Masterpiece in Focus: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Artists of the New Weimar

Abstract

It is not often that a philosopher is the subject of a major art exhibition. Yet as I walked towards the entrance to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa I could see the sculpted profile of Nietzsche looking out, from a banner promoting Friedrich Nietzsche and the Artists of the New Weimar. Curated by Sebastian Schütze, a Professor of Art History at the University of Vienna, this exhibition looks at the material histories of the Nietzsche Archive and its influence on the arts, which we encounter through the artworks, photographs, publications and documents on display. Not exactly a show of artworks, but also not strictly a display of historical documentation, Schütze presents us with a moment in time that is caught between the realities of the impact of Nietzsche’s ideas and the complex fabrications of his legacy, with the Nietzsche Archive in Weimar playing a key role.