cover image Art of the Third Reich

Art of the Third Reich

Peter Adam. ABRAMS, $49.5 (332pp) ISBN 978-0-8109-1912-9

A major propaganda tool in spreading Nazi ideology, the official art of Hitler's regime remains virtually hidden from the German public today. Featuring 321 illustrations (including 33 plates in color), this significant survey is a chilling reminder of how art can be used to promote philistine attitudes and to camouflage evil. Adam, a BBC-TV producer raised in Nazi Berlin and of Jewish ancestry, produced an award-winning documentary film on which this book is based. He thoughtfully reviews Nazi artworks--vulgar kitsch at best: statues of men and women conforming to the fantasy of a pure Aryan race, portraits of the Fuhrer, scenes of farm families, messianic dances, recruitment posters and grandiose architectural schemes for redesigning Berlin, Munich and Nuremberg, colossal plans that embody the vapid dreams of a megalomaniac. (June)