Cabaret Singer
Chansonette, 1928
Erna Schmidt-Carroll
Weimar Clubs and cabarets - German cities, 1920s
After the collapse of its Empire and the defeat of the First World War, Germany became a democracy, the Weimar republic. In the early 1920s, people yearned for excitement, there was a sense of liberation and the economy started to recover. Night clubs appeared which fused cabaret, literature, art, music, theatre and satire in multi-sensory experiences. American jazz and dance crazes including the foxtrot, tango, one-step and Charleston became popular and exotic dances by Anita Berber, Valeska Gert and famously Josephine Baker were performed.
Fantasy spaces were created such as the dance-casino called Scala where the ceiling was sculpted into jagged structures that hung down like crystalline stalactites. The pulsating energy of such clubs and bars was captured by artists including Otto Dix, Jeanne Mammen and Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler.
[Barbican Centre]
From Into the Night: Cabarets & Clubs in Modern Art
(October 2019 to January 2020)
Spanning the 1880s to the 1960s, Into the Night celebrates the creative spaces where artists congregated to push the boundaries of artistic expression. The exhibition offers insight into the heady atmosphere of Berlin clubs in Weimar Germany; the energy of Harlem’s jazz scene; the vibrant context of the Mbari clubs in 1960s Nigeria; and many more.
Taken in the Barbican
Cabaret Singer
Chansonette, 1928
Erna Schmidt-Carroll
Weimar Clubs and cabarets - German cities, 1920s
After the collapse of its Empire and the defeat of the First World War, Germany became a democracy, the Weimar republic. In the early 1920s, people yearned for excitement, there was a sense of liberation and the economy started to recover. Night clubs appeared which fused cabaret, literature, art, music, theatre and satire in multi-sensory experiences. American jazz and dance crazes including the foxtrot, tango, one-step and Charleston became popular and exotic dances by Anita Berber, Valeska Gert and famously Josephine Baker were performed.
Fantasy spaces were created such as the dance-casino called Scala where the ceiling was sculpted into jagged structures that hung down like crystalline stalactites. The pulsating energy of such clubs and bars was captured by artists including Otto Dix, Jeanne Mammen and Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler.
[Barbican Centre]
From Into the Night: Cabarets & Clubs in Modern Art
(October 2019 to January 2020)
Spanning the 1880s to the 1960s, Into the Night celebrates the creative spaces where artists congregated to push the boundaries of artistic expression. The exhibition offers insight into the heady atmosphere of Berlin clubs in Weimar Germany; the energy of Harlem’s jazz scene; the vibrant context of the Mbari clubs in 1960s Nigeria; and many more.
Taken in the Barbican