New Objectivity

On the eve of its subject’s centennial, this richly illustrated and meticulously researched catalog celebrates—and reconsiders—one of the most significant artistic movements of the twentieth century.

Gustav F. Hartlaub’s 1925 exhibition Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) for the Kunsthalle Mannheim was a pivotal event that showcased a new artistic movement in Germany, characterized by its critical realism, social commentary, and detailed depiction of contemporary life; it marked a significant departure from Expressionism’s emotional intensity.

But it was divided by two philosophies—the unflinching and socially critical Verists (Otto Dix, George Grosz, Georg Scholz, and others) and the Classicists (Alexander Kanoldt, Georg Schrimpf, and Christian Schad) who focused on harmony and beauty.

This wide-ranging survey explores the tension between these camps and interprets it as a coherent chapter in art history. Essays by leading experts shed new light on the movement through the lens of regionality while considering a wide spectrum of media: architecture, design, drawings, film, paintings, photography, and philosophy.

Their illuminating texts are accompanied by stunning reproductions of works such as Otto Dix’s Portrait of the Lawyer Dr. Fritz Glaser; Georg Scholz’s Of Things to Come; and Marcel Breuer’s Chair B 33. Impeccably produced and researched, this volume captures the ways that the New Objectivity proponents mirrored the Weimar period’s cultural, political, and social complexities.

OLAF PETERS is a professor of modern art at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. He is the editor and contributing author of other Neue Galerie exhibition catalogues, including Modern Worlds: Austrian and German Art, 1890–1940, and Max Beckmann: The Formative Years, 1915–1925. Other contributors include Regina Bittner, Birgit Dalbajawa, Christian Drobe, Gustav F. Hartlaub, Jürgen Müller, Carina Plath, Franz Roh, Rolf Sachsse, and Robert Schnepf.