aguywhoplaysthief on 18/5/2006 at 03:13
StD, you've proven your Hitler-hating prowess to all of TTLG. Good Job.
Maybe my memory is a little faulty here, but I have this sneaking suspicion that StD wanted at one time on this board to analyze the motives of terrorists, and not just call them evil dipshits and call it a day.
And some of that art isn't shit. Mediocre, yes, but the architectural watercolors are certainly "postcard" quality, which is a great deal better than most artists that have existed.
Also keep in mind that they didn't give a chronology on the work, so some of those could have been early work. Those sites didn't give much context (or if they did, I didn't care to spend time noticing).
Ko0K on 18/5/2006 at 04:28
"Postcard crap" pretty much sums it up for me, too. I'm not an art critic or anything, but I can still tell that they are so-so. I personally wouldn't call it "great."
Stitch on 18/5/2006 at 04:30
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
But we've seen this sort of thing before. It's the first step on the rehabilitation of Hitler as a figure in history.
I think demonizing the man as a monster that breathed fire and kicked kittens is possibly more damaging overall. Hitler is responsible for an atrocity of proportions so nightmarish as to be incomprehensible, but that doesn't mean he wasn't
also a decent painter, or good to his friends, or whatever. All these things made up Hitler, and to treat him solely as evil incarnate to the exclusion of all else is incorrect and dangerous.
Hitler was a man, regardless of the tunnel vision retards like Nicker might possess. Hitler was one of the worst, but a man nonetheless.
Scots Taffer on 18/5/2006 at 04:38
Precisely. Thinking of Hitler as a man and not some cartoonish figure of evil makes him all the more terrifying. Losing sight of the man in the beast just allows us to dismiss the elements of human nature that we all share.
Ko0K on 18/5/2006 at 05:08
Don't forget that, in addition to being a man, he was also insane. By that I mean "completely different frame of mind than the rest of the world" insane, and not "Whoa, dude. That's some insane canoli, brah!" insane. Rationalize that, suckers!
Seriously, he did have human aspects, and that is indeed disturbing. Imagine if someone like that emerges in China. Will we be able to see the warning signs before it's too late? Will we even be able to do anything about it if that were to happen?
Epos Nix on 18/5/2006 at 05:30
Good thing the US would never elect a war-mongering-dictator-wannabe!
Mr.Duck on 18/5/2006 at 06:06
In the German movie, Der Untergang (Downfall) I like the way they portray Hitler as a man. Instead of the usual "AMS HITLER TEH DEVIL!!!" cartoon. A terrible man, perhaps, but a man, nonetheless. Good movie too, imho, btw.
Yup, he was a man. A terrible man, but a man.
Vernon on 18/5/2006 at 06:21
LETS DO THIS AGAIN SOME TIME
<img src=http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif height=100>
SD on 18/5/2006 at 09:50
Quote Posted by Agent Monkeysee
We're all adults here, Stronts. We can in fact make the distinction between Hitler the artist and Hitler the monster and we really don't need you giving us lectures on the dangers of genocidal gateway drugs. It not only makes you look like some tittering granny but it's frankly pretty insulting.
I'm pretty insulted that that's what you think I'm saying.
All I said originally was that any site which attempted to show Hitler in a positive light is going to be of a dubious nature. I don't think I'm making that big a stretch in saying that.
And I don't buy this retrospective softening of Hitler's image at all. I appreciate that his art has a curiosity value, but that's as far as it goes. As art, it's really poor, and I'd be wary of the motives of anyone that found much merit in it.
Gestalt on 18/5/2006 at 10:45
The first link Lazarus gave is quite definitely pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi:
Quote Posted by hitler.org
It was labelled "degenerative art" because it suggested negativity and incomprehensibility of the world, and as such was at odds with the positivism, determined progress, noble ideals, desire for solutions, and generally hopeful outlook that the National Socialist movement stood for.
...
Now that over 80 years have passed since Hitler first formed and articulated these ideas, we are now left to judge the societal effects from modern art's inversion and destruction of beauty. While the human form in some cases remains praised for health and vigor, in other cases it is attacked with piercings, tattoos, or hair that is dyed in strange colours.
As for the pictures themselves, they're mostly just postcard crap. There's nothing inspired, imaginative, or interesting about them artistically, and for the most part they'd have already been consigned to the dustbin of history and forgotten if the painter hadn't gone on to become so despicable.
