tfw yet another of your favorite art blogs turns out to be run by an nrx/ethnonationalist/whatever.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT REPRESENTATIONAL ART AND NAZIS
Hypothesis: They gave good taste in art because unlike liberals they attach a high moral importance to aesthetics.
But why is the left wing better at internet memes?
“high moral importance to aesthetics”
it turns out you can just make words mean whatever you want!
Funny story about fascists, ‘moral aesthetics,’ and public appreciation for art:
In 1937, the Nazis decided to make an example of the artists they hated- work by Commies (or lefties in general), work by Jews, non-representational art, abstract art, art featuring Black people, art by gay people. Everything was cluttered together in a big exhibition, called Entartete Kunst, or ‘Degenerate Art.’ Entarte Kunst was meant to be a bad example, the Goofus to the Gallant of fascist heroic realism. Appropriately, across town, the Nazis set up an exhibition called Kunstausstellung, or ‘Great German Art Exhibition.’ The Kunstausstellung was full of acceptably Teutonic fare– Arno Breker and Josef Thorak, Albert Heinrich and Adolf Wissel. Big beefy nude dudes and wholesome Aryan peasant women, all free of imperfection. The ‘degenerate’ exhibit was set up to induce maximum discomfort in the viewers, and the ‘great German art’ exhibit was meant to inspire feelings of patriotism.
Entartete Kunst was so popular that it became a traveling exhibition– over 3 million people showed up. It had a higher attendance than any modern art show ever. Meanwhile, Germans derided Kunstausstellung as kitschy bullshit.
Now, you can argue for ‘trainwreck entertainment’– maybe jazz music, Kandinsky, Metzinger, and Grosz are so awful that they crossed the line into beguiling. Maybe they were ‘The Room’ before ‘The Room’ existed. But Germans at the time were not shy about heaping hatred on not-’’’’Aryan’’’’’ people. Expressing disgust would have been socially acceptable and even admirable. Whereas calling Oiled-Up War Hero Posing Goyishly With Innocent but Still Safely Sexy Wife and Blond Infant or whatever ‘kitschy bullshit’ was, you know, a sign you were a degenerate. So not only did Germans love degenerate art, they loved it and REJECTED ‘traditional’ art. You don’t go see ‘The Room’ but then fail to see your unironic favorite movie.
What I’m trying to say is that fascists, compared to their degenerate cuck counterparts, are not actually good at art (if public opinion is how we are defining ‘good’). They are, in fact, bad. Their aesthetics are tacky. There is historical precedent here.
If we’re going to play along with your post and associate moral rectitude with good aesthetics as determined by popular opinion and codified standards, I’ll say this and this only: Hitler failed the art school entrance exam. Twice.
Sources and further reading:
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133c/133cproj/04proj/GinderNaziArt047.htm#gdk
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Mooncustafer 