Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918–1936

Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918–1936 examines European visual artists' reactions to the carnage they had just witnessed in WWI. While some chose to leave reality altogether (think Dada or Surrealism), many others sought comfort in regularity. Picasso went back to Classicism, France called for a retour à l'ordre (return to order), Italy craved a ritorno al mestiere (return to craft), and Germany championed Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). This worked out well for roughly a decade until, as the exhibition illustrates, these artistic ideals became twisted and propagandized under the Mussolini regime and rise to power of the Nazis.

Chaos and Classicism contains approximately 150 works by more than 80 artists, and includes painting, film, sculpture, textiles and photography. It will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York from October 1, 2010-January 9, 2011, and travels to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, from February 21-May 15, 2011.