A Study Of The German Capitalist Realist Movement (1963-1971)

In 1963,Gerhard Richter,Sigmar Polke,Manfred Kuttner and Konrad Lueg initiated Capitalist Realism in Dusseldorf West Germany,which depicted the social reality in the form of pop.It not only confronted with American pop art,but also confronted with the Socialist Realism in East Germany and the Soviet Union.The 1960 s was the time when the anti-capitalist tide was on the rise in the western capitalist world.Although the term “Capitalist Realism” is more like a joke to Dusseldorf's artists,the gallery owner and curator René Block strengthened the political meaning of it,and promoted Capitalist Realism into a avant-garde group who actively involved in social politics and criticized the capitalist social reality,making it a special “art uprising” in the New-left student movement trend in the mid 1960 s in West Germany.The trend of art has always been closely related to history and social politics.German Capitalist Realism is one product of the confrontation between capitalism and socialism at the peak of the cold war,it reflects the crisis faced by capitalism in the late stage of capitalist society,and also reflects the unique political situation and historical process of West Germany after World War II.German Capitalist Realism has played a great role in the reconstruction of German post-war art,gradually getting rid of the influence of the United States and taking the development road of national independence.The artists,mainly Richter and Polke have directly promoted the rise of German contemporary art in the world.However,the research on the movement of Capitalist Realism in domestic academic circles is still almost blank.This paper tries to show the development history of German Capitalist Realism Movement by using the methods of new art history and visual culture research,and analyzes the rich meaning of Capitalist Realism in satirizing the ideological propaganda under the two social systems of the East and the West during the cold war,the reconstruction of German post-war art,and German reflection on Nazi history.