How does art influence politics – and how much does politics influence art? This question is particularly pressing in the case of Arno Breker, a sculptor whose works played a central role in National Socialism. Breker was Adolf Hitler's official state artist and created monumental sculptures that embodied the ideal of National Socialist aesthetics. Between 1936 and 1945, Arno Breker worked almost exclusively for the architect Albert Speer and his plans for the redesign of Berlin into the “world capital Germania”. This inextricably links Breker to the National Socialist art policy. But how did a talented artist become the preferred sculptor of the regime? And what happened to his legacy after the war? With a mixture of archive material, conversations with contemporary witnesses and reflections on the connection between art and power, Lutz Dammbeck sheds light on the mechanisms of cultural appropriation. Among others, the writer Ernst Jünger (“In the Storm of Steel”) – who was also used as a hero by the Nazis – and the actor Jean Marais, who knew Breker from different perspectives, have their say. AGE OF THE GODS also looks at the post-war period, when Arno Breker, despite his involvement in the Nazi dictatorship, continued to work as an artist and found international recognition. Lutz Dammbeck, known for his investigative documentaries on ideology and art, once again manages to come to terms with a complex chapter of German history. The documentary is not only an examination of the past, but also stimulates current debates on how to deal with politically charged art.
Documentary, Independent
1h 32min
16
DE
How does a highly talented artist end up in the vicinity of a totalitarian regime? What responsibility does art bear in political systems?
How does art influence politics – and how much does politics influence art? This question is particularly pressing in the case of Arno Breker, a sculptor whose works played a central role in National Socialism. Breker was Adolf Hitler's official state artist and created monumental sculptures that embodied the ideal of National Socialist aesthetics. Between 1936 and 1945, Arno Breker worked almost exclusively for the architect Albert Speer and his plans for the redesign of Berlin into the “world capital Germania”. This inextricably links Breker to the National Socialist art policy. But how did a talented artist become the preferred sculptor of the regime? And what happened to his legacy after the war?
With a mixture of archive material, conversations with contemporary witnesses and reflections on the connection between art and power, Lutz Dammbeck sheds light on the mechanisms of cultural appropriation. Among others, the writer Ernst Jünger (“In the Storm of Steel”) – who was also used as a hero by the Nazis – and the actor Jean Marais, who knew Breker from different perspectives, have their say. AGE OF THE GODS also looks at the post-war period, when Arno Breker, despite his involvement in the Nazi dictatorship, continued to work as an artist and found international recognition.
Lutz Dammbeck, known for his investigative documentaries on ideology and art, once again manages to come to terms with a complex chapter of German history. The documentary is not only an examination of the past, but also stimulates current debates on how to deal with politically charged art.