The radio in Weimar art

Mann mit Radio, Kurt Weinhold, 1929

The birth of German broadcasting dates from October 29, 1923 in Berlin, when Radio-Stunde-AG started sending from the "Vox-Haus" on Potsdamer Strasse. Contemporary artists' view of the revolutionary new medium was mixed, spanning from interest to scepticism.

The Berlin born artist Kurt Weinhold painted a naked middle aged man immersed in his listening of a wireless receiver. Why naked? Maybe because he is supposed to represent, not a worker, not a bourgeois, but just Man. The subtitle of the picture is after all Homo Sapiens.

A somewaht satirical representation of modern man, whose wisdom stems, not from reading books or attending lectures, nor for that matter from scientific or philosophical speculation, but from absorbing contents conveyed to him by a technical, cold medium : a weird looking bakelite device all with antenna and valves. A lonely man, naked in front of the machine, relied to the machine. As lonely are the other four persons (always men, no women) in this posting’s pictures. Lonely and isolated from the outside world by their earphones.

Kurt Günther, "Der Radionist", 1927 - Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg

The misanthropic looking radio speaker in the above picture – by Kurt Günther –  is said to represent the intellectual limitations of the petty bourgeoisie, insensible to the outside world. Its alternative title is indeed "Petty bourgeois on the radio".  However, it is in reality the portrait of a wheelchair bound paraplegic man who lived in a room on the lower floor of Kurt Günther's house. 

 If Kurt Günther had painted it today, the guy would be probably sitting in the subway or at the dinner table with his wife, listening to his smartphone.  

However, looking closely at the picture, we see that the man holds an opera libretto in his right hand, it is "Die Zauberflöte" (The Magic Flute), by Mozart. The blank expression of his eyes is maybe the result of a concentrated listening. The guy may not be insensible to the outer world, just an opera aficionado.
 
The subject of broadcasting was widespread in the painting of the New Objectivity. See for instance Max Radler ("Radio Listener", 1930), Kurt Weinhold ("Man with Radio", Homo sapiens, 1929) or Wilhelm Heise ("Verblühender Frühling", Withering spring, 1928).

"As radio emerged as a new medium and transformed communication and popular culture, critics raised questions about the impact it would have on people’s lives. In a 1924 article for the Frankfurter Zeitung, editor and critic Siegfried Kracauer wrote: “The radio, too, disperses our beings even before they have caught a spark. Since many feel they have to broadcast, we are in a constant state of receiving, always heavy with London, the Eiffel Tower, and Berlin. Who could resist the courting of those delicate headphones? They shine in the salons, they mechanically wind around heads – and instead of cultivating an informed conversation, which will surely be boring, we turn into playing fields of world noise which, regardless of its own potential objective dullness, doesn’t even allow the humble right to personal boredom.” [Siegfried Kracauer, Works, Volume 5.2, p. 162. Original text: Frankfurter Zeitung, November 16, 1924.] "

The text above is from the site GHDI http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/index.cfm

Max Radler, Radio listener, 1930

Radiohörer (Radio listener) is a painting by Max Radler, an artist from Munich, whose themes were often industrial landscapes, motorways, train stations. Here he chooses yet a modern subject : the radio. His main person, a worker, listens attentively to this new medium which allows him to transcend the narrow limits of his daily life and reach the whole world.A positive view of radio listening, as opposed to Radler's and Günther's pictures.

Wilhelm Heise, Verblühender Frühling, 1928

How interpret Heise's painting? Technical paraphernalia, and behind, a number of pot plants, "whithering", says the pictures title. The only human figure here is not listening to radio, instead is he repairing, or building one. Is he wondering whether technique is a good thing or if he should rather take care of the plants? Enigma. 

Radio Girl. By Carel Willink, 1925