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ART IN THE THIRD REICH

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ART IN THE THIRD REICH
"ART IN THE THIRD REICH"
Group of 29 issues of "Die Kunst im Dritten Reich" ("Art in the Third Reich"), (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf), the official art magazine of the NSDAP. This publication was founded in January 1937 by ADOLF WAGNER, a close friend of Hitler's and "Gauleiter" of Munich and Upper Bavaria. From July 1937, the publication received national distribution by the NSDAP's central publishing office, and was produced under the direction of FRITZ TODT, ALBERT SPEER, Professor Richard Klein, and architect Leonhard Gall. The publication was intended to promote the National Socialist ideal of art, which emphasized pastoralism, heroism, neoclassicism, realism, idealized Aryan figures, monumental architecture, and, above all, national unity. By contrast, modernism, abstraction, surrealism, and expressionism in art were all suppressed, sometimes violently. The issues featured here date from the October 1941 edition through to the June/July 1944 issue, the penultimate edition to be released. The group contains the full run of the magazine between the above dates, with the exception of the issues for October of 1942, December of 1943, January of 1944, and May of 1944. Of the 29 issues presented here, fifteen are "Ausgabe" B, with the architectural supplement, including the entire year of 1942 (except for the October issue). Two copies each of the November 1943 and April 1944 editions are present. Each issue measures 11"x 14", and contains very high quality color and monochrome photographs, mostly full-page, of NSDAP-approved artworks by artists such as the neoclassical sculptor ARNO BREKER, architect HERMANN GIESLER, and painter ADOLF ZIEGLER. With the outbreak and progression of World War II, more and more military-themed works are featured, emphasizing Germany's war gains and the heroism of her soldiers. Some issues have rubbed or split spines, minor foxing, tears to the covers, or other defects, but all are intact, and the images contained within remain vibrant. Four issues include their original mailing envelopes. Altogether, the group provides an excellent primer on the National Socialist aesthetic, and a window into an alternative artistic culture in which innovation and experimentation were frowned upon and suppressed.