Art has always represented shifting ideals of the beautiful, but for just as long it has explored the opposite: the ugly, the strange, and the gruesome. This is the realm of the grotesque. The grotesque is a persistent undercurrent in German art of the early 20th century. Its popularity was connected to contemporary events, as artists confronted the upheavals of modern life and the horrors of World War I. 

This installation, on view in the Rifkind Gallery within LACMA’s Modern Art galleries, explores the broad range of subjects and styles associated with the grotesque in modern German art. Such art could be funny or absurd or it could be serious and scary. Very often, it explored underlying fears and anxieties, sometimes dehumanizing or demonizing others. The works on view resonate with our own time and indicate the continued relevance of the grotesque.