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The Gallery of Miracles and Madness: Insanity, Art and Hitler’s First Mass-Murder Programme
‘A riveting tale, brilliantly told' Philippe Sands
The little-known story of Hitler’s war on modern art and the mentally ill.
In the first years of the Weimar Republic, the German psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn gathered a remarkable collection of works by schizophrenic patients that would astonish and delight the world.
The Prinzhorn collection, as it was called, inspired a new generation of artists, including Paul Klee, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali. What the doctor could not have known, however, was that these works would later be used to prepare the ground for mass-murder.
Soon after his rise to power, Hitler—a failed artist of the old school—declared war on modern art. The Nazis staged giant ‘Degenerate Art’ shows to ridicule the avant-garde, and seized and destroyed the cream of Germany's modern art collections. This action was mere preparation, however, for the even more sinister campaign Hitler would later wage against so-called "degenerate" people, and Prinzhorn's artists were caught up in both.
Bringing together inspirational art history, genius and madness, and the wanton cruelty of the fanatical "artist-Führer", this astonishing story lays bare the culture war that paved the way for Hitler's first extermination programme, the psychiatric Holocaust.
The little-known story of Hitler’s war on modern art and the mentally ill.
In the first years of the Weimar Republic, the German psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn gathered a remarkable collection of works by schizophrenic patients that would astonish and delight the world.
The Prinzhorn collection, as it was called, inspired a new generation of artists, including Paul Klee, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali. What the doctor could not have known, however, was that these works would later be used to prepare the ground for mass-murder.
Soon after his rise to power, Hitler—a failed artist of the old school—declared war on modern art. The Nazis staged giant ‘Degenerate Art’ shows to ridicule the avant-garde, and seized and destroyed the cream of Germany's modern art collections. This action was mere preparation, however, for the even more sinister campaign Hitler would later wage against so-called "degenerate" people, and Prinzhorn's artists were caught up in both.
Bringing together inspirational art history, genius and madness, and the wanton cruelty of the fanatical "artist-Führer", this astonishing story lays bare the culture war that paved the way for Hitler's first extermination programme, the psychiatric Holocaust.
336 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2021
59 people are currently reading
2782 people want to read
About the author
Charlie English
6 books82 followersCharlie English is a British non-fiction author and former head of international news at the Guardian. He has written four critically-acclaimed books: The Snow Tourist (2008); The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu (2017, published in the US as The Storied City); and The Gallery of Miracles and Madness (2021). His latest, The CIA Book Club, has just been published. He lives in London with his family and a rather talented sheepdog named Enzo. You can reach Charlie through his website, or via X or Instagram at @charlieenglish1.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
August 14, 2021
The final quarter of this book is devoted to sources: The Gallery of Miracles and Madness walks a familiar field. It does so, however, with gusto and insight. English establishes with real clarity how Art and Nazi philosophy marched together. And this aspect does not refer to the aesthetic appeal of Nazi uniforms as some have suggested! English demonstrates, over time, how Hitler's thought patterns were founded on an Artist-Prophet equation whereby a great leader could use art to cleanse the national psyche, which also implied, of course, the opposite: the need to disinfect the unclean. Yes, Hitler's mass murdering of the mentally ill was a practical blue-print for the final Holocaust, but English traces the psychological linkage with originality and tenacity to show how one flowed into the other: how Mein Kampf led to Aktion T4 and it led to the Final Solution.
The Gallery of Miracles and Madness centres on the Prinzhorn Collection and its artists -- on Prinzhorn's belief that art by the mentally ill was not ill art, but creativity of a high order. By focusing on a number of the Prinzhorn artists -- notably Karl Buhler (Pol in Hans Prinzhorn's monumental work Bildnerei der Geisteskranken: ein Beitrag zur Psychologie und Psychopathologie der Gestaltung) -- English maintains a humane tone. English also outlines the central fear that came with Prinzhorn's book. By allowing pathological works into the sacred grove of academe, Prinzhorn both liberated art (Dada and Surrealism drew strength from the book) and incarcerated it (modern art's embracing of schizophrenia proved the degeneracy of modern art as asserted by Hitler).
Lebensunwertes Leben a life less than life, a terrible phrase, became the Nazi's justification for
sterilisation, medical investigations, and mass gassings. English does well in keeping a balanced tone that does not lose itself in numbers and sheer horror ... to the point that the reader's mind blurs into incredulity before human evil. There are moments when over-familiar ground irritates (do we need to be told yet again about Hitler's suicide?) and the book goes off point, but these are rare occasions. This is a book written with humanity that confronts human anesthetics, what occurs when art's spirituality is lost, and people can be killed because their lives are unproductive and cost the Stare too much. Ironically, Hitler's war on art and war on the world as it existed, was self-defeating. After he had defaced modern art (because it did not depict faces correctly) and connected Germanic collections of modern art to excrement, it did not have great currency. Works worth millions were sold for next to nothing, in fact, as English observes, just enough to equip two Panzer tanks. And once Hitler had burnt Modernism he was left with a new Kunst without life and a Reich centred on a creative vaccuum.
October 26, 2021
The word 'insanity' in the - rather lurid - subtitle of this fascinating book refers more to those running the psychiatric hospitals than it does to the patients who inhabited them. For, if there's one era in history when the lunatics really did take over the asylum, it's Nazi Germany 1933-45. Just when you thought there was nothing about that terrible time left to write about, a book like this comes along to remind you of all the unbelievable horror and (collective) madness. This time the story is centred around modern art and Hitler and the Nazis' deranged attitude towards both it and the artists who created it. Like with everything else the Nazis were against, what they couldn't defeat through ideas or talent or reason, they had to destroy using brute force, lies, distortion and mass murder. Charlie English tells the story authoritatively and sensitively, bringing to the fore the names of those who suffered the ultimate price for their differences as individuals and artists, and those who participated in their destruction. One quick note about the number of pages. Yes, the book is 336 pages long. But over 100 of these are endnotes, bibliography and index. The text itself only makes up 228 pages.
August 8, 2022
The Gallery of Miracles and Madness: Insanity, Modernism, and Hitler’s War on Art is a fascinating introduction to the Nazi’s “culture war” – their attempt to not only eliminate the art but the artist. And it began (more or less) with the least regarded in society, the mentally ill.
In the first part of the book – “Bildnerei” – English recounts the effort of Hans Prinzhorn, a German psychiatrist, to investigate the artistic output of asylum patients. He had an insight that it might provide a window on their psychoses, and he discovered a wealth of striking images rivaling what modern artists were producing (in fact, the author shows how these works – once he had publicized them – directly influenced some of the biggest names and movements in the art world, including Dadaism and Surrealism).
English uses one of the most interesting patients, Franz Karl Bühler, to illustrate his point. Bühler was committed c. 1900 and would spend the next 40 years in institutions until the Nazis murdered him in 1940 – gassed in one of the prototype killing rooms the SS experimented with in anticipation of the Final Solution.
“Entartung” focuses on the man whose pathological hatreds informed Nazi ideology and found much sympathy among the reactionary elements of German society – Adolf Hitler. Parts three and four – “Bildersturm” and “Euthanasie,” respectively – describe the NSDAP’s efforts to dehumanize the “undesirables” & then experiment with the most efficient ways to deal with them. Trigger warning: Some of the chapters in “Euthanasie” are graphic in describing what Nazis did to “useless people.” Additionally, they learned how to make their programs palatable to the German people. As English points out, “[t]he Nazis relied on the ability of people not to imagine themselves in someone else’s shoes. The lack of connection was very much the point” (p. 227).
Very much recommended. English’s writing is clear and compelling, and he presents an aspect of the Nazism that most general readers haven’t heard much about.
PS – I can’t claim much discernment when it comes to art, but I was taken with Bühler’s work – what’s presented in the book. Unfortunately, much of his work as well as the other art collected by Prinzhorn, the Nazis destroyed. It survives, if at all, largely in reproductions. There are two particularly impactful works of Bühler that have exercised a fascination with me: Der Würgengel (The choking angel) and his self-portrait, Das Selbst .
In the first part of the book – “Bildnerei” – English recounts the effort of Hans Prinzhorn, a German psychiatrist, to investigate the artistic output of asylum patients. He had an insight that it might provide a window on their psychoses, and he discovered a wealth of striking images rivaling what modern artists were producing (in fact, the author shows how these works – once he had publicized them – directly influenced some of the biggest names and movements in the art world, including Dadaism and Surrealism).
Prinzhorn was not the first person to take the art of psychiatric patients seriously, but he was the first to present its enormous diversity to a wide audience to give patients “a presentation worthy of their talents,” as Breton once remarked. The doctor’s achievement was one of inclusion. He had taken work by the most marginalized group in German society and held it up for public regard – as high as that of the great artists of the past. The effect was to inspire new journeys of inner exploration, to expand the circle of permitted art-makers beyond the trained elite, and to broaden the definition of art in recognition that there were more kinds of creative expression than anyone had previously imagined (p. 221).
English uses one of the most interesting patients, Franz Karl Bühler, to illustrate his point. Bühler was committed c. 1900 and would spend the next 40 years in institutions until the Nazis murdered him in 1940 – gassed in one of the prototype killing rooms the SS experimented with in anticipation of the Final Solution.
“Entartung” focuses on the man whose pathological hatreds informed Nazi ideology and found much sympathy among the reactionary elements of German society – Adolf Hitler. Parts three and four – “Bildersturm” and “Euthanasie,” respectively – describe the NSDAP’s efforts to dehumanize the “undesirables” & then experiment with the most efficient ways to deal with them. Trigger warning: Some of the chapters in “Euthanasie” are graphic in describing what Nazis did to “useless people.” Additionally, they learned how to make their programs palatable to the German people. As English points out, “[t]he Nazis relied on the ability of people not to imagine themselves in someone else’s shoes. The lack of connection was very much the point” (p. 227).
Very much recommended. English’s writing is clear and compelling, and he presents an aspect of the Nazism that most general readers haven’t heard much about.
PS – I can’t claim much discernment when it comes to art, but I was taken with Bühler’s work – what’s presented in the book. Unfortunately, much of his work as well as the other art collected by Prinzhorn, the Nazis destroyed. It survives, if at all, largely in reproductions. There are two particularly impactful works of Bühler that have exercised a fascination with me: Der Würgengel (The choking angel) and his self-portrait, Das Selbst .
December 31, 2021
Art as a weapon, as policy, and as fascist vision . . .. There are really four stories here and, if the book has a flaw, it is the sometimes tenuous link between the four parts. Hans Prinzhorn's collection of asylum inmate art is the springboard to extended, well-researched reflections on "decadent art," the bizarre role art played in Hitler's vision and his twisted aesthetic as a gateway to the euthanasia of the mentally infirm citizens of Germany.
I found the questions raised by the section on Prinzhorn to be the most interesting -- the balance between the artistic vision and the perceptions and depictions of reality that might lead someone to an asylum. The extension of that question into a consideration of how some aspects of modernism might represent a flight from reason feeds directly into the Nazis' rejection of "decadent" art as a betrayal of what Germany, and by extension the world ruled by Germany, should be. The descent of their disapproval into genocide is a shattering view of authentic, applied madness and a lesson we should all have learned by 1945 so that we never have to repeat the experience.
But I found myself thinking about the aesthetics -- if they even exist -- of our modern racists and would-be nazis -- and what role art might play if they ever ascend to power. We're seeing today in Texas how eager some of them are to purge our libraries of the books they disapprove and right-wingers have been working for decades to remove public funding for any art outside a narrow range, but I'm hard-pressed to think what they might replace it with. Weeping eagles? Customized pick-up trucks? Religious art? Emblems of commerce and currency? Here's hoping we never find out.
I found the questions raised by the section on Prinzhorn to be the most interesting -- the balance between the artistic vision and the perceptions and depictions of reality that might lead someone to an asylum. The extension of that question into a consideration of how some aspects of modernism might represent a flight from reason feeds directly into the Nazis' rejection of "decadent" art as a betrayal of what Germany, and by extension the world ruled by Germany, should be. The descent of their disapproval into genocide is a shattering view of authentic, applied madness and a lesson we should all have learned by 1945 so that we never have to repeat the experience.
But I found myself thinking about the aesthetics -- if they even exist -- of our modern racists and would-be nazis -- and what role art might play if they ever ascend to power. We're seeing today in Texas how eager some of them are to purge our libraries of the books they disapprove and right-wingers have been working for decades to remove public funding for any art outside a narrow range, but I'm hard-pressed to think what they might replace it with. Weeping eagles? Customized pick-up trucks? Religious art? Emblems of commerce and currency? Here's hoping we never find out.
May 4, 2021
Wow, what a remarkable book! Several sections includes graphic details of death (especially gassing) at the hands of the Nazis due to "economic" reasons which justified their heinous euthanasia scheme on the mentally ill. It was difficult to read but the subject very important to learn about.
Psychiatric patients and those who were deemed imperfect were the first to be sterilized and then murdered, including many artists. Modernist art had to go, too. Billions of dollars worth of it in today's currency was burned and some was kept to be used as propaganda in displays which were free to the public (though interestingly, children were not admitted). "Degenerate" art was placed adjacent to professional art and the public was asked to judge for themselves which was better. What a cruel mockery!
Hitler's dream was to become an artist and was convinced he was but experts didn't agree. He copied postcards and sold them to earn money to live. When he came into power he only allowed art HE was interested in. He took some of his favourite art with him underground. Thankfully some of the "degenerate" art had been secreted away.
Hans Prinzhorn was a singer, doctor and art history expert. He became fascinated by the art of the mentally ill (and many really who were forced into asylums as they were inconvenient) so gathered a collection including that of Buhler who desperately tried to escape from the asylum in which he was imprisoned. Buhler dated his art which became a journal of sorts. Some of the "degenerate" art was judged to be on par with that of professionals. This new style of art became so attractive and revered that some professional artists such as Dali tried to force themselves to become insane in order to produce it. Surrealism was born and Breton and Ernst capitalized on it. Some of those who experienced war firsthand captured human suffering in art...and the medium wasn't always paper but whatever the artist could get their hands on.
Though Modernist art isn't for me, it is easy to see where it comes from and reflects what the artist felt at the time, often nightmarish anguish.
My sincere thank you to Random House Publishing for the privilege of reading this unforgettable book!
Psychiatric patients and those who were deemed imperfect were the first to be sterilized and then murdered, including many artists. Modernist art had to go, too. Billions of dollars worth of it in today's currency was burned and some was kept to be used as propaganda in displays which were free to the public (though interestingly, children were not admitted). "Degenerate" art was placed adjacent to professional art and the public was asked to judge for themselves which was better. What a cruel mockery!
Hitler's dream was to become an artist and was convinced he was but experts didn't agree. He copied postcards and sold them to earn money to live. When he came into power he only allowed art HE was interested in. He took some of his favourite art with him underground. Thankfully some of the "degenerate" art had been secreted away.
Hans Prinzhorn was a singer, doctor and art history expert. He became fascinated by the art of the mentally ill (and many really who were forced into asylums as they were inconvenient) so gathered a collection including that of Buhler who desperately tried to escape from the asylum in which he was imprisoned. Buhler dated his art which became a journal of sorts. Some of the "degenerate" art was judged to be on par with that of professionals. This new style of art became so attractive and revered that some professional artists such as Dali tried to force themselves to become insane in order to produce it. Surrealism was born and Breton and Ernst capitalized on it. Some of those who experienced war firsthand captured human suffering in art...and the medium wasn't always paper but whatever the artist could get their hands on.
Though Modernist art isn't for me, it is easy to see where it comes from and reflects what the artist felt at the time, often nightmarish anguish.
My sincere thank you to Random House Publishing for the privilege of reading this unforgettable book!
March 27, 2024
There are better books on Hitler's and the Nazis attitude to art and to those they deemed 'life not worth living' (mentally and physically handicapped - as it was then referred to) but this is an excellent drawing together of the two strands in Nazi thought (I am well aware that to describe the stew of prejudice, ignorance, misinformed stupidity and downright lies as 'thought' is wildly inaccurate) and shows how interrelated they were. What is really splendid is Mr. English's chapters on the work of Hans Prinzhorn and his recognition of the artistic nature of the work of so many psychiatric patients to an astounded world.
If you know nothing about this subject than this is an excellent book to begin with.
If you know nothing about this subject than this is an excellent book to begin with.
August 13, 2021
“The tragedy of contemporary art… was that it had lost touch with this primeval purpose. Artists were taught that there was an objective reality, a “correct” photographic version of the world, when there was no such thing.”
This is a harrowing, impeccably researched book which outlines Hitler’s war on modern art, which he viewed as a threat to German culture and civilization. Part of his hatred toward the modern art movement had to do with the fact that many modern artists derived inspiration from the works of psychiatric patients, whom Hitler viewed as a burden on the state and sought to exterminate.
“Art, Hitler came to believe, was an eternal value that could be passed on through the… body of the pure race, over the generations. The German people would be genetically healthy when they produced “good” art, while “bad” art was a symptom of their malaise.”
People often speculate how the course of history may have changed had Hitler become a successful artist. Like the egomaniac that he was, Hitler considered himself to be the pinnacle of artistic talent. He was therefore shocked and enraged when struck by the reality of his artistic mediocrity, failing his art school entrance exams. His eradication of modern art and artists may have stemmed from a feeling of vengeance: “The artist-dictator… set aside his pencils and paints to work with humanity.”
It was heartbreaking to read about the hundreds and thousands of asylum patients and children – all helpless victims – who were gassed and starved to death, tortured, and experimented on as a precursor to Hitler’s “Final Solution.” History books often glaze over this disturbing segment of Hitler’s extermination policies (perhaps because the numbers don’t compare to the millions of Jewish victims), but the details are nevertheless vital to our understanding of the Holocaust, and how a mass extermination of German citizens was allowed to be carried out.
In short, I believe this to be essential reading for any art/history enthusiast, or anyone looking to delve into the more obscure details of Hitler’s regime.
This is a harrowing, impeccably researched book which outlines Hitler’s war on modern art, which he viewed as a threat to German culture and civilization. Part of his hatred toward the modern art movement had to do with the fact that many modern artists derived inspiration from the works of psychiatric patients, whom Hitler viewed as a burden on the state and sought to exterminate.
“Art, Hitler came to believe, was an eternal value that could be passed on through the… body of the pure race, over the generations. The German people would be genetically healthy when they produced “good” art, while “bad” art was a symptom of their malaise.”
People often speculate how the course of history may have changed had Hitler become a successful artist. Like the egomaniac that he was, Hitler considered himself to be the pinnacle of artistic talent. He was therefore shocked and enraged when struck by the reality of his artistic mediocrity, failing his art school entrance exams. His eradication of modern art and artists may have stemmed from a feeling of vengeance: “The artist-dictator… set aside his pencils and paints to work with humanity.”
It was heartbreaking to read about the hundreds and thousands of asylum patients and children – all helpless victims – who were gassed and starved to death, tortured, and experimented on as a precursor to Hitler’s “Final Solution.” History books often glaze over this disturbing segment of Hitler’s extermination policies (perhaps because the numbers don’t compare to the millions of Jewish victims), but the details are nevertheless vital to our understanding of the Holocaust, and how a mass extermination of German citizens was allowed to be carried out.
In short, I believe this to be essential reading for any art/history enthusiast, or anyone looking to delve into the more obscure details of Hitler’s regime.
January 18, 2022
I have read a few WWII books and nothing like this. I had no idea about the art and Hitler connection so I was fascinated throughout the whole thing.
December 3, 2022
Fascinating history
April 19, 2021
This is a fascinating and compelling story of how one psychiatrist, intrigued by what art created by patients committed long term to mental hospitals might reveal about their conditions, collected hundreds of samples of the work and eventually published a book about his work. This book, had a staggering impact far beyond what Hans Prinzhorn, it author, expected. Their work made other artists see the world anew, influencing the work of Klee, Picasso and Dali among many others.
This artistic revolution took place as the Nazi party took power in Germany. With a frustrated and failed artist leading the nation, art was seen as nothing less than an emblem of moral health. In a perverse turn, the Propaganda Minister decided to illustrate what good art was by demonstrating what it was not. A gallery of degenerate art by the mental patients and artists influenced by them was assembled and exhibited drawing, in the end, millions of people. In the meantime, the patients themselves were being put to death for being unproductive and unwanted citizens of Germany.
This is a powerful story and brings new information about Nazi Germany and a new perspective on the role that art played in it. I received and advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
This artistic revolution took place as the Nazi party took power in Germany. With a frustrated and failed artist leading the nation, art was seen as nothing less than an emblem of moral health. In a perverse turn, the Propaganda Minister decided to illustrate what good art was by demonstrating what it was not. A gallery of degenerate art by the mental patients and artists influenced by them was assembled and exhibited drawing, in the end, millions of people. In the meantime, the patients themselves were being put to death for being unproductive and unwanted citizens of Germany.
This is a powerful story and brings new information about Nazi Germany and a new perspective on the role that art played in it. I received and advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
October 4, 2021
A well researched and well written account of the role of art in Hitler’s Germany and how Hitler used it for propaganda. The book focuses on the Prinzhorn collection of art by patients in asylums. Prinzhorn believed that these works deserved recognition and he spent his life collecting, protecting and writing about the works. The link with Hitler comes when he used this collection to demonstrate, in his opinion, how degenerate modern art of the time was. Mounting an exhibit which toured the country, the propaganda was thick and convincing. Unbelievably convincing. Though we may think that everything has been written about this time in history, this book demonstrates there are still layers to be revealed.
October 21, 2021
An interesting examination of the approach to art by the National Socialists. This recounting goes back and forth between the works highlighted by Prinzhorn, and the maniacal outlook on art and history from the Fuhrer. It is a bit dry at times in the middle, but the beginning and ending are quite engaging.
January 4, 2022
Very well done.
June 19, 2022
The blurb was by Philippe Sands and with good reason. An excellent book!!
October 18, 2025
Excelente leitura!
December 3, 2021
This book is fascinating, harrowing and a quick read for a non-fiction. Of interest are the ties between Schizophrenia and Dadaism as well as Hitler curating art shows (Can you imagine?) and the beginning of Nazi exterminations. Some of the descriptions herein will haunt my mind's eye for years to come. Highly recommended. Pairs well with Louis Sass' Madness and Modernism.
August 20, 2021
This extraordinary piece of work might be read in conjunction with Mary Lane's Hitler's Last Hostages (my review here). While Lane's excellent book covers some of the same ground, it focuses more on the Nazi looting of museums and private art collections to feed Hitler's own art obsession and desire for glorification of a new Aryan culture. English delves into the dark flip side (did you think it could get even darker ?): the demonization of modern art as exemplified in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition, specifically as a propaganda tool. This was built in association with a collection of art works - drawings, paintings, sculptures, and whatever media was available - done by the inmates of psychiatric institutions across Germany, assembled by an art historian turned psychiatrist named Hans Prinzhorn. Prinzhorn collected, studied, examined and published a book of hundreds of these works, and championed them as more than just proof or examples of the patients' pathologies, but as worthy works of creativity and artistry. Modern European artists were astounded and inspired by them. Hitler's cronies seized on the "art of insanity" and deliberately exhibited them side by side with the "degenerate" modern art they loathed as an object lesson in the imminent destruction of German culture: Look! These degenerate artists want us all to be like this! Crazy, ugly, insane - bet you can't pick out the ones by the lunatics from the so-called 'real' artists! This is what THEY want us to be! This is what these museums are spending your tax money on! It was all part of a carefully crafted campaign to vilify "the Other" and herald the new age to come of sunlit soldiers, beautiful blonde mothers, and apple-cheeked children in sunny meadows. Which meant that all those defective people - disabled, mentally ill, ugly - were "lives not deserving lives," "ballast lives," only undermining Germany's future and costing txpayers money. In fact, they were so expensive that it was recommended to asylum administrators to starve or beat them to death because it was cheaper than shipping them to the gas chambers (which they also did, loading up postal service buses to ferry them in). The hospitals and asylums were emptied of 70,000 disabled and mentally ill people, including children, who were then methodically murdered. And then their families were to be checked out, since they "produced" these defective people, it seemed likely they carried the defects also, and so... As much as we already know about Nazi horrors, it seems there are always more depths to which they went. And still, there were heroes who resisted them: the president of the German psychiatrists association objected, and helped hospitals hide their endangered patients. His name was Karl Bonhoeffer, father of Dietrich (and another son besides - also butchered by the Nazis).
English introduces us to Prinzhorn and many of the artists, their work, and what became of them all (virtually every artist he collected was killed by the Nazis). It is an astonishing story, and fleshes out the role of art: not just as loot and bragging rights, but as a tool for the inculcation, explication, and justification of evil. The writing is brisk and vivid, as befits a veteran Guardian journalist covering the arts and international affairs. I wish the notes had been handled differently: supporting notes are collected in the back of the book, but not linked to pages or specific references, and rather are prose passages themselves. A good writer like English could have woven some of the supporting facts into the text, and then done a standard bibliography / footnote list, rather than make me keep flipping back and forth!
In the 1960s, a psychiatry trainee at the Heidelberg hospital opened up a myseriously locked cupboard in a side room. There were the stacks and bundles of the fragile art works of the murdered inmates of Prinzhorn's era. They have been cleaned, restored, and now have their own museum, library, and exhibition space. As they should. Ruhe in Frieden.
English introduces us to Prinzhorn and many of the artists, their work, and what became of them all (virtually every artist he collected was killed by the Nazis). It is an astonishing story, and fleshes out the role of art: not just as loot and bragging rights, but as a tool for the inculcation, explication, and justification of evil. The writing is brisk and vivid, as befits a veteran Guardian journalist covering the arts and international affairs. I wish the notes had been handled differently: supporting notes are collected in the back of the book, but not linked to pages or specific references, and rather are prose passages themselves. A good writer like English could have woven some of the supporting facts into the text, and then done a standard bibliography / footnote list, rather than make me keep flipping back and forth!
In the 1960s, a psychiatry trainee at the Heidelberg hospital opened up a myseriously locked cupboard in a side room. There were the stacks and bundles of the fragile art works of the murdered inmates of Prinzhorn's era. They have been cleaned, restored, and now have their own museum, library, and exhibition space. As they should. Ruhe in Frieden.
January 21, 2024
W latach 20 XX wieku lekarz Hans Prinzhorn zaczął tworzyć kolekcję dzieł sztuki autorstwa osób leczonych z zamkniętych zakładach psychiatrycznych. Ten zbiór był źródłem inspiracji dla malarzy oraz przejawem kreatywności i talentu autorów. Gdy do władzy doszedł Hitler bardzo mocno powiązał kulturę z polityką krajową i zaczął tępić wszelkie przejawy abstrakcji w sztukach plastycznych. Kumulacją jego nienawiści do sztuki współczesnej była wystawa Sztuki Zdegenerowanej, gdzie prace artystów zestawiono z pracami osób chorych, by stały się obiektem kpin. Ta książka to zapis tworzenia kolekcji Prinzhorna i polityki kulturalno-społecznej Hitlera. Bardzo dobrze opowiedziana i ciekawa.
July 22, 2021
Somewhere near Boston is a place called The Museum of Bad Art. Part of this book is about if that idea were run by a very bitter and bland artist who grew up to become a dictator. This is a very serious book, but still has a small element of The Producers (the bad guy opens up a gallery intentionally trying to make all of the work in it look bad and it's quietly very popular, but since people are legitimately and understandably fearing for their lives they bite their tongues even as it becomes the most successful exhibit in history).
There is a lot more to this book, but I'm sure other reviews will cover.
Probably my favorite book I've gotten from NetGalley. An excellent story, well-told, well-structured, well-researched, super informative.
There is a lot more to this book, but I'm sure other reviews will cover.
Probably my favorite book I've gotten from NetGalley. An excellent story, well-told, well-structured, well-researched, super informative.
September 9, 2021
You can read my published review at The BookBrowse Review here:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/review...
https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/review...
September 27, 2021
I enjoyed this, but many times it rather blurs the line between the topic of art and the topic of mental illness...and sometimes it travels into the territory of one at the exclusion of the other. Well written and well researched, but not quite as balanced as I hoped it would be.
January 2, 2025
„Galeria cudów i obłędu” Charliego Englisha to książka niezwykła, poruszająca zarówno swoją tematyką, jak i sposobem narracji. To opowieść o sztuce, chorobie, polityce i tragicznej wojnie, którą totalitarne państwo wypowiedziało zarówno artystom, jak i ludziom chorym psychicznie. Książka ta, poprzez losy kolekcji Hansa Prinzhorna i dramatyczne wydarzenia w Niemczech w pierwszej połowie XX wieku, oferuje nie tylko lekcję historii, ale także refleksję nad rolą sztuki i człowieczeństwa w obliczu okrutnych systemów ideologicznych.
Prinzhorn, jako psychiatra, próbował zrozumieć ludzką psychikę poprzez sztukę. Dostrzegał, że prace te nie były jedynie „produktem” choroby, lecz pełnowartościowym świadectwem wewnętrznych przeżyć, myśli i lęków twórców. To, co początkowo miało służyć jedynie jako materiał badawczy, szybko nabrało wymiaru artystycznego, ukazując niezwykłą siłę ekspresji i głębię twórczości osób żyjących na marginesie społeczeństwa, odciętych od świata zewnętrznego przez swoje choroby psychiczne.
Dzięki jego pracy, świat sztuki szybko zainteresował się twórczością pacjentów szpitali psychiatrycznych. Malarze awangardy, jak Salvador Dalí czy Paul Klee, byli zafascynowani „sztuką szaleństwa”, która nie znała żadnych granic, norm ani reguł. Dla artystów okresu międzywojennego była ona niczym objawienie – odrzucała porządek i strukturę, otwierając drzwi do nieograniczonej wolności twórczej.
Kolejnym niezwykle ważnym aspektem książki jest ukazanie, w jaki sposób sztuka stała się przedmiotem nienawiści i prześladowań w nazistowskich Niemczech. Charlie English poświęca wiele uwagi osobie Adolfa Hitlera, człowieka, który sam chciał zostać malarzem, ale nie zdołał dostać się na wiedeńską Akademię Sztuk Pięknych. To osobiste niepowodzenie, które na zawsze zmieniło życie Hitlera, zrodziło w nim głęboką niechęć do sztuki modernistycznej, którą postrzegał jako symptom moralnego i duchowego upadku.
Dla Hitlera sztuka była narzędziem ideologicznym. W jego rasistowskiej wizji świata liczyła się tylko estetyka, która odpowiadała ideałowi „aryjskiej duszy” – czystości, porządku i dyscypliny. Wszelka twórczość, która odbiegała od tych norm, była postrzegana jako „zdegenerowana” i „chora”. Nic więc dziwnego, że w latach 30. XX wieku, po dojściu do władzy, Hitler nakazał konfiskowanie dzieł współczesnych artystów i wystawianie ich na publicznych pokazach jako przykład „upadku kultury”. W ten sposób powstały słynne wystawy „sztuki zdegenerowanej” – miejsca, gdzie dzieła modernistów, jak również twórczość osób chorych psychicznie, były wyszydzane i ośmieszane.
Jednym z najważniejszych elementów książki Englisha jest jej refleksyjny charakter. Autor zadaje fundamentalne pytania o to, czym jest sztuka i jaką rolę odgrywa w społeczeństwie. Czy sztuka tworzona przez ludzi chorych psychicznie może być równie wartościowa, jak dzieła wielkich mistrzów? Czy istnieją granice, które wyznaczają, co jest „normalne” i „zdrowe” w sztuce, a co „zdegenerowane”? Odpowiedzi na te pytania nie są proste, ale English z wrażliwością i głębokim zrozumieniem tematu stara się je zgłębić, podkreślając, że sztuka nie zna granic – rodzi się z indywidualnego doświadczenia, z bólu, radości, szaleństwa i geniuszu.
Książka jest również hołdem dla ludzi, których życie zostało zniszczone przez systemy totalitarne. Jest to przypomnienie o wartościach, które łatwo utracić w świecie rządzonym przez ideologię – wartościach takich jak wolność twórcza, prawo do inności i akceptacja dla różnorodności ludzkiego doświadczenia. Sztuka pacjentów psychiatrycznych, zebrana przez Prinzhorna, jest wyrazem nie tylko cierpienia, ale także nadziei i odwagi – nadziei na to, że nawet w najgłębszym mroku ludzkiej duszy może narodzić się coś pięknego.
„Galeria cudów i obłędu” to niezwykle poruszająca i głęboka książka, która łączy historię sztuki z trudnymi, ale ważnymi pytaniami o człowieczeństwo, dehumanizację i granice między geniuszem a szaleństwem. Charlie English, dzięki umiejętnemu połączeniu faktów historycznych z refleksją nad sztuką i polityką, stworzył dzieło o wielowymiarowym znaczeniu. Jest to książka, która nie tylko przybliża nam tragiczne losy artystów i pacjentów psychiatrycznych w nazistowskich Niemczech, ale również skłania do głębszej refleksji nad tym, czym jest sztuka i jaką rolę odgrywa w naszym życiu.
Prinzhorn, jako psychiatra, próbował zrozumieć ludzką psychikę poprzez sztukę. Dostrzegał, że prace te nie były jedynie „produktem” choroby, lecz pełnowartościowym świadectwem wewnętrznych przeżyć, myśli i lęków twórców. To, co początkowo miało służyć jedynie jako materiał badawczy, szybko nabrało wymiaru artystycznego, ukazując niezwykłą siłę ekspresji i głębię twórczości osób żyjących na marginesie społeczeństwa, odciętych od świata zewnętrznego przez swoje choroby psychiczne.
Dzięki jego pracy, świat sztuki szybko zainteresował się twórczością pacjentów szpitali psychiatrycznych. Malarze awangardy, jak Salvador Dalí czy Paul Klee, byli zafascynowani „sztuką szaleństwa”, która nie znała żadnych granic, norm ani reguł. Dla artystów okresu międzywojennego była ona niczym objawienie – odrzucała porządek i strukturę, otwierając drzwi do nieograniczonej wolności twórczej.
Kolejnym niezwykle ważnym aspektem książki jest ukazanie, w jaki sposób sztuka stała się przedmiotem nienawiści i prześladowań w nazistowskich Niemczech. Charlie English poświęca wiele uwagi osobie Adolfa Hitlera, człowieka, który sam chciał zostać malarzem, ale nie zdołał dostać się na wiedeńską Akademię Sztuk Pięknych. To osobiste niepowodzenie, które na zawsze zmieniło życie Hitlera, zrodziło w nim głęboką niechęć do sztuki modernistycznej, którą postrzegał jako symptom moralnego i duchowego upadku.
Dla Hitlera sztuka była narzędziem ideologicznym. W jego rasistowskiej wizji świata liczyła się tylko estetyka, która odpowiadała ideałowi „aryjskiej duszy” – czystości, porządku i dyscypliny. Wszelka twórczość, która odbiegała od tych norm, była postrzegana jako „zdegenerowana” i „chora”. Nic więc dziwnego, że w latach 30. XX wieku, po dojściu do władzy, Hitler nakazał konfiskowanie dzieł współczesnych artystów i wystawianie ich na publicznych pokazach jako przykład „upadku kultury”. W ten sposób powstały słynne wystawy „sztuki zdegenerowanej” – miejsca, gdzie dzieła modernistów, jak również twórczość osób chorych psychicznie, były wyszydzane i ośmieszane.
Jednym z najważniejszych elementów książki Englisha jest jej refleksyjny charakter. Autor zadaje fundamentalne pytania o to, czym jest sztuka i jaką rolę odgrywa w społeczeństwie. Czy sztuka tworzona przez ludzi chorych psychicznie może być równie wartościowa, jak dzieła wielkich mistrzów? Czy istnieją granice, które wyznaczają, co jest „normalne” i „zdrowe” w sztuce, a co „zdegenerowane”? Odpowiedzi na te pytania nie są proste, ale English z wrażliwością i głębokim zrozumieniem tematu stara się je zgłębić, podkreślając, że sztuka nie zna granic – rodzi się z indywidualnego doświadczenia, z bólu, radości, szaleństwa i geniuszu.
Książka jest również hołdem dla ludzi, których życie zostało zniszczone przez systemy totalitarne. Jest to przypomnienie o wartościach, które łatwo utracić w świecie rządzonym przez ideologię – wartościach takich jak wolność twórcza, prawo do inności i akceptacja dla różnorodności ludzkiego doświadczenia. Sztuka pacjentów psychiatrycznych, zebrana przez Prinzhorna, jest wyrazem nie tylko cierpienia, ale także nadziei i odwagi – nadziei na to, że nawet w najgłębszym mroku ludzkiej duszy może narodzić się coś pięknego.
„Galeria cudów i obłędu” to niezwykle poruszająca i głęboka książka, która łączy historię sztuki z trudnymi, ale ważnymi pytaniami o człowieczeństwo, dehumanizację i granice między geniuszem a szaleństwem. Charlie English, dzięki umiejętnemu połączeniu faktów historycznych z refleksją nad sztuką i polityką, stworzył dzieło o wielowymiarowym znaczeniu. Jest to książka, która nie tylko przybliża nam tragiczne losy artystów i pacjentów psychiatrycznych w nazistowskich Niemczech, ale również skłania do głębszej refleksji nad tym, czym jest sztuka i jaką rolę odgrywa w naszym życiu.
January 27, 2025
5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: nonfiction, history, WWII history, historical nonfiction, psychiatric nonfiction, art history
TW Holocaust, abuse of disabled and mentally ill people
This book gets progressively heavier and darker as it progresses. In the beginning, the author focuses on the art and art movement(s) that arose from the art coming from asylum patients, but as it the focus turns strictly from art history and toward the intersection of politics and art, we begin to see the dark underside of politics and propaganda. In this same vein, English does not shy away from making clear exactly what kind of things the Nazi regime did to patients in asylums, as he should, but it is quite dark and depressing at times.
The book is split into four sections: Bildnerei (sculpture, doodles), Entartung (degeneracy/degeneration), Bildersturm (iconoclasm), and Euthanasie (euthanasia). In part 1, as mentioned, English focuses on the cultural and historical background of the late-1800s and early-1900s and gives the profiles of some of the artists in German asylums during this time. He also introduces a psychiatrist/art historian named Prinzhorn who collected and analyzed art from asylum patients and introduced their work to the world, praising its technique and skill. From there we learn about how his book and traveling exhibit was received, both the positive and the negative, and how it transformed the art world. I quite liked this section and enjoyed getting to know this part of art history that was previously unknown to me.
The second section turns its attention to Hitler. We get a brief background of his childhood and artistic pursuits, followed by his reception of the new art movements. Predictably he hated it and derided it, but perhaps surprisingly he connected the new forms of art with his view on genetics, race, and cultural purity. Despite minoring in German and having an avid interest in history (I did know about the Degenerate Art exhibit from the '30s), I had not realized just how deep the ties between Nazi racial ideology and Nazi art/imagery went. This section of the book really shows the beginning of this and how Hitler and Goebbels pushed for an artistic cleansing.
Part 3 examines these things even further and discusses how the Nazi regime systemically went around and stole or destroyed art while preaching cultural and racial purity. The Nazis also turned their attention to asylum patients more forcefully at this point and voluntary, then forced sterilizations began. English returns again to some of the Prinzhorn artists at this point, discussing how various Nazi schemes impacted them and/or their art. Along with them, we also get a glimpse at how non-asylum artists were faring during this time, with some of them arrested, exiled, or banned from creating art. The Nazis really began pushing art propaganda at this point and English discusses the creation of the Degenerate Art exhibit, along with Hitler's obsession with art as well as his spiraling mental state.
The last part of the book is the darkest, though the ending chapters of part 3 were also dark. In part 4, as expected considering its name, we get into the part of history when Nazis began murdering the disabled and mentally ill. English walks through this chronologically, starting with the children and working through to when both adults and children were being murdered. He provides insight into the ideas the Nazis floated around as well as how the killing machine actually worked. We again turn to the Prinzhorn artists, a good number of whom were killed.
This book was quite interesting and I learned a lot about art history and the Nazi stance on art that I hadn't known before. I definitely had moments when I had to put the book down after reading a chapter and just sit with what I'd read. I did already know some of the statistics, but English spells it out in a way that's very real and very human, and it really is awful to think about.
Recommended if you like: nonfiction, history, WWII history, historical nonfiction, psychiatric nonfiction, art history
TW Holocaust, abuse of disabled and mentally ill people
This book gets progressively heavier and darker as it progresses. In the beginning, the author focuses on the art and art movement(s) that arose from the art coming from asylum patients, but as it the focus turns strictly from art history and toward the intersection of politics and art, we begin to see the dark underside of politics and propaganda. In this same vein, English does not shy away from making clear exactly what kind of things the Nazi regime did to patients in asylums, as he should, but it is quite dark and depressing at times.
The book is split into four sections: Bildnerei (sculpture, doodles), Entartung (degeneracy/degeneration), Bildersturm (iconoclasm), and Euthanasie (euthanasia). In part 1, as mentioned, English focuses on the cultural and historical background of the late-1800s and early-1900s and gives the profiles of some of the artists in German asylums during this time. He also introduces a psychiatrist/art historian named Prinzhorn who collected and analyzed art from asylum patients and introduced their work to the world, praising its technique and skill. From there we learn about how his book and traveling exhibit was received, both the positive and the negative, and how it transformed the art world. I quite liked this section and enjoyed getting to know this part of art history that was previously unknown to me.
The second section turns its attention to Hitler. We get a brief background of his childhood and artistic pursuits, followed by his reception of the new art movements. Predictably he hated it and derided it, but perhaps surprisingly he connected the new forms of art with his view on genetics, race, and cultural purity. Despite minoring in German and having an avid interest in history (I did know about the Degenerate Art exhibit from the '30s), I had not realized just how deep the ties between Nazi racial ideology and Nazi art/imagery went. This section of the book really shows the beginning of this and how Hitler and Goebbels pushed for an artistic cleansing.
Part 3 examines these things even further and discusses how the Nazi regime systemically went around and stole or destroyed art while preaching cultural and racial purity. The Nazis also turned their attention to asylum patients more forcefully at this point and voluntary, then forced sterilizations began. English returns again to some of the Prinzhorn artists at this point, discussing how various Nazi schemes impacted them and/or their art. Along with them, we also get a glimpse at how non-asylum artists were faring during this time, with some of them arrested, exiled, or banned from creating art. The Nazis really began pushing art propaganda at this point and English discusses the creation of the Degenerate Art exhibit, along with Hitler's obsession with art as well as his spiraling mental state.
The last part of the book is the darkest, though the ending chapters of part 3 were also dark. In part 4, as expected considering its name, we get into the part of history when Nazis began murdering the disabled and mentally ill. English walks through this chronologically, starting with the children and working through to when both adults and children were being murdered. He provides insight into the ideas the Nazis floated around as well as how the killing machine actually worked. We again turn to the Prinzhorn artists, a good number of whom were killed.
This book was quite interesting and I learned a lot about art history and the Nazi stance on art that I hadn't known before. I definitely had moments when I had to put the book down after reading a chapter and just sit with what I'd read. I did already know some of the statistics, but English spells it out in a way that's very real and very human, and it really is awful to think about.
April 6, 2022
Today’s nonfiction post is on The Gallery of Miracles and Madness: Insanity, Modernism, and Hitler's War on Art by Charlie English. It is 336 pages long and is published by Random House. The cover is done in an art deco style font and setting. There is mild foul language, discussions of sex and sexuality, and mild violence in this book. The intended reader is someone who wants to learn more about Germany pre and during World War 2. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- 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, Andre Breton, and Salvador Dali 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.
Review- This was a fascinating read about the art of the mentally ill and how it influenced Hitler’s ideas about art and purity. The book starts out with Dr. Hans Prinzhorn and his studies with psychiatric patients. He observed that their art was very similar to the art of modern artists. Prinzhorn made it his life’s work to study and display their art. When Hitler came to power, he was disgusted with modern art and he too saw the similarities between the two. To him it was a sign of degeneracy of both art and the human race. The book moves through the war and what happened to the patients and their art. At times very moving and at times hard to read, I would recommend this book for those who are looking for a new way to study World War 2.
I give this book a Five out of of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money. .
From the back of the book- 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, Andre Breton, and Salvador Dali 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.
Review- This was a fascinating read about the art of the mentally ill and how it influenced Hitler’s ideas about art and purity. The book starts out with Dr. Hans Prinzhorn and his studies with psychiatric patients. He observed that their art was very similar to the art of modern artists. Prinzhorn made it his life’s work to study and display their art. When Hitler came to power, he was disgusted with modern art and he too saw the similarities between the two. To him it was a sign of degeneracy of both art and the human race. The book moves through the war and what happened to the patients and their art. At times very moving and at times hard to read, I would recommend this book for those who are looking for a new way to study World War 2.
I give this book a Five out of of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money. .
January 29, 2023
• this book outlines the history of the movement of psychiatric art in Europe following the conclusion of WWI,
• while this movement saw incredible artistic works from psychiatric patients, which inspired exploration and growth in both the art and science communities, it was rudely interrupted by Hitler and the Nazi party,
• a failed artist himself, Hitler was passionate about traditional forms of art and decided that the art created by society reflected the health of society, and that modern or alternative forms of art (celebrated by the psychiatric art movement) were symptomatic of an unhealthy group of people, "useless eaters" which not only cost the State money, but also were not desirable members of Hitler's whole ideal Aryan race thing,
• so, Hitler and the Nazi party launched into a campaign dictating the depravity of modern and psychiatric art through traveling art shows coordinated by mega-Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Simultaneously running a PR campaign convincing the public that the disabled, neuro-divergent, and mentally ill were sub-human, their term was "life unworthy of life ,"
• thanks to public opinion, people weren't too concerned when the Nazi party started sterilizing those who qualified (which included those diagnosed with Schizophrenia, alcoholism, and "feeble-mindedness"),
• nor did they mind when Hitler started euthanasing disabled and neuro-divergemt children and babies to gently introduce the public to eugenics and euthanasia,
• 6,000 children were killed through medical intervention, starvation, and neglect before the Nazi party started trialing gas chambers on psychiatric patients,
• before the end of WWII, the Nazi party was responsible for the murders of over 70,000 psychiatric patients who were used to develop and inform the methods eventually used in death camps around Europe.
It's an excellent read, though not for the faint of heart. Also highlights how familiar and accepting the public was with the Nazi party exterminating entire groups of society at the time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2024
Ależ to byli dobre!!! I w sumie tu moja recenzja mogła by się zakończyć. Dla kogoś kto lubi historię, tematy związane z drugą wojną światową i do tego sztukę, jest to książka, która go porwie.
Punktem wyjściowym jest sylwetka utalentowanego psychiatry Prinzhorna, który bsddl zależności między sztuką a chorobami psychicznymi, a w szczególności poddał analizie dzieła stworzone przez mieszkańców zakładów psychiatryczny.
Autor zdecydowdł się pokazać jak III Rzesza rozwiązywała "problemy" takich osób, i jak przekładała je na podejście do sztuki w szeroko rozumianym kontekście. Tło historyczne, stosunek do „szalonej" sztuki oraz historia edukacji i poglądów Hitlera na jej temat sprawia, że książka staje się uniwersalnym studium czasów przedwojennych i pozwala spojrzeć z szerszej perspektywy nie tylko na reżim, ale też los artystow. Wielu znanych i obecnie cenionych artystów znalazło się na liście dzieł zakazanych i ich dzieła były częścią najważniejszej na świecie objazdowej galerii sztuki.
Dodatkowo, opisany jest proceder eutanazji osób uznanych za chore i jak dalo to podwaliny technice, która miała tak zgubne konsekwencje w czasie drugiej wojny w obozach koncentracyjnych.
Niesamowicie wciągająca książka pokazująca jak każda strefa życia była podporządkowana ideologii, sposób w jaki działał system eksterminacji inności i wyimaginowanych zagrożeń. Powiązanie ze sztuką demonstruje jak wolność myśli i ekspresji zostaje poddana systemowej eksterminacji i prowadzi do wyrugowania społeczeństwa niespełniającego narzuconych wymogów. Sztuka jako narzędzie w rękach zła.
Dziękuję wydawnictwu za egzemplarz książki.
Punktem wyjściowym jest sylwetka utalentowanego psychiatry Prinzhorna, który bsddl zależności między sztuką a chorobami psychicznymi, a w szczególności poddał analizie dzieła stworzone przez mieszkańców zakładów psychiatryczny.
Autor zdecydowdł się pokazać jak III Rzesza rozwiązywała "problemy" takich osób, i jak przekładała je na podejście do sztuki w szeroko rozumianym kontekście. Tło historyczne, stosunek do „szalonej" sztuki oraz historia edukacji i poglądów Hitlera na jej temat sprawia, że książka staje się uniwersalnym studium czasów przedwojennych i pozwala spojrzeć z szerszej perspektywy nie tylko na reżim, ale też los artystow. Wielu znanych i obecnie cenionych artystów znalazło się na liście dzieł zakazanych i ich dzieła były częścią najważniejszej na świecie objazdowej galerii sztuki.
Dodatkowo, opisany jest proceder eutanazji osób uznanych za chore i jak dalo to podwaliny technice, która miała tak zgubne konsekwencje w czasie drugiej wojny w obozach koncentracyjnych.
Niesamowicie wciągająca książka pokazująca jak każda strefa życia była podporządkowana ideologii, sposób w jaki działał system eksterminacji inności i wyimaginowanych zagrożeń. Powiązanie ze sztuką demonstruje jak wolność myśli i ekspresji zostaje poddana systemowej eksterminacji i prowadzi do wyrugowania społeczeństwa niespełniającego narzuconych wymogów. Sztuka jako narzędzie w rękach zła.
Dziękuję wydawnictwu za egzemplarz książki.
November 20, 2021
I have barely read any literature-fiction/non-fiction based on the world war II and the manner in which it impacted millions of individuals. This book is a perfect read for a starter like me. Covering an unusual aspect of the Hitler's rule and policies- treatment of the mentally ill under the Nazi regime, the art created by them and its ultimate destruction.
The highlight of the book is the fact that even though its based on facts and figures it has an easy flow and is a page turner. The book contains small chapters which managed to pique my imagination and has enthused me to read more on the subject. Starting with the work and the success of Hans Prinzhorn - a German psychiatrist who studied art created by people diagnosed with mental illnesses to how the thinking and momentum behind the idea of eliminating those burdening the resources of the society developed and turned its ugly head into dividing the society into those culturally pure and representing the spirit of Germany started and those that didn’t. The author highlights how under the Nazi rule modern art was equated with the art of the mentally ill and shunned. The author has beautifully introduced the chapter on Hitler’s failed ambitions to get into an art school and achieve acclaim as an artist. The chapters outlining the covert operations to execute those occupying the mental institutions is especially intriguing.
This book is insightful and fascinating yet an easy read. Highly recommend this one!!
The highlight of the book is the fact that even though its based on facts and figures it has an easy flow and is a page turner. The book contains small chapters which managed to pique my imagination and has enthused me to read more on the subject. Starting with the work and the success of Hans Prinzhorn - a German psychiatrist who studied art created by people diagnosed with mental illnesses to how the thinking and momentum behind the idea of eliminating those burdening the resources of the society developed and turned its ugly head into dividing the society into those culturally pure and representing the spirit of Germany started and those that didn’t. The author highlights how under the Nazi rule modern art was equated with the art of the mentally ill and shunned. The author has beautifully introduced the chapter on Hitler’s failed ambitions to get into an art school and achieve acclaim as an artist. The chapters outlining the covert operations to execute those occupying the mental institutions is especially intriguing.
This book is insightful and fascinating yet an easy read. Highly recommend this one!!
August 3, 2022
So, this turns out to be a rather complicated work, though the guts of it deals with the elevation of what is now called "outsider art," as practiced by the resident patients of the German mental health institutions, and as publicized by one Hans Prinzhorn, a somewhat sketchy psychiatrist who used this art to try and elevate the humanity of its producers. This became something of a faddish enthusiasm for numerous avant-garde artists; particularly of surrealist persuasion. The foil to this were disdainful cultural conservatives, who with scorn referred to the artists and their works as "degenerate;" including Adolph Hitler, the greatest enemy of "degeneracy" in Germany.
Where this all comes together is in the Nazi cultural "action" simply referred to as "Degenerate Art," where elite modern art was contrasted with the work of the mental patients, in the hopes of discrediting the whole enterprise. This is before "Aktion T4," the Nazi's first exercise in industrial murder, which did away with ten of thousands of German mental patients; including most of the artists Prinzhorn touted. English delves into this "event" in rather greater detail than I have previously seen, and it makes for real jaw-clinching reading.
As for Prinzhorn himself, he was fortunate to pass away before he lived to see his greatest achievement dragged through the gutter; though he was drifting into the Nazi orbit at that point, having long lost his charismatic self-belief.
Where this all comes together is in the Nazi cultural "action" simply referred to as "Degenerate Art," where elite modern art was contrasted with the work of the mental patients, in the hopes of discrediting the whole enterprise. This is before "Aktion T4," the Nazi's first exercise in industrial murder, which did away with ten of thousands of German mental patients; including most of the artists Prinzhorn touted. English delves into this "event" in rather greater detail than I have previously seen, and it makes for real jaw-clinching reading.
As for Prinzhorn himself, he was fortunate to pass away before he lived to see his greatest achievement dragged through the gutter; though he was drifting into the Nazi orbit at that point, having long lost his charismatic self-belief.
September 17, 2024
Whether you are interested in art or history, or not, this stunning book is a must read. As modern art in Germany came to the fore in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it almost simultaneously came to the attention of both a psychiatric doctor (Prinzhorn) in Heidelberg, whose patients often produced instinctive and brilliant examples themselves, and the Nazi party whose idea of pure Teutonic art condemned both modern art and mentally ill people as inferior and needing to be destroyed. The only reason much of German modern art and art by mental patients of the time survived, was the traveling Enkartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibit, mounted by the Nazis as propaganda. Ultimately, altho much of the art was saved, tens of thousands of the mentally ill (along with physically handicapped or just troublesome people) were gassed out of existence in the 30's and 40's. People remember WWII as the genocide of Jews in concentrations camps, but it also included others all the way back to the late 1920's, gypsies, the handicapped (children and adults), unwed mothers, the mentally ill (the spread of a huge and inappropriate umbrella back then), and gay people.
Brilliant book.
Brilliant book.
September 27, 2021
I approached this book unsure whether it was primarily an enquiry into the relationship between artistic potential and mental health or an exposition of the evil wrought by the Nazis using its belittling of modernist art as evidence.
The answer, predictably perhaps as these two themes are causally linked, is that it is a bit of both. Personally I would have preferred more examination of the general theme. The case against the Nazis was established early in the book, and I felt that some of the subsequent detail of, for example the travelling shows of “degenerate” art had been more than adequately covered by previous authors, although I concede that this may be of great interest to those new to this chapter of history.
Nevertheless a fine, well-written summary of a fascinating subject. Those drawn into the subject will want to move onto Hans Prinzhorn’s study from the 1920s entitled Artistry of the Mentally Ill, which forms one of the foundations of Mr English’s evidence base and which has been republished in an English language edition.
The answer, predictably perhaps as these two themes are causally linked, is that it is a bit of both. Personally I would have preferred more examination of the general theme. The case against the Nazis was established early in the book, and I felt that some of the subsequent detail of, for example the travelling shows of “degenerate” art had been more than adequately covered by previous authors, although I concede that this may be of great interest to those new to this chapter of history.
Nevertheless a fine, well-written summary of a fascinating subject. Those drawn into the subject will want to move onto Hans Prinzhorn’s study from the 1920s entitled Artistry of the Mentally Ill, which forms one of the foundations of Mr English’s evidence base and which has been republished in an English language edition.
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