Graphics for the Dictatorship

The Birth of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart’s Graphic Collection in National Socialism

Stuttgart’s National Socialists originally planned to establish a municipal art museum with a graphics collection. The government body responsible for culture and art was guided by a nationalistic and racist worldview. It led to the birth of an ethno-nationalist collection that was to serve propaganda purposes. The collecting policy was not without contradictions, however, and unusual acquisitions were made. For the first time, the exhibition also presents the stock of war pictures whose origins remained obscure until recently. In addition, the show focuses on artists who were members of the NSDAP and profited from fascism. The restitution case of the Jewish merchant and art collector Max Rosenfeld (1867–1943) from Stuttgart, moreover, shows that the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart’s graphics collection also included works of art that were confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution.