Frame and Preparation
Kunstversteigerung Activität
Conceptual Frames and Background
- Female painter
- Weimar Republic
- Berlin
- Nightlife
- Prostitution
- Advertising
- Female identity
- Female same-sex desire
- Heterosexual relationships
- Neue Frau
- Exoticism & non-Western influences
Introduction
Jeanne Mammet’s paintings embrace Berlin nightlife and expressions of non-normative sexuality and gender roles, typically through representations of young women. Her works are associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit movement which shifted towards disillusioned, unsentimental or more objective representations and away from abstraction in the wake of the Expressionism movement. As a starting point, some important works of her include: Die Rothaarige (1928), Sie repräsentiert (1928), Lesbos (1928), Das Schwulenlokal (1929)
Preparation
Depending on how much you want to focus on the history of art and wider aesthetic trends of the Weimar Republic, you may need to give students an overview of these various trends and movements in visual art, like Neue Sachlichkeit or art nouveau.
It would be useful to prepare a slide show with paintings you are planning to ‘auction’ off during the activity, or you could ask students to select paintings they are hoping to buy as pre-work prior to the activity. An example which features Mammen’s work followed by other artists of the time can be found in the following powerpoint:
Activity
Description:
The idea is simple: students take turns role-playing two roles at an art auction, the buyer and the auctioneer, familiarizing themselves with modernist works of art, their creators, and the major motifs and themes in this artwork. With the help of stock phrases and vocabulary on the attached worksheet, the auctioneer introduces and describes in detail the artwork projected on a PowerPoint, and the buyer then calls out a price for the piece. Each student is “given” one million euros, and the goal is to buy the most artwork. With about ten paintings presented, this activity lasts around twenty minutes. The instructor remains on the sidelines as a referee to answer questions or to help students produce the correct German. To ensure equal opportunity for students to speak, the activity is run simultaneously in small groups; if groups are too large, more assertive students can inadvertently prevent others from participating. All students should have a chance to play both roles, so all have an ample chance to speak at length.
The activity is described below, or you can download the same information in the following word document:
Learning Goals
Linguistically, the goals are twofold. First, the auctioneers practice descriptive language and adjective and case endings by describing the artworks. Secondly, the buyers practice large and complicated numbers to “purchase” the paintings. Since the activity is student-driven, it prompts them to take the lead in applying these often-confusing grammatical concepts. Culturally, students are introduced to many modernist artworks from a “marginal perspective”: Lotte Laserstein, Christian Schad, Jeanne Mammen, Sascha Schneider, among others. In describing and analyzing many visual artworks, students will achieve a critical mass of material so that they can identify major themes, motifs, and styles that are common in modernist aesthetics.
Future Development
One can explore how to make the speaking responsibilities of both roles more equitable, for as it stands the auctioneer speaks more than the buyer. The buyer could, for example, ask questions about the painting, which the auctioneer then answers, or the buyer must translate into their own words to a third party what the auctioneer has told them
Kunstversteigerung
Sie sind auf einer Kunstversteigerung [art auction] in New York. Sie sind sehr reich und wollen viele Kunstwerke [artworks] kaufen. Viel Glück!
Die Rollen:
Der Versteigerer/die Versteigerin:
- Sie müssen das Kunstwerk vorstellen [to introduce] und dann beschreiben [describe].
- Beachten Sie [pay attention to] die Farben und die Figuren [figures] im Kunstwerk
- Um das Geschäft abzuschließen [to close the deal], sagen Sie “Zum ersten, zum zweiten, zum dritten…verkauft!”
Publikum:
- Sie wollen viele Kunstwerke kaufen!
- Sie haben 1.000.000 Euros. Kauf dich glücklich! [Buy yourself happiness!]
Vokabeln
You should tailor this list to reflect useful terms from the paintings you suggest and the course level, but this provides a starting point for a more entry-level discussion:
Es gibt… (There is/are…) der Himmel – sky
der Schmuck – jewelry der Nebel – fog
das Kleid – dress die Landschaft – landscape
die Farbe – color der Stein – stone
der Ohr – ear die Zigarette – cigarette
die Nase – nose das Cocktail – cocktail
das Gemälde – painting das Monokel – monocle
Developed by Domenic Desocio.