New Objectivity
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The New Objectivity, or neue Sachlichkeit (new matter-of-factness), was an art movement which arose in Germany during the 1920s as an outgrowth of, and in opposition to, expressionism. It is thus post-expressionist. The term is applied to works of pictorial art, literature, music, and architecture. The end of New Objectivity is usually considered at the fall of the Weimar Republic when the National Socialists under Adolf Hitler seized power in March 1933. However, some of his painters continued to paint in the same style in exile, like Grosz and Beckmann.
Franz Roh (1925) listed the differences between expressionism and post-expressionism such as New Objectivity:
| Expressionism | Post-Expressionism |
| ecstatic objects | plain objects |
| many religious themes | few religious themes |
| the stifled object | the explanatory object |
| rhythmic | representative |
| arousing | engrossing |
| dynamic | static |
| loud | quiet |
| summary | sustained |
| obvious | obvious and enigmatic... |
| monumental | miniature |
| warm | cool to cold |
| thick coloration | thin layer of color |
| roughened | smooth, dislodged |
| like uncut stone | like polished metal |
| work process preserved | work process effaced |
| leaving traces | pure objectification |
| expressive deformation of objects | harmonic cleansing of objects |
| rich in diagonals | rectangular in frame |
| often acute-angled | parallel |
| working against the edges of image | fixed within edges of image |
| primitive | civilized |
- (Kaes et al, 1994)
The New Objectivity is similar to neoclassicism, and compared to expressionism, realism. Painters include George Grosz, Otto Dix, Christian Schad, Adamson-Eric, Juhan Muks, and Max Beckmann. Composer Paul Hindemith may be considered both a New Objectivist and an expressionist, depending on the composition, throughout the 1920s.
Gustav Hartlaub coined the term in 1923 in his article "Introduction to 'New Objectivity': German Painting since Expressionism," intended to prepare the audience of an exhibit of art in the new movement. In the article, Hartlaub explained, “what we are displaying here is distinguished by the--in itself purely external--characteristics of the objectivity with which the artists express themselves." He identified two groups: the Verists, who "tear the objective form of the world of contemporary facts and projects current experience in its tempo and fevered temperature;" and the Magical Realists, who "search more for the object of timeless ability to embody the external laws of existence in the artistic sphere.”
In architecture as in painting and literature, New Objectivity describes German work of the transitional years of the early 1920s in the Weimar culture. In particular, it describes the stripped-down, simplified building style of the Bauhaus, the urban planning and public housing projects of Bruno Taut and Ernst May like the Weissenhof settlement, and the industrialization of the household typified by the Frankfurt kitchen. An architect's job, they believed, was not to create a building that was beautiful for beauty's sake. Beauty would be inherent in a building designed to function efficiently.
External links
Sources
- Albright, Daniel (2004). Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226012670.
- Kaes et al., eds (1994). The Weimar Republic Sourcebook, p.493. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cited in Albright (2004).de:Neue Sachlichkeit
fr:Nouvelle Objectivité ja:新即物主義 nl:Nieuwe Zakelijkheid sv:Nya sakligheten zh:新即物主義