NEW YORK CITY — Not long after the Nazis and Adolf Hitler seized control of Germany in 1933, they launched their infamous attacks on and defamation of avant-garde art. By late 1937 they had stripped 16,000 Modernist works by 1,400 artists from 32 museums and sent 650 to Munich for a huge exhibition, “Entartete Kunst” (Degenerate Art). Regardless of their political views, artists who worked in abstract, Cubist, Dada, Expressionist, Surrealist and other avant-garde styles were vilified, dismissed from teaching posts and had their artwork seized. It was a shameful national policy pursued with brute force. The infamous display was recreated in 1991 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, curated by Stephanie Barron. It is now showcased in “Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937,” on view at the Neue Galerie through June 30. Organized by art historian Olaf Peters, it comprises approximately 50 paintings and sculptures, 30 works on paper and several posters, as well as photographs and other memorabilia. One room contrasts so-called “Degenerate Art” with art officially sanctioned by the Nazis, such as Adolf Ziegler’s insipid triptych “The Four Elements,” owned by Hitler.... Read more