Berlin In The 1920s

ZeitgeistThe Roaring Twenties in BerlinIt was the decade of daring Expressionist canvases of brilliant book design of the Bauhaus total work of art of pioneering psychology of drag balls cabaret Metropolis and Marlene Dietrich s rising star in theater and silent film Between the paroxysms of two world wars Berlin in the 1920s was a carpe diem cultural heyday replete with groundbreaking art invention and thoughtThis book immerses readers in the freewheeling spirit of the Weimar age Through exemplary works in painting sculpture architecture graphic design photography and film we uncover the innovations ideas and precious dreams that characterized this unique cultural window We take in the jazz bars and dance halls; the crowded kinos and flapper fashion; the advances in technology and
transport; the radio towers and rumbling trams and trains; the soaring buildings; the cinematic masterworks; and the newly independent women who smoked cigarettes wore their hair short and earned their own moneyFeatured works in this vivid cultural portrait include Hannah Hoch s Journalists; Lotte Jacobi s Hands on the Typewriter; Otto Dix s Portrait of Sylvia von Harden; Peter Behrens s Project Alexanderplatz; and Josef von Sternberg s The Blue Angel starring Dietrich as cabaret performer Lola Lola Along the way we explore both the utopian yearnings and the more ominous economic and political realities which fueled the era s escapist idealistic or reactionary masterworks Behind the bright lights and glitter dresses we see the inflation factory labor and fragile political consensus that
lurked beneath this golden era and would eventually spell its savage end with the rise of National Socialism"