Sites of Interchange: Modernism, Politics and Culture between Britain and Germany, 1919–1955(8 German Visual Culture)

Early twentieth-century Germany was a site of extremes, in which cultural production was entangled in the swiftly changing political and economic landscape. Radical utopias and pragmatic solutions for life and culture were proposed, modernism embraced and dramatically rejected. Britain in the same period can seem comparatively stable, a nation wedded to established cultural forms in the face of social change. Yet throughout the period, there remained a lively interchange between the two countries. This collection of essays, by scholars working between Britain and Germany, elsewhere in Europe and in North America, looks anew at the complicated cultural relationship between Britain and Germany in the years between 1919 and 1955. It sets out to explore the connections between the two countries during this time in the fields of fine art and arts institutions, architecture, design and craft, photography, art history and criticism. It explores how practitioners in the two countries learned from and influenced each other, seeking to highlight the relevance of these interchanges today.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Artemis Yagou: Play, Design, Politics: Technical Toys, Design Policies and British-German Exchanges in the First Half of the Twentieth Century – Ulrike Meyer Stump: Dorothy Warren and «The Smartest Private Art- Gallery Place in London»: Promoting Exchange with Berlin, 1927– 1934 – Lee Beard: Exhibiting Contemporary British Art: The Anglo- German Club, 1931– 1934 – Valeria Carullo: «New Eyes for Old»: How the Neues Sehen and the Neue Sachlichkeit Transformed the Photography of Architecture in Britain in the Early 1930s – Leah Hsiao: The Dislocation of Amateurism: Moholy- Nagy in England, 1935– 1937 – Michelle Henning: Lucia Moholy and German Photography History in Britain – Antonia Behan: Interchanged Threads: Modernism and History in Ethel Mairet, Nikolaus Pevsner and the Bauhaus Weavers – Karen Koehler: Walter Gropius and Herbert Read: Architecture, Industry, Transitions and Translations – Burcu Dogramaci: Metropolitan Exile: London, Refugee Artists and Places of Contact in the 1930s and 1940s – Volker M. Welter: Berlin in London, Hiddensee in Walberswick: On Ernst L. Freud’s Exile Architecture in England – Ina Weinrautner: 9, Carlton House Terrace: The German Embassy in London as Showcase for Nazi Ideology – Dirk Schubert: Planning the Modern City: The Neighbourhood Unit Idea in London and Hamburg before and after the Second World War – Shulamith Behr: Reframing Exilic Identity for a German Audience: Joseph Paul Hodin’s Encounter with Else and Ludwig Meidner and Its Aftermath – Keith Holz: Witness to Global Realignments and Human Suffering: Oskar Kokoschka in Post- War London.

About the Author :
Lucy Wasensteiner studied law at the universities of Bristol and Oxford and holds a PhD in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her research focuses on modern art in German-speaking Europe from 1871, National Socialist cultural policy and its international implications and provenance research. She was previously an associate lecturer at the Courtauld Institute and a lecturer at the University of Bonn in the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation Centre for Provenance Research, Art and Cultural Heritage Law. She is currently director of the Liebermann-Villa am Wannsee in Berlin.