Reorientation of the Avant-Garde
Art after the First World War as from 1918

After the catastrophe of the First World War, many artists felt that the time had come for a radically new beginning. They believed that all genres of art – painting, sculpture, photography and architecture – should work together to construct a new society.

The November Group was established as a response to the November Revolution at the end of 1918. Young revolutionary artists working in extremely diverse styles came together in this group, including Arthur Segal, El Lissitzky, Rudolf Belling and Otto Bartning. They hoped to gain influence on art policy and demanded the chance to cooperate on public building projects as well as in the allocation of exhibition space. The group members organised many events with an impact beyond the sphere of fine art, like concert evenings of contemporary music and film screenings.

For the first time, specific forms of artistic expression also developed in photography. The photographers of “Neues Sehen/ New Seeing”, for example, no longer oriented their work on the standards of painting, preferring to employ photographic techniques in an unconventional, experimental way.