Harvard Arts Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
A forthcoming special exhibition at the Harvard Art Museums, Inventur–Art in Germany, 1943-55, which will be on view this spring semester from February 9 through June 3, 2018.
Taking its name from a poem by Günter Eich, Inventur focuses on Germany’s burgeoning art scene in the wake of official Nazi policies that had prevented many artists from selling or exhibiting their work. Marked by incredible plurality—from collages made of detritus salvaged during the material scarcity of the 1940s to industrial prototypes intended for the homes of a public still wary of modern art over a decade later—the works included in the exhibition attest to the power of creative expression under totalitarianism and in the uncertainty of its consequences. The Busch-Reisinger, as an American center for the study and exhibition of art of German-speaking countries, is uniquely positioned to open new avenues of inquiry in this area. The exhibition has been a multi-year research project here at the Harvard Art Museums, undertaken with a diverse cohort of curatorial fellows and graduate students who researched artworks in depth as contributors to the catalogue and who will offer gallery talks in the exhibition throughout the semester.
