Weimar re-visions of Germany's colonial past: Max Pechstein, Hannah Hoech and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

摘要

Within the last two decades there has been a growing interest to reevaluate and expand scholarship devoted to Germany's colonial history and its aftermath. Within roughly the same time period, the study of visual culture has emerged as an increasingly interdisciplinary field. In conjunction with these two developments this dissertation, Weimar Re-Visions of Germany's Colonial Past: Max Pechstein, Hannah Hoch, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy examines the role that visual culture played in determining, articulating, and communicating the legacy of Germany's colonial history during the Weimar Republic. In compliance with Paragraph 119 of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany officially relinquished all control over its colonies in Africa, the South Seas, and China. As a result, the Weimar era functioned as a postcolonial age. While the loss of these properties impacted national and international politics, the more telling arena in which Weimar postcolonial discourses prevailed was in the realm of popular, visual culture, particularly associated with the illustrated press and artistic avant-garde. The three artists featured in this dissertation, affiliated with a diverse selection of art movements including Expressionism, the Novembergruppe, Berlin Dada and the Bauhaus, represent an intriguing cross-section of responses to Germany's colonial past. In short, this dissertation charts the complex structure of Weimar postcolonialism.