Tuesday 25 March 2008

The Nazi Olympics

Poster for the 1936 Olympic Games (I.C. enhanced)Having mentioned the 1936 Summer Olympics - Games of the XI Olympiad, to give it its proper name -, I thought I'd post this excellent poster for the event, featuring Johann Gottfried Schadow's famous Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate (CLICK). Not a swastika in sight, just the German eagle, yet it has that grandeur which Nazi artists were so damnably good at. Note the word "Spiele". Nowadays we're inundated with spiel, usually referred to as "spin" in UK politics. I call it "the blurb" when I encounter it in the art market. It isn't money that makes the world go around. It's spiel. Whether it's from politicians or from the Anti-art Establishment or from advertisers or from religious nutters allegedly preaching the word of God, spiel is the enemy we must all strive to resist. Look where it leads....

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