Degenerate Art

Duration: 56

Year Published: 1993

Creator: David Grubin

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Description: Explores the events leading to and the impact sustained from the Entartete Kunst, an exhibit mounted by the Nazis in 1937 to ridicule modern art. Uses archival footage and photographs of the "Degenerate Art" exhibit, the House of German Art, and Nazi book burnings as well as interviews with witnesses to the exhibit, cultural and art historians, and art critics to illuminate the context in which the censorship took place. Examines the paintings of Beckmann, Kirchner, Kokoschka, Nolde, and Hitler. Culminates with the 1939 auction at which the Nazis sold off much of Germany's cultural heritage.