End of innocents

END OF INNOCENCE
Art for the freedom of thinking, between two world wars.

The result of World War one was as devastating as the war itself.
The world saw the collapse of the German empire, the Austrian/Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. It was a time of revolt, turmoil and new challenges. In one way it was a time of creating a new world, out of the ashes of the old. A time of exploration, new thinking, and an art world that exploded like a bomb with new art forms, like atonal music, Jazz music, experimental film making and non figurative expressionism.
It was also a time of women emancipation. From the German Weimar Republic’s expressions like The Bauhaus, the Dada and Surrealist movements ,to the Russian Avant-garde with artists like Malevich and Alexander Rodhchenko. But it was a doomed short time, spanning only a few years. The radio was sending out songs like “Happy Days are here again” but those few happy days would soon turn into the worst nightmare the world have ever seen.
This dead-end alley lead to new totalitarian thinking, to the dream of “Revenge “ for loosing the war and to once and for all build a Reich that would last a thousand years. It actually would only last 12 years.
This coincided with communist Russia’s mass cleansing programs under Stalin. The world saw the rice of a Soviet terror regime as well as the dark forces of the NSDAP movement. These two in many ways similar extreme powers would lead to the abyss of man kind, the Second World War as well as the visualization of Hell on Earth in the form of the Holocaust. Over 70 million people would be killed during these years.

These art works by Thomas Dellert in mixed media on canvas are exploring this transition between freedom of thinking and the absolute darkness of what soon would come.
The world was not ready for peace, only for revenge and new conflict. What seemed to be simply a song and dance soon became a dance of death and a symphony of fire.

The photos used in these new art works are in some cases based on photos taken during the artist Thomas Dellert-Dellacroix’s collaboration with his former partner Agnieszka Dellert–Dellfina between 2001 and 2008. The Berlin artist John Heartfield who had the courage to artistically attack the Nazis in the 1920’s and 30’s, has been one of the artist Thomas Dellert’s strongest inspirations.

All artworks are originals and made in only one example as mixed media on canvas, and in some cases as light boxes.