“Decent” vs. “Degenerate” Art

Abstract

When artistic censorship is discussed, the case of National Socialist (Nazi) Germany frequently comes to mind. Nazi Germany's art policies of the 1930s and early 1940s and their consequences provide a historical perspective on what may happen when government determines what art is decent or indecent, uplifting or “degenerate.”Precedents for artistic censorship in Nazi Germany can be found during the Weimar Republic, as the following incidents indicate. In Berlin in 1928, a local court filed charges of blasphemy against George Grosz for several drawings published in an album titled Hintergrund (backdrop).