The kitsch collections andthe spirit in the furniture: Cultural reform and national culture in Germany
Year: 1996
Type: article
Abstract: Cultural reform in Germany 125Opinions of this sort, noteworthy for their extreme positions and the violence of their language, have been interpreted as evidence for the 'anti-modernism' of middle-class Germans.The violence of the language supposedly measures the violence of the rejection on the part of the middle classes toward an emerging modern society.However, this was only part of the story.The 'kitsch collections' were part of a wider educational campaign mounted by liberal reformers to warn readers of the existence of the rapid production of mass-produced goods and the detrimental effects of mass entertainment.Kitsch was the shadow side, the dangerous and uncontrolled 'other', of the reformers' educational efforts.According to Ferdinand Avenarius, the editor of the Kunstwart, the danger was real.These examples of bad taste were taken from recent catalogues.Cultured people now had the opportunity, Avenarius stated, to educate themselves as consumers.3 By warning the population of the existence of this branch of manufacturing, the reformers hoped to bring about its downfall.For 'it's a fact', said Avenarius, 'that this substance is being disseminated in monstrous amounts.The shop windows of cities and towns are crawling with these objects all seasons of the year.' 4 One can laugh, he admitted, until one realizes the seriousness of the problem in terms of wasted resources: money, labour, talent and quality of work.5 For the reformers the existence of kitsch was a symptom of a larger social problem and the corresponding programmes developed to counteract it also addressed larger concerns.Avenarius did not mince his words when describing the detrimental effects of Hausgreul on its victims.'As long as these masses of products flood German houses year after year they have the same effect that pulp fiction has in the literary sphere -that is to say [they will work] as sewage flowing the wrong way in the pipes' (als umgekehrte Kanalisation).6 He hoped that the 'general agitation' that was taking place 'in thousands of places' would educate the population against 'such seeds of trouble' (Unkrautsaat).7 It was the duty of the educated members of the population, the Gebildete, to mobilize first and not to tolerate Hausgreul in their homes.He suggested a boycott 'for higher ideals'.8 The reformers put together a 'Travelling Exhibition against Hausgreul' which showed photographs of 'the choicest examples of bad taste'.9 Avenarius requested his readers to send catalogues and advertisements of Hausgreul to their growing Kitsch Archive in order fully to document the development of this branch of production.10 Using their networks of journal and associations and by printing and distributing cheap pamphlets, the cultural reformers of the Kunstwart and its practical arm, the Dürer League (Dürerbund), launched a broad attack on the objects of the emerging mass culture in Germany.Scathing in their criticism of family magazines, pulp fiction and serialized novels, the programmatic statements and proposals of the reformers were part of a larger project concerning the shape of Germany's new national culture.This paper begins with these efforts to remove kitsch from everyday life in order to explore and differentiate liberal reformers' views toward mass culture and mass societv.In so doins r .I hone to eet 3 ibid., 381.
Source: Social History
Author: Jennifer Jenkins
Institution: University of Michigan
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1968631549