New Objectivity
Art in the style of New Objectivity was created to adapt to the attitude of the people in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic was during the period between 1919 and 1933 when Germany had a democratic government. New Objectivity emerged as an art style during this period. This art style remained pretty much exclusive to the Germans with its most famous artists all being German. The most proclaimed individuals include Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and George Grosz. Most of their paintings were portraits or had very objective subjects. It resembles the style of old masters, but was often satirical of the Weimar society. The movement actually emerged in response to another movement called expressionism by challenging it completely. Because of the harshities of The Great War and its aftermath, New Objective painters seemed to lack idealistic and romantic tendencies in comparison to the expressionist painters at this particular time. |
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George Grosz, The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse, 1927
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Otto Dix, Sylvia von Harden, 1926
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Max Beckmann, Self-Portrait in Tuxedo, 1926
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George Grosz’ The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse is a painting that uses a wide variety of color to contrast from the almost emotionless expression of the subject of the portrait. The form in the piece are realistic, but the perspectives are off giving it a semi-abstract feeling. Max Herrmann-Neisse was a famous poet of the time that was devastatingly affected by World War I, and therefore very relatable for New Objectivity artists. I was very drawn to this piece because of the conflicting color scheme to emotions of the portrait. The painting made me think, and gave me feelings resembling pity.
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This painting, like many others by Otto Dix, was done with oil paints. The use of color in this piece is very uniform. There are only three main color differentiations; the majority is made up of reds, there is the use of golds and browns, and finally, the simple shades, black, white, and grey. Other than that, colors like blue and green are used for shadow contrasting, but they are not as prominent. The forms in this piece are quite realistic, but it may be the proportions that give this piece a slightly distorted impression. A historical reference from this piece would be the subject herself. Sylvia von Harden was a German journalist and poet of that period. The androgyny and classiness of this piece instantly caught my attention. I personally loved this piece the second I saw it.
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This is another one of Max Beckmann’s self-portrait paintings. In this piece the shadows are also highly contrasting, but the use of color is more apparent. The piece is relatively realistic, but the colors are not as blended as some of the other pieces giving it a more abstract look. Again, the emotion are very serious as to remind the audience of the German emotions at that time. When I first saw this piece alone, I was less interested than in it than when I saw with the whole collection. The emotions I felt were mostly serious and tired.
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