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Europe 1914
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Europe 1914 Chapter 7: Both Hitler and Stalin hated "modern art" and persecuted the artists who made it. What was there about the "new aesthetic" which revolted and frightened these dictators? Since prehistoric times, when men communicated through crude drawings on cave walls, art has been used to elicit an emotional response. Everyone has had the experience of viewing a piece of art that "touched" them in some way. Whether that feeling was happiness, sorrow, anger, or lust, and whether the art form was a painting, or weaving, or sculpture, is immaterial. It still evoked a response on some level of your psyche. In my personal experience, I have sometimes had a feeling from a painting I had seen stay with me for days. Art, therefore, is often used to voice an opinion that the author, for one reason or another, is unable to express verbally. Prior to World War II, western societies were largely optimistic about life and about the future of our world. After the horrors of World War I, the rise of communism in the Soviet Union, and the success of fascism in Germany and Italy, the future was no longer viewed with optimism. Artists's forms of expression changed to reflect the disillusionment and anxiety that people felt. Both Hitler and Stalin wanted the people in their country to believe that things were still wonderful. That humans were making great progress. That "all was well with the world." Hitler specifically lik...
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