Thursday, March 8, 2012

The power of persuasion

.jpg//www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/images/hist_women_hitler.jpg Adolph Hitler hated a lot of art, particularly Expressionism.  He wanted art to be "the messenger of noble and beautiful things." He did not want to examine difficult emotions or social problems.  Family Portrait is an example of the kind of art he liked.
Examine the portrait painted by Wolf Willrich, in 1939, and try to explain the iconography of the picture.

28 comments:

Rae7227 said...

I think that this picture is about the "perfect german family" as in not jewish. They are an all blonde family where the women is doing her job and the man is over looking his family and how they should be acting.

hollyJ said...

this picture shows hitler's idea of a german family. i his head, he thought that the superior race were white, blue eyed, blonde people. this also shows how he thought that the female was inferio to the male, as she sits feeding the baby and the man makes sure she's 'doing the right thing.'

Esther Brown of Ida High said...

If I can recall the truth about Adolf's definition of an "aryan", I think it's a light-skinned European. The "aryans" don't have to have blue irises (which I don't seem to see in the picture) or blonde hair (besides, I think it's a misconception).
The wall of the flower garden seems ideal for an "ideal" house.

GLong said...

i dont like how his stomake is full of gold, he was just angry about his life and took it out one the jewish.

Faith said...

The family seems to be at peace. love is what I also see. If they are Jewish or not, they are still an Ohana, which means family in Hawiian.

t.jankowski23 said...

I agree with Holly that thi spicture shows Hitler's version of the ideal family, all with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Anonymous said...

This picture looked so old. She is feed her baby. She don't have any store getting milk. But she is care of it her baby thats good mother. But mother job.

Lily la Sici said...

i think that the picture protays hitler's ideal german family. the mother is doing her role of caring for the children and the father is looking over his family as they all do as they should. all of which a blonde with fair skin.

Alyssa Zabawa said...

The picture portrays Hitler's idea of "perfect". I noticed that they're all blonde and it appears that the guy is in control of the family. It's just showing Hitler's way of viewing things.

Amanda R. Nemeth said...

This picture illustrates what Hitler thought of as "the perfect German family." Every member of the family is well behaved and look how Hitler wanted all the Germans to look.

Zach said...

This is a clear representation of Hitlers basic idea of having a "superior race."

Mamie's Art Portfolio said...

This is a picture of a German family. It basically shows how the perfect family should be since their German.

Ryleigh said...

This picture shows how the Germany family should look like, Happy and caring.

Angel said...

This picture is of a perfect german family with blue eyes and blonde hair. Before hitler got a hold of them.

Cierra Horney said...

This picture shows how a German family should look.

Erin said...

I think that this picture defines Hitlers idea of a perfect German family.

megan said...

They look like the perfect family, but it looks really staged. no family is that together and happy. It is so fake.

GLong said...

it is hitler idea of what the world should be like, the master race.

Taylor Kloster said...

I agree with what hollyj and rae7227 had to say about this subject. Hitler had an idea of his perfect race and this portrays his ideas.

Lydia Ringel said...

i agree with Rae7227. This is what everything is supposed to be like. perfect family, perfect family background, the kids are working while the dad watches over them and the Mom is feeding the newborn.

Sabrina Bowman said...

Not all family are perfect. They have their own way of having a "perfect family." The German family do not need to be perfect. Im sure Hitler wanted only German portraits.
I agreed with Rae7227

Shannon said...

Hitler's perfect race was white, blonde hair, blue eyed people. The picture shows the mother caring for her children and the father who was a farmer perhaps over looking his family. I also noticed that the father had his eyes raised and the mother had hers lower. From this i took it that the artist was making the female race inferior to the males.

Unknown said...

It's a simple but over glorified view of an Aryan family, saying that the Germans are the perfect race and therefore have perfect families. This was no doubt meant to encourage the Germans of their genetic heritage and feel prideful of their country and culture.

Jeffrey said...

This picture looks like what Hitler might have wanted when the war was over. This idea of a perfect family with all the features that he wanted for the perfect person.

Melissa said...

This shows about the perfect family, how they were not affected by the time period.

Morgan said...

I would agree that this shows how Hitler wanted every family to look like and act which shows them being caring,well behaved, and blonde.

Paige said...

Hitler wanted to ban art like this because like it has been said before that it represented a happy family. And it doesn't matter the religion, or anything else of them family as long as there together and happy.

KendraK said...

I believe that this was supposed to be a picture of a perfect family in Germany, around the time of WW2. The woman, man, and children are all doing what they're supposed to be doing, as to stereotypes and such.