Lost generation

Verschollene Generation (also: Forgotten Generation) is a term for German visual artists, musicians and writers of the generation born between 1890 and 1914 who had already emerged or had completed their training during the Weimar period . The requirements for art under National Socialism prevented them from having any effect, for example through a ban on exhibition, publication and performance because of their Jewish origin, their political views, their homosexuality or the confiscation of works in museums during the propaganda campaign " Degenerate Art " of 1937 .

Artists of the Lost Generation

These were often locally significant, such as some members of the Hamburg Secession . Mostly painters of the second expressionist generation and the New Objectivity are included. The Marburg journalist and art historian Rainer Zimmermann (1920–2009) drew attention to the affected generation of visual artists in his book, published in 1980, and made his mark with the title The Art of the Lost Generation. German painting of the expressive realism from 1925-1975 the term. Often their works were lost to bomb attacks during the war. After the end of the war it was difficult for them to build on the successes from before the Nazi era . Some, like Willem Grimm , Alexandra Povòrina , Fritz Burger-Mühlfeld , Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann or Manfred Henninger , taught as professors at art universities. They took part in exhibitions, but so far have only remained known to a smaller audience.

Zimmermann also coined the term expressive realism , with which he characterized some of the artists.

The artists of the missing generation are not limited to a uniform art style. They worked both representational (such as the Tübingen painter Georg Alfred Stockburger ) and expressively-realistic (e.g. Willem Grimm, Karoline Wittmann , Rudolf Heinisch or Willi Ulfig ), cubist-realistic ( Joseph Mader ) and completely abstract (e.g. B. Alexandra Povòrina, Fritz Burger-Mühlfeld , Gerhart Hein and Richard Neuz ).

literature

• Ingrid von der Dollen: Painters in the 20th Century. Visual art of the "lost generation". Years of birth 1890–1910. Hirmer, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-7774-8700-7 .
• Anke Münster: "Art is play and deep seriousness". The imaginist Alexandra Povòrina (1865–1963), life and work. Gießen 2004 (Giessen, Univ., Diss., 2003).
• Werner Scheel (Ed.): Changes. Painter of a lost generation. Reimer, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-496-01174-2 (Arcus 2).
• Martin Schönfeld: Hermann Kirchberger. An artist of the "lost generation". "where from? where to? ”Figures in space. Paintings, gouaches, drawings, glass windows. ERS, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-928577-25-5 .
• Rainer Zimmermann: The Art of the Lost Generation. German expressive realism painting from 1925–1975. Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf et al. 1980, ISBN 3-430-19961-1 (revised new edition under the title: Expressive Realism. Painting of the Lost Generation. Hirmer, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7774-6420-1 ).

Museums

• Kunsthalle Schweinfurt with the Joseph Hierling Collection
• Museum Baden in Solingen with the Gerhard Schneider collection

Web links

• Community foundation for ostracized arts with the Gerhard Schneider collection
• Artists of the Lost Generation
• Artists of the lost generation in the "Collection of Lost Artists"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Florian Weiland: The forgotten generation. In: Südkurier of April 14, 2016.
2. ↑ Testimonials from the lost generation , ovb-online.de, accessed on March 8, 2013.