Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit [Hardcover]

Jill Lloyd (Author), Michael Peppiatt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2003

The first collection in English to give a full accounting of Schad's peculiar genius.

The 1920s German art movement "New Objectivity" (Neue Sachlichkeit) created a stark and indelible portrait of German society. Along with Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and George Grosz, artist Christian Schad is central to any appreciation of this fascinating period in both art and history.

Schad is a contradictory character. For all his icy-cool realism, Schad's mesmerizing paintings are characterized by an intense engagement with his models. While he is best known as a realist, he is also credited by the Dadaists as the inventor of abstract photograms, or "Schadographs."

Published in conjunction with an exhbition at the Neue Galerie in New York, Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit includes over 140 full-color reproductions of Schad's paintings, drawings, woodcuts and "Schadographs."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Peppiatt is the literary editor of Le Monde and arts correspondent for The New York Times and The Financial Times. In 1985, he became editor and publisher of Art International magazine. He divides his time between Paris and London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1ST edition (June 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039332477X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393324778
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christian Schad, February 23, 2008

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T. Mcmahon (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit (Hardcover)

I've always been interested in this period between the world wars in Germany and Particularly like the work of George Grosz. I've only just discovered Christian Schad but "Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit" gives a good idea of the times, the machine age and moral vacuum that followed the end of the first world war. There's a really good selection of drawings, prints and paintings with his history and background and I recommend it to anyone who is also interested in this period of art in Germany.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Germany Between the Wars: Observations by Christian Schad, November 28, 2011

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit (Hardcover)

The term "Neue Sachlichkeit" (New Objectivity) was first used in connection with a 1925 exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mannheim. That exhibition exhibited those artists who had `remained true to positive, concrete reality.Those artsts included The remarkable Christian Schad along with Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and George Grosz.

If the works of Christian Schad as portrayed and discussed in this excellent monograph seem cold, intense, distant and uninviting then perhaps it was the new Objectivity that was forward looking enough to anticipate the horrors that became the signature for German society of WW II.

Any reference to the `cabaret set' made so popular with Christopher Isherwood's `Berlin Stories' and as later transformed to the stage and film could not escape the use of Schad's imagery as he portrayed the element of society that looked decadent and would remain isolated as the world outside Germany began to crumble.

Christian Schad (1894-1982) paintings are sharp-focused, mysteriously erotic portraits epitomizing the decadent glamour of the Weimar era. Considered as a group, Schad's portraits form an extraordinary record of life in Vienna and Berlin in the years following World War I. Yet even when his paintings are apparently at their most objective, there is nevertheless a complex theater of illusion at play. Born in Munich, Schad moved to Zurich in 1915 to escape enlistment in the German army. He soon gained entree to the international circle of pacifist artists and writers gathered there, which included Hugo Ball and Hans Arp. The most fruitful results of this period of experimentation were the small abstract photograms Schad made in 1919, called Schadographs. The intense beauty of these luminous, poetic works results from the play between word and image and the artist's insistence on aesthetic criteria, both in his choice of objects and in his approach to composition.

This fine book prepared and authored by Jill Lloyd and the brilliant Michael Peppiatt explores this time frame and the art movement New Objectivity with candor and fine research. The reproductions of Schad's works are brilliantly colorful and clearly defined, allowing the viewer to see past the surface of what appears to be superficial art and records the melancholy mixture of elegance and decadence that characterized this class of lost souls Grady Harp, November 11

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit, February 1, 2009

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JGFM Linssen "eurogreetings" (Tilburg, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit (Hardcover)

excellent book wit a good balance of price and quality, with this book you have a great week-end !