Design
A Celebration of Yiddish, Emblazoned on a Former Symbol of Nazi Power
The monumental work by American conceptual artist Mel Bochner represents a particularly sweet triumph of art.
The building in Munich that now houses the contemporary art museum Haus der Kunst, or House of Art, was originally conceived as a grand expression of Nazi values. Designed by architect Paul Troost, one of Hitler’s favorites, the austere neoclassical structure was intended as a vessel for the "true, eternal art of the German people."
When it opened, under the name Haus der Deutschen Kunst, in 1937, Hitler used the occasion to proclaim a "relentless, cleansing war" against the forces of modernism in art. It was a defining moment in the Nazis' crusade against all culture that they proclaimed to be "degenerate."