Germany: Memories of a Nation

Surprisingly interesting exhibition at the British Museum looking at the historical and cultural influence of Germany. It took as it’s starting point how post-unification it has looked back to find a common memory and how over the years as its boundaries have changed it has constantly had to do this.

I must admit I went along thinking this would be quite dull with maybe a few iconic objects but I found it fascinating to put a modern country into context. Despite having studied medieval history I’d never really thought about what the Holy Roman Empire was and how it had changed and developed over the years until the core of it has become Germany. The show told this story with objects in particularly a constant returning to currency.

I loved the section which looked at cities which had been parts of the Holy Roman Empire but were now in different countries such as Geneva, Prague and Strasburg. I was also fascinated by the section which looked at the German Confederation post Napoleon which was the first time Germany had tried to define what its part was.

I thought the show dealt very well with the Hitler years. The commentary said of the Nazi’s that “they left a dark memory that can neither be avoided nor explained” which I thought was a very neat way of summing that era up. There was a display case on the Weimar Republic and rise of Hitler. A few shows recently have pointed out the harsh blockade of Germany by Britain in the First World War and the privation it brought yet it seems to be something British history has chosen to ignore.

The tape tour said the curators felt the Holocaust should not be summed up by one object and yet they picked a perfect one. There were gates from a labour camp with the words “To each his due” painted on them in red. They were in beautiful iron work and had been made by an inmate who had been a Bauhaus architect and in fact the letters were in Bauhaus font, a point the commissioners seem to have missed. In one object they showed the quiet sadism of making people read those words ever day with the implication that they had deserved what was happening and the quiet resistance of someone still using their creativity and putting their own stamp on the work.

Review
Guardian
Telegraph
Evening Standard

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Courtauld summer school day 1

Image
Today has been my first day of this year’s week at the Courtauld Institute’s summer schools. This year I am doing “Painting in Renaissance Venice” which is being led by Michael Douglas-Scott. It was nice to see some familiar faces and there are at least five of us who did Michael’s course last year. Today has been two lectures. Firstly setting out the background of Venice in this period looking at how the city had set up a myth of itself, the role of the Doge. the nature of the Republic and the role of citizens. The second lecture looked at why the nature of Renaissance was different in Venice. There was still a sense of the coming of antiquity and humanism but in Venice it fused with the Gothic and Byzantine rather than replacing it. The day ended with a choice of gallery talks. I went to one on the second floor of the Courtauld on the coming of Modernism. In essence it looked at the Impressionists and discussed what they were reacting against and what themes they portrayed. All in a
Read more