The Mad Square

An Art Gallery of New South Wales travelling exhibition

In an era of chaos came an explosion of creativity – experimental, provocative and utterly compelling.

Germany in the early twentieth century was a country in turmoil. After the First World War, the monarchy was abolished and replaced with the Weimar Republic. This was a period of political unrest, but it was also an era of optimism characterised by industrial development, innovation, and unprecedented freedom of expression.

In Berlin and cities throughout Germany, avant-garde art movements flourished: Expressionism, Dada, Constructivism, Bauhaus and New Objectivity. Artists shared interest in radical experimentation extended across all art forms, including painting, photography, design, decorative arts, film, theatre and political satire. The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910–37 shows the diversity of the art created in this period.

The exhibition brings together over 200 works exploring the fascinating and complex ways in which artists represented the modern world, including major works by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Christian Schad, Hannah Höch,August Sander, László Moholy-Nagy and El Lissitzky.  Drawn from renowned international and Australian collections, this is the most comprehensive exhibition of German modernism to be seen in Australia.