Magic Realism: Art in Weimar Germany 1919-33

Magic Realism: Art in Weimar Germany 1919-33 features around seventy paintings and works on paper, illustrating the paradoxes of art during the Weimar era, during which liberalisation and anti-militarism flourished along with political and economic uncertainty.

The therm “magic realism”was introduced by the critic Franz Roh to describe the change from the expressionist imaginary to the disturbing one of the inter-war period, reflecting the uncertainty of after-conflict times. Berlin in particular attracted a reputation for moral depravity and decadence in the context of the economic collapse. The exhibition groups works by varied artists such as Otto Dix, George Grosz, Albert Birkle and Rudolf Schlichter which represented these years, the so-called Weimar period, in all their aspects. The show offers also the rare opportunity to view a range of artworks not ordinarily on public display – some of which have never been seen in the United Kingdom before – and to see a selection of key Tate works returned to the context in which they were originally created and exhibited nearly one hundred years ago.