This exhibition in Frankfurt (until 25 February 2018) is a must for all art lovers and for those of us who like the literature of the period. Writers Erich Maria Remarque and the brothers Heinrich and Thomas Mann wrote about this world of failed politics and the competing forces of Fascism, Communism and Capitalism. This period from 1918 until 1933 represents a state of flux or a society in crisis brought about by the collapse of the old order after WW1. Through the art of the time we get a vision into the heart of this world, its tensions and political struggles.
Several foreign writers travelled to Berlin to enjoy its cabaret scene. Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin was later made into the film Cabaret. The first pic below was painted in 1932 and it really gave me a feeling of the shape of things to come. The second pic, by Jeanne Mammen, was painted in 1928 and seems to show the world that Isherwood wrote about. The question is this. Does the creative world today provide a similar snapshot into our own society and if it does, what does it tell us? Or are we, as Elvis tells us, too blind to see?
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