Focus on Self-Portrait as a Soldier and analyze the Nazi-era classification as "degenerate art".
The confiscation and denunciation of 'Self-Portrait as a Soldier' by National Socialists profoundly shaped the work's political identity and notoriety. The Nazi regime, active in Germany from 1933 to 1945, upheld a strong anti-Bolshevik agenda which amounted to vehement rejection of modern art. In 1937, Kirchner's 'Self-Portrait as a Soldier', amongst other works, was confiscated by National Socialists and branded 'degenerate'. The Nazi regime "suppressed art whose content they perceived as a threat to traditional values and institutions." This facilitated elimination of many modern art movements including Dadaism, Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism. The 6th division of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda) was responsible for the confiscation and banishment of Self Portrait as a Soldier to a Berlin warehouse. In 1937 'Self-Portrait as a Soldier' was displayed as part of an exhibition entitled "Degenerate Art" organised by Adolf Ziegler. Kirchner's Self-Portrait was retitled "Soldier with Whore" and exhibited alongside 650 works which were said to underpin "society's moral decay and [the] eroding [of] traditional family values". The condemnation of Kirchner's work as "degenerate" preceded his suicide less than a year later in 1938.
Berlin Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Futurism Dada degenerate Germany Cubism National Socialists Constructivism Adolf Ziegler Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda an exhibition entitled "Degenerate Art" Kirchner