Poster Project

This is a poster for my history of graphic design class, along with my statement in full:

In the 1930s, the Nazis began a campaign to solidify their image as pillars of racial purity and military might, incorporating classical styles of realism and reinforcing the virtues of homeland pride. Artistic expression that did not reflect these Nazi values were labeled “degenerate”, meaning they were considered by to be intrinsically abnormal and substandard. Modern art, such as expressionism, cubism, dada, and surrealism fell under this definition. Artists and curators who were partial to anything deemed degenerate were relieved of their jobs and positions and replaced by members from the Reich Culture Chamber. The offending art works were often confiscated, and in 1937 a collection of such confiscated “degenerate” art were shown in Die Ausstellung “Entartete Kunst” (The Degenerate Art Exhibition). The cover of the exhibition catalog features a full bleed photograph of The New Man, an expressionist sculpture by Otto Freundlich, and is the subject of my poster.

I tried to imagine visiting this exhibit from the perspective of a modern artist. No doubt the utter dismissal of decades of progressive work hurts deeply, but the show is drawing in much more attention than the nearby Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German art exhibition), which only features officially approved art. In it, the classical sculptures and paintings by artists like Arno Breker and Adolf Wissel were largely ignored despite being heralded as the antithesis of degenerate art. The modern artist might begin to feel that this was proof that the two collections should be reversed, that surely this lack of popularity meant that the so-called “degenerate art” was more thought provoking, more inviting, more worthy of attention than the stiff old styles at the Great German art exhibition. If so, criticism ought to be levied at the appropriate collection, thus: my Reverse Degenerate Art Exhibition Cover.

In place of Freundlich’s expressionist sculpture, my poster features Arno Breker’s Die Partei (The Party), a statue representing the Nazi Party, which, along with another statue representing The Army, stood at the entrance to the Reich Chancellery. The original cover featured a mix of typography, from a neutral roman “ENTARTETE” (Degenerate) to an expressively scribbled “KUNST” (Art) placed in quotation marks, and finally an “Ausstellungsführer” (Exhibition Guide) set in Fraktur. The apparent effect was to emphasis each word differently, but modern designers tend to be more unified in their typography, so in my cover “ENTASRTETE”, “AUSSTELLUNGSFÜHRER”, and the price tag are all formally related via type, alignment, color, and balance. While the original “KUNST” was scribbled in as a mockery of expressionist art, my “KUNST” is set in Tannenberg, a special type of blackletter commonly called Schaftstiefelgrotesk (Jackboot Grotesque) associated with Nazi nationalism. In all truthfulness, I have always thought blackletter type is rather curious and have long been interested in medieval and ancient typography, which is one of the reasons I chose this particular project to do.