DOI article:
Fuhrmeister, Christian: "1945" as a turning point in German art history?: Challenging the paradigm of rupture and discontinuity
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52521#0129
Christian Fuhrmeister
"1945" AS A TURNING POINT
IN GERMAN ART HISTORY?
CHALLENGING THE PARADIGM OF RUPTURE
AND DISCONTINUITY
An established and fairly common chronology for modern German histo-
ry starts in 1871 and, including the First World War, ends with the Revolution
in 1918, continues throughout the Weimar Republic to finish with the Nazi
rise to power in 1933, equates the surrender of the German Army with the
collapse of the National Socialist regime in 1945, and probably references the
interlude of the Allied Military Government until 1949 when two German
states were founded, but might as well go straight to the collapse of the Ger-
man Democratic Republic in 1989.
Following this narrative, the quintessential turning points for German his-
tory are easily identified as 1918, 1933, 1945 and 1989. Concurrently, both art
historical accounts of stylistic developments - for instance, the allocation of
Bauhaus and New Objectivity to the Weimar Republic - and the historiogra-
phy of art history usually follow the very same trajectory But looking at these
four decisive, important and relevant years (or "turning points"), however, we
need to differentiate, and we certainly need to resist the temptation to believe
that these most obvious and partly radically violent events that subsequently
changed society and governmental structures alike changed the political sys-
tem, the administration, in part also law, economy and power relations at large,
and that all these changes are indeed truly mirrored by equally major and im-
mediate shifts across the arts, in the "Betriebssystem Kunst," in the humanities
in general and in the academic discipline of art history in particular. As a matter
of fact, in this paper, I would like to argue that we face serious difficulties in
accepting this chronology for the history of art history in Germany especially
when investigating key processes before, during and after 1945.
One or perhaps the most widely used metaphor that references the break-
down of the German Reich in 1945 - indicated by military and political fail-
"1945" AS A TURNING POINT
IN GERMAN ART HISTORY?
CHALLENGING THE PARADIGM OF RUPTURE
AND DISCONTINUITY
An established and fairly common chronology for modern German histo-
ry starts in 1871 and, including the First World War, ends with the Revolution
in 1918, continues throughout the Weimar Republic to finish with the Nazi
rise to power in 1933, equates the surrender of the German Army with the
collapse of the National Socialist regime in 1945, and probably references the
interlude of the Allied Military Government until 1949 when two German
states were founded, but might as well go straight to the collapse of the Ger-
man Democratic Republic in 1989.
Following this narrative, the quintessential turning points for German his-
tory are easily identified as 1918, 1933, 1945 and 1989. Concurrently, both art
historical accounts of stylistic developments - for instance, the allocation of
Bauhaus and New Objectivity to the Weimar Republic - and the historiogra-
phy of art history usually follow the very same trajectory But looking at these
four decisive, important and relevant years (or "turning points"), however, we
need to differentiate, and we certainly need to resist the temptation to believe
that these most obvious and partly radically violent events that subsequently
changed society and governmental structures alike changed the political sys-
tem, the administration, in part also law, economy and power relations at large,
and that all these changes are indeed truly mirrored by equally major and im-
mediate shifts across the arts, in the "Betriebssystem Kunst," in the humanities
in general and in the academic discipline of art history in particular. As a matter
of fact, in this paper, I would like to argue that we face serious difficulties in
accepting this chronology for the history of art history in Germany especially
when investigating key processes before, during and after 1945.
One or perhaps the most widely used metaphor that references the break-
down of the German Reich in 1945 - indicated by military and political fail-