Reconstructing the subject

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Yule Heibel explores the reception of modernist painting in West Germany as artists and intellectuals sought to establish a secure "image of man" following the profound crisis of Nazism and the Holocaust. Between 1945 and 1950, expressive and "unbeautiful" elements in abstract painting were largely eliminated, as they evoked memories of trauma and dangerous subjectivity. This led to a dominance of "harmonious" abstract art, often seen as decorative and a means of avoiding Germany's twentieth-century history. Heibel analyzes the discursive strategies of the late 1940s that shaped this artistic direction. The inquiry delves into the instability of subjectivity in Germany and its impact on abstract painting, addressing political, aesthetic, and theoretical concerns. Utilizing the critical theories of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Heibel discusses the politicization of expression amidst Cold War rhetoric, the liberal management of violence, and the U.S. role in postwar reconstruction and individualism. Key figures in this narrative include painters E. W. Nay, Willi Baumeister, Theodor Werner, Fritz Winter, Werner Heldt, and Carl Hofer, along with critic Will Grohmann.