Artist's Under Hitler: Discussion and film on Art and Politics in the Weimar

The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum is hosting a private viewing of the seminal film 'Art and Politics in the Weimar' directed by Ron Orders followed by a discussion with distinguished Historian and Author Jonathan Petropoulos on his new book Artists under Hitler.

Art and Politics in the Weimar focuses on the relationship between avant-garde art and left politics during a period of unprecedented social and economic upheaval. It looks in detail at artists based in Dresden and the formation of such political art movements as the Red Group in 1923 and the Association of Revolutionary Artists in 1928.

Jonathan Petropoulos is John V. Croul Professor of European History at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. writes about National Socialism and, in particular, the fate of art looted during World War II. He is the author of: Art as Politics in the Third Reich (1996), The Faustian Bargain (2000) and Royals and the Reich (2006). He will be discussing his latest book Artists Under Hitler.

It covers the Dada explosion, the abortive German revolution, when Otto Dix, George Grosz and John Heartfield joined the Spartacists, the move away from Dada towards Verism and coming of the term 'Neue Sachlichkeit' and finally the Nazis' infamous exhibition of these artists' work as degenerate art.

This event complements our current exhibition Refugees: The Lives of Others featuring German artists whose work was classified as 'degenerate' and were not permitted to practice such as Hans Feibusch and Ludwig Meidner.

To book visit www.benuri.org or call 020 76043991