The 'Degenerate' Art Exhibition of 1937 Lesson Plan

This lesson invites students to inquire into the meaning of "degenerate"/modern art. Students will: profile art and artists of this genre; gain an understanding of the use of propaganda related to the Nazis; be able to identify repercussions of censorship.

Goals / Aims

1.Student will engage in class discussion.

2. Student will connect art with this specific time in history.

3.Student will teach what was learned to someone outside of class.

4.Student will look at censorship from an ethical viewpoint.

Objectives

1. Student will list ten synonyms for the word degenerate.

2. Student will actively participate in class debate regarding a line of demarcation between art that is acceptable and art that is not.

3.Student will identify characteristics of degenerate art, and the consequences of producing it.

4. Students will explain what artists of that time were striving to communicate.

5. Students will be asked to determine why many German citizens accepted the subnormality of certain people groups and modern artists.

6. Student will describe three ways the Nazis used propaganda to manipulate Germans.

Materials

Web access,access to

:"A nightmare of an exhibition that really happened." by Kenneth Baker.

pages 86-95 "Degenerate Art and the Fate of the avant-gard in Nazi Germany." By Stephanie Barron.

Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art.1991

*paper *pencil/pe. projector, * Quality art paper for each student. *oil pastels. *colored pencils. *glue, Scissors. *Old magazines.

Procedures

A. Introduction-

1. Teacher will provide concise background information on world events occurring in 1937 pertaining to Nazi Germany.

2. Students will work in pairs to come up with a list of ten synonyms for the word degenerate and then write them on the board randomly in turn.

3. Students will read the articles listed in materials.

4. Students will discuss how propaganda was used as a weapon of oppression.

5. Students will use the Internet to look up

B. Development-

1.students will write synonyms on the board randomly and in turn.

2. Teacher facilitates a short discussion on modern art.

C. Practice-

1. Studens will be rewired to familiarize themselves with these modern artists: Dix,Otto,(Otto Dix Project), Fuhrmann,Paul(Mark Vallens: art-for-a-change), Feiniger,Lionel (Scholars Resource), Kandinski,Wassily(web museum Paris) Marc,Franz,The Little Blue Horse. Munch,Edvard (Web Museum Paris), Pechstein,Max.

2. Students will come up with impromptu answers to explain the Nazi rationale in favor of censorship and its ramifications,

3. Class will discuss the reasons the many German citizens agreed with the subnormality of people groups and those who produced this type of art.

D. Independent Practice-

Dix,Otto,(Otto Dix Project), Fuhrmann,Paul(Mark Vallens: art-for-a-change), Feiniger,Lionel (Scholars Resource), Kandinski,Wassily(web museum Paris) Marc,Franz,The Little Blue Horse. Munch,Edvard (Web Museum Paris), Pechstein,Max.

2.Note on paper what modern artists of that Generation striving to communicate.

3. Student will elucidate their personal view of censorship and add to their project notebook,: 1.What is censorship? Do you believe the government has the right to censor art? What does the government have the right to censor? Where do you draw the line of demarcation in you own life as to that which is expression, and that which is demeaning?

4. Student will try, with the help of a trusted adult, to locate and interview someone that lived during that time.

E. Accommodations (Differentiated Instruction)-

1. Students will be provided a guide to help them through the entire process.

F. Checking for understanding-

1. Student will teach what they have learned to someone outside of class and have the person write a response in the students notebook.

2. Students Will hand in their tidy notebook to demonstrate understanding and effort.

G. Closure-

1.National Standards of the Social Studies, Understands CultureVI, Power,Authority, and GovernanceX, Civic Ideals and Practices.

2. Language arts, Viewing standards 9, Understands the Characters and components of the mediaLevelIV, 1. Uses a range of strategies to interpret visual media(e.g. draws conclusions, makes generalizations, synthesizes materials viewed,refers to images or information in visual media to support point of view, deconstructs media to determine the main idea.

Evaluation

1.Student attempts to create thier own work of modern art.

2.Project Notebook.

Teacher Reflection

I would take this lesson as a springboard to an entire modernism unit. It worked great!