On July 18, 1937 the first Great German Art Exhibition (Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung [GDK]) opened at the House of German Art in Munich. The exhibition, which occurred annually from 1937 to 1944, showcased hundreds of works by German artists.1 The exhibition invited works from older, already established artists and held an open competition for entries submitted by younger, lesser-known artists.2 The aim of the exhibition was to display, define, and sell "approved" German art, including oil painting, sculpture, watercolors, engravings, and photography. The 1937 exhibition saw an average of 3,200 visitors per day and attracted 400,000 visitors over its four-month run.3
Exhibition pieces, some of which are advertised in the featured catalog, had to be produced by a "German" artist and approved by the Nazi government. In their calls for artists, the exhibition's organizers rejected the modernism of the early twentieth century in favor of "pure" German art. This requirement was unclear and often inconsistent, however—in the early years of the exhibition, Nazi policy on art had not been fully defined, and it was not clear what "pure" German art should look like. Seen here, selections from the 1938 catalog demonstrate the range of artistic styles appearing in the GDK.4 Some works reflected political themes, but others included scenes of warfare from World War I, statues reflecting Greek and Roman styles, landscapes, and studies of workers and peasantry.5
Hundreds of artists participated in the exhibition from 1937 to 1944. These included well-known Nazis, including well-known Nazis such as sculptor Arno Breker and many lesser-known German artists.6 Their motivations for submitting art for the exhibition are unclear, but scholar Ines Schlenker notes that, "participation in the GDK became one of the most important criteria for the relative importance of an artist in the Third Reich. Exhibiting at the GDK officially legitimized the artists to represent the nation, to be ambassadors of German art."7