Weimar Women: (De)constructing Urban Identities in the Art of Women Realists

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Hassold, Cris

Keywords

Women Realists, Weimar Women, Weimar Women Artists, Germany

Area of Concentration

Art History

Abstract

The art of women Realists during the Weimar Republic functions as complex and varied interjections into popular conceptions and expectations of contemporary women. In this thesis, I will analyze works of art by women Realists that depict contemporary women in urban environments. The works discussed explore the complexities of women's relationships to the new and changing realities of urban modernity in Germany from 1918-33. These representations depict women in multiple and non-fixed ways and therefore undermine unified constructions of identity and post-facto attempts to create a unified historical narrative of women's experience in the Weimar Republic. By conceiving of the historical period as a montage of lived experiences, this thesis aims to foreground the complex and individual nature of representation and modern life. Though these women artists are not well known in English language scholarship, it is not my intention to find their "rightful" place in the history of the art, nor in the history of the Weimar Republic. Instead, I hope to present their works as contributions to the untotalizeable whole of the history of the era. I am not arguing for their inclusion into an exclusive historical narrative, but rather am striving to move away from a canonical conception of history altogether. In presenting the works of Weimar women Realists as singular works of art by a diverse group of artists, I hope to enable these works to be understood individually and not simply as part of a collective group or unified movement. Each artist and work of art functions as one individual piece to a complex patchwork of histories which compose the Weimar era.

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