma and economic strife with emancipation, emotional release and hope. Those two decades also saw the rise of New Objectivity in German art: the topic of the Leopold Museum’s Splendor and Misery exhibition.
- Around 150 works
- A return to reality in all its facets
- Intriguing look into an era and movement
- Runs May 25 – Sept 29, 2024
- Book tickets* for the Leopold Museum
- See also:
New Objectivity in Germany
(View of the exhibition © Leopold Museum, Vienna, Photo: Lisa Rastl)
History is full of complex eras that brought forth particular art movements.
Imagine Germany after WWI; a country in transition.
Riven by the horrors of war and its disastrous psychological and socioeconomic impacts.
But also experiencing the return of hope, some kind of joie de vivre, emancipation and technological advances.
A glass that was half empty or half full. Or actually both.
Such combinations create a tension that brings a response from artists. In Germany, it gave rise to New Objectivity: reflecting the times in art with a fresh and needed realism.
(Käthe Kollwitz, The Survivors. Poster Against the War, commissioned by the International Federation of Trade Unions, no script, 1923 © Private Collection Vienna, Photo: Leopold Museum, Vienna)
The title of the Splendor and Misery exhibition at the Leopold Museum captures the era and its representation in New Objectivity well. A movement strongly anchored in a period and place.
Around 150 pieces of art (mostly paintings and graphic works) take us through different themes, each reflecting aspects of reality: the spectrum of human existence.
From the trauma of war’s consequences to wild entertainments.
From social outcasts to sexual liberation.
From poverty to technological progress.
And all ending in the abrupt nightmare of National Socialism.
(View of the exhibition © Leopold Museum, Vienna, Photo: Lisa Rastl)
The range is large.
So you have Käthe Kollwitz’s 1923 The Survivors (pictured further up this article) or the depictions by Otto Dix of those left by the wayside. But also portraits of women with a new self-confidence, such as Willy Jaeckel’s 1930 Portrait of a Woman.
And yet even the lighter, more hopeful themes often still seem to have a darker undercurrent or an uncertainty to them.
Perhaps the irritation of a patriarchy at female emancipation. Hints of the instability that would nurture the Nazis. A retreat into the idyllic indicating a background of psychological anguish. Isolation or loss of cohesion appearing in something as innocuous as a still life of a dressing table.
An intriguing time, art movement, and exhibition.
Dates, tickets & tips
Journey through German art of the 20s and 30s from May 24th to September 29th, 2024. An entrance ticket for or from the Leopold Museum includes the special exhibition.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
For more from the New Objectivity movement:
- The Leopold Museum follows Splendor and Misery with a Rudolf Wacker retrospective (October 30th, 2024 to February 16th, 2025). He was a leading representative of New Objectivity in Austria
- Lower Belvedere has an art and biographical exhibition around Broncia Koller-Pinell (until September 8th, 2024), whose work also emerged into New Objectivity toward the end of her life
- You have a good chance of spotting examples of New Objectivity in the permanent exhibition at the Albertina
How to get there
Follow the travel tips in the Leopold Museum main article. The exhibition is on Floor -1, which means one down from the entrance floor. Once inside the first gallery, progress through the other rooms anti-clockwise.
Address: Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna