Extra Credit #1: Degenerate Art exhibition at the Neue Gallery

Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937

March 13-June 30, 2014

Neue Galerie New York is located at 1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th Street).

There is an extra credit assignment that can make up for a missed HW if you visit the exhibition and do a follow-up blog entry. BUT, with a student ID the admission is still $10, (except on the first Friday of each month).

www.neuegalerie.org

Take notes on the questions below during your visit, and answer thoughtfully in a blog post, with a few sentences for each question.

1. After viewing the show, choose one of the works intended to embody the German government version of Beauty. Describe the the work in detail on a formal level. (how colors are used, the relationship of the parts to one another, how the colors and forms establish overall mood).

2. How would you describe the cultural ideal of Beauty being represented here?

3. Think of some examples in contemporary visual culture (ads, movies, etc.) that endorse a similar ideal of beauty.

4. Choose one of the works from the Degenerate side of the exhibition. Describe how the work functions formally in detail.

5. Do you think the artist is pursuing a form of beauty or protesting cultural norms, some combination of the two? What do you think is the artist's intent? Do you like the work?

6. Considering the negative influence of the state-sponsored version of the Ideal in 1930's Germany, what would you say is the responsibility of the artist as social commentator?