Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

The gallery of miracles and madness : insanity, modernism, and Hitler's war on art / Charlie English.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2021]Edition: First US editionDescription: xxi, 304 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525512059
  • 0525512055
Subject(s):
Contents:
The man who jumped in the canal -- The hypnosis in the wood -- A meeting at Emmendingen -- Dangerous to look at! -- The schizophrenic masters -- Adventures in no-man's land -- Pleasant little pictures -- Dinner with the Bruckmanns -- Glimpses of a transcendental world -- Art and race -- A cultural revolution -- The sculptor of Germany -- Cleansing the temple of art -- To be German means to be clear -- The sacred and the insane -- The girl with the blue hair -- Foxes with white coats -- Choking angel -- You will ride on the gray bus -- In the madhouse -- Landscapes of the brain.
Summary: "The thousands of paintings, drawings, and pieces of sculpture Hans Prinzhorn gathered from German asylums in the early 1920s displayed a raw, expressive power that would change the course of art history. When a new generation of modernists discovered his collection--Max Ernst, André Breton, and Slavdor Dalí among them--they borrowed its ideas to inform their own investigations of the human psyche. But by the 1930s, Prinzhorn's artist-patients and their delicate creations had begun to attract attention of a different kind. Rejected from art schools as a young man, Adolf Hitler saw modernism's interest in madness as a threat: a Jewish-Bolshevik plot aimed at degrading the Aryan soul. Once in power, he ordered modernist paintings and sculpture to be stripped from German galleries and publicly shamed in exhibitions of "degenerate art", alongside "insane" material from the Prinzhorn collection... By 1941, his regime had killed 70,000 psychiatric patients in an extermination campaign that would serve as the prototype from the Final Solution. This is the spellbinding, emotionally resonant story of those artists, of modernism's obsession with the schizophrenic realm, and Hitler's use of that connection to achieve his own genocidal ends"--Dust jacket flap.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 700.943 E58 Available 33111010559058
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The untold story of Hitler's war on "degenerate" artists and the mentally ill that served as a model for the "Final Solution."

"A penetrating chronicle . . . deftly links art history, psychiatry, and Hitler's ideology to devastating effect."-- The Wall Street Journal

As a veteran of the First World War, and an expert in art history and medicine, Hans Prinzhorn was uniquely placed to explore the connection between art and madness. The work he collected--ranging from expressive paintings to life-size rag dolls and fragile sculptures made from chewed bread--contained a raw, emotional power, and the book he published about the material inspired a new generation of modern artists, Max Ernst, André Breton, and Salvador Dalí among them. By the mid-1930s, however, Prinzhorn's collection had begun to attract the attention of a far more sinister group.

Modernism was in full swing when Adolf Hitler arrived in Vienna in 1907, hoping to forge a career as a painter. Rejected from art school, this troubled young man became convinced that modern art was degrading the Aryan soul, and once he had risen to power he ordered that modern works be seized and publicly shamed in "degenerate art" exhibitions, which became wildly popular. But this culture war was a mere curtain-raiser for Hitler's next campaign, against allegedly "degenerate" humans, and Prinzhorn's artist-patients were caught up in both. By 1941, the Nazis had murdered 70,000 psychiatric patients in killing centers that would serve as prototypes for the death camps of the Final Solution. Dozens of Prinzhorn artists were among the victims.

The Gallery of Miracles and Madness is a spellbinding, emotionally resonant tale of this complex and troubling history that uncovers Hitler's wars on modern art and the mentally ill and how they paved the way for the Holocaust. Charlie English tells an eerie story of genius, madness, and dehumanization that offers readers a fresh perspective on the brutal ideology of the Nazi regime.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The man who jumped in the canal -- The hypnosis in the wood -- A meeting at Emmendingen -- Dangerous to look at! -- The schizophrenic masters -- Adventures in no-man's land -- Pleasant little pictures -- Dinner with the Bruckmanns -- Glimpses of a transcendental world -- Art and race -- A cultural revolution -- The sculptor of Germany -- Cleansing the temple of art -- To be German means to be clear -- The sacred and the insane -- The girl with the blue hair -- Foxes with white coats -- Choking angel -- You will ride on the gray bus -- In the madhouse -- Landscapes of the brain.

"The thousands of paintings, drawings, and pieces of sculpture Hans Prinzhorn gathered from German asylums in the early 1920s displayed a raw, expressive power that would change the course of art history. When a new generation of modernists discovered his collection--Max Ernst, André Breton, and Slavdor Dalí among them--they borrowed its ideas to inform their own investigations of the human psyche. But by the 1930s, Prinzhorn's artist-patients and their delicate creations had begun to attract attention of a different kind. Rejected from art schools as a young man, Adolf Hitler saw modernism's interest in madness as a threat: a Jewish-Bolshevik plot aimed at degrading the Aryan soul. Once in power, he ordered modernist paintings and sculpture to be stripped from German galleries and publicly shamed in exhibitions of "degenerate art", alongside "insane" material from the Prinzhorn collection... By 1941, his regime had killed 70,000 psychiatric patients in an extermination campaign that would serve as the prototype from the Final Solution. This is the spellbinding, emotionally resonant story of those artists, of modernism's obsession with the schizophrenic realm, and Hitler's use of that connection to achieve his own genocidal ends"--Dust jacket flap.

Powered by Koha