Tate Britain

Today was another field trip day. First stop: Tate Britain Art Museum. After an interesting guided tour of the collection focusing on British artists from the 16th-19th centuries, we had some time to wander through the rest of the museum. I went in search of the Turner paintings and walked through a room twice without noticing the subject matter or the paintings. On the third pass through the room, I noticed that the room was called "Asylum" and upon reading the information sign I discovered that all the paintings were done by refugees from Nazism who came to Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. The objective was to show the impact refugees have had on art in Britain. As someone who studies refugee and native communities during the Second World War, I was instantly drawn to the topic.

One of the first paintings to really capture my attention was called "1939" and was painted by Hans Feibusch in (try to guess what year....)...1939. Feibusch, a German painter, found that his art was outlawed in his own country in 1933 after Hitler was appointed Chancellor because he was Jewish. Later that year, he fled to Britain (we often don't realize that 10s of thousands of Jews fled Germany in 1933). In 1938, Feibusch became a British citizen. A year later, he painted "1939." The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and his painting reflects both the fears of the coming war and his experiences of the First World War. Feibusch had fought in the Great War and just 20 years later - one generation - Europe was at war again. The painting, I think, shows the anguish and the horror of the wars in the figures and the colors that Feibusch chose.

Feibusch's work had been displayed in Germany after he fled the country. In 1937, his paintings had been included in the Nazi exhibition of Degenerate Art (Entartete Kunst). Art that Hitler considered to be "un-German" went on a travelling display. Modern art, art by Jewish artists, Socialists, and others was banned. Rather than stay in a country where art was a crime, many fled to other European countries, like Hans Feibusch.

I was also drawn to a painting by Jankel Adler. Adler was considered "degenerate" in at least 4 ways. He was Polish, Jewish, Socialist, and a Modernist. He also fled Germany after the Nazis came to power in 1933. According to the painting's label, Adler worked in Warsaw and Paris before coming to Britain. Like many other fleeing persecution, Adler chose other European countries when he first left Germany in 1933. These countries turned out not to be safe havens after Hitler quickly conquered most of the European continent in 1939 and 1940. Adler came to the UK as part of the Polish Army. (After the country's swift defeat in 1939, the Polish government went into exile in London - they continued to support the AK (Polish Home Army) as a resistance force throughout the war). In 1942/3, Adler painted "The Mutilated" in the midst of the heavy bombing of London. Adler said his painting reflects his admiration of London's population in the face of daily suffering and extreme stress. According the Adler, "only then could humanity been seen at its best." Yet the subject matter shows humanity at its worst...the mutilation of others through warfare.

Today's trip reminded me of the clear connections between politics (in this case the rise of Nazism and its exclusionary and then genocidal "laws") and culture. The paintings were a direct reflection of individual, daily experiences in Europe between 1939 and 1945.