Review: Tanz auf dem Vulkan: Das Berlin der Zwanziger Jahre im Spiegel der Künste and 1A-Duft: Schwarzlose & Das Berliner Parfüm

Abstract

Tanz auf dem Vulkan: Das Berlin der Zwanziger Jahre im Spiegel der Kunste Ephraim-Palais, Stadtmuseum Berlin 4 September 2015–31 January 2016 1A-Duft: Schwarzlose & Das Berliner Parfum Ephraim-Palais, Stadtmuseum Berlin, 4 September 2015–31 January 2016 With these two exhibitions, the larger Tanz auf dem Vulkan , or Dancing on the Volcano (involving more than five hundred exhibits), and the accompanying smaller show devoted to the Berlin perfume industry, the Stadtmuseum Berlin realized an ambitious project to present viewers with a multimedia account of the city's “golden twenties.” The historical terrain covered by Dancing on the Volcano —the Weimar Republic years from 1919 until 1933, when Hitler was named chancellor—is largely familiar territory (and not only in terms of the past: issues such as the divide between rich and poor, housing shortages, immigration, and growing nationalist sentiment undoubtedly resonated with today's visitors). Although the exhibition's subtitle heralded a history lesson as “mirrored” in the arts, the displays took a more dynamic and thought-provoking form than this might imply. Thematically organized over two floors, exhibits included work by well-known artists of the period (Kathe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz) as well as photographs, posters, architectural models, and recorded music. Sections devoted to Berlin's theater and entertainment industries, nighttime illumination, and women's fashion invoked …