Neue Sachlichkeit / New Objectivity
Auteur(s) : Olaf Peters
Exhibition at the Neue Galerie, New York, 20 February - 26 May 2025
The ‘Neue Sachlichkeit’ (New Objectivity) exhibition organised in 1925 by Gustav F. Hartlaub for the Kunsthalle Mannheim was a landmark event that brought to light a new artistic movement in Germany, characterised by its critical realism, social commentary and detailed description of contemporary life; it marked a significant break with the emotional intensity of Expressionism. But it was divided by two philosophies: the uncompromising, socially critical verists (Otto Dix, George Grosz, Georg Scholz and others) and the classicists (Alexander Kanoldt, Georg Schrimpf and Christian Schad), who emphasised harmony and beauty.
On the eve of the centenary of the 1925 exhibition, this meticulously documented exhibition catalogue reconsiders one of the most important artistic movements of the twentieth century and shows how the proponents of New Objectivity reflected the cultural, political and social complexities of the Weimar period. It explores the tension between its two philosophies and sheds new light on the movement through the prism of regionality, while examining a wide range of media: architecture, design, drawing, film, painting, photography and philosophy.
