The Brilliant Utopian Artist Condemned by the Nazis
The art and life of Otto Freundlich
When the Nazi Party opened its infamous “Degenerate Art” exhibition (Entartete Kunst Ausstellung) in Munich in July 1937, its purpose was to lambast an entire generation of modern painters and sculptors.
The exhibition included 650 artworks by more than a hundred artists, most of them German. It was an attempt by the party to erase the legacy of modern art from the annals of German high culture. To incite further disdain among the attendees, the gallery walls were adorned with aggressive slogans — “Revelation of the Jewish racial soul” and “Nature as seen by sick minds”.
Yet there was one artist whose work was made a special example of. On the front cover of the exhibition guide, a photo of Otto Freundlich’s sculpture “Der neue Mensch” (The New Man) appeared in a graphic close-up.
It was a brilliantly modern, unflinching sculpture: an abstract head that strains with optimism and strength…