Art and Architecture

Language key: E = English; G = German;
G, E = German and English versions

 General resources 

 Artcyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine (E)

A database of more than 8,000 artists searchable by artist's name, artwork title, or museum, and browsable by name, movement (e.g., Expressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit, Bauhaus, Dada), nationality, and other criteria. Many entries include links to images in online museums and archives, online articles, and other information about the artist or movement. An outstanding resource and a great starting point.

 Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur (G, E)

A database of almost 2 million digitized objects relating to European art and architecture. Searchable and browsable by artist, theme, place, and other criteria. From the Philipps-Universität Marburg.

 Guggenheim Collection — 1920-1929 (E)

Images and information about works from the 1920s in the Guggenheim collection, including pieces by Kurt Schwitters, Wassily Kandinsky, and El Lissitzky.

 Schools and movements 

Bauhaus

 Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung/Museum of Design (G, E)

Information on the history of the Bauhaus School and the museum's collections and exhibitions. Visit the Ausstellungsarchiv (accessible via the Museum link) to see past exhibits, including a 2007 exhibit focused on social housing developments in 1920s Berlin.

 Extra Ordinary Every Day: The Bauhaus at the Busch-Reisinger (E)

A curated multimedia Web exhibition focusing on Bauhaus works in the collection of Harvard's Busch-Reisinger museum.

 The Bauhaus School (E)

A good collection of Bauhaus links maintained by a "Bauhaus enthusiast."

Dada

 International Dada Archive (E)

A very rich resource based at The University of Iowa Libraries. Includes a searchable online catalog of the Archive's holdings, scanned images of original Dada publications (including entire periodicals, books, and pamphlets) in the Dada Digital Library, and lots of information on individual artists active in Berlin Dada (including George Grosz, Hannah Höch, and John Heartfield.

 Dada Online (E, G)

Billing itself as "strictly one person's attempt to inform the world about Dadaism," this site includes some basic information on Dada artists, images of Dada art, and excerpts from Dada writings. (Unfortunately, the site's author does not cite sources for excerpted material.)

 Dada Exhibition at the National Gallery (E)

This 2006 exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, DC ("the most comprehensive museum exhibition of Dada art ever mounted in the United States") focuses on six cities where Dada flourished, including Berlin. Click on the Exhibition Feature link to explore the exhibit and view artworks by artist, technique, or city of creation.

 Dada Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (E)

Listen to an audio tour and view artworks from the 2006 exhibition.

 Cut and Paste: Dada (E)

Created by a photomontage artist, this site focuses on photomontages by three Berlin artists connected with Dada: Hannah Höch, Raoul Hausmann, and John Heartfield.

See also under individual artists: Georg Grosz, John Heartfield, Hannah Höch

Neue Sachlichkeit

 Die Neue Sachlichkeit (G)

A brief overview of Neue Sachlichkeit in its historical context, with links to further information about some artists and writers. From the Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin.

 Neue Sachlichkeit (G)

A concise description from the Lenbachhaus Museum in Munich, with a few examples by artists active in Berlin.

 Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s (E)

This exhibition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art includes works by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and George Grosz.

 Architecture 

 Berliner Siedlungen der 1920er Jahre (E)

A detailed look at six innovative 1920s social housing projects in Berlin that obtained UNESCO World Heritage status in 2008.

 Berlin's New UNESCO Sites (E)

An interview with Bauhaus Archiv Director Annemarie Jaeggi about the historical importance of the Berlin housing projects and their World Heritage status. Includes links to a photo gallery and earlier articles about the UNESCO bid. From Spiegel Online International.

See also under Bauhaus above.

 Individual artists 

Max Beckmann

 Max Beckmann @ Artchive (E)

An overview of Beckmann's life and work, with many links to good quality images. some of which are annotated.

 Max Beckmann (E)

Transcript of a report on Max Beckmann from PBS Online Newshour.

Otto Dix

 Otto Dix (E, G)

Provides a chronology of Dix's life and work, illustrated with photographs and examples of his art.

George Grosz

 George Grosz @ Artchive (E)

Brief overview of Grosz's life and work.

John Heartfield

 John Heartfield (E)

An excellent site devoted to the life and art of the Berlin Dadaist and political satirist, with a rich online gallery of some of his photomontages as well as information on a musical about Heartfield produced at Towson University in Maryland. Also includes lesson plans and links to additional resources on Heartfield and his times.

 John Heartfield Exhibit at the Getty Center (E)

An overview of the 2006 exhibition, Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, 1920-1938, with some images.

 Heartfield's Photo Grenades (E)

An article from Art in America by an professor of art history, with a review of the Getty exhibition.

Hannah Höch

 Hannah Höch – Aller Anfang ist Dada! (G, E)

An overview of a 2007 exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie, with some examples of Höch's work. (The English version is abbreviated.)

 Beruf: Künstlerin (G, E)

An overview of Höch's life and work in db-art info (an online art magazine published by Deutsche Bank). Includes some images and links to other Web resources.

 Dada's Girl (E)

An article about the photomontage artist in Slate magazine.

 Hannah Höch Bibliography (E)

An excellent collection of print resources on Höch published up to 2001.

Lotte Jacobi

 Lotte Jacobi's Historical Portraiture (E)

An article about the photographer known for her portraits of leading artists and intellectuals.

 Lotte Jacobi photographs (E)

An online gallery featuring a few of Jacobi's photographs from the traveling exhibition "Focus on the Soul: The Photographs of Lotte Jacobi" at the Jewish Museum in New York.

 New York Times review of Jacobi exhibit (E)

A brief look at Jacobi's life and work on the occasion of the exhibit above.

 Jacobi Exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art (E)

An overview of Jacobi's life and art, with a few examples of her work, in conjunction with the traveling exhibition "Focus on the Soul: The Photographs of Lotte Jacobi."

 Jewish Quarterly article on Jacobi (E)

A cultural historian "examines how Lotte Jacobi's work illuminates the process through which she, as an acculturated German Jew, constantly redefined her position as part of – yet separate from – German society even as she photographed it."

Käthe Kollwitz

 Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Berlin (G, E)

Information about her life and art, including some images of her works.

 Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Köln (G, E)

Includes an interactive map that allows you to take a virtual tour of the museum and view annotated examples of Kollwitz's work.

El Lissitsky

 "Monuments of the Future": Designs by El Lissitsky (E)

Based on an exhibition at the Getty Research Institute, this outstanding site explores the life and work of this Russian typographer, book designer, and architect, who worked in Berlin and had a great influence on the Bauhaus. Includes many examples of his work.