Peter Paul Rubens - Bathsheba at the Fountain - WGA20270

Kunstlump refers to a debate in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1920 which arose after

Oscar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright and teacher, best known for his intense Expressionism, expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the ...

complained that violent confrontation which arose during the

Kapp Putsch The Kapp Putsch (), also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch (), was an abortive coup d'état against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to ...

had damaged a painting in the

Semper Gallery The Semper Gallery or Semper Building (German: Sempergalerie or Semperbau) in Dresden, Germany, was designed by the architect Gottfried Semper and constructed from 1847 until 1854. The long-stretched building in Neoclassical architecture, Neoclas ...

located in the

Zwinger A () is an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the medieval and early modern periods to improve the defence of castles and town walls. The term is usually left untranslated, ...

. He argued that the value a painting by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

was of greater importance than the lives of people killed in the confrontation and suggested that field of combat should be relocated to heathland. This elicited a sharp response from

George Grosz George Grosz (; ; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Obj ...

and

John Heartfield John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. Heartfield a ...

. Kokoschka's original appeal had appeared in over forty newspapers following the events of 15 March 1920 in Postplatz, Dresden. In clashes between striking workers and soldiers involved in the Kapp Putsch, 59 people died with 150 wounded. However one bullet entered the gallery and damaged '' Bathsheba at the Fountain'', which Rubens had painted in 1635. Kokoschka had been appointed professor at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German language, German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institutio ...

in 1919. Georg Grosz, who had been a student at the Dresden Academy 1909 to 1911 and John Heartfeld published a text, "Der Kunstlump", in ''

Der Gegner ''Der Gegner'' ("The Opponent") was a German arts magazine published between April 1919 and 27 September 1922. It was edited by Julian Gumperz, and Karl Otten. It was published in Halle (Saale), Halle by Franz Joest Verlag. Wieland Herzfelde repla ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunstlump Kapp Putsch 1920 in Germany Dada