Hartlaub, Gustav

(1884-1963)

   art historian; coined the term Neue Sachlichkeit.* Born in Bremen to a well-established family, he studied modern art history and completed a doctorate in 1910 at Gottingen. From 1920, when he began directing Mannheim's Städtische Kunsthalle, he spent twelve years building a major collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art while giving lectures and hosting exhibitions. The Nazis dismissed him in 1933 due to his proclivity to exhibit Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). He thereafter taught pri-vately in Mannheim and Heidelberg. Appointed honorary professor at Heidel-berg in 1946, he remained with the university until his death.

   For a major exhibition, Hartlaub began soliciting works in May 1923 that featured the tangible reality" found in so much of the period's art. Among others, he invited George Grosz,* Otto Dix,* and Max Beckmann* to submit their work. Cognizant of a conservative or classicist" wing in new realism as well as a leftist or Verist" wing, he included both in his exhibition. When it opened at the Kunsthalle in mid-1925, the exhibition was entitled Die neue Sachlichkeit (the new objectivity). The phrase soon became a means of describ-ing Germany's post-Expressionist milieu. Hartlaub's 124-picture exhibition, rep-resenting thirty-two artists, traveled to Dresden and other middle German cities.

   REFERENCES:German Realism ofthe Twenties; Internationales Biographisches Archiv; Willett, Art and Politics.