June 2007
Otto Freundlich
Painter and sculptor Otto Freundlich was a prolific German artist and contemporary of Picasso and Braque, after moving to Paris in 1925. He achieved his moment of greatest renown, unfortunately, when his sculpture “The New Man” served as the cover of the program to the Nazi exhibition of
“Degenerate Art.” Seventy years later, the Pinakothek der Moderne is dedicating an exhibit to the artist, whose works have since come to be regarded as an important contribution to socially-conscious modern art. Freundlich was dedicated to theories of social utopia, and tried to create pieces that reflected an individual’s contribution to the whole. The new exhibition—on display until August 18—
focuses on Freundlich’s late works, completed in the 15 years
before his death in a Nazi concentration camp in 1943.
