GERMANY: Curator of controversial exhibition with works of Adolf Hitler's favourite sculptor unimpressed by criticism

A week after the opening of the exhibition displaying works of Adolf Hitler's favourite sculptor Arno Breker, curator Rudolf Conrades is still immune to nation-wide criticism. "I am not interested in any criticism ahead of an exhibition, because one can only pointedly criticise something one has already seen, anything else is just prejudice" Conrades told Reuters on Saturday (July 29) in Schwerin. The Breker exhibition had stirred controversy and debate long before it even opened. It is the first display of Breker's work since the war. "I found Breker because I was interested in Jean Cocteau who is a very important artist of the 20th century" curator Conrades explained. "When I found out that he was friends with Breker for more than 20 years I found it to be a contradiction that I did not really understand. And it made me want to know more about Breker. Then I found out that Breker hadn't had an exhibition since the war and I wondered why. What did he do that others didn't ? Many other artists worked very successfully in the Third Reich and after it was over, they continued working successfully. Breker did not. Of course, Breker was the decorator of barbarianism in Hitler's empire. But he personally never did anything wrong." Hitler once described Breker as "best sculptor of our time" after having become a fan of Breker's larger than life muscular statues depicting the "Uebermensch" idol Hitler followed. Ahead of the exhibition, politicians, artists and citizens voiced concern that the display of more than 70 exhibits owned by Breker's widow might be an attempt to whitewash the artist from his involvement with the Nazi regime. Many visitors to the exhibition however do not see the situation to be so drastic. "I definitely think the exhibition is very interesting as any discussion about Breker has been stifled for many years. This exhibition has had a lot of national media attention. Insofar, I think it is something one can look at with a lot of interest," visitor Harald Kulnbach told Reuters Television. Arno Breker was a sculptor who was one of Germany's most controversial artists because of his outsize statues glorifying the Nazis. Breker studied in Paris and Dusseldorf before moving to Berlin after Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. He created huge statues of muscular athletes for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and also sculpted busts of Hitler and other Nazi leaders. In his later years, Breker produced busts of artists and politicians. He died in 1991 aged

ITN Source | August 7, 2006

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