Art the Nazis labeled degenerate
In the 1930s, as Adolf Hitler's propagandists sought to project a German ideal, modern art - the avant garde, expressionism, Fauvism, surrealism - was denounced as "degenerate." Works by such artists as Chagall, Klee, Kandinsky, Dix, Beckmann, Picasso, Matisse and others were confiscated from museums and galleries.
In 1937 the Nazis created an exhibit in Munich, titled "Degenerate Art," in which confiscated pieces were displayed with demeaning signs and slogans.
The Neue Galerie in New York has now opened a new show exploring the history of the Munich exhibition, pulling together many of the artworks involved: "Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937."
Left: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "A Group of Artists (The Painters of the Brucke)" (1925-26).
Germanic Art
Adolf Hitler visits an art exhibition in Germany displaying works that his regime had sanctioned.
Germanic Art
German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Nazi military dignitaries visit an art exhibition during the opening ceremony of the "House for German Art," in Munich, July 18, 1937.
Germanic Art
The sanctioned works displayed in the "House of German Art" extolled what the Nazis deemed to be the virtues of the German people, in a style called romantic realism.
The Munich Exhibition
The day after the "House of German Art" debuted, an exhibition titled "Degenerate Art" was opened (in a dark, crowded chamber), featuring artwork that the Nazis painted as vulgar and a threat to the German identity. Two million people attended the show.
Left: Ludwig Gies' expressionist sculpture "Crucified Christ" (c.1921), originally housed in Lubeck Cathedral, on display at the Munich exhibition of Degenerate Art in 1937.
The Munich Exhibition
A visitor to the exhibition of Degenerate Art views Max Beckmann's "Der Strand" (The Beach), in Munich, 1937.
The Nazis confiscated artworks from museums, galleries, artists and private collectors, and many were sold off. A careful tally of artworks taken, compiled by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda c. 1942, showed that 16,000 artworks were stolen by Hitler's regime.
"I don't think one can separate the Nazis' art policies, their campaign against Degenerate Art and their plundering programs later, from the ideological, the genocidal project," Jonathan Petropoulos, a history professor at Claremont McKenna College, told CBS News. "The Nazis took art away from their victims first. It was a way for the Nazis to dehumanize their victims."
Degenerate Art
A view of the exhibit, "Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937" at the Neue Galerie in New York.
Degenerate Art
What makes the New York exhibition unique is that, for the first time, both the condemned art and art sanctioned by the Nazi Party are on display, side by side.
Emil Nolde
"Red-Haired Girl" by Emil Nolde (1919). Oil on canvas.
Art Institute of Chicago, Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Tagge
Even artists who were members of the Nazi Party, like Emil Nolde, weren't spared. Olaf Peters, curator of the Neue Galerie exhibit, told CBS News' Erin Moriarty that what was considered degenerate was "the intense color. It is more the portrait of a girl, not showing us the accurate physiognomy of a girl, but more interpreting her by color."
Degenerate Art
Foreground: Oskar Schlemmer's "Grotesque" (1923); On the wall are two paintings by Alexej Jawlensky: "Abstract Head: Life and Death" (1923), and "Savior's Face: Starlight" (1921).
George Grosz
"Portrait of the Writer Max Hermann-Neisse" by George Grosz (1925). Oil on canvas.
Kunsthalle Mannheim
Grosz, like most of the so-called degenerate artists, was not Jewish. "You didn't have to be Jewish to be disliked by the Nazis," his son, Marty Grosz, told CBS News' Moriarty. "He was an enemy of the state. And that meant he lost his German citizenship. He lost his bank account. They garnished, they took everything."
Grosz and his family emigrated to the United States, where he taught at the Art Students League in New York City, and created illustrations for magazines like Esquire.
Wassily Kandinsky
"Several Circles" by Vasily Kandinsky (1926), Oil on canvas.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Max Beckmann
"Cattle in a Barn" by Max Bechmann (1933). Oil on canvas.
Museum Wiesbaden
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
"Self-Portrait" by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1934/37). Oil on canvas.
Budner Kunstmuseum Chur
Devastated by the Nazis' attacks, Kirchner committed suicide in 1938.
Oskar Kokoschka
"Self-Portrait as Degenerate Artist" by Oskar Kokoschka (1937). Oil on canvas.
Private Collection, courtesy the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Paul Klee
"The Angler" by Paul Klee (1921). Watercolor, transfer drawing and ink on paper.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. John S. Newberry Collection
Otto Dix
"Portrait of the Lawyer Dr. Fritz Glaser" by Otto Dix (1921). Oil on canvas.
Private Collection
Degenerate Art
A view of the exhibit, "Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937" at the Neue Galerie in New York.
Degenerate Art
The Neue Galerie in New York City has extended its run of the exhibition "Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937" through September 1, 2014.
To watch Erin Moriarty's report click here.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan