Art: In the Corn, Not Much

German art has not yet recovered from Hitler’s Third Reich. The fourth annual exhibition at Munich’s “Corn Palace”† last week told the story. There were 974 exhibits by 387 artists (mostly living in Bavaria). But in all the confusion of forms and styles, the only common purpose seemed to be a preoccupation with picking up right where they left off before the Nazis destroyed their paintings.

The most obvious links to the past were provided by such oldtimers as Karl Hofer, 74, dean of the German expressionists, still painting his slab-faced people. The abstractionists and surrealists showed more vigor and inventiveness, but nothing to compare with the explosive stuff of postwar France and Italy. Among the best of them: Old Surrealist (59) Edgar Ende’s The Organ and Deserted Shop, both stark and enlivened by bold strokes of coral, cerise, blue.

Officials looked forward to a big attendance, more than 70,000, and profitable sales. But none of the artists was optimistic about the future of German art itself. Said one old impressionist: “Right after the war we breathed a great sigh of relief . . . We all said to ourselves that there would surely be something revolutionary hidden away in somebody’s desk drawer . . . Then we realized there was nothing . . .”

† Real name: Haus der Kunst. Anti-Nazi artists coined the derisive nickname when Hitler filled the hall with his own approved brand of naturalistic art.