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 liked traditional, "sentimental...

Submitted by: digitalessays
Date Submitted: 12-02-2003
Category: History
Words: 718
Pages: 2.87