1920s Berlin (Basic Art)

Good book about Weimar art period in Berlin.

The pictures were excellent; the text was mediocre. The pictures showed the Zeitgeist of 1920's Berlin, but the writing was not at all incisive or perspicuous.

Love it.

This is a high quality, full colour introduction to some of the artworks produced in Berlin in the 1920s. It covers not just painting but architecture, assemblage, collage, drawing, film, lithography, photography and writing. It is a useful overview allowing the reader to decide what aspects of the period (if any) are of interest and could be investigated elsewhere in more detail.The book begins with an illustrated introduction of 26 pages titled “A Metropolis in the Making”. This is followed by 31 entries (a) of artworks in chronological order (b). These entries are mostly 2-pages, with a page about the artwork and the artist on the left hand side and a reproduction of the artwork on the right.I had expected drawings and paintings, especially by George Grosz and  Otto Dix  with their powerful and disturbing caricatures of people in Berlin in the 1920s. I had not expected the film and architecture entries. For film, there are entries for  The Blue Angel  with Marlene Dietrich, Fritz Lang’s  Metropolis  and Walther Ruttman’s  Berlin: Symphony of a Great City ”. Dada, collage and assemblage were also unexpected. Dada emerged in Zurich during World War I. It would have been at the vanguard of art in the 1920s. Some of the architecture surprised me.  The Einstein Tower  and the  Funkturm Radio Tower  look like they were designed in 1920s. However, there are ordinary-looking glass and concrete buildings that look like anything built in the late 1950s and 1960s, except that these were built in the 1920s and at the time would have been strikingly modern and far from ordinary. One of the entries is a drawing by Mies van der Rohe. It is a submission to an architectural competition and shows a glass-clad skyscraper, which technically could not have been built at the time. He would have to wait until the 1950s and 1960s to build this style in Chicago and New York.Germany lost the Frist World War in 1918, the Kaiser was deposed and war reparations were imposed. A republic was declared separately by both the Socialists and the Social Democrats. For many, the early hope of a Socialist revolution in Germany only a few years after the Russian revolution was an uplifting experience. This hope was thwarted by the new government, which was established in Weimar because Berlin was considered too unstable. Thus, the 1920s started with lost hope and financial hardship but also with the possibility of a new, modern Germany. The mood changed towards optimism in the middle years. However, the continued instability and the feeling that something was not quite right dominated the end of the decade. Three years after the decade had finished the Nazis were in power.THE BOOK is a comfortable size, it is slim at 96 pages and the hardback gives it durability. Most of the illustrations are in colour of various sizes. It belongs to the Taschen Basic Art series 2.0 (c). The back cover is a still from the film Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s famous 1926 science fiction film still viewed today as a futuristic classic. The front cover is “Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden, a 1926 painting by Otto Dix. It is picture of a strikingly self-confident modern woman of the time, with cigarette, drink and monocle. Once seen, it is not forgotten._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(a) The entries are (Year, Artist, Media): 1919, Max Pechstein, Woodcut; 1919, Hannah Höch, Collage; 1919, Hans Poelzig, Architect/Set designer; 1919, Raoul Hausmann, Assemblage; 1920, George Grosz, Painting; 1921, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architecture; 1922, Max Bechman, Lithograph; 1923, Renée Sintenis, Sculpture; 1924, Heinrich Straumer, Architect; 1925, Edwin Scharff, Sculpture; 1925, El Lissizky/Hans Arp, Book; 1925, Hannah Höch, Painting; 1925, Ludwig Meidner, Painting; 1925, Bruno Taut, Architecture; 1926, Käthe Kollwitz, Lithograph; 1926, George Grosz, Painting; 1926, Otto Dix, Painting; 1927, Karl Hofer, Painting; 1927, Fritz Lang, Film; 1927, Walther Ruttmann, Film; 1927, Otto Dix, Painting  link  ; 1928, Sasha Stone , Photography; 1928, Christian Schad, Painting; 1928, Jeanne Mammen, Painting; 1929, Lotte Jacobi, Photography; 1929, George Salter, Book jackets; 1930, Peter Behrens, Architect; 1930, Lotte Laserstein, Painting; 1930, Josef von Sternberg, Film; 1931, Mendelsohn, Architect; 1932, John Heartfield, Photomontage.(b) George Grosz, Otto Dix and Hannah Höch have two entries each, but because the works are in chronological order they are not grouped together.(c) The books in Taschen Basic Art Series 2 are divided into three groups: Art, Art Genres and Architecture. This book is part of the Art Genres group but it is not the same as the other members. The Art group has books on a single artist, usually a painter. The Architecture group has books mostly on a single architect or sometimes on a single movement such as Bauhaus. The Art Genres books are mostly about –isms (Expressionism, Romanticism, Cubism), even if the word used does not have and –ism suffix (Pop Art, Baroque, Brücke, The Blaue Reiter). Is there a Berlin-in-the-1920s -ism, particularly as it encompasses so many different media? One of the entries in this book is titled "The Isms of Art" (Kunstismus), a 1925 book by El Lissitzky and Hans Arp (d).(d) El Lissitzky designed the Kuntismus (The Ism of Art) in 1925. Hans Arp provided the text. It was an overview of the artistic movements between 1914 and 1924 in Europe. It was a showpiece of typography and design as well as a well-informed, and highly opinionated, reference. The isms included Verism (Geroge Grosz and Otto Dix), Expressionism, which was a common German pre-war style, Constructivism, Dadaism (John Heartfield), Suprematism and Cubism. Otto DixThe Blue AngelMetropolisBerlin: Symphony of a Great CityThe Einstein TowerFunkturm Radio Towerlink

Berlin in the 1920’s was a melting pot of social & civil unrest, ultra violent politics, anything goes nightlife, Jazz, cutting-edge architecture, art & design.This is the Taschen ‘Basic Art Series’. It’s far from ‘basic’. Hardcover. Copiously illustrated. Oringinal photographs. It’s gives a great oversight of Berlin during the period.I have no idea how Taschen continue to publish these exquisite books & sell them at very little, but long may it continue.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unreservedly recommended

This book was very much as I expected. Most of the pictures are familiar, but written commentary is good and interesting. A convenient SINGLE volume on Weimar Republican culture.

I liked some of the paintings, some a bit too raw,also some of the writers, and thinkers, but thought there were too many reviews on individuals in those areas, would have prefered more on the Cabaret and underworld scene, which Otto Dix summed up the era in his style of painting, overall a good effort, but maybe too many profiles, and not enough stories behind the scenes

Love German art and this period in history. This is great with plenty of colour plates. Gives a sense of the time. Delivered quickly.